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A review by julianananana
In at the Deep End by Kate Davies
4.0
I was promised gay romcom in book form, and the MC definitely has romcom energy and a quirky, down-on-their-luck, figuring-it-out way of speaking, but it was ALSO ABOUT AN ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP? So it wasn't fun and light actually, there are parts of the novel that get dark even though they're layered under the lighthearted way a romcom character speaks.
One thing I wish the book had handled more delicately was it's message about polyamory and kink. Because the abusive partner in the story is poly and into the SM scene, her actions seemed to be conflated with the scene. As if, because abusive and coercive partner is into poly/SM, poly/SM is depicted as inherently abusive and coercive. And that left a bad taste in my mouth.
But overall, the book ends up being fun, incredibly sexy, and made me think a lot about the SM and sex party scene. And being queer.
One thing I wish the book had handled more delicately was it's message about polyamory and kink. Because the abusive partner in the story is poly and into the SM scene, her actions seemed to be conflated with the scene. As if, because abusive and coercive partner is into poly/SM, poly/SM is depicted as inherently abusive and coercive. And that left a bad taste in my mouth.
But overall, the book ends up being fun, incredibly sexy, and made me think a lot about the SM and sex party scene. And being queer.