I received this book as an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review — thank you!

I'm not even sure where to begin for this one. I originally requested this book because I saw the title and I absolutely lost it. The concept seemed right up my alley, and I was really keen to read it. It had all the key elements to make for a potential five star read for me. But, alas... The execution.

For a non-fiction book that is supposed to have some degree of academic language, it did not achieve this. The language was far too wishy-washy and didn't take a strong stance on the arguments. I couldn't believe what the author was arguing because it didn't seem like she knew, either. That was a huge issue for me. Additionally, this was an extremely unbiased account from the perspective of a queer woman looking in on heterosexual relationships. I appreciate what the author was trying to get at (in pointing out some of the truly horrible and strange things that do occur as a part of heterosexual culture), but honestly. The entire text felt like it had an air of superiority and arrogance over anyone who happened to be heterosexual. It was a very weird thing to read, and it did not enhance the reading experience at all. I feel as though the author was somewhat projecting, because this is not he LGBT+ experience that I have at all. I definitely appreciate the truly strange parts of heterosexual culture, but I'm not acting as though LGBT+ experiences are vastly better. They are just different, with their own unique challenges. Comparing them is like comparing apples and oranges — it doesn't work out in the same way.

This book had so much potential, but I was really annoyed reading the entire thing, and I can't even fathom reading anything else with this sort of tone again. Get my an unbiased account of these issues and I will happily read them, but this... just wasn't it.

I agree that heterosexuality has some issues when the male gender has an air of entitlement and superiority but this is such a similar content book to a some of my recent titles, so this was a little annoying. Some of the same facts and thoughts are even shared between this book and Enititled by Kate Manne and the Sex Obsession by Janet Jokobsen. Seriously, much new material is seriously needed with these three books. It could be bought in a bundle!

Some good research and obviously anyone could tell the author is passionate about what she wrote, but it was off putting to me. Mediocre read, in my opinion, sorry to sound harsh. I read this so others don't have to,

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Available: 9/1/20