- #1
Solid 4/5☆.Overall was pleased, I wasn't left feeling particularly annoyed, but after finishing it's easier to remember the flaws.First thing: it was funny. Like, really funny. This author crams some idiot ball in, but there were many minor misunderstandings that were very realistic and hilarious (ie, autocorrect typo of S/M instead of insomnia). I shared many intentionally goofy passages with my roommate, who prefers slice of life with a heavy dose of comedy.Secondly: dealt with disability and h*mophobia largely well. They weren't angst wells, only problems when it was time for the plot to deal with them.Xiao Feifei was my favorite character. It was pretty obvious that the author was not in this field and didn't exactly understand, but equally obvious that lots of research was done nonetheless. Seeing what Dr Song said and later namedropping Wechsler scales really impressed me. It was pretty clear that she was very sensory-seeking and sensitive to people being impatient with her. She had a strong sense of identity and we learned many miscellaneous things about her, and many of her outside interactions were very realistic. This is honestly pretty rare for nonverbal-leaning characters explicitly on the spectrum. I love and cherish her, and her brother's care and patience for their rapport. She was essentially a plot device, but she didn't *feel* like just a plot device.The sweet parts were very sweet, and the steamy parts were steamy. It was good fluff, drama, and s*xual tension. Surprisingly, the more diplomatic closure was just as satisfying as more direct face-slapping imo!MC held the idiot ball, and has a huge problem with internalizing his emotions (including embarrassment) that is likely connected to being disowned. He was at least explicitly into being pushed around by ML as a turn-on, rather than typically boring dominance.ML made fun of MC being a child, but didn't see him as a literal child. It's like how I call my roommate a fetus dismissively and joke-parent them even though they're 26. The author also made it clear that MC is like ML compensating for his own lost developmental stage of young adulthood, which I appreciated for the explicit dimension it added to his character and the relationship.Between Grandma, Yan Yan, and Feifei, I think the author shows a lot of dimension with strong female characters of major developmental stages that take no sh*t and love what they love. It was fun and appealing added color as a longtime BL consumer.Overall I would recommend reading this if you're up for something casual that isn't light as air. Like a similar mood to Assistant Architect, but much faster to read through.
