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A review by cozycritiques
Lovebug by Erin Mallon
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
”It feels good to finally have a solid group of girlfriends, especially ones who understand why I do what I do. These are the girls who aren’t afraid to get messy, to literally “play in the dirt” digging for dinosaur bones or dive into murky waters to study a blobfish. These are women are passionate about science. They would never give me that scrunched-up “ew” face so many people give me when they learn that an entomologist studies bugs, not words.”
- Lovebug
Tropes: Women in STEM, Workplace Romance, Love Triangle, Camp Counselors
Spice Scale: 🌶🌶🌶
CW: Infidelity
After reading Flirtasaurus, I was a little skeptical about whether I would enjoy the sequel, but within the first chapter, any doubts I had disappeared. Mabel is a breath of fresh air and exactly the type of heroine I look for in a lighthearted romance. She’s quirky, sweet, friendly, and genuinely kind. But she’s not without her flaws. She’s also a people pleaser and a bit of a pushover, letting the people in her life walk all over her. Wallace is snarky, flirtatious, and completely smitten with Mabel and helps unlock the confident and self-sufficient part of herself that was in there all along but just needed a little help to come out.
And although Mabel has a fiancé, I couldn’t help rooting for her and Wallace. Because frankly, her fiancé Bert is a jerk who doesn’t deserve Mabel or his games of glorified bop-it (I won’t go any further into this, but oh my god, I’d never cringed or laughed more than when Mabel was describing her sex life with Bert). It’s evident from Mabel and Wallace’s first real encounter that they have an effect on each other. Wallace opens up Mabel in a way that he apparently hasn’t done with anyone at the center, and she’s reduced to a state of “smurfnurblin” (a word I’m 80% sure was made up for this novel and apparently means “to be depressingly aroused”) every time he’s near.
- Lovebug
Tropes: Women in STEM, Workplace Romance, Love Triangle, Camp Counselors
Spice Scale: 🌶🌶🌶
CW: Infidelity
After reading Flirtasaurus, I was a little skeptical about whether I would enjoy the sequel, but within the first chapter, any doubts I had disappeared. Mabel is a breath of fresh air and exactly the type of heroine I look for in a lighthearted romance. She’s quirky, sweet, friendly, and genuinely kind. But she’s not without her flaws. She’s also a people pleaser and a bit of a pushover, letting the people in her life walk all over her. Wallace is snarky, flirtatious, and completely smitten with Mabel and helps unlock the confident and self-sufficient part of herself that was in there all along but just needed a little help to come out.
And although Mabel has a fiancé, I couldn’t help rooting for her and Wallace. Because frankly, her fiancé Bert is a jerk who doesn’t deserve Mabel or his games of glorified bop-it (I won’t go any further into this, but oh my god, I’d never cringed or laughed more than when Mabel was describing her sex life with Bert). It’s evident from Mabel and Wallace’s first real encounter that they have an effect on each other. Wallace opens up Mabel in a way that he apparently hasn’t done with anyone at the center, and she’s reduced to a state of “smurfnurblin” (a word I’m 80% sure was made up for this novel and apparently means “to be depressingly aroused”) every time he’s near.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infidelity