A review by annaavian
The Secret of You and Me by Melissa Lenhardt

2.0

I picked up this book because of the LGBTQ+ representation in the lead characters but you can tell that it’s written by a straight woman. The story starts very slow. Both main characters sounded immature, more like 20 year olds than grown women pushing 40. One minute they were being genuinely friendly, trying to rebuild their relationship, and the next they were snapping at each other about some past event. The dialogues between them didn’t sound believable and affectionate. The intimate moments were very scarcely described and sounded like complete clichés. And although I don’t mind reading about homophobia in this book it was just so constant, without even an ounce of empowerment and happiness at any point, it became genuinely exhausting and it only reinforced the narrative that there is no joy for LGBTQ+ people, only bigotry, abuse and struggle.