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imme_van_gorp 's review for:
The Dating Disaster
by Saxon James
➛First read: September 2022 | ★4.0 stars
➛Second read: July 2023 | ★3.5 stars
This was a lot of fun with sooo much pining.
Marshall and Felix are pretty different, and not only in size. Felix is outgoing, flirty and very sex-positive. Marshall is a bit shy, introverted and a virginal demisexual. When they are set up on a blind date, their clashing intentions and vibes immediately lead them to start out on the wrong foot.. Felix ends up feeling rejected, even though that was not what Marshall was truly feeling. This results in the two of them dancing around each other for a long time, both being pretty much smitten with the other, but never actually telling the other person how they feel. They end up feeling unsure where they stand with each other, and that pretty much goes on for the whole story.
I can see why some people might get frustrated with the amount of miscommunication in this book, but without it, we wouldn’t have had all that desperate longing between them, and I sure as hell wouldn’t have wanted to miss it. I actually really enjoyed a lot of those moments of misunderstanding.
I was also pretty obsessed with the depths of Marshall’s adoration when it came to Felix. He thought the world of him and desperately wanted to be more than friends or fuck buddies. It didn’t take him very long to know that this fiery twink was it for him, and it was great to see him not wanting to push Felix, but still never giving up on making him his.
➛Second read: July 2023 | ★3.5 stars
This was a lot of fun with sooo much pining.
Marshall and Felix are pretty different, and not only in size. Felix is outgoing, flirty and very sex-positive. Marshall is a bit shy, introverted and a virginal demisexual. When they are set up on a blind date, their clashing intentions and vibes immediately lead them to start out on the wrong foot.. Felix ends up feeling rejected, even though that was not what Marshall was truly feeling. This results in the two of them dancing around each other for a long time, both being pretty much smitten with the other, but never actually telling the other person how they feel. They end up feeling unsure where they stand with each other, and that pretty much goes on for the whole story.
I can see why some people might get frustrated with the amount of miscommunication in this book, but without it, we wouldn’t have had all that desperate longing between them, and I sure as hell wouldn’t have wanted to miss it. I actually really enjoyed a lot of those moments of misunderstanding.
I was also pretty obsessed with the depths of Marshall’s adoration when it came to Felix. He thought the world of him and desperately wanted to be more than friends or fuck buddies. It didn’t take him very long to know that this fiery twink was it for him, and it was great to see him not wanting to push Felix, but still never giving up on making him his.
“What am I to you?”
Everything. You’re every single thought, decision and daydream I have. Every single day.
But if I say that, guaranteed I’ll scare him off for good. It’s a hard question to answer because everything he is to me are things I can’t tell him. I can’t mention how I look at him and see my hopes for more. Or that his opinions mean more to me than anyone’s. That he’s the reason I’m happy half the time and the reason I’m exasperated and sexually frustrated the other half. Telling him that I’m on edge until I see him each day, and when I do it’s like something inside of me relaxes, sounds like some stalker-level bullshit. But every second that passes without an answer is taking his smile with it.
“You’re… wonderful.”
Although Felix was very fond of attention, it was obvious he had pretty low self-esteem behind all that bravado. And thus, sometimes I felt a bit bad for him when Marshall was being his dumb self by not making it more obvious to Felix how he felt about him. How hard would it have really been for him to tell Felix that he was demisexual and wanted more? Especially since it didn’t seem like Marshall was insecure or ashamed of it or anything like that. It definitely would have made everything so much easier between them. But, well, it would have also made this whole book a bit redundant, so I guess I just had to take my frustrations with Marshall’s stupidity as a small sacrifice to enjoy this book. At least Marshall’s intentions were always pure, so I was still able to like the guy plenty.
All in all, there were of course a few things I would have changed about this book, but I didn't mind any of it too much. I genuinely thought Felix and Marshall were cute together and their excessive pining was what made this book a standout for me!