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A review by stephh
The Lemon Grove by Helen Walsh
1.0
I absolutely picked this book up for its cover - it looked like a fairly quick, fun, summer read that I'd enjoy. However almost as soon as I started it I realised that I probably wasn't going to be much of a fan.
'The Lemon Grove' is set in Mallorca on a family holiday. Middle aged stepmum Jenn is having a bit of a mid life crisis, and when her step-daughter Emma brings along her new boyfriend on the family holiday, the family dynamic takes a nosedive. Emma and Jenn are already at loggerheads, and when Jenn realises she's attracted to Emma's boyfriend, and begins flirting with him, she threatens to tip everything over the balance.
My main issue with this is that it's an erotic book based around a sexual relationship between a middle aged woman and a 17 year old man. I just think if you were reading a book where their genders were reversed you would expect to be entirely repulsed, but this relationship is played up where the literal child is suggested to be the exploitative villain of the pair, not the adult having sex with him. The book was also completely plotless bar this unenjoyable 'forbidden romance'. The characters were 2D and I just didn't find myself gripped at any point.
'The Lemon Grove' is set in Mallorca on a family holiday. Middle aged stepmum Jenn is having a bit of a mid life crisis, and when her step-daughter Emma brings along her new boyfriend on the family holiday, the family dynamic takes a nosedive. Emma and Jenn are already at loggerheads, and when Jenn realises she's attracted to Emma's boyfriend, and begins flirting with him, she threatens to tip everything over the balance.
My main issue with this is that it's an erotic book based around a sexual relationship between a middle aged woman and a 17 year old man. I just think if you were reading a book where their genders were reversed you would expect to be entirely repulsed, but this relationship is played up where the literal child is suggested to be the exploitative villain of the pair, not the adult having sex with him. The book was also completely plotless bar this unenjoyable 'forbidden romance'. The characters were 2D and I just didn't find myself gripped at any point.