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“All I asked you was, will it hurt or not?”
Cora’s face went unexpectedly, unusually soft. She kissed Alice’s cheek very gently. “No, Alice. I won’t let it.” Another kiss. “You’ve taken three of my fingers. I promise you can handle this. And you’ll like it.”

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Honestly, my memory of this novella is really hazy, but I recall reading it soon after I'd finished The Great Gatsby, which worked really well for me since I was already sort of immersed in this time period. Some parts of this novella were really good:

But Alice didn’t kiss her again. Instead she turned her head and reached for the cigarette holder and lighter on the table. She pressed the lighter into Cora’s hand.
Then she placed the holder between her painted lips, grinned around it, and batted her eyelashes. “You can start by giving me a light,” she said.

However, there was some dialogue that really watered down the experience for me. I believe it was in attempt to make the characters' dialogue align with the time period, but I just found it to be unbearably cringey and ill-fitting.

“You are divine, sublime, come now, yes…”

Everybody look to the left...everybody look to the right. I'd definitely be aggressively laughing if someone said that to me during sex, but more likely I'd be packing up and leaving. And I think this generally lends to my point that the interactions between characters were a little too serious for my taste. Although I can't deny that I love a well-build up scene of tension, I felt this book was lacking a lightness or...smiley-giggley quality. Lastly, this type of dialogue didn't work for me either...

“Knowing that I dance for you every night. Just for you.”
“Just for me,” Cora said, her eyes still closed. She started to sound delirious. “Just…just for…”

Maybe it's a personal thing, but I just find this to be awkward and uncharming. Still though, I remember there being flowers (?), which were cute, and I did like the plotline and the sex. I haven't actually read any of this author's work yet, so this was me dipping my toes. For now, I can see that some parts of her work will work for me and others won't, but only time will tell!

We do need more steamy sapphic novellas though, so props to this one for existing 🤭. I also think the cover is really stinkin cute!

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silverjarp's review

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hopeful fast-paced

Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

reneetc's review

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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