Experienced
A Novel
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- ¥1,000
発行者による作品情報
“A fizzing, lip-chewing, collar-bone biting, palm-sweating roller-coaster of a rom-com that is both the sexiest book you'll read all year and the most heartening.” —Caroline O'Donoghue, New York Times bestselling author of The Rachel Incident
“A joyful, exhilarating romp of a romance!” —Ashley Herring Blake, bestselling author of Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date
Bette is in love for the first time in her life. Finally, everything makes sense. Until it doesn’t.
As Bette approached thirty, she realized something big: she’s into women. And then she fell for Mei, who’s entirely perfect. Until, out of the blue, Mei suggests they take a break. She wants Bette to have the opportunity she missed out on in her twenties: to explore the queer dating scene, and then return certain about their future, her desires, and herself.
Reluctantly, Bette sets out on a mission: date hot women and have hot casual sex, before returning to her loving girlfriend. Maybe, put that way, it doesn’t sound so bad…
Often heady and thrilling, occasionally cringe, Bette’s odyssey will take her to some unexpected places. But with her new friend, the gorgeous and self-assured Ruth, as her queer dating guide, Bette can’t possibly fail. Right?
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.
