2.5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

His eyes held mine in a silent conversation, filled with unsaid words and hushed confessions that had yet to cross our lips. It was as if his stare was whispering secrets his voice couldn't articulate.

The Prism Society tells the story of childhood friends, Emma and Liam, as they separate after Emma leaves town to go to design school in NYC and Liam continues his college in UCLA. The story opens with Emma leaving and while it's clear that two years older Liam has missed Emma at college and there are some feelings there, Emma only sees the diving head first into freedom and women Liam has partaken in after escaping his extremely restrictive parents. While they try to keep in touch through texts and social media, a surprise visit, where Emma sees in real time Liam about to hook-up with a woman, has her running away and slowly distancing herself, they eventually lose touch for three years. But when Liam shows up out of the blue as Emma's about to graduate in NYC, they find that time and growing up has only ignited their chemistry.

It was as if we were picking up right where we left off, but this time, we weren't just teenagers dreaming about what our lives could be. This time, we were adults living our own separate lives, hoping they somehow intersected.

The first half of this started off slower, with a New Adult vibe (Emma is 22yrs old and Liam 24yrs old) and Emma trying to work towards her dream of interior design. Told all from Emma's point-of-view, we get a lot about her worrying about her career. Her college career is skipped through, with her roommate Jessie getting added in as a secondary character and their shared dream of working for the “it” company Spectra. Since Emma talked about how it was her and her mother's shared dream and how close they were, I wish we would have gotten to see more of this relationship, instead of a very quick ending scene between the two. However, Liam comes back into the picture and the two realize they still have those feelings for each other that they were trying to hide before. Since we don't get Liam's pov, his character didn't feel as flushed out to me. You can tell that he has feelings for Emma, but his relationship with his friend and business partner Dominic and why they're working to set-up a club where people can be free to safely and consensually indulge in their chosen physical activities, isn't really delved into; it felt like a wobbly constructed table to get Liam to be able to say “good girl” a couple times.

“I see the beauty in The Prism Society. I see the beauty in what you're trying to create. And I'm sorry that it took me this long to admit that to myself...and to you.”

The conflict comes about because when Emma gets a job at Spectra, she has to sign a non-compete but she just can't help herself with helping Liam design his new club, even coming up with the name. It makes it hard to feel bad for her when it all comes back to bite her, because, she clearly knew she was in the wrong but just kept forging ahead anyway. There's some misplaced blame put on Liam and then Emma deciding a new path for herself that eventually, in the very last few pages, has her getting back with Liam. As far as the “spicy romance” tag, your mileage may vary. I don't consider any and all open door scenes in romance to be “smut”, I actually never use the term, but I know some younger and newer readers to romance have different thoughts on this. Liam is into voyeurism, which is where you could say the steamier scenes come from, there's a handful of them but they're fairly short and, yeah, “good girl” gets thrown around but there wasn't a lot of intimacy to them, more of the by rote “this sounds hot” that gets shared around; closer to a Tessa Bailey and far from a Cherise Sinclair. I did like how Emma and Liam started off open and addressing issues and this did have readability, but I thought the first half showed more care in setting up the story, while the latter half wobbled around and wasn't sturdy enough to deliver a hot engrossing read. ( )

This one is definitely a 5 chili peppers romance!
It wasn't until I sat down to write about my read in my reading journal that I really acknowledged how well done this book was. Emma is so close to attaining all she ever dreamed as an interior designer. She and her friend Jesse are working hard at their internship with Spectra, preparing for her their final presentation, and finally attaining a position with the corporate design giant who now owns everything she does. Reconnecting with Liam, a childhood friend, who has spent recent years undoing all the oppression he grew up with and finding sexual freedom pulls her into his world step-by-step. Sparks fly between them as Emma becomes more involved than she ever planned in the creation of The Prism Society, a club devoted to allowing adults to safely explore all forms of sexual expression they could hope to encounter with another person/people. Overall, I really loved how Emma's passion for design was portrayed and described. It felt very true and very much like that flow we all long to get into and how we could feel when we find things that resonate with us deeply. The initial stages of Emma's career did feel quite slow to me and a bit mundane. As things picked up and Emma was further drawn into her own sexual exploration and the development of The Prism Society I also read faster. This was a very mature and respectful and free portrayal of these subjects; it felt realistic and not like some over-the-top place that a "normal" person wouldn't encounter. I would read more by Gabi Salas. I don't think I would re-read this, but I would pass it on to a friend and probably will.

I think debut-author Gabi Salas has potential.

The Prism Society, however, didn't grab me the way I'd hoped it would.

First, it needed a strong copyeditor. The repetitions (words, phrases, concepts) were numerous, often with back-to-back paragraphs that said the same thing. My guess is that they were meant for comparison and one of the paragraphs would be deleted, but that didn't happen.

Second, Salas tried too hard to defend the club, as if she were trying to convince the reader that a club devoted to sexual exploration is a public service.

Finally, and most importantly, as much as the author declares sexual freedom as a right, it still feels like the male is in charge when he "compliments" Emma with statements such as "Good girl." More troubling was this confession from Liam that he "definitely took it too far with this woman who said she was into it. She started freaking out on me, and I got this panic feeling that I would get caught." Sounds like rape.

It's rare for me to do this with a book, but it's in the recycling bin.

All that being said, I think there is room for Salas to grow as a writer. ( )

𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰

𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓟𝓻𝓲𝓼𝓶 𝓢𝓸𝓬𝓲𝓮𝓽𝔂
𝓫𝔂 𝓖𝓪𝓫𝓲 𝓢𝓪𝓵𝓪𝓼
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 stars

Bear with me on this one... I have conflicting feelings about this book for personal reasons, so I'm going to do my best to be objective in this review.

Emma and Liam are childhood best friends who drift apart when they attend colleges at opposite ends of the continent. Emma is nearing the end of college and is prepping for her dream job. Suddenly, Liam reenters her life seeking her interior design help with a business adventure that he's very secretive about. As Emma enters into Liam's world, she is faced with a personal struggle of which path to take.

I don't know what I was expecting when I read the synopsis on the back of the cover, but I was not expecting the business adventure to be a s€x club....that's on me.

Things I liked about this story:

• The promotion of "s€x positivity". As Liam mentions in the book, this is a topic that is often taboo to talk about...especially in a religious upbringing. I like the idea of normalizing talking about it as a source of pleasure opposed to just for reproduction.

• I LOVED Emma! She is a planner!! She mapped out her whole life plan and has done everything to obtain her 'dream' job. However, once she gets her dream job, she's not satisfied because it is not what she expects it to be. Instead of altering her plans, she sticks with it thinking, "Maybe this is how it's supposed to be....at least at the beginning." I feel like this journey is one so many people face, which is why it is incredibly relatable. I liked seeing her work through that.

• It's a quick read.

• The author is so descriptive with the architecture of the buildings in this book. You can picture it perfectly....like you're looking right at them.

I felt like the evolvement of Emma and Liam's relationship happened somewhat quickly. Emma's naivety with regarding her non-compete was a bit frustrating.

Warning:
• Explicit scenes. Everyone has their own personal scale of 'spice level'. This read was higher up on my scale, but upon reading other's reviews, I saw people list it as minimal. So to each their own. Just know that they are descriptive scenes.
• The s€x club setting comes with some morally grey areas that some may have strong feelings about.

Thank you Librarything and Gabi Salas for the gifted copy.

**3.5 Star Read**
If you are bouncing between wanting comfy romance and spicy romance this book is the perfect choice for you. It hits all of the boxes you want for a comfy friends to lovers romance, but also adds additional spice elements that are just the right amount where it does not feel like you are being bombarded with spice.
There are great elements of descriptive writing that helps readers imagine all of the different aspects of what the characters sees. Additionally the characters being designers was much more believable with those level of detail being written.
The story moved quickly, and as a reader I felt connected to the characters and their relationships. However, I almost wanted more development in several instances. Since the plot was moving so quickly, and time jumped between groups of events that moved the plot forward, I almost missed the little bits of character development and relationship building of all of the side characters and the main character herself.
**This book was provided to me by the author as an early reviewer** ( )