How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
The kiss deepened, and my arms went up around his shoulders. I felt, more than heard, him moan and as he kissed me long and hard it was like he flipped a switch somewhere deep inside me, and hot, sweet, electric desire flashed through me. It was crazy and amazing, and more than anyone's kisses had ever made me feel. (24.74)
Now Zoey is kissing (or being kissed by) Erik, and the sensation is way more intense than she was expecting. Like, she's kissed people before, and it was okay… but this is amazing. It seems like feeling so much desire all at once is pretty new to her, which makes us wonder whether her previous partners were bad kissers, or what.
Quote #8
As my sense started to return to me I realized that I was totally smushed against him and that I'd been standing there in front of the dorm making out like a slut. (24.74)
Zoey, Zoey, Zoey… enough with the slut shaming, okay? Repeat after us: Enjoying sexual activity does not make you a slut. So long as it's consensual, then you're not doing anything wrong. Then again, we can only imagine what kinds of crummy, sex-negative messages Zoey gets from her conservative family, so she's probably internalized a bunch of this stuff. Which would explain why she feels guilty for enjoying a simple kiss.
Quote #9
Aphrodite's laugh was way too sexual to be appropriate, and I swear she touched herself. Right there in front of everyone. Jeesh, she was nasty. (27.12)
Okay, we were ready to give Zoey another lecture about how it's not cool to slut-shame… but she may have a point here. Aphrodite is not just hypersexual, she's bringing sexuality into the public realm in a way that's kind of inappropriate. Like, do what you want in the privacy of your own room, but keep things clean when you're around people who don't necessarily want to see that stuff.