I mean, yeah. That's the entire point? Heated Rivalry, the book, is about loneliness and isolation and shoving yourself so deeply in the closet that you can't see anything outside of it, except you can't deny yourself one fundamental sweetness. The one that allows you to express your true self.

Y'all sound like someone trying to review a horror movie without having watched one before or knowing what a horror movie entails. "Ew there's blood! Ugh scary stuff happens, why would anyone watch this??? The lighting is so bad I can't see the corners of the room?????"

So people with media/culture criticism gigs who are writing or talking about Heated Rivalry right now: please, if you have never picked up a romance novel before, I'm begging you, either close-read at least a dozen from different subgenres, or pass the critique baton to somebody who has.

That and the music giving me Challengers and Feist in ep 1 😮‍💨