A review by princegene95
Spectacular by Stephanie Garber

fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This review contains HEAVY spoilers for Spectacular. This review is also about consent. 
Ummm….what is this book? I went into this thinking it was going to be a happy little holiday book. But the content warnings were correct, this book contains sa, and it’s written off to be completely fine. I want to make clear, blindfold kinks and bondage kinks can be fun if done in the right way. However, kidnapping someone and forcing them to go through that is not ok. Having the mc panic and be like “this is fun but I don’t know who this person is” is not ok. Especially when the mc is telling the other person to stop and they aren’t. And I can hear you say “oh, but she was just being groped” or “but it turns out to be the boyfriend and she was into it”, that still doesn’t make it ok. Consent was never given or implying, and wrapping it back to the letter from the end of Finale is a nice touch to the original series, but still does not imply consent. Because consent was never there, it makes this book feel icky. 
When I originally glanced through the pictures, as the book is fully illustrated, I saw the photos of the mc tied up and blindfolded and was like “oh, she’s going to give herself to her boyfriend for the holidays and he’s going to be like ‘lol, wtf. You don’t need to’ and untie her” but that is definitely not what the book is like. I could see this being a good jumping off point for discussions on consent, but I’m afraid that it isn’t going to. And I think that’s what I dislike the most about this book. 
Do better Stephanie. The writing is fun, the message, not as much.
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