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This is a weird one to review because I have two editions and very different feelings about each of them. I had a physical copy of the first edition which is upper YA/NA fantasy romance, but also picked up a digital copy of the new version which is is adult erotic romance. I started out reading the new version, but ultimately decided to read the old one and skim the new one alongside. You'll be shocked to hear I greatly preferred the original. Which is unfortunately no longer available unless you can get your hands on a used copy.

The thing is, Trick (in its original form) is a book with great characters and a lot of heart tackling a pretty serious issue- the treatment of disabled, neurodiverse, and mentally ill people. (Big content warning for depictions of systemic abuse of these groups. And I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with how those things are handled, but I get what the author was trying to do. I think you could argue it's ableist). It's deliciously slow burn with a bisexual hero (Poet) who is mysterious, alluring, and a secret softie. And the ending is perfection for both the romantic and non-romantic plot arcs.
I should start by saying I don't have a problem with erotic romance. I do read some of it. And the original edition of this book was also rather sexy, albeit with fewer scenes that are shorter and less explicitly descriptive.


But then you take that and make EVERYTHING super sexual all the time. The kingdom of Spring is now a place where people are constantly getting it on in public. Poet goes from alluring and smart to this alpha-type who "prowls" and "stalks" people he's coming onto. (this is an ick for me) And while there are a lot more lengthy, high-heat scenes (and way more explicit thoughts about engaging in sex by both characters) they lose some of the emotional work that those scenes should be doing for the romance. Ideally you want sex scenes to be moving forward the relationship or telling us something about the characters. That's when they really hit, not just because x is going into y. And listen, I think there was a way to make this more erotic while staying true to characters and the heart of the book, but I really don't feel like the rewrite did that. And at times, the forced sexy dialogue could be downright cringy, in my opinion, and a lot of added content made it feel overwritten. It's not just a few scenes, it's adding throughout the book. Oh, and the ending was changed! I think to make it more open ended for future books, but I didn't like that change either. It was less emotionally satisfying.

It was weird reading this the way that I did because I felt as if I was having two extremely different experiences, almost simultaneously. I would read several chapters in the original and then skim those chapters in the new version. The original version would have been a 4 star read, the new version a 2 star read. So I'm averaging things for the purposes of ŷ������. It's unfortunate that the changes went in this direction.