The themes are good and I can see the ideas forming. I think a few more rounds of rewrites would have done a lot of good.

The ideas just needed a little more time in the oven. I had a lot of hope for the book after the first time meeting Don. The story makes good points that feel very real and made me emotional. But I felt like they stopped short of being life changing (at least for the character), or providing an alternate philosophy in the resolution. What IS the way to be a woman that feels empowering to this character?

We see the idea that “all men are disgusting” (paraphrased) but this doesn’t play out with Jamie nor is there an alternative take or explanation Shea gives herself about why he’s different.

I did like leaving questions unanswered about consent/kink, however I feel those questions could have been asked better. I’m not sure what the authors opinion is for sure (which is good imo), but Shea seems to lean towards an answer that she doesn’t explore or justify. Is consent in Shea’s story questionable? Yes, but the way this is explored makes it feel like it’s being asked of the kink community in general and I’m not satisfied with the exploration of that in the text.

The story needed a character that was a little less, well, stupid. Shea is naive and makes really bad decisions, she’s never self reflected or been self aware in her entire life. I was incapable of relating to her in anything besides her monologues about the male gaze. Yet she somehow still misses the lifelong crush on her.

I know she’s traumatized but traumatized to naivety and vapidity is not the character I want to read about. She was infuriating to me, just completely incapable of understanding her own actions and refusing to listen to the one man that actually treats her as she wants to be treated.

In sum, some parts were good, but underdeveloped. Allowing my own perspective to alter the narrative makes it better, but the text runs counter to that practice for me.