A review by armontheroad
Fools in Love by Ashley Herring Blake, Rebecca Podos

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Truthfully, I’m severely disappointed in this collection. At first, I thought I was the problem, but it appears lots of other readers were also let down! This is a 288-page short story collection that *dragged*. I did not read everything in this collection because I was so put off. I tried skim reading a few of the stories but what I saw just led me itching to DNF more. I read stories from my favorite authors (Natasha Ngan, Julian Winters, Mason Deaver) and adored those! But the other stories, as grateful as I am for queer representation (especially with queer characters of color) it was just not doing it for me. I appreciate the effort. I still think this has the potential to touch a lot of lives. Young queer teens will adore this, and that’s good considering they are the target audience. I also think this is good for people who want to get back into reading because diverse short story collections are a fun way to experiment with genres/authors. There are lots of sapphic stories in here, a story about a poly couple, etc. I think if you’re a queer person looking for rep, you have a good chance of finding yourself within this collection. This book is also filled with tons of romance tropes, so if you’re a sucker for those, check this out!!. Overall, this wasn’t for me, but I don’t want to discourage anyone away from giving it a chance.