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abbrosy's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
jamietherebelliousreader's review
4.0
4 stars. This was enjoyable enough, but I am not a huge fan of toaster oven romances. I’ve read some that were done well and then there are others where I just find myself annoyed more than anything else. This book was borderline of both things but leaned towards the latter a lot of the time.
I thought the beginning half of this book was better than the second half. Though the reason that Annie and Drew started fake dating didn’t really hold up it was fine. This is a slowburn romance as Annie fights and really struggles with having feelings for a woman for the first time. It felt realistic but it was also the bane of my entire existence. I wanted to shake Annie so bad a lot of the time. She takes entirely too long to work through her issues and even in the end I felt she would’ve benefitted greatly by seeing a therapist. She holds the relationship up and I felt bad for Drew honestly. Drew was such an amazing character and she deserved all of the love and happiness in the world. I empathized with Annie and I liked her at certain points but she wasn’t my favorite. Their chemistry was pretty good though and the romance (when Annie would get it together) was cute.
The side characters were incredibly one dimensional and I hated Annie’s older brother, Jake. What an insufferable ass he was.
The writing is great, there was good banter, the pacing was good if a bit dry towards the middle, and I liked the short story Seduction for Beginners. I feel like I would enjoy this one more upon a re-read.
I thought the beginning half of this book was better than the second half. Though the reason that Annie and Drew started fake dating didn’t really hold up it was fine. This is a slowburn romance as Annie fights and really struggles with having feelings for a woman for the first time. It felt realistic but it was also the bane of my entire existence. I wanted to shake Annie so bad a lot of the time. She takes entirely too long to work through her issues and even in the end I felt she would’ve benefitted greatly by seeing a therapist. She holds the relationship up and I felt bad for Drew honestly. Drew was such an amazing character and she deserved all of the love and happiness in the world. I empathized with Annie and I liked her at certain points but she wasn’t my favorite. Their chemistry was pretty good though and the romance (when Annie would get it together) was cute.
The side characters were incredibly one dimensional and I hated Annie’s older brother, Jake. What an insufferable ass he was.
The writing is great, there was good banter, the pacing was good if a bit dry towards the middle, and I liked the short story Seduction for Beginners. I feel like I would enjoy this one more upon a re-read.
melodrama44's review
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
trufyre's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
annaswan's review against another edition
3.0
Very readable prose and engaging characters, but also very very formulaic.
kjanie's review against another edition
4.0
RE-READ: August 2022
I was having a bad day and was looking for a nice sweet book to lift my mood. This was a perfect choice, just as good the second time around.
4/5 stars
This was such a fun, sweet book. I've read a bunch of books by Jae recently, and I have enjoyed every single one. I feel like she has mastered so many different types of romance books, with this being a great example of a sweet, relatively fluffy romance. I'm not saying it didn't have any deeper moments, but it was definitely on the light-hearted side of the spectrum. This is honestly exactly what I wanted at the moment, so this definitely filled what I was looking for. I adored the characters together (of course) and their development from friends to something much more.
While I love reading books with strong, self-confident women, I also related much more with Annie in this book. She was a bit awkward, shy and definitely not good at dating/finding love. I really just wanted to hug her for the entire book. While her relationship with Drew didn't 'change' Annie per-say (which is good because there is nothing wrong with being a bit awkward and shy) but her growing in confidence and understanding about herself just made me so happy. Drew is like the opposite of Annie. She is much more free-spirited, confident in herself and very flirty. I think she was such a fun, dynamic character that brought most the humour and banter to the story.
If you are like me and perhaps are unsure about the 'straight girl falls for lesbian' plotline or deeply closeted stories (I wasn't sure which one this was when I started), let me tell you not to worry when it comes to this book. It is handled very well and the book is very self-aware about the situation and the difficulties of figuring out your sexuality later in life/ trusting yourself to begin a relationship with a straight person. At this point, I've just come to trust the way Jae deals with her romances and characters, and I think you definitely should to. If you are looking for a very sweet and mostly light-hearted romance, then this is definitely the book for you.
I was having a bad day and was looking for a nice sweet book to lift my mood. This was a perfect choice, just as good the second time around.
4/5 stars
This was such a fun, sweet book. I've read a bunch of books by Jae recently, and I have enjoyed every single one. I feel like she has mastered so many different types of romance books, with this being a great example of a sweet, relatively fluffy romance. I'm not saying it didn't have any deeper moments, but it was definitely on the light-hearted side of the spectrum. This is honestly exactly what I wanted at the moment, so this definitely filled what I was looking for. I adored the characters together (of course) and their development from friends to something much more.
While I love reading books with strong, self-confident women, I also related much more with Annie in this book. She was a bit awkward, shy and definitely not good at dating/finding love. I really just wanted to hug her for the entire book. While her relationship with Drew didn't 'change' Annie per-say (which is good because there is nothing wrong with being a bit awkward and shy) but her growing in confidence and understanding about herself just made me so happy. Drew is like the opposite of Annie. She is much more free-spirited, confident in herself and very flirty. I think she was such a fun, dynamic character that brought most the humour and banter to the story.
If you are like me and perhaps are unsure about the 'straight girl falls for lesbian' plotline or deeply closeted stories (I wasn't sure which one this was when I started), let me tell you not to worry when it comes to this book. It is handled very well and the book is very self-aware about the situation and the difficulties of figuring out your sexuality later in life/ trusting yourself to begin a relationship with a straight person. At this point, I've just come to trust the way Jae deals with her romances and characters, and I think you definitely should to. If you are looking for a very sweet and mostly light-hearted romance, then this is definitely the book for you.
zefrien's review
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5