Reviews with content warning for Acephobia/Arophobia - Iris Kelly Doesn't Date

Reviews tagging 'Acephobia/Arophobia'

Iris Kelly Doesn't Date by Ashley Herring Blake

2 reviews

lunep's review

emotional hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a great book...up until the third act conflict. I was so excited because I was loving it and rooting for Stevie and Iris, they were so cute, so fun, the sex scenes were great, there was angts, but then in the third act conflict Iris lost me. And I feel so mad at myself!! Bc I can think about why she acted the way she acted in a logical way, I understand why she did what she did, but I still think she was unfair to Stevie, and her attitude made me not feel excited at the end 😭😭😭

Like, I even got excited for Stevie when Olivia asked her out!!

, I even tried to think "if Iris was a man and this was a hetero romance, would you feel the same way?" trying to rule out internalized misogyny and tbf...I'm not sure 😩 so that's why I'm still giving it 4 stars, I can't completely rule out internalized misogyny from my feelings and I don't wanna hurt a book that I was genuinely loving up until the 86% mark

There were another couple things I didn't love, but I didn't mind that much:

The way Adri didn't get any accountability ever. I'm sorry but she was a shitty friend/ex, and I know ending long friendship like theirs is hard, but she never even apologized, and Stevie just accepts it because "she knew everything she needed from Adri she'd already given to herself"
after telling each other "I love you platonically", and after the fact that the last conversation the two had on the page ammounted to Adri telling Stevie that she wanted her back but she didn't want to break up with Vanessa???
, nuh uh, sorry
Iris's family. Also never apologized to her for being so shitty and never understanding her, and her brother seemed so misogynystic?? Making "jokes" about how a Happily Ever After is really a "Shittily Ever After" and other kind of "jokes" like that with his BIL, like, just say you hate your wife and go
And, the one I ignored the most bc ofc, this is a romance book, and I was actually rooting for them: that I don't love when a MC is constantly telling their family "I don't want to date, I'm happy by myself, I do not need you to set me up on dates, I actually hate it" and their pushy family doesn't accept it only for the MC to, in fact, fall in love/realize that they weren't happy by themself. The petty side in me doesn't like giving the pushy families the satisfaction lmao

But one thing I ADORED were Iris's friends! At first I was a little lost ngl, when they're first introduced via group chat, because I couldn't keep up with who was who and who was with who, but I know that's on me for starting on the last book of the trilogy lmao, and once I was able to keep them straight, they're just the most supportive, lovely group of friends <3 (specially compared to Stevie's 😒 cuz I don't let Vanessa off the hook either, even tho I didn't talk about her when talking about Adri

,but dating your supposed best friend's ex two months after they broke up?? Hell no, not even the "queer spaces are tight knit" excuse can save that for me

. And now that I think about it, Ren felt way more like Stevie's best friend that Vanessa did)

I also LOOOVED Stevie's character growth, at the end, I felt she was the MC more than Iris (tho, since it was dual POV I'm pretty sure they're both of them are MCs, and neither is just "the love interest") because through most of the book I didn't feel like Iris got much development

besides her getting out of her writing slump and becoming more of a romantic

, Stevie FLOURISHED. I might be a little biased tbf, bc I saw myself on Stevie a lot (I don't have an anxiety diagnosis and I don't think I've ever had a panic attack, but a lot of Stevie's problems with one night stands, romance, and confidence I felt applied to me too), but I just think she grew a lot and I loved seeing her stand up for herself

and then moving to NY and, even tho she got anxious sometimes, pushing through it knowing she can do whatever she put her mind to

Content Warnings

aelis_'s review against another edition

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lighthearted

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

I hated it. I was hoping for aromantic (or asexual) representation and I didn't get it, which was fine (even if it was disappointing).

But then, the book went on to show that people who "don't date", who just do sex or who are aromantic are broken and would be so much happier if they stop being broken and just started getting in relationship instead.

The book also does a terrible job at NOT slut shaming its main character. Really, by the end of the book you will be convince that sex without feelings is just not worth it. And the sex is so much better with feelings.

Also, they do say that Stevie is NOT on the asexual spectrum but, honestly? It also feels like they are saying that people who don't do sex are all broken somehow and they just need someone to magicaly fix them.

So yeah, this book felt really judgy but don't worry! If you are aromantic or asexual, true love will cure you!

And yeah, I know that this wasn't the message this book was aiming for, but it's still was the message that I got. This book wanted so much to be inclusive of LGBT+ people but just ended up being the most arophobic book I have ever read.

Maybe if in one of the three book their was some ACTUAL aro or ace character, things would have been different. But here? We just get a "oh no, I'm not aro/ace" and that's it and we never ever even see the shadow of an aro/ace character. Even less a happy aro/ace character who would be perfectly fine with not having a romantic or sexual relationship.

In short, the representation in this book was just truly terrible and I hated it.

But hey, congrats I guess. You are this year "worst book I've read".

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As a side note, I though there was way too much sex scene in this book, but that might just be me.

Content Warnings

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