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sophbean 's review for:
In at the Deep End
by Kate Davies
I originally picked this book based on a recommendation from a friend, and while I wasn’t too wowed with the synopsis it seemed different to anything I have read in a while. I decided to give it a go based on the pretence that it seemed light hearted, romantic, and funny - three elements that, given the current pandemic, my life could use more of.
I would like to start by saying I utterly despised Sams character from the onset. She manipulates and gaslights Julia and has double standards about many aspects of their relationship. I found myself feeling incredibly angry at the moments she scoffs at Julia for having an opinion or expressing her feelings, or coerces her into things she is not comfortable doing. Despite all of these points however, her character was incredibly well written and I feel she actively portrayed the “sexy but bad for you” partner we have all had at one point in our lives.
On the other hand, I loved Julia - and actually related to her quite a few times as the book went on. New to the lesbian dating scene, Julia is quirky and amusing, but with a new found enthusiasm of a teenager with a crush who is just beginning to taste what true love and lust feel like. As a result of Sams behaviour Julia feels that she requires “curing” of her preference for monogamy in her relationship, and her loss of self esteem as the book went on was evident; the character development throughout was well written and believable, and one of the main reasons for my high rating of this book.
Having been in an abusive relationship, there were parts of this that made me cry. There we also parts that made laugh (where my current partner would look at me as if I had grown a second head because laughing when reading is something I never do). Overall I loved this book, and think all of the characters were incredibly well written. While not my usual type of story, it was refreshing and interesting to read a book based around LGBTQA+ relationships, and I would certainly read more of this authors work in the future.
I would like to start by saying I utterly despised Sams character from the onset. She manipulates and gaslights Julia and has double standards about many aspects of their relationship. I found myself feeling incredibly angry at the moments she scoffs at Julia for having an opinion or expressing her feelings, or coerces her into things she is not comfortable doing. Despite all of these points however, her character was incredibly well written and I feel she actively portrayed the “sexy but bad for you” partner we have all had at one point in our lives.
On the other hand, I loved Julia - and actually related to her quite a few times as the book went on. New to the lesbian dating scene, Julia is quirky and amusing, but with a new found enthusiasm of a teenager with a crush who is just beginning to taste what true love and lust feel like. As a result of Sams behaviour Julia feels that she requires “curing” of her preference for monogamy in her relationship, and her loss of self esteem as the book went on was evident; the character development throughout was well written and believable, and one of the main reasons for my high rating of this book.
Having been in an abusive relationship, there were parts of this that made me cry. There we also parts that made laugh (where my current partner would look at me as if I had grown a second head because laughing when reading is something I never do). Overall I loved this book, and think all of the characters were incredibly well written. While not my usual type of story, it was refreshing and interesting to read a book based around LGBTQA+ relationships, and I would certainly read more of this authors work in the future.