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whatsjennareading 's review for:
In at the Deep End
by Kate Davies
In at the Deep End is equal parts hilarious, frank, poignant, raunchy, and cringeworthy. This romantic comedy billed as a, Bridget Jones for queer millennials, read as more of a dramedy for me. I can absolutely see and agree with the Bridget Jones comparison for some aspects of the book. Julia’s first person voice is pretty perfect–she’s funny and sardonic and incredibly self aware. Passing time as a contractor in a dead end position, with a quirky group of coworkers and a boss that’s not always entirely professional, she could be doing more to further her career but she’s far too busy thinking about her sex life, or lack there of. Everyone she knows is having sex–the couple she lives with, her best friend, even her perpetually single coworker.
When the sexual frustration becomes too much to bear, Julia finally agrees to accompany her roommates to a party where she meets a lesbian named Jane. While nothing happens between them initially, the electric connection she feels around her is enough to make Julia realize that perhaps she’s just been looking for sex in the wrong places. After much trepidation she eventually does hook up with Jane, and the experience leaves her with no doubt that she is most certainly a lesbian. Quickly coming out to her friends, signing up for a queer dance class, and frequenting gay clubs, Julia wastes no time carving out her new place in the queer community.
Out with her new friends at a gay club one night, Julia meets Sam, a polyamorous lesbian with a sexual reputation that precedes her. They go home together and have a sexual encounter that I can only describe as detailed and clinical. With the NSFW label on the book and the glowing reviews about how honest and perfectly portrayed the sex is in this book, I was surprised by how underwhelmed I was. The sex scenes were vague and unremarkable aside from a very unexpected step by step guide to fisting and some very graphic descriptions of BDSM at sex parties. It is here where the book took a much darker turn. Sam is emotionally abusive and controlling and rather than falling in love, Julia seems to develop an obsession for her. The scenes between them were rage inducing and hard to read and I spent the rest of the book rooting for them to break up.
It’s not all heaviness and despair though, and Davies does a great job to break up the gloom with hilarious interactions with Julia’s friends and parents, and a sweet side story with an elderly man she meets through work. These bits along with an uplifting conclusion are enough to keep the book funny and light, but it’s certainly more drama than I’m used to in a romcom. Overall, I would recommend this one–with several trigger warnings– I learned quite a bit and am still thinking about Julia and her friends over a week later. I look forward to reading whatever Davies comes up with next!
Thank you so much to Mifflin Harcourt books for the review copy in exchange for my honest review!
When the sexual frustration becomes too much to bear, Julia finally agrees to accompany her roommates to a party where she meets a lesbian named Jane. While nothing happens between them initially, the electric connection she feels around her is enough to make Julia realize that perhaps she’s just been looking for sex in the wrong places. After much trepidation she eventually does hook up with Jane, and the experience leaves her with no doubt that she is most certainly a lesbian. Quickly coming out to her friends, signing up for a queer dance class, and frequenting gay clubs, Julia wastes no time carving out her new place in the queer community.
Out with her new friends at a gay club one night, Julia meets Sam, a polyamorous lesbian with a sexual reputation that precedes her. They go home together and have a sexual encounter that I can only describe as detailed and clinical. With the NSFW label on the book and the glowing reviews about how honest and perfectly portrayed the sex is in this book, I was surprised by how underwhelmed I was. The sex scenes were vague and unremarkable aside from a very unexpected step by step guide to fisting and some very graphic descriptions of BDSM at sex parties. It is here where the book took a much darker turn. Sam is emotionally abusive and controlling and rather than falling in love, Julia seems to develop an obsession for her. The scenes between them were rage inducing and hard to read and I spent the rest of the book rooting for them to break up.
It’s not all heaviness and despair though, and Davies does a great job to break up the gloom with hilarious interactions with Julia’s friends and parents, and a sweet side story with an elderly man she meets through work. These bits along with an uplifting conclusion are enough to keep the book funny and light, but it’s certainly more drama than I’m used to in a romcom. Overall, I would recommend this one–with several trigger warnings– I learned quite a bit and am still thinking about Julia and her friends over a week later. I look forward to reading whatever Davies comes up with next!
Thank you so much to Mifflin Harcourt books for the review copy in exchange for my honest review!