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A review by kalira
Getting My Goat by Jessica Olin
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
1.25
(I received a free ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.)
I admit, the description left me expecting a plot with perhaps a decent bit of sex. I . . . didn't get that. What I got was a whole lot of sex, very little 'character' (feeling or development), and . . . about half a hint of maybe plot in the first half of the book. Which might feel more comfortable (or at least less empty and then rushed) if there had been character and romantic plot development in that time, but . . . there wasn't that either.
Half a hint of plot in the first couple chapters. Another hint just over halfway in. And then after some (finally!) semi-attention to the romance plot, the danger and other plot mentioned in the description finally makes an abrupt appearance . . . four-fifths of the way through the book.
(Also, perhaps I'm being too pedantic, as Maya states early on (. . .about something she's wrong on), or perhaps I know too much about both Greek mythology and goats. I kept coming across things that felt less like worldbuilding/making the myth my own on the part of the author and more like I didn't know/knew wrongly and didn't think it was important to check.)
And the sex beginning in chapter two with a dreamonly to find out it was not a dream, hello consent issues no matter what the narrative says about 'it was very consensual', actually, fucking someone while they're hypnotised to think they're dreaming and planning never to tell them the truth? Consent isssues. Add to it that his blood has a magical effect of releasing inhibitions and that's a textbook definition of being under the influence - whether she 'made the first move' or not doesn't change that.
. . .and aside from those blatant, flashing light consent issues, the sex began very fast but not only that - some people are like that, I gather, and it is dropping us in with characters who already know one another - but it felt very rushed.
And comparing hypnotising someone so they forgetthey had sex with you to allowing people to assume you're Christian or straight for safety reasons is. . . As someone who has done both of those latter lies-of-omission, it is so staggeringly off base as to feel insulting.
Allowing people to make/keep such assumptions is allowing them to think what they want/assume as 'default', and has no effect on them. It is vastly different fromusing magic to alter their memory and perception, on something that affects them both physically and potentially emotionally .
And Maya's immediate reaction to finding out all of this that he's done, and that he's a satyr, and millenia old, and-
. . .is to immediately pin him to the wall because she wants to fuck him again right now? You do you, but also, definitely can't relate.
Leander's enduring shyness and surprise at Maya being forward, or at her responses to him in general, both before and after the reveal, seems both understandable (as I mentioned, I cannot fathom some of her reactions to these things) and strange (he's more than 3,000 years old; a bit of pushy flirting or bluntness is having this effect on him?).
. . .also, he's over 3,000 years old, fucks people of any gender or species, but Maya, a middle-aged human woman, is the one who is so 'different from anyone he's ever known' that he's uncertain in bed with her? (Someone doesn't have to be utterly unique amongst one's sexual or romantic history to be special, and this feels . . . very like that's the reason he has such reactions.) I also raise a heck of an eyebrow at the assertion that even when mythical beings ('nymphs and satyrs and so-called gods') roamed freely among humans, he's never before Maya had a human partner that wasn't . . . scared of him?
I love a good mutual pining while already established relationship, but man I don't love how it is handled here. For one thing, the continued inistence on how they're fuck buddies and only that, even as both of them are pretty clearly feeling (and wanting?) more than that is . . . a weird note. And Maya being upset at Leander calling what they have friendship when she's the one who keeps insisting that it is? Maybe you should evaluate that? . . .but no, she just continues to be firm that they're fuck buddies and nothing more, and be disappointed/upset at any suggestion they're just friends.
With the noted issues I had I was a bit worried about the warned-for BDSM, but it was in fact a shining bit of being handled well, thankfully!
Now, the shift from fuck buddies to acknowledging they're more than that . . . awkward and somehow felt rushed even after all the pages of wanting/feeling more and refusing to admit it.
I found Maya's self-image issues (fat, old, unattractive, too old for Leander and then of course after the reveal too young for Leander; her absolute certainty both while they were still 'only fuck buddies' and after the romantic development that the relationship will end and she'll be heartbroken, again) sometimes feeling realistic, and sometimes feeling like harping and too much (though some of what might be realistic feels like too much in fiction, to be fair). And for all the sex in the book (so much sex), her actual body being plump and Leander loving that was mentioned in a sex scene . . . once.
And then (at four fifths of the way through the book) when the plot finally makes an appearance, it is sudden and . . . what. I knew who the bad guy was going to be (despite only the couple hints at their existence, prior) but the reasoning for being threatening. . . Oh brother.
And I know Maya was shocked and scared, withStar crashing into her apartment and attacking her, but wondering how she 'knows about' Agathe right after Star says this is about her sister? being shocked and thinking Star must be human despite that - which would suggest her age is more than her human appearance - and knowing that Leander is a satyr , please, Maya.
. . .and then that very stupid plot was resolved before 90% of the book. So it took up about 10%, perhaps less. Are you kidding me.
A few more small surprise revelations for Maya about satyrs/Leander in general, some maybe not-really-thought-through decision making (but not unreasonably), and end book. (And book two looks to be about entirely different characters - not Esther and Star, either.)
I admit, the description left me expecting a plot with perhaps a decent bit of sex. I . . . didn't get that. What I got was a whole lot of sex, very little 'character' (feeling or development), and . . . about half a hint of maybe plot in the first half of the book. Which might feel more comfortable (or at least less empty and then rushed) if there had been character and romantic plot development in that time, but . . . there wasn't that either.
Half a hint of plot in the first couple chapters. Another hint just over halfway in. And then after some (finally!) semi-attention to the romance plot, the danger and other plot mentioned in the description finally makes an abrupt appearance . . . four-fifths of the way through the book.
(Also, perhaps I'm being too pedantic, as Maya states early on (. . .about something she's wrong on), or perhaps I know too much about both Greek mythology and goats. I kept coming across things that felt less like worldbuilding/making the myth my own on the part of the author and more like I didn't know/knew wrongly and didn't think it was important to check.)
And the sex beginning in chapter two with a dream
. . .and aside from those blatant, flashing light consent issues, the sex began very fast but not only that - some people are like that, I gather, and it is dropping us in with characters who already know one another - but it felt very rushed.
And comparing hypnotising someone so they forget
Allowing people to make/keep such assumptions is allowing them to think what they want/assume as 'default', and has no effect on them. It is vastly different from
And Maya's immediate reaction to finding out all of this that he's done, and that he's a satyr, and millenia old, and-
Leander's enduring shyness and surprise at Maya being forward, or at her responses to him in general, both before and after the reveal, seems both understandable (as I mentioned, I cannot fathom some of her reactions to these things) and strange (he's more than 3,000 years old; a bit of pushy flirting or bluntness is having this effect on him?).
. . .also, he's over 3,000 years old, fucks people of any gender or species, but Maya, a middle-aged human woman, is the one who is so 'different from anyone he's ever known' that he's uncertain in bed with her? (Someone doesn't have to be utterly unique amongst one's sexual or romantic history to be special, and this feels . . . very like that's the reason he has such reactions.) I also raise a heck of an eyebrow at the assertion that even when mythical beings ('nymphs and satyrs and so-called gods') roamed freely among humans, he's never before Maya had a human partner that wasn't . . . scared of him?
I love a good mutual pining while already established relationship, but man I don't love how it is handled here. For one thing, the continued inistence on how they're fuck buddies and only that, even as both of them are pretty clearly feeling (and wanting?) more than that is . . . a weird note. And Maya being upset at Leander calling what they have friendship when she's the one who keeps insisting that it is? Maybe you should evaluate that? . . .but no, she just continues to be firm that they're fuck buddies and nothing more, and be disappointed/upset at any suggestion they're just friends.
With the noted issues I had I was a bit worried about the warned-for BDSM, but it was in fact a shining bit of being handled well, thankfully!
Now, the shift from fuck buddies to acknowledging they're more than that . . . awkward and somehow felt rushed even after all the pages of wanting/feeling more and refusing to admit it.
I found Maya's self-image issues (fat, old, unattractive, too old for Leander and then of course after the reveal too young for Leander; her absolute certainty both while they were still 'only fuck buddies' and after the romantic development that the relationship will end and she'll be heartbroken, again) sometimes feeling realistic, and sometimes feeling like harping and too much (though some of what might be realistic feels like too much in fiction, to be fair). And for all the sex in the book (so much sex), her actual body being plump and Leander loving that was mentioned in a sex scene . . . once.
And then (at four fifths of the way through the book) when the plot finally makes an appearance, it is sudden and . . . what. I knew who the bad guy was going to be (despite only the couple hints at their existence, prior) but the reasoning for being threatening. . . Oh brother.
And I know Maya was shocked and scared, with
. . .and then that very stupid plot was resolved before 90% of the book. So it took up about 10%, perhaps less. Are you kidding me.
A few more small surprise revelations for Maya about satyrs/Leander in general, some maybe not-really-thought-through decision making (but not unreasonably), and end book. (And book two looks to be about entirely different characters - not Esther and Star, either.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content