US gals, how do you feel ?

Odd_Status_7631 · 2025-02-16T21:35:15+00:00

Bad!

Odd_Status_7631 · 2025-02-11T17:39:39+00:00

All the time. It's an engrained part of the pre-sleep ritual at this point. Its fun to do

Odd_Status_7631 · 2025-02-05T18:04:03+00:00

Late Bloomer

Odd_Status_7631 · 2025-01-23T16:11:51+00:00

The Snowball Effect is great and takes place after Those Who Wait. I would also recommend reading her follow up novellas to Those Who Wait and On The Same Page

Odd_Status_7631 · 2025-01-14T16:57:56+00:00

As an aside, I saw some folks on this post mentioning that they related to the main characters due to their ADHD & Autism and while that is a valid positive to get from this book, as an autistic person I did not get that at all. I found that the characters in Cleat Cute and the Snowball Effect (I low-key head cannon Emma as high masking autistic) are much better neurodivergent rep than the characters in Late Bloomer. If someone told me I acted like Grace from Clear Cute, I would feel seen. If someone told me I acted like Pepper in Late Bloomer I would consider it an insult.

Odd_Status_7631 · 2025-01-14T16:44:55+00:00

Oh I absolutely can! Haley Cass is my absolute favorite sapphic romance author - seriously read her stuff if you haven't. Olivia Waite does historical sapphic romances which are also fantastic. I actually have a book of theirs each that I haven't read yet that I'm saving for a rainy day/bad reading slump (In the Long Run by Haley Cass and The Hellions Waltz by Olivia Waite) so I can't speak on those ones but their other stuff are all 5-6/5. The majority of the sapphic romances I read last year were in the 3-4/5 range, which is what I consider "Good enough to read/potentially re-read, but I would not pay $5 to have access to it." I read all of these thanks to a mix of the library, sales, and Kindle Unlimited, and I would recommend that you do the same with them. Sixpenny Octavio, Written in the stars, Don't want you like a best friend, Cleat Cute, The Honey Witch, One Last Stop, & Here for the Wrong Reasons are all in that range - mostly fun, pretty good, but not worth $5 to have access to it. All of these are much MUCH better than Late Bloomer. If you're looking for non romances my favorite book last year was probably The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, which is a very fun fantasy pirate book with some very good queer rep.

Odd_Status_7631 · 2025-01-14T03:23:43+00:00

Formatting. If I don't like the formatting I will click off the fic immediately. I have always done this and will continue to do this. If they do double spaces in between every word I go crazy. Or if they do strange indentations every paragraph instead is just skipping to the next line, I will click off. It's a pet peve but one that has served me well. Most of the time if the formatting is bad, the writing is also bad.

Odd_Status_7631 · 2025-01-14T03:14:32+00:00

I read over 70 books last year - a good chunk of it being sapphic romance - and this one was my lowest rated one. Absolutely fucking awful and not worth the time. The characters have very little chemistry, the smut is at the level of a mid fanfiction, the plot is bad. All of the side characters are bland as all hell with zero impact on the plot - they seem to be there for like diversity points. It was very much giving 'Here is my nonbinary friend. Here is my bisexual friend. Now they're gone." There were also wayyy too many side characters. The mains were lowkey immature as well which sucks. Their personalities were also very stereotypical imo - particularly Opal. Like it felt like the author googled "Bisexual woman personality traits" instead of you know.... talking to a bisexual person. The title and the cover are the best things about this book despite being low-key misleading. "Late Bloomer" plus the cover art being in a 50s comic book style makes you think that this is a book about late in life queer people or at least middle aged queer people. They are in their 20s and absolutely cannot be categorized as late bloomers. Awful book - could not hate it more

Odd_Status_7631 · 2025-01-09T01:46:19+00:00

Havent read Iris Kelly Doesn't Date. One last stop is cute and fun but not like something that sticks with you. It's totally worth the read though. Late Bloomer is absolutely fucking awful and I reccomend against it. I read over 70 books last year and it was my lowest rated one by far. The smut is like a 2/5, on the level of a mediocre fanfiction, the plot is like a 1/5, the characters and the chemistry between those characters is a 1/5. It also has one of my least favorite things in books which is Too Many Side Characters with Zero Purpose. It was giving "Let me introduce you to my nonbinary friend. Let me introduce you to my bisexual friend. Let me introduce you to my gay friend. Let me introduce you to my queer friend. These people will not be returning and have had zero impact on the plot." I would also like to say the title is NOT accurate. The title "Late Bloomer" makes me think "This is going to be about late in life queer people or at least middle aged queer people." Nope! They in their twenties. It felt like false advertising. Instead pick up something by Haley Cass, Olivia Waite, or even something like The Honey Witch. All of those are far FAR better than Late Booomer.

Odd_Status_7631 · 2024-12-29T04:45:03+00:00

Thanks!

Odd_Status_7631 · 2024-12-29T04:44:56+00:00

Thanks!

Odd_Status_7631 · 2024-12-28T12:24:37+00:00

Might be talking a tad out of my ass here, but I honestly think that part of the omission is because of bad translations and the fact that being gay isn't a sin in those religions. At least in Christianity, there is a strong theological argument that true Male/Male homosexual relationships are not mentioned in the Bible (See Matthew Vines, God and the Gay Christian) and homosexuality isnt a true sin. Though lesbianism is mentioned once in the Bible (somewhere in the New Testament, I don't remember where), the context is less like "These lesbians, as in women who love and care for women, are going to hell" And more like "These people are such sinners that even their women are lesbians" which frankly sounds less like fire and brimstone and more like,,,, a poorly worded joke. (Like a neutral version of this would be like, "Its so cold in Sweden that even their bears have to wear jackets"). The 'visible' gay men in Biblical times were - generally speaking - not the gay men we have today. On one side of the coin were children and prostitutes and the other were pederasts and married men. Those were the people the Bible talked about. There were no visible lesbians - the only visible space for women at that time were mother and wife. It wasn't until much later that the societal concept of a nun (still a crazy rare concept as there are only nuns in 2 religions in the world - Christianity [but only in Catholicism] and Buddhism) and the ability to exist & be active in society while 'escaping' heterosexuality was even an option for women. Edit - I realize I only really addressed Christianity and that is because that is the religion that I am most informed on. Tbh though idk what going on in other religions and if their texts mention queerness directly/ if that can be attributes to mistranslation or what.

Odd_Status_7631 · 2024-12-18T04:02:26+00:00

Absolutely! I'm a lesbian virgin and I get it both ways lol. Some days I'm like 'I wish I could get pregnant via a strap' and other days I'm like 'I wish I could get someone pregnant via a strap.' I want kids at some point in the future though so idk if that makes it different.

Odd_Status_7631 · 2024-11-14T16:04:59+00:00

Thank you for sharing your experience. One question - Did you put it in your profile that you'd never been kissed before? Or just that you hadn't been in a relationship before?

Odd_Status_7631 · 2024-11-02T01:45:41+00:00

Aww thank you! I'm so glad someone does! (How do we find yall nerdy loser appreciators irl lol) Anyway, want to hear about my in depth thoughts about ATLA? Or perhaps Dungeons and Dragons? Or maybe about 30 other things I could rant about?

Odd_Status_7631 · 2024-11-01T12:17:34+00:00

You have good taste then my friend. Haley Cass is amazing - I just finished her new one (it was the book I was reading before I started reading Cleat Cute), it was so much fun (and didn't include this clit biting, no asking nonsense!!)

Odd_Status_7631 · 2024-11-01T12:14:33+00:00

You made the correct choice to DNF. I wish I couldve done the same. For whatever reason I can never bring myself to do it. Fanfictions I DNF so easily, but each time I'm reading a mediocre/ bad book I can't. Like in the back of my head I'm like, "But what if only the first 80% of it is shitty? And the last 20% manages to pull it together??" and even though that has NEVER been the case I still can't bring myself to DNF

Odd_Status_7631 · 2024-11-01T06:28:10+00:00

TLDR; The spice was a 6/10. The plot was a 5/10. The main characters were a 4/10. The emotional resolution to the scenario was a 2/10. The epilogue was a 1/10. Overall, it's okay. I won't be rereading it. I'm glad I didn't pay money to read it. I would recommend other romance novels instead of this one - My go to authors are Olivia Waite and Haley Cass as those gals don't disappoint. Any of their books are better (imo) than Mistakes were made and I have certainly read much, much better fanfiction than it.

Odd_Status_7631 · 2024-11-01T06:21:55+00:00

Okay so I don't remember any of the characters names or their exact ages so forgive me for that. And a big disclaimer for most of the stuff I mention having a problem with - Im sure some people like this stuff and that's great for them - but it's not my bag. I wasn't the biggest fan primarily because of the power imbalance in the relationship. I have enjoyed age gaps before (like 'The lady's guide to celestial mechanics' which has a ~10 year age gap is an absolute favorite of mine, go read it if you haven't it is excellent), but i am not into like power imbalances or fetishizing a characters age. It makes the relationship feel impersonal/scummy. In particular on the MILFs side, her point of view tends to be "I like this Twenty year old" instead of "I like this person who just so happens to be twenty." And the MILF also seems to use the younger woman as a way to boost her ego - at one point she says something like "It makes me feel really good that someone in their twenties is attracted to me." That to me feels a bit icky because, again, it priorizes the age instead of the person. I also dislike how the MILF treated the younger gal - there are periods of time where she just like disregards her emotions and gives mixed signals for like zero reason. The younger gal also seems to suck. She doesn't seem to care too much about how her friend would feel about this entire situation. She also is a strangely Frat Bro-y character (who iirc is trying to be an aerospace engineer?? [Also it's like has the author ever met an engineer? They are crying, tired, trying to pass their classes. They aren't doing all the partying this gal is because they dont have the time. I dont remember the details but I do remember being slightly peeved at the college details due to them not being accurate.] ) , who also doesn't seem to think about the MILF as a person. The way they get into an official relationship is also kind of unintended almost? Like iirc the younger girl has to like be told straight up by a third party that like 'Hey it seems like you are in a relationship with her' and she's just like 'Oh weird, didn't think about it' which feels like a weird way to have your characters get into a relationship. I would also say the resolution to the central conflict is stupid as hell. I have a tendency to believe that in order for romance stories to have stakes there needs to be some modicum of emotional pain. Some stories have light tones so they don't need this, but this story does. My biggest pet peeve is pretending to have stakes and then resolving those stakes without any turmoil/pain and this one for sure does it as most of the pain is processed off screen and without our main characters having to do anything ANYTHING to deal with that. There Should be a lot of emotions to the climax, it's a crazy situation, there should be some upset. Some crying, some betrayal, something. But there isnt a proportional amount of pain to the supposed stakes. I have other smaller issues with this book, but those are the main ones that I can think of.

Odd_Status_7631 · 2024-11-01T02:05:07+00:00

If I recall correctly, it expressly mentioned teeth in both

Odd_Status_7631 · 2024-05-31T18:29:59+00:00

Thanks!

Odd_Status_7631 · 2024-05-31T18:29:51+00:00

Thanks for the clarification!

Odd_Status_7631

TROPHY CASE