Why Emma doesn't believe the words of her partner of what was it, 7 years? Why Emma left without proper explanation from Cain? She just assumes and leaves just like that. On top of that all characters are one dimensional and the general flow of the story too predictable while some plot turns come straight outta left field and don't make much sense to me. Everyone in this book assumes and doesn't communicate. Moving on.ĭNF Emma is so stupid I can't even wrap my head around it. Cain seems as abusive as a leading man in a traditional heteropatriarchal romance.

Romance novels are meant to be predictable.however they are also meant to be enjoyable. As someone who thinks all women can and ought to exercise agency this book made me sick. In general she is passive though, being a pawn of her wife (she gets to be 'Mrs' Casey (vomit), her mother and even her supposed to be likeable father.Ĭain objectifies all other women leading me to ask what is even queer about this book apart from Cain not technically having a penis? The story moves forward and back clumsily to flashbacks to the idealised time when Cain and Emma met.Īs a feminist lesbian. The other protagonist (or just love interest considering how little agency she has) is portrayed as being a 'bitch' and/or having made a mistake for having decided that she could get over a traumatic sexual assault best by exercising some choice and being consulted not by passively/submissively letting her more dominant partner handle the situation. She seems to have no vulnerabilities, her cocky demeanour seems to hide an even cockier heart. She is controlling to the point of emotional abuse of her partner (even though she meets her every need (apart for the need for choice/agency) and acts tenderly.

But coming back to the 'butch' character with the odd name that is almost a given of these books, I found her one of the most unlikeable protagonists I have ever met. I feel like going on a side rant about the depictions of lesbian relationships as butch/femme binaries and the invisibility of lesbians like me in most of these books in general. A clear case for the argument that queer is not always good.

The Cain Casey Series by Ali Vali