lightreads: a partial image of a etymology tree for the Indo-European word 'leuk done in white neon on black'; in the lower left is (Default)
lightreads ([personal profile] lightreads) wrote2020-02-18 09:07 pm

Beyond Shame by Kit Rocha

Beyond Shame

3/5. Start of a long series that is roughly 50% post apocalypse rebellion against an authoritarian state and roughly 50% kinky porn. Roughly. Har har har.

I was kind of more interested in the plot than the porn. The whole thing is aggressively invested in letting you know how hard core it is, in a very written-by-a-teenager way (which it isn't, AFAIK). But it has something going on, despite doing a number of things I find annoying, like treating vaginal penetration as the ultimate most intimate bestest sex act. And it's interesting – there's a lot of M/F and group sex, but at least in this first book, no M/M. Which first confused me because this is clearly a book for women. It is for women – it centers female desire and female sexuality in a way that flirts with male gaze but never quite gets all the way there. Mostly it made me think how weird and sad it is that I have been taught to code content of this sort, particularly a sexually-charged female friendship, as inherently male gazey.
cyprinella: broken neon sign that reads "lies & fish" (Default)

[personal profile] cyprinella 2020-02-19 05:10 pm (UTC)(link)
in a very written-by-a-teenager way (which it isn't, AFAIK)

No, the author is a pair of ex-fandomers who by the time this came out had a bunch of small e-pub paranormal romance stuff under their belt but this was a response to romancelandia being shitty about kink and erotica in romance IIRC.
afrikate: Ray Kowalski is getting his geek on, with his clip on shades flipped up (Default)

[personal profile] afrikate 2020-02-20 12:19 am (UTC)(link)
And later, there is M/M, but it’s definitely within the bounds of what mainstream romancelandia finds acceptable, and doesn’t read like slash enough to me. But I devoured the whole series for the world-building and politics, and the spin-off Gideon’s Riders series as well.