Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

Well played Mr LaRocca, well damn played, and that writing was so visceral. I have immense fear for whatever dark and twisted alley the other two stories are going to drag me down.

2/ The Enchantment

I’m honestly more confused about this story, more specifically its ending, than I am anything else.

I understand it’s dealing with grief and coping with a horrific, surprising event, but I’m just sat wondering “what?”

I’m not quite sure what some of the events had to do with the plot, neither character really seemed to be dealing with anything in a normal way, and what was that weird bug creature at the end, what relevance did that have?

All in all, I wasn’t a fan of this one, it fell flat for me sadly.

3/ You’ll Find It’s Like That All Over

It felt more like a 50 page essay on how people can be willing to do anything not to offend someone else, and the feeling of embarrassment they get when it doesn’t go right.

I did gasp when they went into the attic, but overall it didn’t really inthrall me.

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hanniballecter's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.5

when i first read this book, it changed my brain chemistry. it's so genuinely special to me and, like, the first ever fucked up lesbian shit ive seen in my life. rereading it, though, its kinda mid honestly. one of those books thatd be better if it was written by an actual lesbian.

i adore the writing style, the descriptions, the poetry of it all; it's visceral, haunting, and has stuck with me since i first read it.

i still think a lot about when agnes so joyfully told zoe she finally had their "child" (a tapeworm). also, "fuck you. fuck you and your honesty." will forever stick with me, holy shit.

but, on the other hand, the chat message dialogue is kinda clunky and i dislike how it's advertised as mutual obsession when it's just zoe abusing agnes. the author's notes and the whole police report aspect are wholly unnecessary in my opinion, too; i feel the ending and the characters' fates should've been left ambiguous. it would've made the book, as a whole, hit a whole lot harder. i think describing the bdsm contract as "tortuous" in one of the author's notes was kinda stupid.

all in all, i greatly recommend this, but don't go into it expecting a mutually destructive relationship full of rotting gardenias and parasites and disturbing dreams. it's abuse, but it's poetic abuse. i think i would've liked this one more had i not been misled and had it not had those stupid ass author's notes.

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kfergy's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

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

4.25

My first thought after finishing this novella in one sitting: Well, that was fucked up. 👌🏻

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imogil's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

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

1.0

i should’ve listened to tiktok when they said it was lesbian torture porn. literally why was this written. even the authors note provided no clarity on why this was written. i hate that it was set out as if it was a true crime case - even though unfortunately that could make very poignant commentary on our societal obsession with “true crime” and not letting victims rest but i doubt the author went into this story thinking of that. he literally described their story as “a nightmarish fever dream of inspiration, an arduous ordeal of painstaking creativity.” i understand the want for portrayal of unhealthy bdsm dynamics i guess and the want for people to read gorey horror but it wasn’t even well written??? agnes did not show any signs of being mentally ill to the point that she could be exploited so whole heartedly. i HATED zoe and the fact that she did all of that to agnes - RUINED AGNES’S LIFE - just to see if she could. the only reason this book has 1 star is because the author - unfortunately - has a great grasp on descriptive language and i was able to picture a lot of this really well.
i do realise that this was a dead dove clearly labeled do not eat and yet i chose to eat the dove anyway. i have read many dd:dne fics and stories before and been fine - i guess this dead dove just wasn’t to my taste.

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