rhodered's review
DNFed at 8% sorry. It's well written from a writing standpoint. It's a pleasure to see both a woman in a STEM career and also experiencing social anxiety without beating herself over it like it's a character flaw. She knows she has it, takes it in stride, and gets on with life. Plus, she seems like a woman who owns her pleasure. So that's great.
But, even this early it reminded me of the reasons why I largely stay away from m/f these days. There's a hero dealing with the pain of a dead mother, and I'm f-ing tired of adult's dead mothers in general (only rarely do nice women in romance genre make it to 45 without dying) as well as dead women being used to give male characters gravitas. Honestly, stop it.
Plus, not one but three women knee-jerk complain when a man calls them "ma'am". Women who insist on being called "girls" and "miss" instead of "women" and "ma'am" need to examine their own ageism and internalized misogyny. If you can't be proud of being a grown ass adult woman, then I have no use for you.
Lastly, I winced when the hero touches the heroine on the small of her back, which is an intimate place you don't touch people on in the regular way of things, when they are basically strangers and she's not invited that intimacy. If she didn't secretly think he was cute, that would have been invasive and icky. Which means it's invasive and icky because he can't read her mind.
So, yeah, I DNFed. Life too short to brace myself for sexism in a romance.
But, even this early it reminded me of the reasons why I largely stay away from m/f these days. There's a hero dealing with the pain of a dead mother, and I'm f-ing tired of adult's dead mothers in general (only rarely do nice women in romance genre make it to 45 without dying) as well as dead women being used to give male characters gravitas. Honestly, stop it.
Plus, not one but three women knee-jerk complain when a man calls them "ma'am". Women who insist on being called "girls" and "miss" instead of "women" and "ma'am" need to examine their own ageism and internalized misogyny. If you can't be proud of being a grown ass adult woman, then I have no use for you.
Lastly, I winced when the hero touches the heroine on the small of her back, which is an intimate place you don't touch people on in the regular way of things, when they are basically strangers and she's not invited that intimacy. If she didn't secretly think he was cute, that would have been invasive and icky. Which means it's invasive and icky because he can't read her mind.
So, yeah, I DNFed. Life too short to brace myself for sexism in a romance.
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