4.5 stars

this book made me so happy i literally just inhaled the entire thing in a couple of hours

i love romance tropes, sapphic couples, strong characters and development, and i love a good sex positive book; this was all of that. this is such a weird quirky book. from the beginning both cade and selena had such strong voices that grabbed me, their contrast was wryly funny and sweet and i loved the development of their relationship. it's definitely opposites attract but without the intensity of rivals to lovers, and any miscommunication falls more under the fear-of-getting-taking-a-chance trope than a true miscommunication trope, thank god. i feel like the tiniest bit of insta love there is gets offset by a) the lesbianism and b) it's mutual attraction fueled by strong emotion and quarter life crises.

i don't know how to describe this, but the sex/lust/yearning or this book wasn't super... horny. like it IS about a sex store so sex talk gets normalised of course, but it doesn't take away from their sexual chemistry. i actually appreciate the way sapphic sex is erotic but not explicit, even when it was. it just never felt oversexualised and the gaze didn't linger where it would've been gratuitous, if that makes sense. there's definitely sex scenes, but it's not exactly erotica. i don't know why this deserves a whole paragraph especially when i can't even fully verbalise my feelings, but i thought the whole book had a lovely female gaze and it was very refreshing.

anyway i accidentally started this before bed and now it's 4 am and i have work at 9, and i do not regret a thing. let that be my endorsement.