Melissa Kendall

Size 18 heroine! Woohoo!! (3.5 stars)

Ok, just one pet-peeve from BBW romance books: they often have this moment where the super-hot dude is like, "I know what it is like to be judged by my looks, too! People look at me and see a brainless muscle-bound hottie!" Just FYI: it is not. The. Same. When people judge me by my looks, they don't change their mind about my looks, they just come to value me as smart and capable and talented. When hot people get judged for being hot, people come to realize the are hot and smart and capable and talented, etc. It is just not an equivalent experience. Like when naturally very skinny women claim to understand the experience of very fat women because (some of) society looks askance at their ribs showing: yes, it is fucked up (some of) society's body standards shame you for being underweight, but it is not the same as going through life as an overweight person, full stop. Nuance and context and social norms matter, let's not be reductive, folks!

Gender studies rant aside, boy, did I enjoy reading this! [b:Curve My Appetite|17621462|Curve My Appetite|Melissa Kendall|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1363535385s/17621462.jpg|24588561] was so short and just did not have time to really dig into Sally and Dean's relationship. This (also too-short) story fleshed out their time together and growing intimacy and relationship conflict. I'd love to see more like this!… (plus d'informations)

First: Sally's cup size is F! Yay! I am reading this on the heels of a story about a size eight woman who thought she was fat 🙄, so details like this help me identify with the heroine as a fellow plus-size lady.

Ok, as much as I love my BBW sex stories, I just could not stop laughing at this premise. A rich, gorgeous, famous actor hits up a hookup sex service looking for forever-love with a chubby woman?? If he was a billionaire Dom shifter, we would have Absurd Erotic Short Story Bingo.

I mean, I get it, I really do. I am a plain, plus-sized, middle-aged single woman. I know that the rest of my sex life is going to be largely comprised of a series of disappointing one-night stands when the itch just gets to be too much. I love the idea of someone fascinating and gorgeous and protective falling hard for me and worshiping my body. But I just cannot get into stories that expect me to suspend my disbelief to such a ridiculous degree. (2.5 stars)

P.S. Personal pet peeve: we need to stop giving the message that one-night stands will lead to love if the woman is just special enough or whatever. There are already enough women chasing dudes that just want to get their dick wet in the hopes that he'll fall for her. It doesn't happen 95% of the time, ladies. Go out there and have fun, but don't lie to yourselves or read into men's actions, looking for hope that he's falling in love. Be honest and realistic and pragmatic, and true to yourself. Also, seriously consider dating women, it's soooooooooo much more emotionally fulfilling 9 times out of 10.

P.P.S. I know this is a very short story, but if you're gonna do insta-love, at least make it so I cannot recall verbatim the sum total of seven sentences the characters have spoken to each other. Throw in a "they talked for hours, getting to know each other and discussing everything and nothing" or just SOMETHING so that I don't roll my eyes at a heroine who can "picture a life" with a dude she has literally exchanged two paragraph's worth of dialog with. And this goes for WAY more stories than this one.

Edited to add: GO READ [b:Learning Curve|30161646|Learning Curve|Melissa Kendall|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1463753301s/30161646.jpg|50599278] AFTER YOU READ THIS!… (plus d'informations)