This is your basic, easy reading lesbian romance, but with some pacing issues that are obviously due to having to write and dissect 12 dates so the "third act breakup" happens at the 90% mark and ends up being rushed.
That said, Dumond could have avoided a slew of 1 star reviews from some very angry lesbians if she'd avoided stepping on the rake of including trans men in her definition of "lesbian". Now, I am not the definitive authority on the definition of the word "lesbian" and you might believe that lesbians with this particular hangup are chronically online, but this isn't actually about that, it's about understanding your audience.
Lesbians will buy almost anything with lesbian representation and as such, they're going to make up an outsized portion of your readership. Can lesbians date trans people who use he/him pronouns? Absolutely. There are literally two stripes in the flag dedicated to gender non-conformity and complicated relationships to womanhood. The thing is that as language develops around this, trans men who identify as men generally aren't going to also be identifying as lesbians, while trans masc people are. And yes, these nuances are important because even the loosest definition of lesbianism excludes men. And lesbians are notoriously protective of their label because it's been used by straight women to avoid men, bi women who think there's something wrong with being bi, and porn categories while simultaneously being used as an insult, as the 1973 song "Nobody Likes a Dyke" points out. It felt very much like a baby white feminist mistake where inclusion is forced at the cost of intersectionality.
And as some of the 1 star reviewers point out, trans men who identify as men also identifying as lesbians invalidates the "maleness" of trans men who want nothing to do with womanhood. Terms are important and more care should have been taken to avoid this.
And if you don't care about labels and believe people shouldn't take them so seriously, that's your prerogative, just know that a very significant portion of the sapphic reading demographic does and you'll continue to accumulate 1 star reviews.
I've also compiled a list of people who will be offended by this book, though they probably won't make up as large a portion of the intended audience, so brace yourself if you fall into one of these categories.
- Virgos
- Republicans
- People who don't like other people who think you can "look" gay or straight.
- Scorpios (but they should be used to being the villains)
Lastly, it's refreshing to see an author tackle the absolute shittiness that comes with growing up in an evangelical home without downplaying it for the sake of sparing the feelings of lesbians who still have ties to the church. I too had to attend conversion therapy and was ultimately kicked out at 16 and cannot think of a single thing that evangelical Christianity provided for me that wasn't a) completely harmful or b) couldn't be obtained through any or no belief system at all. An extra star was added just for that.
Tl;dr, an easy reading romance with some missteps that will alienate a large part of the intended audience and some pacing issues, but talented writing nonetheless. I look forward to reading more of Dumond and hope some more precision around labels.