Willy W. reviewed on + 503 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Conflicted about this book.
***Spoilers in this review***
On the negative side - I'm re-reading this series and I've concluded that the whole series is beyond boring. My measure of a good book is that I enjoy reading it as much the second time as I did the first. many of my favorite books are actually better on second or third reading. These books - ugh. I can barely get through them. There is so much boring, repetitious, extraneous detail about what people are wearing or what Anita is thinking or her opinions about other people and the constant stopping of action for her boring run on thoughts or even worse, these stupid conversations that lead absolutely nowhere. No, these books are not good. I think they were titillating (to me) when I first read them, and I cared enough about some of the characters to keep reading. Truthfully, I don't like Anita at all. I hate Richard, Jean-Claude I could take or leave. But I became invested in Nathaniel, Damien, and later characters and they kept me reading. They'll probably keep me re-reading.
And more negative - also I find on the second read that I find LKH's gender-switching with the characters much more unpleasant. All the men are very short - I mean under 5'6" - which is even shorter than the national average. They're all effeminate, they have unmanageably long hair and "pretty" faces. She tries to make them masculine, but they really don't sound all that masculine. I'm fine with that, but let's call a spade a spade. And I don't know how Anita only knows short men. I know hundreds of men. Probably four of them are shorter than me. Anita wants a "wife", she wears a tuxedo, she's totally the "man" in relationships - at least as men are defined by LKH. Anita has fantasies about seeing her boyfriend in a high ponytail wearing nothing but a frilly apron? Is she an in-the-closet lesbian? Does she protest too much in her heterosexuality? Sometimes it seems so much less like we are learning about Anita the character and what she does and it is more about LKH writing out her own secret sexual fantasies. Honestly, I find it creepy. So much happens that is irrelevant to the story or characters.
On the positive side - I was glad to see the progress in Anita's relationship with both Damien and with Nathaniel. I think both were a long time coming. This book is a standout in the series. Not because of the plot or mystery, but because of Damien and Nathaniel. I thought the sex scene with Damien was hot (with plenty of downsides don't get me wrong) and the scene with Anita and Nathaniel in her office was awesome. Although LKH writes Anita to be the man half the time and has her silly ideas of what dominant/submissive relationships are about - I did like how Nathaniel took charge and dominated Anita when the chips were down. It made much of what followed much more palatable for me.
***Spoilers in this review***
On the negative side - I'm re-reading this series and I've concluded that the whole series is beyond boring. My measure of a good book is that I enjoy reading it as much the second time as I did the first. many of my favorite books are actually better on second or third reading. These books - ugh. I can barely get through them. There is so much boring, repetitious, extraneous detail about what people are wearing or what Anita is thinking or her opinions about other people and the constant stopping of action for her boring run on thoughts or even worse, these stupid conversations that lead absolutely nowhere. No, these books are not good. I think they were titillating (to me) when I first read them, and I cared enough about some of the characters to keep reading. Truthfully, I don't like Anita at all. I hate Richard, Jean-Claude I could take or leave. But I became invested in Nathaniel, Damien, and later characters and they kept me reading. They'll probably keep me re-reading.
And more negative - also I find on the second read that I find LKH's gender-switching with the characters much more unpleasant. All the men are very short - I mean under 5'6" - which is even shorter than the national average. They're all effeminate, they have unmanageably long hair and "pretty" faces. She tries to make them masculine, but they really don't sound all that masculine. I'm fine with that, but let's call a spade a spade. And I don't know how Anita only knows short men. I know hundreds of men. Probably four of them are shorter than me. Anita wants a "wife", she wears a tuxedo, she's totally the "man" in relationships - at least as men are defined by LKH. Anita has fantasies about seeing her boyfriend in a high ponytail wearing nothing but a frilly apron? Is she an in-the-closet lesbian? Does she protest too much in her heterosexuality? Sometimes it seems so much less like we are learning about Anita the character and what she does and it is more about LKH writing out her own secret sexual fantasies. Honestly, I find it creepy. So much happens that is irrelevant to the story or characters.
On the positive side - I was glad to see the progress in Anita's relationship with both Damien and with Nathaniel. I think both were a long time coming. This book is a standout in the series. Not because of the plot or mystery, but because of Damien and Nathaniel. I thought the sex scene with Damien was hot (with plenty of downsides don't get me wrong) and the scene with Anita and Nathaniel in her office was awesome. Although LKH writes Anita to be the man half the time and has her silly ideas of what dominant/submissive relationships are about - I did like how Nathaniel took charge and dominated Anita when the chips were down. It made much of what followed much more palatable for me.
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