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sapphic_library's Reviews (279)
while "les be honest" started off very promising, especially because i wholeheartedly agree with the fact that lesbian bars are few and hard to find and it shows the effects of a patriarchal society even within the more open-minded LGBTQ+ community, i lost interest in this book very quickly and had to DNF at 21%. the concept was intriguing and i enjoyed yasmeen's inner monologue, but from the very beginning, everything about the book felt very forced. it felt very much like an ally trying so hard but landing on performative allyship. i'm not sure about the identity of the author so i don't want to judge based on that, but it was just the impression i got based on the bit that i read. along with that, the pacing for yas and tyler's relationship felt so rushed. they went from a business lunch that ended awkwardly, to agreeing to pretend to date, to hooking up the second time they met, to tyler getting jealous that yas was on a dating app. there was no emotional connection between them to make their extremely fast-paced relationship feel believable. thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book,
i was very interested in the premise of this book, but i had to DNF at 24%. the writing felt very forced and clinical, the main character liv was giving major pick-me vibes, and aiden just immediately rubbed me the wrong way. i love enemies or rivals to lovers, but aiden's mockery of liv felt downright cruel at times and it's just not the kind of love interest i want to read about. this book felt like it relied way too much on tropes, rather than focusing on the story itself, which is just not a good recipe. it's fine to use tropes as ways to explain what a book is about, but you need the development, chemistry and emotion that this book lacked. (also, why was pride and prejudice mentioned every other page? like i get it, they were the blueprint of enemies to lovers, but you can't make that into your book's only selling point.) thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC of this book.
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
"not in the plan" is a fun and heartwarming romance novel about charlie and mack, two very different women who have an instant connection when mack steps into charlie's coffee shop. mack, who's a writer, is looking for a new place to work on her next novel and finds both the perfect space and a surprising muse in charlie. i loved this novel and i had a great time reading it! it's the perfect lighthearted romance to read on a quiet afternoon at home. i found charlie and mack to be very compelling main characters with interesting backstories and great chemistry. their connection and their journey to falling in love felt very natural and believable and i found myself swooning along with them as their romance progressed. really, the only issue (and issue is putting it lightly) that i have with this book is that they both felt way older than their ages (25 and 26, if i recall correctly). i think being in their early 30s would've made a lot more sense for where they both were in life. but that was a very minor blip in the grand scheme of things and i still had a great time! thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC of this book.
i love mason deaver's writing and this was a really fun, romcom-y book that anyone who loves lighthearted, fluffy romance would love. jude was a great main character and i loved seeing their story progress. i loved having a nonbinary character who just was themself and seeing them be so unconditionally loved and accepted by everyone in their life. and their love story with huy was so cute!! overall, i had a good time reading this book, but parts of it fell a little flat for me. while i really liked the concept of cupids out in the world, getting people together, the trajectory of jude's duty to their role to wanting to quit felt forced at times, like there wasn't any reason at all for them to stay as a cupid and you were waiting the whole book for them to figure it out. i did like the ending being kind of ambiguous because i loved being surprised, but i also would've liked a little more clarification on what happened. did jude and leah lose their memories? are they not cupids anymore? regardless, i still had a great time and would definitely recommend this book to someone looking for a fun YA romance. i received an ARC from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
