A review by lezreadalot
Can't Let Her Go by Kianna Alexander

3.0

“Shawty, if you keep tempting me like this, there will be trouble.” 
“Sometimes I like trouble,” she teased. “What kind are you offering?”

3.5 stars. 3.25? While this did underwhelm me in a few ways, it was still such a very very cute black romance. I didn't love the first book in this series, but it had a lot of promise, so I'm glad I came back for more, because Peaches and Jamie were endearing to me in a lot of ways. Short stud/tall femme rights! It's a friends to lovers romance between a barbershop owner looking to expand her business and a nail technician who aspires to go back to school so she can do more in the nail business. They're never been the closest in their friend group, but Jamie makes a move on Peaches after harbouring a crush for some time, and when they go on a road trip to look at prospective schools, things start to heat up. I do like the author's simple, down to earth writing style. It's a little tighter than it was in the first book (thought I still had my quibbles) and all the characters just felt like real people. The dialogue was on point, especially in the dynamics between the friends, and all the flirting and courtship in the main couple. I found myself smiling and swooning so much. Peaches... call me. But on the other hand, I did find that the dialogue could swing the other way sometimes, and feel really manufactured and stilted. Like, there's a bit where they have a little exchange about the phrase 'gold star lesbian', and how it's a useless designation and just used to create divisiveness in the community. I really loved and agreed with everything that was said there, but the WAY the characters talked about it just sounded like it was lifted from a pamphlet or textbook. Really stilted. So that happened a couple times. And the conflict did feel a little awkward; not something that arose naturally, but something that was written in just because the book needed to have a conflict. But I can't lie, the cuteness of the couple and everything about how hot they were together... that did make up for it.