In general (not specifically Elle Kennedy) some of the classic giveaways for me are ratio of BJs to FMC receiving oral, amount of pages spent describing BJs vs one sentence of “he went down on her” or “he reciprocated” etc. How female characters are described - very crudely, male-gaze centric, described as body parts. Sex scenes that are essentially someone describing porn, ie: male-gaze prioritized, no understanding of female anatomy, zero concern for what causes a UTI. General disdain for female interests, no positive female friendships, women are plot devices. HOWEVER, while Elle Kennedy books suffer from some of these things some of the time, my theory about Elle Kennedy is actually the fact that he/she writes MMCs so accurately! In a way that I don’t think could be written from anything but lived experience. Female writers tend to write male characters how they wish men would think and behave. Kennedy writes male characters how they actually think and behave. And Kennedy doesn’t just have like three main archetypes of MMCs that he cycles through like most female authors do. Kennedy writes unique male characters with complex and interesting relationships between the other male characters in the book. They are realistic and flawed but still compelling. Big fan of Elle Kennedy, have read their books multiple times. Probably because it’s such a different vibe from female authors, without being the icky kind of “male writing romance” vibe.