aztlan 's review for:

Girlfriend Material by Katia Rose

4.0

Loveable characters: Yes

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Ah, Katia Rose, the love of my reading life. Girlfriend Material is the fourth book I've read by Katia Rose, and it did not let me down. Every single one of Rose's characters has a unique personality, with interests and passions. While both Allison and Kate love costume and fashion, they love it for different reasons, and they have very different (but complimentary) personalities. 
I've heard people call the best-friends-to-lovers trope idiots-to-lovers, and this really does apply in this situation. Right from the start, both Allison and Kate are staring with love heart eyes at each other, but both are convinced they couldn't possibly work together/the other couldn't possibly be interested, etc. As their story plays out, we get to learn about both characters and their past, and the reason they make the mistakes they do, and they both just felt very real and thought out.
I appreciated how Rose took into account the experiences her characters had had, and the fact that they had a healing journey to go on. In particular,

I appreciated how even after the main conflict had happened and Kate and Allison had made up, Kate had to go to therapy and start the process of healing before she could consider calling herself Allison's girlfriend. It wasn't a change that happened over night, which healing never is.

Special shout out to Miguel, because I always love non-binary characters turning up where I didn't expect. I love how Katia Rose makes sure to include a variety of queer identities in her stories.
I recommend this book to any romance fan, especially if you like best-friends-to-lovers or costume.