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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Love in Focus is a sapphic romance about two exes who were roommates and are now working together. Can they keep their relationship casual? *cue Chappell Roan*
Love In Focus was a light-hearted romance that was very sapphic. I loved it and ate all the tropes up. It was insanely cute and so fun. Not only all of that, but there was a surprising amount of emotional depth. They might be messy saphics, but they GROW.
I also loved the job the narrators did. Gemma and Celeste had two different narrators, which highlighted the different writing styles of their POV chapters. If they already have an established relationship, that is not good. Getting both points of view tends to help me bond with both characters and not hold a grudge against one the whole time. Based on what others are saying, Cleleste's POV was not for everyone, but it made me like her more. Something about seeing Gemma through her eyes had me kicking my feet. There were things about Cleleste that rubbed me the wrong way (specifically relating to Gemma's Bisexuality and the end of their relationship), but the addition of her POV helped me like her way more than if it had been left out. They both did a fabulous job of capturing both characters.
I genuinely loved this book! It's full of sapphic love! HOT DAM that SPICE!!! I had to give myself a second after some of those chapters. I just love a messy saphic relationship, so this was for me.
Love In Focus was a light-hearted romance that was very sapphic. I loved it and ate all the tropes up. It was insanely cute and so fun. Not only all of that, but there was a surprising amount of emotional depth. They might be messy saphics, but they GROW.
I also loved the job the narrators did. Gemma and Celeste had two different narrators, which highlighted the different writing styles of their POV chapters. If they already have an established relationship, that is not good. Getting both points of view tends to help me bond with both characters and not hold a grudge against one the whole time. Based on what others are saying, Cleleste's POV was not for everyone, but it made me like her more. Something about seeing Gemma through her eyes had me kicking my feet. There were things about Cleleste that rubbed me the wrong way (specifically relating to Gemma's Bisexuality and the end of their relationship), but the addition of her POV helped me like her way more than if it had been left out. They both did a fabulous job of capturing both characters.
I genuinely loved this book! It's full of sapphic love! HOT DAM that SPICE!!! I had to give myself a second after some of those chapters. I just love a messy saphic relationship, so this was for me.
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Thank you Forever for the #gifted review copy and Hachette Audio for the ALC!
This was a cute second chance sapphic romance. College exes, Gemma and Celeste meet again in their late 20s to collaborate on a work project.
This was fun, lighthearted, and overall enjoyable. I flew through this one, and it was a very quick read for me. While told from two povs, Gemma’s chapters really carried this book. I may have even preferred this to have been one singular pov.
I tandem read my advanced copy while listening to the audiobook. Natalie Naudus was fantastic as always. I also enjoyed Catherine Ho’s performance as well. The audiobook definitely elevated my reading experience.
My rating: 3.75⭐️
What to expect:
📸 sapphic romance
🌉 forced proximity
📸 second chances; college exes
🌉 workplace romance
📸 miscommunication
🌉 personal growth
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC 💚
This book was honestly such a cute read! I pretty much pick up anything Natalie Naudus narrates and I am rarely disappointed. Gemma and Celeste are such lovable and realistic characters that you can feel yourself relating to. I loved the couples interviews and especially the older sapphics as I agree with them, I never got to see myself growing old in media growing up. I loved Gemma’s growth and her working on herself for a bit before jumping back into a relationship. As a girlie who struggled with that myself I loved to see it. Honestly, a new fav of mine that will get highly recommended to everyone.
This book was honestly such a cute read! I pretty much pick up anything Natalie Naudus narrates and I am rarely disappointed. Gemma and Celeste are such lovable and realistic characters that you can feel yourself relating to. I loved the couples interviews and especially the older sapphics as I agree with them, I never got to see myself growing old in media growing up. I loved Gemma’s growth and her working on herself for a bit before jumping back into a relationship. As a girlie who struggled with that myself I loved to see it. Honestly, a new fav of mine that will get highly recommended to everyone.
3 stars
This was a fine romance. I think there was a lot to enjoy in it I enjoy a second chance romance and I also really appreciated the bi representation and having both queer characters being Asian as both of those things are fairly hard to find in romance novels. I think the writing was well done and enjoyable as well, (with one exception, I did not understand the switch from first person in Gemma's chapters and third person in Celeste's. I am sure there is a reason for it but as a reader, I did not understand the point and it felt jarring to me.) However, I did have a couple issues personally with the story that brought this down from 4 stars to 3.
Pretty early on, Celeste comes off a bit bi-phobic by saying that Gemma moving on with a man months after their breakup is "a lesbian's worst nightmare." That statement was unnecessary and disrespectful to Gemma. And for Celeste to believe Gemma was in the wrong for moving on after she dumped Gemma via text after a year together and living together, moved out of the country without any explanation, and ghosted Gemma for MONTHS, and Celeste still being upset about it 8 years later is childish. Gemma did NOTHING wrong in that situation. I also don't think being in a new relationship months later is "jumping from relationship to relationship." And later in the book when Gemma decides to leave SF because she found out James cheated (and was fine staying in the city after they broke up) was a weird decision to me. I would've understood if she wanted to leave after the breakup but to decide you love the city but then find out he cheated and now you want to leave? Also, obviously he cheated! He was making out with someone in the office not even 2 weeks later! I also think the 3rd act breakup was silly and too long. I don't agree that everyone needs to be single to grow especially in a second chance romance with 8 years apart. Why are you wasting more time?? And for their year apart again, they only exchange happy birthday texts? I think they could have stayed long distance friends at least during that period otherwise the reconciliation made no sense to me.
Regarding the audiobook, Natalie is a fantastic narrator but she does tend to have a lot of breath noises. Maybe because I had it at 2x speed it was more noticeable to me but something I have always noticed with her. The 2 narrators also spoke at much different cadences/speeds. I would've probably bumped up Catherine even faster if it was a single narrator. I also think the third person for Catherine/Celeste did a disservice to the narrator since Natalie/Gemma was in 1st person. It made Catherine sound less connected to the character/story than Natalie.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ALC.
This was a fine romance. I think there was a lot to enjoy in it I enjoy a second chance romance and I also really appreciated the bi representation and having both queer characters being Asian as both of those things are fairly hard to find in romance novels. I think the writing was well done and enjoyable as well, (with one exception, I did not understand the switch from first person in Gemma's chapters and third person in Celeste's. I am sure there is a reason for it but as a reader, I did not understand the point and it felt jarring to me.) However, I did have a couple issues personally with the story that brought this down from 4 stars to 3.
Pretty early on, Celeste comes off a bit bi-phobic by saying that Gemma moving on with a man months after their breakup is "a lesbian's worst nightmare." That statement was unnecessary and disrespectful to Gemma. And for Celeste to believe Gemma was in the wrong for moving on after she dumped Gemma via text after a year together and living together, moved out of the country without any explanation, and ghosted Gemma for MONTHS, and Celeste still being upset about it 8 years later is childish. Gemma did NOTHING wrong in that situation. I also don't think being in a new relationship months later is "jumping from relationship to relationship." And later in the book when Gemma decides to leave SF because she found out James cheated (and was fine staying in the city after they broke up) was a weird decision to me. I would've understood if she wanted to leave after the breakup but to decide you love the city but then find out he cheated and now you want to leave? Also, obviously he cheated! He was making out with someone in the office not even 2 weeks later! I also think the 3rd act breakup was silly and too long. I don't agree that everyone needs to be single to grow especially in a second chance romance with 8 years apart. Why are you wasting more time?? And for their year apart again, they only exchange happy birthday texts? I think they could have stayed long distance friends at least during that period otherwise the reconciliation made no sense to me.
Regarding the audiobook, Natalie is a fantastic narrator but she does tend to have a lot of breath noises. Maybe because I had it at 2x speed it was more noticeable to me but something I have always noticed with her. The 2 narrators also spoke at much different cadences/speeds. I would've probably bumped up Catherine even faster if it was a single narrator. I also think the third person for Catherine/Celeste did a disservice to the narrator since Natalie/Gemma was in 1st person. It made Catherine sound less connected to the character/story than Natalie.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ALC.
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Gemma’s world is rocked when her fiance of seven years ends their relationship, and she convinces herself that true love doesn’t exist. That is, until she ends up on a work project with her ex girlfriend and first love, Celeste.
After Celeste left the country seven years previously with no explanation, can Gemma keep it strictly professional? Especially when sparks start to fly?
Second chance romance is my favourite trope, so that was already a hit for me. From the cover to the story, this was such a cute romance read (with spice sprinkled in of course). I enjoyed there being chapters for both of the FMCs as it added great perspective to the book.
Gemma finding herself again after her engagement being called off was also a great part of the book for me, as it’s such an important thing to do in the modern age of dating, where you can find people at your fingertips. All in all, a wonderful sapphic romance story!
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I listened to the audiobook for Love in Focus and really enjoyed it. The narrators did a really great job!
Love in Focus is a story about Gemma who just had her 7 year relationship fall apart and her college ex-girlfriend, Celeste, who comes back into her life due to a project they must work together at work. Gemma is responsible to write a series called Love in Focus for work and Celeste has been hired as the photographer.
I really enjoyed the dynamic between Gemma and Celeste. From the very beginning, despite the complications, you can tell that these two still have feelings for each other. The problem is that Gemma is hesitant to start a new relationship, because her last relationship just ended it's hard to trust Celeste to not hurt her again since their relationship ended with her disappearing from Gemma's life. Not to mention that Celeste no longer believes in relationships.
I think that the characters were written extremely well and I really loved the whole Love in Focus series they work on. It features diverse couples talking about their relationships and it's super cute. Without a doubt I recommend this book!
Love in Focus is a story about Gemma who just had her 7 year relationship fall apart and her college ex-girlfriend, Celeste, who comes back into her life due to a project they must work together at work. Gemma is responsible to write a series called Love in Focus for work and Celeste has been hired as the photographer.
I really enjoyed the dynamic between Gemma and Celeste. From the very beginning, despite the complications, you can tell that these two still have feelings for each other. The problem is that Gemma is hesitant to start a new relationship, because her last relationship just ended it's hard to trust Celeste to not hurt her again since their relationship ended with her disappearing from Gemma's life. Not to mention that Celeste no longer believes in relationships.
I think that the characters were written extremely well and I really loved the whole Love in Focus series they work on. It features diverse couples talking about their relationships and it's super cute. Without a doubt I recommend this book!
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
This was so cute!! I love a good second chance romance and this was no exception! Sometimes second chance doesn’t work for me because of the conflict that made the couple break up originally but this one was great because it was more of a miscommunicated ghosting and not cheating or anything that was irredeemable 🤷🏻♀️ I also think the third act breakup in this story worked really well because it wasn’t derived by miscommunication, it was mainly just timing and I loved that both Celeste & Gemma were able to work on themselves before they fully committed to each other! Just over all very cute with a handful of spicy scenes and an overall entertaining story! I also recommend the audiobook for this one, great narration!
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
When Gemma's fiance breakups with her out the the blue, she never expects her college ex to come back into her life. While they work on a project about love at different ages, will these too find love again after almost a decade? This second chance romance was a nice way to pass the time.
I did understand that Celeste and Gemma have a lot of feelings towards each other, however this did not make up for their lack of chemistry outside of the bed room. Their interactions fell flat and stale unless they were about to make-out. While I did enjoy the overall story and did root for them to end up with each other, I wonder if it would have been the same if they never reconnected.
It did irritate me how in her inner monologue, Celeste was really biphobic. She hated that Gemma got with specifically a man after they separated in college. She makes this kind of dig a couple of times and never grows past this. I wish this part of her personality was taken out or she learned to accept Gemma's identity, something that is a big part of her.
I did understand that Celeste and Gemma have a lot of feelings towards each other, however this did not make up for their lack of chemistry outside of the bed room. Their interactions fell flat and stale unless they were about to make-out. While I did enjoy the overall story and did root for them to end up with each other, I wonder if it would have been the same if they never reconnected.
It did irritate me how in her inner monologue, Celeste was really biphobic. She hated that Gemma got with specifically a man after they separated in college. She makes this kind of dig a couple of times and never grows past this. I wish this part of her personality was taken out or she learned to accept Gemma's identity, something that is a big part of her.