Love Plus One

I have mixed feelings about this book, so I'm not going to give it a star rating.

So this is erotica, and the plot is basically about Al falling in love with the couple for whom he's sometimes a third. There are a lot of sex scenes. Coupled with Al's traumatic experience, the plot has a feeling of “magical healing cock(s).” I really only like that trope when it's ridiculous, like sex has actual magic properties in a fantasy world. In the real world, I think it's a dangerous concept. Of course we can and should all help each other along through life, but you can't fix your own or someone else's problems with sex alone.

From the very start of the story, even before Al's traumatic experience, I had the sense that there was something really wrong with Al, that he was carrying a ton of personal baggage. It does all come out in the end, but I don't think a loving relationship is going to solve all his problems. He badly needs therapy. I am pretty sure that there is meant to be a link between his promiscuity and his emotional problems, and that concept troubles me as part of a story about a promiscuous and bisexual man. There is nothing inherently wrong with being promiscuous, nor does it necessarily mean that a person has a mental illness or an excess of emotional baggage. So, in a way, I feel this book affirms harmful stereotypes about people who are promiscuous and/or bisexual.

About the traumatic experience, trigger warning: Al is raped early in the story, and we see it from his perspective near the end. Although the attack is not meant to be sexy, both mentions are pretty explicit. It made me very uncomfortable that the other two characters had sex with each other (without Al) so soon afterward. I mean, their best friend is suffering, and they can't keep their hands off each other - and he does walk in on them.

I also don't know if Laurie ever told Al, or the police, about the guy who made the hateful remarks about Al. Maybe the guy would have had some info on who attacked Al. I thought this was a strange detail for the author to leave out.

On the positive side, the quality of the writing is very high. There's also an interesting female character (another of Al's partners). The sex scenes were varied and never boring in themselves, although there could have been slightly fewer of them. Overall I am not sure I would read this author again, but it isn't a bad book. I think it's meant to be a love story between three imperfect people, and it definitely works in that sense.