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A review by inkstndfngrs
Assist by L.A. Witt
2.0
Oof! This book was a *slog* to get through!!
I was hopeful and excited about the triad dynamic, but in all honesty: it really wasn’t done in what felt like a respectful way toward the actual polyamory community. I think the author dropped the ball on a lot of possibilities in showcasing how polyamory can (and does) work for many folks.
Once again, there was also a metric shit ton of drama for drama’s sake. And all of that drama was *constantly repeated* over and over and over… I don’t need to be beat over the head with each of these guy’s trauma!!
There was also just a lot of fucking nonsense! Like “most of the pictures of Justin are blurry because he’s so fast!” …If we can capture a still photo of a hummingbird, we can photograph Justin. Don’t be fucking stupid. And why on EARTH would you create a whole unique season structure just for the fucking hell of it?? Grab two actual NHL season schedules and figure it out! Also, correlate the teams to ACTUAL NHL cities. Don’t think I didn’t notice that too (Oakland previously was home to the Golden Seals, but that is a huuuuge throwback and you basically just tried to pretend like you know hockey history…).
And with 3 dueling perspectives, I had a hell of a time telling who was talking, until names were mentioned. There really wasn’t a lot separating these characters for me. Once again: they all struck me more as “women with penises”. Can men be sensitive and have emotional feelings?? Yes, of course. But they don’t *deal* with those feelings the same way women do, and all of the reactionary and avoidance happening in this book was very *female brain*.
My last complaint was how Keith’s coming out to his parents was handled. In that…it wasn’t. That could have been such a *good* dramatic inclusion and instead it was just boring. No growth anywhere. Massively disappointing.
I don’t like making assumptions about authors, but I am going to take a guess that LA Witt is not part of the polyamory community, nor does she seem to be any flavor or queer. That is generally ignored by other cishet folks who read queer fiction, but it’s hard to dismiss as someone who is in that demographic.
So, while I am apparently a masochist and will get around to reading the next in this series (it can’t be worse than this, right?? I shouldn’t jinx myself. I’ve been burned before), I am just really disappointed. Like I said before: if the author would do some research, stop saying complete fucking bullshit, talk to some actual gay & polyam people, and you know…just be better, this could have been an amazing story. Witt has enough experience under her belt at this point, she should be a good story teller. Instead, I get this… ugh.
Also, if the author HAD done the research, she would know that you shorten polyamorous to polyam (this seems to be the preference for many) or polya. Polynesian folks have been asking us to *not* shorten to “poly” since at least 2016. It’s a respect thing. Please update your language if you’re going to write a book representing a community and a relationship structure that relies on communication.
Just…do better, please?
I was hopeful and excited about the triad dynamic, but in all honesty: it really wasn’t done in what felt like a respectful way toward the actual polyamory community. I think the author dropped the ball on a lot of possibilities in showcasing how polyamory can (and does) work for many folks.
Once again, there was also a metric shit ton of drama for drama’s sake. And all of that drama was *constantly repeated* over and over and over… I don’t need to be beat over the head with each of these guy’s trauma!!
There was also just a lot of fucking nonsense! Like “most of the pictures of Justin are blurry because he’s so fast!” …If we can capture a still photo of a hummingbird, we can photograph Justin. Don’t be fucking stupid. And why on EARTH would you create a whole unique season structure just for the fucking hell of it?? Grab two actual NHL season schedules and figure it out! Also, correlate the teams to ACTUAL NHL cities. Don’t think I didn’t notice that too (Oakland previously was home to the Golden Seals, but that is a huuuuge throwback and you basically just tried to pretend like you know hockey history…).
And with 3 dueling perspectives, I had a hell of a time telling who was talking, until names were mentioned. There really wasn’t a lot separating these characters for me. Once again: they all struck me more as “women with penises”. Can men be sensitive and have emotional feelings?? Yes, of course. But they don’t *deal* with those feelings the same way women do, and all of the reactionary and avoidance happening in this book was very *female brain*.
My last complaint was how Keith’s coming out to his parents was handled. In that…it wasn’t. That could have been such a *good* dramatic inclusion and instead it was just boring. No growth anywhere. Massively disappointing.
I don’t like making assumptions about authors, but I am going to take a guess that LA Witt is not part of the polyamory community, nor does she seem to be any flavor or queer. That is generally ignored by other cishet folks who read queer fiction, but it’s hard to dismiss as someone who is in that demographic.
So, while I am apparently a masochist and will get around to reading the next in this series (it can’t be worse than this, right?? I shouldn’t jinx myself. I’ve been burned before), I am just really disappointed. Like I said before: if the author would do some research, stop saying complete fucking bullshit, talk to some actual gay & polyam people, and you know…just be better, this could have been an amazing story. Witt has enough experience under her belt at this point, she should be a good story teller. Instead, I get this… ugh.
Also, if the author HAD done the research, she would know that you shorten polyamorous to polyam (this seems to be the preference for many) or polya. Polynesian folks have been asking us to *not* shorten to “poly” since at least 2016. It’s a respect thing. Please update your language if you’re going to write a book representing a community and a relationship structure that relies on communication.
Just…do better, please?