**spoiler alert** The first half to two-thirds of this are FANTASTIC. There are issues but they felt minor enough that they didn’t detract from the ov**spoiler alert** The first half to two-thirds of this are FANTASTIC. There are issues but they felt minor enough that they didn’t detract from the overall.
However... the rest... well. I have a huge problem with the way this was framed as a “both sides have hurt the other equally.” Their relationship is full of power imbalances. Joachim feels the class and money difference very keenly, but doesn’t seem to see the problems in their dynamic of him controlling Ainsley’s mental stability outside of bed and controlling everything else in it. Though it’s rather heavy handed, a lot of the sex is very well done. BUT that also means that the conflict has a MASSIVE power imbalance. The fact that this is either ignored or deemed unimportant is appalling.
And that’s without even getting into the conflict itself... which basically boils down to Joachim is a coward and afraid to be vulnerable so he assumes the worst about Ainsley’s feelings (Joachim’s hurt trumps Ainsley’s for some reason, even tho they were both hurt by the declaration and immediate retraction) vs he decides that, despite everything—and not just the fucking and friendship and whatnot but also how he’s been encouraging Ainsley to get back into things—he’s prepared to ruin Ainsley’s life to earn his degree so he doesn’t have to figure out how to repurpose his research or change his topic. In other words he’s a lazy fucking coward in ALL ASPECTS.
And I’m supposed to believe that he deserves an apology just as much as Ainsley? That their reasons on about on par with each other? And Joachim isn’t even the one who resolves this—or has any desire to try. His sister yells at him, a professor suggests an alternative topic, and he follows that road without ever bothering to reach out to Ainsley. None of it is his idea or him realising that he was wrong. It’s all external people pointing things out to him.
He doesn’t even NOTICE the hypocrisy of instantly dismissing Ainsley’s tentative suggestion he could get a car and come visit vs when he’s contemplating other options someone tells him to pursue and he thinks maybe he should get a car. Then again, maybe that’s because it doesn’t occur to him to use that car to see Ainsley again as he doesn’t seem especially inclined to repair things.
Then he just springs himself on Ainsley at his brother’s stag night, even though his brother had promised Ainsley that Joachim wouldn’t be there because what happened was so painful. And Ainsley is broken and twitchy due to his mental health and only Joachim the magical psychologist can fix him so he’s thrilled to have him back. FUCK THAT.
Ableist and paternalistic and horrifying. NOT ROMANTIC.
Merged review:
The first half to two-thirds of this are FANTASTIC. There are issues but they felt minor enough that they didn’t detract from the overall.
However... the rest... well. I have a huge problem with the way this was framed as a “both sides have hurt the other equally.” Their relationship is full of power imbalances. Joachim feels the class and money difference very keenly, but doesn’t seem to see the problems in their dynamic of him controlling Ainsley’s mental stability outside of bed and controlling everything else in it. Though it’s rather heavy handed, a lot of the sex is very well done. BUT that also means that the conflict has a MASSIVE power imbalance. The fact that this is either ignored or deemed unimportant is appalling.
And that’s without even getting into the conflict itself... which basically boils down to Joachim is a coward and afraid to be vulnerable so he assumes the worst about Ainsley’s feelings (Joachim’s hurt trumps Ainsley’s for some reason, even tho they were both hurt by the declaration and immediate retraction) vs he decides that, despite everything—and not just the fucking and friendship and whatnot but also how he’s been encouraging Ainsley to get back into things—he’s prepared to ruin Ainsley’s life to earn his degree so he doesn’t have to figure out how to repurpose his research or change his topic. In other words he’s a lazy fucking coward in ALL ASPECTS.
And I’m supposed to believe that he deserves an apology just as much as Ainsley? That their reasons on about on par with each other? And Joachim isn’t even the one who resolves this—or has any desire to try. His sister yells at him, a professor suggests an alternative topic, and he follows that road without ever bothering to reach out to Ainsley. None of it is his idea or him realising that he was wrong. It’s all external people pointing things out to him.
He doesn’t even NOTICE the hypocrisy of instantly dismissing Ainsley’s tentative suggestion he could get a car and come visit vs when he’s contemplating other options someone tells him to pursue and he thinks maybe he should get a car. Then again, maybe that’s because it doesn’t occur to him to use that car to see Ainsley again as he doesn’t seem especially inclined to repair things.
Then he just springs himself on Ainsley at his brother’s stag night, even though his brother had promised Ainsley that Joachim wouldn’t be there because what happened was so painful. And Ainsley is broken and twitchy due to his mental health and only Joachim the magical psychologist can fix him so he’s thrilled to have him back. FUCK THAT.
Ableist and paternalistic and horrifying. NOT ROMANTIC....more
overall cute and avoids many of the genre-typical pitfalls. really could’ve done without all the sex shaming tho. I love that Nico is a different kindoverall cute and avoids many of the genre-typical pitfalls. really could’ve done without all the sex shaming tho. I love that Nico is a different kind of incubus. I hate that he deals with it by promoting the toxic idea that sex without love isn’t as good, or that romantic love is in some way superior to sexual intimacy. it works for Nico—that doesn’t mean he needs to shit on other peoples preferences.
ESPECIALLY in a book where true love apparently means that you stop valuing all of your other relationships! which, side note, fucking y i k e s
and by this logic, I suppose we’re meant to assume his aromantic bff is also asexual, or else she’d be having the dirty icky not-making-love kind of sex? and uh aro isn’t a sub-category of ace, kthxbyeeeeeeeee
also… uh… there’s nothing wrong with Nico choosing not to work if he doesn’t want to work. like if he wants to work, great, but feeling like he has to work cuz unless he’s a good little servant to capitalism, he won’t be being his best self is also really fucking gross...more
cw: swerfy, graphic violence, explicit queermisia and slurs, racism masquerading as social justice, genre-typical serophobia & sex negativity, bdsm pocw: swerfy, graphic violence, explicit queermisia and slurs, racism masquerading as social justice, genre-typical serophobia & sex negativity, bdsm power exchange built on uneven footing, toxic depictions of safewords
yet another book from this author that gives all the “inappropriate” vibes draped with the wispiest of plausible deniability veils. it’s fine see cuz callum is over 18 and therefore a consenting adult, even if he is a high school student. and gideon is only the interim headmaster, not one he’s known for years. and they hooked up the first time before they were thrown together in these circumstances.
much like other works by this author there are some good bones here. the writing is captivating, the angst is a solid punch in the feels, and the sex is scorching hot.
and just as in other works by this author the crusade is heavy on the eye roll and steeped in white supremacy. the serophobia is gross. the anti-sw rhetoric is too.
and, on a more personal note, as an active kinkster, the kink is the red flag sort of stuff that I tell people to look out for in community orientation classes, cuz it sounds enlightened but is really just toxic. yes callum understands safewords but he swears to himself he’ll never use his cuz he wants to prove what a good boy he is. um, no. being a good boy would be using your words and communicating with your partner. there are a couple of scenes that are borderline squicky cuz callum is not liking what is happening but instead of telling gideon, he grits his teeth to be a “good” sub. ew.
gideon talks a lot about his previous relationships and why they went badly and while yes his husband sounds like a dominant who wasn’t properly caring for his sub—gideon was also in that relationship for all those years. and instead of making sure he learns that lesson and making sure callum does use his safewords when he needs to, we get the grossness mentioned above.
and on some level I appreciate the writer trying to level their playing field with gideon making these big offers so that callum doesn’t feel beholden… that would’ve meant a hell of a lot MORE if he’d followed through. why not open an account for callum and put money in it? set up a trust with a lawyer in case they ever breakup? it doesn’t mean anything if you offer to level the playing field so someone doesn’t feel manipulated into taking something they don’t want but don’t see better options, unless they actually ARE free to walk away. and callum isn’t at any point. it’s all just words and lip service.
which tbh is how a lot of the social justice nonsense strikes me as well. it’s got all the jargon and it sure sounds pretty but when you take a closer look, there’s no follow through and, worse, no intention of following through. the author isn’t trying to educate herself on issues of race and class disparity and what equity could look like. she’s just cashing in on the popular sentiment that billionaires are bad m’kay....more
**spoiler alert** cw: graphic violence, non-graphic tho somewhat detailed description of child abuse (physical, sexual, and emotional), racism
I feel l**spoiler alert** cw: graphic violence, non-graphic tho somewhat detailed description of child abuse (physical, sexual, and emotional), racism
I feel like this needs ao3 tags as well as cw so—pwp, porn w feelings, angst & fluff, step-sibling non-incest v v carefully framed to sound and feel as incesty as possible with the thinnest veneer of “but they’re not blood-related so it isn’t” plausible deniability
super hot. they’re banging almost immediately and every chance they get and some of the situations were fucking SCORCHING.
however, pretending the school-to-prison pipeline isn’t due to systemic racism while talking about how sometimes racists use it was mind-bogglingly badly done (pro-tip: if you’re trying not to be a racist when writing about something where race plays a significant role—pretending race isn’t a factor is NOT the way to go). also if this scandal is so huge why were the numbers so low??? and why did it seem to involve as many non-prisoners as prisoners? like all the mentions of dirty cops and lawyers and judges and senators and govt agencies, plus ofc the wardens and guards, running prisons for profit on a nationwide scale… and then there are only 600 people wrongly incarcerated?? uhhhh. maybe try adding a couple zeroes to that.
ugh. solid potential here, some good writing, but far too much dependence on tropes. like I lovcw: racism, misogyny, classism/white privilege
dnf @ 61%
ugh. solid potential here, some good writing, but far too much dependence on tropes. like I love a tropey story as much as the next person but if the tropes are all you’ve got, I’d rather not. this talkative/silent type pairing is clearly meant to channel the archetypes of alice winters but without the heart of those characters. the twink’s trauma is weirdly inconsistent—not “humans are messy” inconsistent but “oops the author forgot / didn’t check coherence when pasting in a new section”inconsistent.
also — while I love the idea of a fated mates pairing that isn’t insta-love, I’m super grossed out by the way Cyrus’s inner monologue seems to be “I hate you and want to double down on all the horrible things that terrible people have said to try and make you smaller but you’re my mate so instead I’ll just think them and we can bang” which I gotta say is NOT remotely romantic. I’m ok with them not liking each other to start. I’m not ok with the only reason Cyrus starts liking Darren being the realisation Darren is his mate. legit ruins the whole “fated-mates but not insta-love” to have it just be on hold until they *realise* they’re mates.
that’s not even getting into the REAMS of unpacked and extremely toxic internalised misogyny the author has based Darren’s entire characterisation on. or the blatant racism. or the equating poverty with evil/dirtiness. like. unpack your shit people....more
missing some solid chunks of story that would’ve smoothed the rough edges of the writing mechanics. enjoyable enough. a few laugh out loud excellent mmissing some solid chunks of story that would’ve smoothed the rough edges of the writing mechanics. enjoyable enough. a few laugh out loud excellent moments but not many....more
DELICIOUSLY angsty. teeters on the edge of too much wallow but never quite crossed the line. the so-called mystery is pretty predictable but that’s noDELICIOUSLY angsty. teeters on the edge of too much wallow but never quite crossed the line. the so-called mystery is pretty predictable but that’s not really why we’re here lbr ...more
super cool idea, super clunky execution. needed a strong editor to just slash and burn whole swathes of unnecessary filler. killer was obvious from thsuper cool idea, super clunky execution. needed a strong editor to just slash and burn whole swathes of unnecessary filler. killer was obvious from the moment we meet him and none of the people clearly meant as red herrings were anywhere near as sketchy.
the sex felt a lot like an afterthought and the writer must have heard that it should help drive the story in a good romance—like it got wedged into the places it could make sense and then the story was slightly rearranged to accommodate its presence. it didn’t feel natural and it wasn’t remotely hot, even though all the right words and actions and feels were there.
feels like an author that’ll be fantastic in like 2-5 years if they keep working at the craft (and get a better editor)....more