Review: The Game of Sexes

The Game of Sexes
by Opal K. Dante

 

2.5 It wasn’t my kind of book stars

ARC kindly provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Before starting to read it, I had a very vague idea of what the book would be about. I expected a forbidden love and enough twists and turns to be rightly labeled a suspense erotic romance. On that front, it delivered. I liked how there was always something happening, especially in the second half of the novel.

I must admit, though, that this book was out of my comfort zone and I couldn’t quite relate to the characters or be pulled into the story the way I usually do. Also, the narration at times was rushed, characters taking life-changing decisions in the span of one nano-second. It didn’t seem realistic to me.

Which leads me to something that got me a tad confused. I thought this book would be kind of realistic within the bounds of fiction. I knew before getting into it that the unusual love-triangle was going to be different and that’s not what I’m referring to. I’m talking about some of the characters’ interactions, which at times felt surreal.The writing was good and it made me smile with some original constructions. That being said, the amount of ellipses was too high, especially at the beginning. It got better as the book progressed, but still it jumped to my eye a lot in the first chapters. Also Miss Dante has a very different way of treating taboo or erotic topics, which I didn’t mind all in all, but again, it wasn’t what I was expecting.

I believe my main issue with this book was the almost surreal quality of the events and interactions, which didn’t allow me to completely be swept away by the characters or the story. And although I liked the subtle sarcastic jabs, here and there, like when Evie comments on her misogynistic “grand-father’s” lack of female company, I didn’t enjoy it the way I expected to, hence the low rating.

I suppose readers more acquainted with the genre, or more open to different kinds of stories, will derive more pleasure than I did from it. Conversely, I wouldn’t recommend it to people who, like me, are very fond of their selected genres and, alas, tropes.