TWO 3.5 Stars for I Like It Hard by Francis James Franklin #Bisexual #Aro @LT3Press

This was an interesting concept, not only the show format, but the personality of our protagonist, Helen. It’s made very clear how different she is, not only because she’s bisexual, but also because she’s aromantic. Both are things that are very difficult for “normal” people to understand, and because most people don’t, or won’t, even try, Helen becomes very lonely. I think she enters the “I Like It Hard” contest as a way to validate herself. She’s totally focused on winning the contest, not so much on what happens after. I think her speech at the end is what gives her the validation she was looking for. The problem I had was that all the detail about the show and the sex she had to have was in the first part of the story, the part about her two week training period before she even got to the live show portion of the contest. After we move to the show, it seems like everything is rushed, as far as the narration goes. We don’t really get much of an idea about the live shows Helen does, or the training that goes into them. Also the final, where we find out who wins feels almost anti-climactic. I would have liked a more developed ending. Overall, the story was interesting, and I liked Franklin’s style of writing.

Amy P.