Reviews

Fools in Love by Ashley Herring Blake, Rebecca Podos

the_argumentative_bong's review against another edition

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4.0

3.5⭐ (rounded off)

rachelmariereads's review

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5.0

This is the best romance anthology I’ve ever read, and I truly believe that there is a story in here that will resonate with every reader. Fools in Love takes all of the most well-known tropes and spins them on their heads. Think “enemies to lovers,” “one bed,” “love triangle,” — you name it and it’s in here somewhere. And normally, I think of those tropes as cheesy, and overdone. But Fools in Love proved me wrong time and time again!⁣

I think my favorite story was Bloom by Rebecca Barrow, with the trope “love transcends time and space.” In Bloom, Mera plans to travel back in time to kill the man who would end up murdering her mother. The writing and the magic system in here was so beautiful! Mera’s mother taught her flowers have magical properties, and that consuming an orange blossom can give you the power to travel in time, but you can’t control your destination. Instead of finding the man who killed her mother, Mera meets Delphine. This story was so heart-wrenching and tender, it absolutely stole my breath away.⁣

But so many of the stories were incredible! Some of my other favorites were Five Stars by Amy Spalding, The Passover Date by Laura Silverman, and Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Melinda Lo. There were contemporary, fantasy, and sci-fi stories, and so much amazing representation! There were gay and lesbian couples, trans characters, and even a polyamorous trio, which I have never before seen in a piece of YA literature! There were Jewish characters, and Latinx characters, and Asian characters, and Black characters… this book truly had it all! Reading this made my heart so happy.⁣

I don’t think I’ve ever been more impressed by a collection of stories. I really wasn’t sure how this was going to go when I cracked it open, but every story was wonderful to read! If you’re looking for a sweet romantic pick-me-up I promise you’ll find something special in Fools in Love! There is something in here everyone can enjoy, and I truly can’t recommend this enough! One of my favorites of the year, by far.

lesbrary's review

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4.0

The first few stories were F/F, which I, obviously, loved. It turns out that there are very few M/F romances in this collection. Most of them are F/F, a couple are M/M, and a couple are M/F. It delights me that this isn’t being marketed as just LGBTQ, because we all know romance anthologies that include no queer people at all, or only one story, so this is a nice reversal.

Some of the other premises of the stories:

- a F/F romance where the main character is too awkward to explain to her crush that she is not, in fact, her rideshare driver, so she just drives her to her location. Relatable.
- a polyamorous M/M/F triad relationship that melted my heart
- a summer camp where the fat femme main character cosplays as a fairy and falls for another fairy–and also she’s cursed to only tell the truth
- a cute M/F fake dating at Passover story
- a trans M/M boy band romance
- It’s (probably) the end of the world, with a comet on its way to Earth. What else do you do but break into the zoo with your ex girlfriend to pet the giraffes?

This has all the fuzzy feelings I expect from romance stories, but with a sprinkling of drama and even some action. The variety in genres kept it feeling exciting, and I really liked the tropes format. If you want a cozy romantic read this December, this is a perfect choice.

Full review at the Lesbrary.

ellie_w21's review

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4.0

super cute if you want a romcom with a bunch of cute stories

hannahroyal's review

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4.0

I've been keeping this book on my nightstand and reading a short story or two before bed. Lots of cute stories, great variety of settings and genres. I really liked the snowy ice race one, it was a really neat landscape to visualize.

econnuck's review

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5.0

What a lovely short story collection! I don't know most of these authors, but I would love to read more of most of these stories! Lots of LGBTQ+ and POC rep.

bookishlychar's review

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4.0

Fools in Love is an anthology about popular different romance tropes reimagined. The stories in this anthology reminded me the ability for a short story to pack a punch and suck you in and give you all the feels. I really loved the representation in this book, with many LGBTQIA+ stories in it.

My favourite stories in this anthology were:

Boys Noise by Mason Dever - This was a cute story about a boy band and two of its members escaping for a birthday weekend away. I loved how sweet Felix and Lev were, and just how honest they were about how they felt. It also had the "only one bed" trope on point. I have never read anything by Mason Dever, but I will be checking more out by them in the future!

Teed Up by Gloria Chao - Again another cute story, but it really packed a punch of how the pressure of providing for her family, Sunny is just not enjoying moving toward being a professional golfer. She also faced a lot of sexism participating in a tournament that had always only had men/boys in it. Her romance with Liam is cute and sweet though and adds some lightness to the harder subjects. I have read Gloria Chaos books before and if you like her books, you will like this short story.

Bloom by Rebecca Barrow - This was an amazing story. Barrow is able to really touch on the grief and emotions of loss. This was a "love transcends space & time" and it was absolutely beautifully written.

Silver and Gold by Natasha Ngan - I will admit, I have loved Natasha Ngan's writing in her previous novels and this story did not disappoint. It had the heart and passion of her previous work and was an excellent, sapphic love story. It was a perfect length, but at the same time I could see this being a full length novel as well.

Of course, with all anthologies there were just some that didn't hit for me, but that was okay because they were quick to get through. If you love romance tropes, this book would be an awesome book to pick up. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an open and honest review. All opinions are 100% mine.

maryandherlibrary's review

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3.0

Fools in Love is an adorable collection of short stories centered around different romance tropes and I ended up quite enjoying it! I really loved the diversity and how there were so many LGBTQIAP+, BIPOC and even Jewish main characters. Some stories were incredible and I couldn't get enough of them and others unfortunately fell a little flat or just weren't very memorable. I ended up giving Fools in Love 3.5 stars as I overall enjoyed this short story collection but there were just too many stories that I wasn't the biggest fan of. I also would've liked to see more elements that tied all of the stories together. There are so many different genres, writing styles, settings and themes that the selection sometimes almost felt random. I loved the idea of every story having a different trope but they weren't always the focus of the stories so I would've liked for them to be a bit more interwoven.

Thank you to Running Press Kids for the eARC!

kielirose's review

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3.0

I loved 5 of the 14
hated 5 of the 14
and thought the other 4 stories were average

punchofwishes's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

So many delightful stories! Loved how queer this collection was even if not every story was a hit for me. My favourites were Five Stars, What Makes Us Heroes, and Boys Noise!