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A review by anniekslibrary
Fools in Love by Ashley Herring Blake, Rebecca Podos
4.0
I normally end up reading anthologies one story at a time, and it usually takes me quite a while to get through them. I could not put this one down though - I would finish one story and then be like: "oh! That next story sounds amazing!!"
•
Natasha Ngan - Silver and Gold ("Snowed in Together") 5/5
This was just a perfect short story. Perfect. It's a sapphic story about two girls competing against each other in a deadly race, which is the coolest concept ever and which would be amazing to read a full-length novel about. Here we're just getting one night of the race, so we're not really getting the beginning or ending, and it works incredibly well. I always love stories about people who find each other in harsh environments and have to learn to be soft together, and this story had me really wanting that for the main character.
•
Amy Spalding - Five Stars ("Mistaken Identity") 5/5
This story starts off so funny, with the main character's crush mistaking her for her ride share driver. And the rest of the story is just as hilarious, because instead of correcting the mistake, the main character of course drives her to her destination instead. As one does. This is again a sapphic story, yay!
"OMG KRISTA YOU KIDNAPPED YOUR FIRST IRL CRUSH BUT STILL MANAGED TO GET HER NUMBER? You are a hero for awkward girls everywhere."
•
Rebecca Kim Wells - Unfortunately, Blobs Do Not Eat Snacks ("Kissing Under the Influence") 3/5
This is the only new-to-me author in this anthology, so it was fun reading from them. This was again a sapphic story, and I did have fun reading it, although I definitely enjoyed it less than the previous two stories. The reason for that is two-fold: I didn't like the writing style that much, and I found the story lacked some necessary context and world-building. Again we're thrown in the middle of the story, which is fine but that does make it important to give a clear setting and we just didn't get that here. I did like how the trope was handled when it actually was, but it took quite some time and I felt like it was over again quite soon as well. Overall I feel like this was more a (one-sided) enemies to lovers story.
•
Ashley Herring Blake - Edges ("The Grumpy and the Soft One") 5/5
Another sapphic story! Ashley Herring Blake is one of my favourite authors, and the soft vs. grumpy trope is my current favourite trope, so this story was a 5 star prediction for me and of course I was right! For how short this was, this story was chockfull of emotion and I almost cried. It's about the importance of communicating your wants and needs in a relationship and sometimes your own lack of self worth can get in the way of how you treat others, because you'll make assumptions about what they do or don't want from you.
•
Julian Winters - What Makes Us Heroes ("Hero vs. Villain") 4/5
Julian Winters is another one of my favourite authors, and since he usually writes contemporary, it was really fun to read a superhero story from him! This is an achillean story and I really liked the exploration of what makes someone a villain and, again, how quick people can be to make assumptions. I would have like to see a little more world-building, though, but this was some solid fun!
•
Hannah Moskowitz - And ("Love Triangle") 2/5
I very much appreciate this story for making the love triangle into a polyamorous relationship. And the 2 stars is honestly all me, but I just cannot stand reading from second person POV. I find it very uncomfortable to read and very pretentious, and it's almost never done well. Seriously, the only time I liked it was in The Night Circus. So it's really all me, but yeah, I didn't like this.
•
Sara Farizan - My Best Friend's Girl ("Best Friend's Girlfriend") 3/5
Another sapphic story, and another superhero story! Unfortunately, this one fell kind of flat for me. It was very much okay but it didn't make much of an impact. Aside from that, I felt like we got to know the main character's best friend better than his girlfriend, which made it kind of hard to become invested in the romance.
•
Claire Kann - (Fairy)Like Attracts Like ("Mutual Pining") 3/5
Another sapphic story, this time about a fat Black fairy who works at a summercamp for fairies. I found the set-up for this story to be really fun, but unfortunately I didn't quite feel the pining - it all felt a little underdeveloped.
•
Lilliam Rivera - These Strings ("Sibling's Hot Best Friend") 3/5
Again, I really liked the set-up of the story - this time of a Latinx puppeteering family. I'm really not a fan of brothers (physically) fighting their sister's (potential) boyfriends, though. I find it really possessive and condescending, as if they own her and she can't make up her own mind. So that made me enjoy this story a lot less.
•
Laura Silverman - The Passover Date ("Fake Dating") 4/5
This m/f story is about a Jewish family celebrating Seder. Rachel is fed up with her family always trying to push her into a romantic relationship and asking her why she hasn't brought a date, so she comes up with the only viable solution known to romance stories: FAKE DATING. This happens to be one of my favourite tropes and this was such a cute story!
•
Rebecca Barrow - Bloom ("Love Transcends Space Time") 5/5
I don't even really know what to say about this story, other than that it was perfection and my heart is full. It's about grief, and trying to get back what you lost only to find something else in the process. It has cottagecore vibes, there's time travel, it's sapphic, it was just so good!
•
Gloria Chao - Teed Up ("Oblivious to Lovers") 2/5
This story was very much okay - it's about a Taiwanese-American girl who's a female golf player in a male-dominated and very sexist field - but it just didn't do much for me. It honestly bored me a little and I kept finding myself zoning out. It also seemed quite convenient that she falls in love with the one guy who's nice to her, the bar is just so low. I just didn't see the appeal, I guess. I also didn't really see much of the trope, personally.
•
Mason Deaver - Boys Noise ("Only One Bed at the Inn") 4/5
After If This Gets Out, I've been really craving more boyband romances, so this was a really great story! It wasn't quite 5 stars for me as I found that all the issues were glossed over too quickly and I found the writing style somewhat lacking at times, but despite that, I still really enjoyed this.
•
Malinda Lo - Girls Just Want to Have Fun ("Secret Royalty") 3/5
This story was off to a rocky start for me, and overall, the writing style didn't quite work for me. I did however think this was a really cute story that used the trope very well! I especially liked the sci-fi setting.
•
Rebecca Podos - Disaster ("Second Chance Romance") 3/5
I did really like the melancholical atmosphere of this story. It was again a sapphic story, set in summer, and, like the trope said, with a second chance romance. I really like a second chance romance, but my issue here was that I didn't like the main character very much, so I had a hard time rooting for the romance.
•
Natasha Ngan - Silver and Gold ("Snowed in Together") 5/5
This was just a perfect short story. Perfect. It's a sapphic story about two girls competing against each other in a deadly race, which is the coolest concept ever and which would be amazing to read a full-length novel about. Here we're just getting one night of the race, so we're not really getting the beginning or ending, and it works incredibly well. I always love stories about people who find each other in harsh environments and have to learn to be soft together, and this story had me really wanting that for the main character.
•
Amy Spalding - Five Stars ("Mistaken Identity") 5/5
This story starts off so funny, with the main character's crush mistaking her for her ride share driver. And the rest of the story is just as hilarious, because instead of correcting the mistake, the main character of course drives her to her destination instead. As one does. This is again a sapphic story, yay!
"OMG KRISTA YOU KIDNAPPED YOUR FIRST IRL CRUSH BUT STILL MANAGED TO GET HER NUMBER? You are a hero for awkward girls everywhere."
•
Rebecca Kim Wells - Unfortunately, Blobs Do Not Eat Snacks ("Kissing Under the Influence") 3/5
This is the only new-to-me author in this anthology, so it was fun reading from them. This was again a sapphic story, and I did have fun reading it, although I definitely enjoyed it less than the previous two stories. The reason for that is two-fold: I didn't like the writing style that much, and I found the story lacked some necessary context and world-building. Again we're thrown in the middle of the story, which is fine but that does make it important to give a clear setting and we just didn't get that here. I did like how the trope was handled when it actually was, but it took quite some time and I felt like it was over again quite soon as well. Overall I feel like this was more a (one-sided) enemies to lovers story.
•
Ashley Herring Blake - Edges ("The Grumpy and the Soft One") 5/5
Another sapphic story! Ashley Herring Blake is one of my favourite authors, and the soft vs. grumpy trope is my current favourite trope, so this story was a 5 star prediction for me and of course I was right! For how short this was, this story was chockfull of emotion and I almost cried. It's about the importance of communicating your wants and needs in a relationship and sometimes your own lack of self worth can get in the way of how you treat others, because you'll make assumptions about what they do or don't want from you.
•
Julian Winters - What Makes Us Heroes ("Hero vs. Villain") 4/5
Julian Winters is another one of my favourite authors, and since he usually writes contemporary, it was really fun to read a superhero story from him! This is an achillean story and I really liked the exploration of what makes someone a villain and, again, how quick people can be to make assumptions. I would have like to see a little more world-building, though, but this was some solid fun!
•
Hannah Moskowitz - And ("Love Triangle") 2/5
I very much appreciate this story for making the love triangle into a polyamorous relationship. And the 2 stars is honestly all me, but I just cannot stand reading from second person POV. I find it very uncomfortable to read and very pretentious, and it's almost never done well. Seriously, the only time I liked it was in The Night Circus. So it's really all me, but yeah, I didn't like this.
•
Sara Farizan - My Best Friend's Girl ("Best Friend's Girlfriend") 3/5
Another sapphic story, and another superhero story! Unfortunately, this one fell kind of flat for me. It was very much okay but it didn't make much of an impact. Aside from that, I felt like we got to know the main character's best friend better than his girlfriend, which made it kind of hard to become invested in the romance.
•
Claire Kann - (Fairy)Like Attracts Like ("Mutual Pining") 3/5
Another sapphic story, this time about a fat Black fairy who works at a summercamp for fairies. I found the set-up for this story to be really fun, but unfortunately I didn't quite feel the pining - it all felt a little underdeveloped.
•
Lilliam Rivera - These Strings ("Sibling's Hot Best Friend") 3/5
Again, I really liked the set-up of the story - this time of a Latinx puppeteering family. I'm really not a fan of brothers (physically) fighting their sister's (potential) boyfriends, though. I find it really possessive and condescending, as if they own her and she can't make up her own mind. So that made me enjoy this story a lot less.
•
Laura Silverman - The Passover Date ("Fake Dating") 4/5
This m/f story is about a Jewish family celebrating Seder. Rachel is fed up with her family always trying to push her into a romantic relationship and asking her why she hasn't brought a date, so she comes up with the only viable solution known to romance stories: FAKE DATING. This happens to be one of my favourite tropes and this was such a cute story!
•
Rebecca Barrow - Bloom ("Love Transcends Space Time") 5/5
I don't even really know what to say about this story, other than that it was perfection and my heart is full. It's about grief, and trying to get back what you lost only to find something else in the process. It has cottagecore vibes, there's time travel, it's sapphic, it was just so good!
•
Gloria Chao - Teed Up ("Oblivious to Lovers") 2/5
This story was very much okay - it's about a Taiwanese-American girl who's a female golf player in a male-dominated and very sexist field - but it just didn't do much for me. It honestly bored me a little and I kept finding myself zoning out. It also seemed quite convenient that she falls in love with the one guy who's nice to her, the bar is just so low. I just didn't see the appeal, I guess. I also didn't really see much of the trope, personally.
•
Mason Deaver - Boys Noise ("Only One Bed at the Inn") 4/5
After If This Gets Out, I've been really craving more boyband romances, so this was a really great story! It wasn't quite 5 stars for me as I found that all the issues were glossed over too quickly and I found the writing style somewhat lacking at times, but despite that, I still really enjoyed this.
•
Malinda Lo - Girls Just Want to Have Fun ("Secret Royalty") 3/5
This story was off to a rocky start for me, and overall, the writing style didn't quite work for me. I did however think this was a really cute story that used the trope very well! I especially liked the sci-fi setting.
•
Rebecca Podos - Disaster ("Second Chance Romance") 3/5
I did really like the melancholical atmosphere of this story. It was again a sapphic story, set in summer, and, like the trope said, with a second chance romance. I really like a second chance romance, but my issue here was that I didn't like the main character very much, so I had a hard time rooting for the romance.