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A review by discarded_dust_jacket
Split or Swallow by Lindsay Straube
slow-paced
Misogyny is dripping from this book. There isn’t a single meaningful female character aside from the protagonist.
The plot itself takes place within the context of a competition wherein a bunch of women vie for the attention of one man, so I understand the need to set some other woman in the story up as “rivals.”
But you’re telling me there’s no other women in the town? NONE that are kind? NONE that have depth? The author doesn’t even bother to give most of them names; a lot of them are just mentioned in passing for the sake of insulting them.
Tem’s best friend is the stereotypical, sassy gay man, because, you know, that makes him safe! She doesn’t view him as competition!
The MC’s only personality trait is that she’s stubborn and argumentative. That’s it. She fights everyone about everything. There’s literally a point when Leo compliments her by saying “you look beautiful by the way,” and she goes “by the way? Is my beauty an afterthought to you?” Like girlfriend aren’t you tired? I’M tired.
Caspen provides us with a textbook example of what the cycle of abuse can look like: he smothers Tem with love and adoration while they’re together, all the while secretly manipulating and controlling her by withholding information from her and making decisions on her behalf (but it’s okay because he’s protecting her). He surveils her when they’re apart and punishes her if she does something to make him jealous. When she confronts him, he’s sweet again and she second guesses her own anger.
Leo’s character is incredibly underdeveloped. Tem hardly spends any time with him compared to Caspen. She spends like 60% of the book having sex with Caspen and goes on approximately five dates with Leo and yet we’re supposed to believe that she’s in love with them both equally and just cannot choose between the two?
The plot makes very little sense if you spend more than a second thinking about it. The last fifty pages or so are haphazardly thrown together; it’s obvious the author was just tired of writing and needed to wrap it up quick.
The plot itself takes place within the context of a competition wherein a bunch of women vie for the attention of one man, so I understand the need to set some other woman in the story up as “rivals.”
But you’re telling me there’s no other women in the town? NONE that are kind? NONE that have depth? The author doesn’t even bother to give most of them names; a lot of them are just mentioned in passing for the sake of insulting them.
Tem’s best friend is the stereotypical, sassy gay man, because, you know, that makes him safe! She doesn’t view him as competition!
The MC’s only personality trait is that she’s stubborn and argumentative. That’s it. She fights everyone about everything. There’s literally a point when Leo compliments her by saying “you look beautiful by the way,” and she goes “by the way? Is my beauty an afterthought to you?” Like girlfriend aren’t you tired? I’M tired.
Caspen provides us with a textbook example of what the cycle of abuse can look like: he smothers Tem with love and adoration while they’re together, all the while secretly manipulating and controlling her by withholding information from her and making decisions on her behalf (but it’s okay because he’s protecting her). He surveils her when they’re apart and punishes her if she does something to make him jealous. When she confronts him, he’s sweet again and she second guesses her own anger.
Leo’s character is incredibly underdeveloped. Tem hardly spends any time with him compared to Caspen. She spends like 60% of the book having sex with Caspen and goes on approximately five dates with Leo and yet we’re supposed to believe that she’s in love with them both equally and just cannot choose between the two?
The plot makes very little sense if you spend more than a second thinking about it. The last fifty pages or so are haphazardly thrown together; it’s obvious the author was just tired of writing and needed to wrap it up quick.