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sidhewitch's review against another edition
2.75
Audiobook Review. Dual Narration. As always, I'm a fan of the Icehome narrators.
Anyone who had read the other Icehome books will know the set-up for Bridget and A'tem: They hook up after much flirting, Bridget doesn't enjoy the sex because she feels like he's too well endowed, and despite her having feelings for him she tries to chase him off. In the book, however, we get details of just how it goes down, and that's where it all falls apart for me.
Rather than just having the sex be bad, or skipping over explicitly describing the scene, at about the 13% mark we get a rather extended description of a sex scene from Bridget's perspective that some readers may honestly find triggering. It's not that it's just "bad," Bridget is very clearly in pain and upset both during and after the sex, and A'tem just plows on without a thought. Her not having felt like she could speak up doesn't really make it feel less assault-y - if anything, it made it seem moreso. Afterward, in trying to pursue her, he is literally described as not taking No for an answer, while everyone else treats her like a "terrible tease" or "drama."
It's a nice change that the tension of whether or not they will be happy boils down to fixing communication issues, and the way they go about trying to solve that issue was novel for the series and thoughtfully done. But through the whole damn book I just kept thinking about how we've established sexual assault isn't a thing for these people, and yet here we are with a male protagonist dripping in rape culture tropes.
About a third of the way into the book I took a break from it, then came back to read the rest and was able to enjoy it more with some distance. I agree it's frustrating how often Bridget falls back on old thinking, but trauma is hard to get over. Honestly, A'tem's inability to listen for two seconds ruined my enjoyment more than anything Bridget did, but his realization and gradual change in behavior was gratifying to read.
A low point in this series for me, but not without it's good points. But if you're not a completionist, I'd skip this one.
Anyone who had read the other Icehome books will know the set-up for Bridget and A'tem: They hook up after much flirting, Bridget doesn't enjoy the sex because she feels like he's too well endowed, and despite her having feelings for him she tries to chase him off. In the book, however, we get details of just how it goes down, and that's where it all falls apart for me.
Rather than just having the sex be bad, or skipping over explicitly describing the scene, at about the 13% mark we get a rather extended description of a sex scene from Bridget's perspective that some readers may honestly find triggering. It's not that it's just "bad," Bridget is very clearly in pain and upset both during and after the sex, and A'tem just plows on without a thought. Her not having felt like she could speak up doesn't really make it feel less assault-y - if anything, it made it seem moreso. Afterward, in trying to pursue her, he is literally described as not taking No for an answer, while everyone else treats her like a "terrible tease" or "drama."
It's a nice change that the tension of whether or not they will be happy boils down to fixing communication issues, and the way they go about trying to solve that issue was novel for the series and thoughtfully done. But through the whole damn book I just kept thinking about how we've established sexual assault isn't a thing for these people, and yet here we are with a male protagonist dripping in rape culture tropes.
About a third of the way into the book I took a break from it, then came back to read the rest and was able to enjoy it more with some distance. I agree it's frustrating how often Bridget falls back on old thinking, but trauma is hard to get over. Honestly, A'tem's inability to listen for two seconds ruined my enjoyment more than anything Bridget did, but his realization and gradual change in behavior was gratifying to read.
A low point in this series for me, but not without it's good points. But if you're not a completionist, I'd skip this one.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
Sexual Assault: While the FMC doesn't consider what happened to her to be sexual assault, the description of the event might be triggering for some and it is not brief.
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