Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

I didn't really like this book. The book is about 2 women exchanging emails and ims when suddenly their exchange takes a "dark" and "twisted" turn. I've seen this book get recommended in multiple places I frequent so I figured it might be a decent read, I like internet spooky story related stuff but this didn't really sit well with me. First I didn't really like how both characters had almost the exact same writing style, on top of it being overly pretentious and full of unecessary similes. Then I didn't really like how their relationship took such a sudden turn into bdsm bullshit, when there was barely any development or build up. Third, which is purely subjective, it made me cringe. I'm no stranger to online relationships, cringy erp and creepy internet drama. I've experienced a lot of it first hand too. I've seen some stuff. So this kind of just makes the experience of this book a lot less enjoyable. I get that it's the year 2000 and all but there was something really unnatural in how these two characters were conversing and if that's what was supposed to be creepy about this book, it kind of missed the mark because both of the characters talk like they came straight out of the "in this moment I am euphoric" copy pasta. The most disgusting parts of the book are crushing a salamander with a rock, a kitten dying by being ran over, the mc eating a piece of rotten meat in order to get "pregnant" with a tapeworm, a little child getting tortured. Which really, while it might make you wince or feel bad for the animals, is not as sick and twisted as people made it out to be. Plus a lot of the shit from that stupid bdsm contract was retconned in the "Masters" emails like almost right away and the fact that it was an online relationship just made it all the more laughable. With how everyone was describing it, I was expecting more. Even the author made it sound a lot wilder than it really was. Also something about this book being about two women, but the two characters don't read to me as women at all. After anonymously interacting with men and women for a long long time, you actually get decent at recognising who's who even if they don't state it outwardly. Women and men are socialized differently and that's just the way it is. Ending this review with a do not recommend.