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A review by hartd
Handle with Care by Josephine Myles
2.0
The blurb and the other reviews do a good job of describing this, so I'm not going to summarize the plot. I hovered between one and two stars and decided on two, because the book is well-paced and kept my attention. But I was rolling my eyes at it a lot. This review is mean, I'm sorry.
Age difference is not my favorite trope in general and I did not really get into the pairing here, but my two major problems with this book weren't about the age difference.
I really should've known I was in for something out-of-touch when the central premise is that a 33-year-old man is having porn DVDs delivered to his house. Would a young-ish guy who works in software really a) pay for porn and b) buy it on DVD? But maybe there are reasons people would do this that I don't understand.
Less forgivably, there are some off-handed comments that really made me uncomfortable:
Why would these things prevent someone from being a model? I don't think that's even true.
And then, later:
These are the only characters of color in the book, btw, except for Omar's wife, who has a wise-WoC thing going on.
My other major problem with this book has to do with the sex. The characters start hooking up fairly early into the book, but they don't have anal sex until the last sex scene, because of Ben's health problems. This kind of escalation of sex acts is normal in romance novels, but it's usually unspoken. It is not all that common to make it seem that the couple has not really had sex until they've had anal sex. However, in Ben's mind, and probably in Ollie's, anal sex is the only real kind of sex.
This concept is heteronormative, it makes me uncomfortable, and it isn't really romantic to me, especially because sex (specifically, having orgasms) is a risk to Ben's health. I think there was an opportunity here for something I would've really enjoyed: Ben pleasuring Ollie and both characters being satisfied with that, until Ben had his doctor's permission to do other things. Instead Ben's health needs drove some really ridiculous drama, and in the end they were both irresponsible about it.
I don't know. In my opinion, this book is pretty insensitive.
Age difference is not my favorite trope in general and I did not really get into the pairing here, but my two major problems with this book weren't about the age difference.
I really should've known I was in for something out-of-touch when the central premise is that a 33-year-old man is having porn DVDs delivered to his house. Would a young-ish guy who works in software really a) pay for porn and b) buy it on DVD? But maybe there are reasons people would do this that I don't understand.
Less forgivably, there are some off-handed comments that really made me uncomfortable:
Tall and dark-skinned, he looked like he’d have fit in better modelling than working as a lowly porter, if it weren’t for the gold tooth and long dreadlocks hanging down his back.
Why would these things prevent someone from being a model? I don't think that's even true.
And then, later:
A tall, dark-skinned bloke stood backlit by the hallway lighting—the same one I’d seen Ollie with that time I went spying at the ramps. It could only be Omar. He was wearing nothing more than a pair of baggy silk trousers and a ferocious scowl. With his shaved head and hooked nose, he looked like some kind of warrior out of the Arabian Nights.
These are the only characters of color in the book, btw, except for Omar's wife, who has a wise-WoC thing going on.
My other major problem with this book has to do with the sex. The characters start hooking up fairly early into the book, but they don't have anal sex until the last sex scene, because of Ben's health problems. This kind of escalation of sex acts is normal in romance novels, but it's usually unspoken. It is not all that common to make it seem that the couple has not really had sex until they've had anal sex. However, in Ben's mind, and probably in Ollie's, anal sex is the only real kind of sex.
This concept is heteronormative, it makes me uncomfortable, and it isn't really romantic to me, especially because sex (specifically, having orgasms) is a risk to Ben's health. I think there was an opportunity here for something I would've really enjoyed: Ben pleasuring Ollie and both characters being satisfied with that, until Ben had his doctor's permission to do other things. Instead Ben's health needs drove some really ridiculous drama, and in the end they were both irresponsible about it.
I don't know. In my opinion, this book is pretty insensitive.