I really wanted to love Sex Romp Gone Wrong. However, this collection of short stories by Julia Ridley Smith wasn’t quite what I was expecting.
What’s Sex Romp Gone Wrong about?
Sex Romp Gone Wrong covers relationships and friendships, love and romance, marriage and kids, and all the blurred lines in between. Based on the wonderfully intriguing title — the sole reason I requested an ARC of this book — I expected the stories to be a little more exciting. A little funnier.
A little “rompier.”
Unfortunately, the title was probably the funniest part of the book.
There’s humor in each short story, but most of the collection is more introspective than I anticipated. Over-thinking shit is great and all, but I really wanted to lose myself in a few belly laughs. And, that just didn’t happen.
It’s me. Hi. I’m the problem.
I was similarly unhappy when I read Love Like That: some of the stories were neatly self-contained, but most of them began en medias res (“in the middle of things”) and ended the same way.
I like my stories to have a beginning, middle, and end, and for “the point” to appear by the end. I can handle there not being a tidy wrap-up, but the story better blow me away.
Most of the stores in Sex Romp Gone Wrong left me wondering a) what was the point of this?, and 2) …did I miss something???
Since this pattern happens with almost every short story collection I read, I’m starting to think the problem is me, not them. #CueTaylorSwift
What are the best and not-so-best stories in Sex Romp Gone Wrong?
My favorite stories in Sex Romp Gone Wrong are “Don’t Breathe, Breathe,” which kicks off the collection; “Delta Foxtrot”; and “Flown”. These stories’ insights into friendships and relationships appealed to me, and the tales themselves were more or less self-contained. If the story ended abruptly, it made sense as to why.
Sadly, the titular “Sex Romp Gone Wrong” was underwhelming. There was sex in the story… and it didn’t really go according to plan… But, the action “went wrong” in a different direction than I was hoping for, and the whole story just didn’t deliver.
I only skimmed “Teeth” on the premise of its formatting issue alone. And, I completely skipped over “Damn it, damn it, damn it.” It’s the penultimate story, it’s long, and, by that point, I was just ready to be done with the book.
Should you read Sex Romp Gone Wrong?
If you regularly read short stories, you’ll probably enjoy Sex Romp Gone Wrong more than I did. Author Smith is a good writer, and her characters and scenarios engaged me even though many of the tales left me feeling unsatisfied at the end (sex romp gone wrong, indeed.)
Although I received a complimentary advance copy of Sex Romp Gone Wrong from Kaye Publicity, all opinions expressed in this review are my own, and I was not compensated in any way for this review or for any other promotion/publicity I’ve done related to this book.
