Anita acts all judge-y because Belle ..."really doesn't understand that there's a difference between lust and love..."
Since when does Anita understand that? One of the major problems with this series is that, despite the high number of sexual partners Anita has, there's very little love. I am two books in and I don't understand why any of these people are together. What connects them beyond sex? J.C. and Anita never discuss anything beyond sex or politics, frequently both. She and Richard are even worse, constantly arguing, Anita constantly tearing down the things that make him who he is. Her and Micah? He's barely a character and at every turn he's asking Anita how high he should jump. That is his only purpose. And to have a penis that a friend of mine described as "tragically huge."
And I say all this as a polyamorous person who is a total sucker for romance. I should be eating this series up. I should be like a goose that just found a whole loaf of white bread. But it does so little for me, because I can't buy that these people love each other.
"Why is it always Asher we can't protect? Asher that we can't save?"
Gee, I'm glad you asked. Maybe it's because you want him to die or get banished so you don't have to imagine icky gay cooties all over J.C. any more.
Out of another character's mouth, this sentence could be seen as a mournful reflection on one's own inadequacy. Out of Anita's, rest assured it's just a preamble to her withdrawing her already questionable support and kicking Asher out of her inner circle.
Neither J.C. or Anita want to have sex, but they have to because otherwise Anita won't be able to handle the ardeur.
Anita realizes that if Asher were her and J.C.'s lover, the other vampires couldn't ask for him. She then goes on to tell J.C. she just can't share him with another man even though she knows how stupid and unfair that is. Guess what? Your character holding forth about how something she's doing is gross doesn't in fact make it less gross.
It hurts Anita to watch Asher and J.C. together.
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How Anita and by extension LKH find this acceptable is beyond me. Normally I wouldn't draw such obvious lines between character and author but LKH herself has made it clear that I should. This is not a charming character flaw, or even a character flaw I can relate to, because there's nothing in Anita's life that shows me why she acts in such a miserly fashion. She won't even let J.C. feed off of her--a thing essential to his existence--and then gets huffy when he feeds off of other people. It's fine if you don't want to make him a hamburger, Anita, but you can't get mad when he goes to McDonald's. This isn't just a sex thing, it's a food thing. A continued existence thing. But no. Only Anita and her feelings matter.
Which brings me once more to, why are these people together? Why does J.C. want her so bad? Why? SOMEONE EXPLAIN THIS TO ME. If I were J.C. I would dump her ass and go back to Asher. Anita does nothing but cause problems for J.C. She withholds constantly, at every turn possible. She's completely emotionally unavailable and self focused. Why? Why does he need her so bad? The thing with romance is, you have to make the reader believe these people are together for a reason. It doesn't have to be a good reason either. People get together for the wrong reasons all the time. But no matter the why, the reader has to buy in for it to work.
Anita decides that she'll try to have them both anyway. She hits me with a line I actually love:
"I want to show him with my hands and my body that I find him lovely."
We'll just ignore that hands are also a body part. Just let me have this one okay?
Of course it turns out Anita is just doing this for political reasons.
...what was I about to do? And could I live with it later?"
Well you could try not being a biphobic homophobic bdsm phobic shitbag. That might help.
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