Honestly, if you just want smut I guess this book will give you a bit of that but unfortunately not much else.

I don’t think all books have to be highbrow or dense, but the writing style was just so… hallmark. While it has its time and place, it kept me from being immersed in the story in any meaningful way. For (maybe petty?) starters, if I ever hear “rosebud lips” or “raspberry mouth” or any other iterations that AHB used in this ever again I might roll my eyes so hard they fall out. Unnecessary phrasing and why. so. many. time!? Also,

a second act break up? Come ONNNNNNNN.

Ik it’s a trope but jfc is it actually necessary?

Additionally, and most importantly, the representation in this book felt so hollow and forced. I am so tired of AHB saying “women and nonbinary people” SO OFTEN when describing peoples’ sexualities or in any other context that it felt redundant and moreso for the purpose of explaining to the readers instead of what someone would actually say within a conversation. It also always felt very forced and honestly fake. When has there been a trans/nb character in these books that was a real human being instead of a two second character that’s being thrown in to add to a diversity quota or to build upon this queer utopia that the “queer coven” has or surrounds themselves with? I guess my main issue is that does AHB actually mean nonbinary or does she mean an afab nonbinary person who conveniently makes their way into the story for 2 lines if that?
Speaking of diversity quota, where are all the people of color??? I guess it’s fitting that a ~queer coven~ is all white (for mostly white, from what I remember in the first book) but goddamn. Every person of color was, again, just conveniently placed into the story and always magically whenever they could PROVIDE the MCs with something…. Hmm, let’s think about that.

Lastly, if the book is going to be dedicated to people who figure out their sexuality later in life, you would think the story would be more about Astrid’s examination of what sexuality means to her and what labels would or wouldn’t mean to her. While it’s not necessary (obviously) to have it all figured out, it would be nice to have an actual examination from Astrid instead of just “I’ll figure it out later.” I unfortunately related to Astrid but I think it would have been a better story to get more of an internal reflection on her coming out since that’s kind of the basis of the entire book. Also, a big thing to note, but why were queer romance books (and PORN) used as a basis for her sexual experiences/instructions?? While I fully understand that she wanted an idea of what to do or a kind of guidance, I think reading queer romances and looking to them for sexual advice instead of any internal work that Astrid could have reflected on in is kind of irresponsible. I think a lot could have been added if there was vulnerability from Astrid and having her admit she didn’t know what she was doing, trying her best, and very actively communicating with Jordan about what she wanted, etc. Shit, it might have even been a helluva lot hotter too.

This book was messy and a lot was half-formed but if you want smut and a brainless read (again, no harm in that), then you’ll probably like this book. If you want meaningful and THOUGHTFUL representation… maybe not