Experienced
-
- $13.99
-
- $13.99
Publisher Description
A CHATELAINE BEST BOOK OF SUMMER 2024
A fresh, sexy romantic comedy about a newly-out lesbian finding herself, finding her people and finding her partner—in that order.
Bette is in love for the first time in her life. When she turned 30, she realized she likes women and fell for Mei. Finally, everything makes sense. Until, out of the blue, Mei suggests they take a break so that Bette can go and do all the exploring she missed out on in her twenties—for her to plunge into the queer dating scene and return to Mei clearer about her desires, her preferences and her choice to be with Mei and Mei alone.
So, reluctantly, Bette is set on a mission: Date lots of hot women and have lots of hot casual sex, so she can come back to Mei and what she really wants. Put that way, maybe it doesn't sound so bad?
Bette's dating odyssey takes her to unexpected places, some cringingly disastrous, some heady and thrilling. Between dates, she learns to lean on her community and shake off the awkwardness of coming into self-understanding in her thirties. Not least, it turns out that love is waiting where she doesn't even expect to find it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Young's exuberant debut novel (after The Little Library Cookbook) follows the bumbling erotic adventures of a newly out lesbian. After coming out at 30, nonprofit worker Bette fell into an all-consuming relationship with artist Mei. She believes they're in it for the long haul and is blindsided when Mei suggests they take a three-month break for Bette to explore sex with other women. Bette hates this plan, but she's fundamentally a people pleaser so she agrees to try it. Encouraged by her found family of friends, she signs up for a dating app and soon makes brunch plans with sexy and sensitive PhD candidate Ruth, hoping for a casual hookup. Ruth, however, is quick to point out that brunch doesn't exactly send a no-strings-attached message. Noting that Bette is hopeless at this, she agrees to be a queer shoulder to lean on as Bette undergoes her "sex odyssey." Hilarity, secondhand embarrassment, and some sensual love scenes follow—and along the way, Bette starts to question who the right woman for her really is. It's good fun, especially for the first two thirds, which maintain an impressive buoyancy despite Bette's occasionally oppressive neuroses. Unfortunately, the ending, while swooningly romantic, doesn't offer the sense of closure that readers will hope for, leaving several subplots unresolved. Still, the path there is such a romp that readers will barely mind.
