Fluff and Nonsense

Trigger warning for discussion of rape.

This book started out cute. The basic premise is a classic college roommates scenario, one quiet and shy and the other outgoing, with the added bonus that they're mages.

Unfortunately, the story takes an abrupt turn into the ugly and, quite honestly, infuriating.

Kessex is shy and stand-offish, crushing on his roommate, not realizing his roommate is crushing right back. Dorrance, the roommate finally realizes he's shy. Invites him to a party ... and slips something into his drink. Drug has the side effect of making Kessex horny. Dorrance takes him home ... and fucks him, because Kessex won't stop begging for it. Even acknowledges that K will regret it in the morning, but does it anyway.

K wakes up the next morning, freaks out, and obviously freaks out MORE when he finds out it was Dorrance who drugged him. Dorrance apologizes et etc and explains "I just wanted to talk to you. The drug was to help you relax, to take away some of your inhibitions so you'd talk to me. If I had known it would make you horny, I wouldn't have given it to you. I tried to get you to sleep it off, but you begged me."

And apparently that makes it okay. K starts to go home, and they get to talking/arguing again, and eventually K says "And you can relax, I won't report you. It was my own fault for liking you."

Then Dorrance is apologizing again and concludes with I like you and because of last night, I know you like me too. But if that's changed, if you can look me in the eye and tell me you don't like me, if you can't forgive me, then I'll go report myself."

A few paragraphs later they're kissing and all is apparently well again. Because that is exactly how a rape victim would feel and react to being raped.

Then we get to the part where K asks for more of the drug, b/c he wants it so he's no shy (why does this story treat shyness like a disease, anyway. for the record, no shy person would be okay with ANY of this. No person would, period)

And I stopped reading after that, though near as I can tell the last chunk of the story is sex.

This story upsets me on so many levels. The guy was raped, and within hours he's over it and having sex with his rapist, whom he likes/loves? There are ways of writing excellent dubious consent fic. This book is not one of them. Whether the author intended it or not, this book treats rape like some harmless little mistake, like shy people should be okay with being drugged to stop being shy.

It also upsets me there are no good, clear warnings about this fic on the Smashwords page where I obtained it. Only 'questionable consent' at the end of the description. It wasn't questionable consent, it was rape.