Eric Stone
I’ll be blunt: I thought this book was terrible. I know it has a massive following and I know I’m probably not the target audience, but I couldn't get past how performative the whole thing felt.
The biggest hurdle for me was the audiobook. The narrator for the male lead was so incredibly cheesy. You know the "men writing women" trope? This felt like that - a male narrator giving Z the voice he thinks women want to hear. Maybe some do, but it just felt forced to me.
Even the "spicy" elements didn't land. The CNC aspect is a totally valid kink, but here it felt like it was just being used for shock value or performance rather than being a real part of the characters. I suspect people actually in the BDSM community would find this pretty eye-rolling. It wasn't for me, the voice wasn't for me, and I’m happy to leave this one unfinished.
I’ll be blunt: I thought this book was terrible. I know it has a massive following and I know I’m probably not the target audience, but I couldn't get past how performative the whole thing felt.
The biggest hurdle for me was the audiobook. The narrator for the male lead was so incredibly cheesy. You know the "men writing women" trope? This felt like that - a male narrator giving Z the voice he thinks women want to hear. Maybe some do, but it just felt forced to me.
Even the "spicy" elements didn't land. The CNC aspect is a totally valid kink, but here it felt like it was just being used for shock value or performance rather than being a real part of the characters. I suspect people actually in the BDSM community would find this pretty eye-rolling. It wasn't for me, the voice wasn't for me, and I’m happy to leave this one unfinished.