DNF

The attempts at banter feel forced and unrealistic, which makes the book itself boring. A romance really hinges on the connection between the characters, which means the conversations need to flow.

Good story, couldn't wait to keep reading all what was going to happen. And no experience required is what made the chemistry so off the charts.

I was approved for an arc of No Experience Required, but missed the download date. I still plan on reading it and will review then.

The first part read like a comedy (and not a romantic comedy) and I was amused.

The second part read more like one of Jae's books where we the reader are happily being educated while we learn about one of the character's backstory and issue. This part was not funny or fun.
Over all, an okay book

I am sorry to say that I did not love this one, but I thank Bold Strokes Books for the opportunity to read and review it before the publishing date.

This had a sorta interesting idea of a book in a book. The book that Izzy (our love guru) is writing is shown in short chapterers between the story of Jane and Izzy. It helps you give some insight in Izzy's reasoning and are slightly ironic written which makes for a smile or two. For some reason I seem to not really know how to review this book, it was well written but didn't grab my attention or affect me in any way. The romance started out okay but too much focus was on the not telling about the bi-polar condition and when it does come out everything is so neatly resolved (as are Jane's family issues) in a really short time that the very long build up leads to a feeling of a rushed ending. But again, not a bad written book at all so don't let this review stop you from checking it out yourself.

No Experience Required by Kimberly Cooper Griffin is a contemporary romance. Izzy Treadway has a reputation as a love guru. She knows exactly what ignites the spark for others, but she has no desire to find love herself. You see, Izzy’s bipolar and not only fears being seen as damaged goods but is terrified that if anything goes wrong, it might just send her back to the hospital. Nevertheless, her best friend decides Izzy’s the perfect person to write The Idiot’s Guide to Love. While researching and writing the book, Izzy finds herself falling for Jane Mendoza, the new intern at work. Everything’s perfect until Izzy tells her she’s bipolar and Jane leaves her, claiming the dreaded “It’s not you, it’s me." Izzy’s devastated, but heartbreak teaches her she’s stronger than she gives herself credit for. As Izzy and Jane learn their pasts don’t define their future, they’ll need to get out of their own way to discover love can overcome any obstacle.

No Experience Required is full of realistic, multidimensional characters. Izzy is dealing with her disorder the best way she knows how, which includes keeping herself at least partly walled off from others. Jane has her own issues, and I found their connection and path towards each other to be very organic and believable. I found both characters to be likable and relatable in their own way. I liked the honest and straightforward way that bipolar disorder was discussed, and I feel like I understand how those with the disorder feel a little bit more than I had before. I think that so much of this book is relatable to readers in different ways, and can help us all stop and think about others and the bigger picture a bit more. Even if readers do not know anyone with bipolar disorder, or are not in a same sex relationship, the matters at the heart of the story are universal. I liked the framing of the story between sections if the book Izzy was writing, and found that it brought everything together, and had me anticipating some of the upcoming issues that they would need to address. I also thought that the advice she was writing was on point, and what I would try to encourage others to take to heart. It was also nice to see slightly older main characters, which I could relate to more on the life experience level.

No Experience Required is a well written and engaging book. I thought the issues of dating advice and mental health were very well handled, and I honestly would love to see more from all the characters in the book. I will be reading more from the author.

Izzy is the go-to person when it comes to advice for other people's relationships, but when it comes to her own, she shies away. Izzy is bipolar, and she's always afraid to bring it up in fear of chasing people away and she's afraid of losing control if things turn out badly. Jane is a professor, turned intern for the summer, and the two women hit it off over peanut M&Ms. When Izzy's friends dare her to write a how-to book for finding love, she throws herself into doing research. What she doesn't realize is that love might be right in front of her all this time and that maybe she's stronger than she thinks.

The first half of this book read a little slower for me, and I had originally struggled a little to get into it. When Izzy is trying to dating another woman for research, it felt like too long a deviation from the main connection. I felt myself losing my connection to the relationship and the characters because Jane almost fell back into becoming a secondary character for a while. But the second half of the book I really enjoyed and I couldn't put the book down! I ended up finishing the book feeling really positive about it so I ended on this rating. There were tons of sweet moments in the book, and while things move pretty fast once they get going, it's very realistic. There's some heavy moments as well, but I think they make for a well developed story, and that are balanced out by sweet family moments and amazing chemistry between Jane and Izzy. I really enjoyed reading about this world, I wouldn't complain if we got to come back and see Audie find love in a future book.

I'm thankful for the author including Izzy's mental illness and touching on stigma and how we still have a long way to go, not just for anxiety and depression, but even more so for other mental illnesses. Izzy's worries and thoughts and conversations were very realistic, and this story was such a good reminder that everyone deserves love and everyone can find their person.

I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for a sweet romance, sorry if you have a craving for peanut M&M's at the end though, like I did.

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

The back cover synopsis of this book is impressively incorrect and does monumental disservice to the lovely Jane Mendoza with the statement ‘Everything’s perfect until Izzy tells her she’s bipolar and Jane leaves her, claiming the dreaded “It’s not you, it’s me."’

At 47, Izzy Treadway, a technical writer in a software company, has had just one real relationship in her life during her college days. That relationship ended badly and Izzy’s subsequent actions led to the discovery that she is bipolar. Medication, therapy, running and controlled schedule are the four cornerstones of Izzy’s ability to keep her condition in check. Surprisingly, despite no personal experience with romantic relationships, Izzy rocks at giving advice to others about keeping their love life on track. A throwaway idea from her best friend sets Izzy on a mission to write a self-help advice book, An Idiot’s Guide to Love. Jane Mendoza, a professor, is interning in the same office for the summer to understand the program better. Breathtakingly clueless Izzy seems to be especially blessed in the attracting-hot-women department and not only is the gorgeous Jane attracted to her, but she even gets out of her comfort zone and fights against her natural shyness to make the first move with Izzy.

The author does a thorough job of explaining Izzy’s condition, her internal workings, hopes and fears. Yet, we didn’t particularly like Izzy for most of the book. However, by the end of it we didn’t actively dislike her either. Some things however, just didn’t jell. Izzy did not at any point seem of behave her age. She seemed decades younger than the 47 she is supposed to be. Ditto her best friend at work. Also, for a person who has had no experience with relationships, Izzy is remarkably confident, if not a little cocky, about her sexual prowess. This was even more strange because at one point in the book she is shown to be helpless and out of her depth in an interaction with a woman who was taking an awful lot of physical liberties with Izzy despite Izzy having said ‘no’. Then there is the fact that Izzy doesn’t tell Jane about her condition for months. She doesn’t tell Jane even after Jane has moved in with her. In fact, she ensures that she hides her medicines from Jane. That smacks of cheating. The decision to keep Jane in the dark is especially weird since Izzy has told her friend about being bipolar and her entire family (roughly fifty people) know about it and encourage her to confide in Jane.

Jane is what really saves the book. She is hot, open, willing to go out on a limb and somehow very real. Even her incomprehensible compulsion to be nice to her parents seems more conditioning and slightly tragic rather than making her weak in any way.

This book straddles a space between a being a romcom and something more serious (given that the protagonists are dealing with a mental disorder and paternal homophobic physical violence). One of the best things about the book is that at the end we feel that this couple will really be happy together because they seem to have got their shot together and have learnt how to be a couple that communicates and cares for each other.

I’m really glad I didn’t read the blurb before I read this novel. I didn’t find it to be much of a romantic comedy but I was completely taken in by it. Izzy is a tech writer at a company in Silicone Valley. She has a wonderful ability to see how to help her friends and colleagues in their relationships but as is so often the case, she is unable to turn that perceptiveness on herself. After numerous suggestions from her friend’s she decides to write ‘An Idiot’s Guide to Love’ even though she hasn’t had a relationship in years because she spends so much of her time balancing her own mental health because she suffers from Bipolar Disorder. The arrival of Jane at her offices threatens her precarious balance when she find herself more attracted to her day by day.

This story affected me in quite a personal way in that I have a few close relatives dealing with different types of chemical imbalances. So much fell into place for me just by reading Izzy’s thoughts and the way she constantly assesses her wellbeing. In the light humour lies a subtle depth and seriousness of the condition. Exerpts from Izzy’s book follow each chapter and they work well to highlight Izzy’s intellectual behaviour against her emotional behaviour. The exerpts are short, not to over-powering and often ironic.

Jane and Izzy’s relationship is lovely. Izzy is really likeable because she works hard all the time to maintain her control over her routines to keep her mental health in check. Jane is fun and free and even though she seems completely relaxed in their relationship there’s something ticking in the background intermittently.

I couldn’t put this book down and it’s given me lots to think about.

Book received from Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

I received a digital advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am absolutely obsessed with female on female romantic contemporary books. Being bisexual, I feel we do not get enough of these stories nor are they advertised as being female on female romance. I loved this story though.

I loved Jane and Izzy, you can see how they have grown from their past circumstances and how it has shaped their views of themselves and the world. This book is heavy on the romance but I didn’t seem to mind it.

I felt Izzy was so relatable. I am terrible at reading signs too so that really struck a chord for me. I did feel a bit confused by the cover art of this book. I am guessing the girl on the cover is meant to be Izzy. If that is Izzy, then man she ages well. The cover to me looks like a YA novel rather than being a lesbian rom com about a woman in her forties.

I did love the overall pacing of this story. It was well written and a good read. Thank you so much to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for allowing me to review this novel.

Izzy Treadway has a reputation for providing awesome advice for her friends on relationships and has, according to herself, 100% success rate so when her friend suggests she write a book she decides to follow the suggestion .  Jane Mendoza is the new intern at work who doesn't date her coworkers, Izzy is smitten but she has sworn off dating as she is bipolar and believes this has contributed to her lack of success in relationships . So starts the beginnings of their interesting relationship.
Both main characters had their issues, Izzy with her bipolar condition and Jane with being physically abused and kudos to the author for addressing these.  However I really struggled with how Izzy took so long to declare her condition to Jane, I know it shouldn't be a defining factor in a relationship but isn't omission being dishonest?
The other issue I had was that Jane suffered physical and emotional abuse from her father yet surprisingly still seemed to provide care for her parents, particularly her father and this didn't sit well with me.
Having said that I liked the way this book was written and also liked the general storyline.  I would definitely read another book from this author again.

I'm always happy with books that have a less than perfect main character or a non-mainstream character. Although the blurb of the book is not correct and the cover is also misleading.

Jane does not leave Izzy because Izzy is bipolar.

Izzy and Jane meet when Jane takes a summer internship with her students at the tech company where Izzy is a tech writer. They meet and hit it off at the M&M dispenser because it's that kind of tech company where you can get almost everything your heart desires food-wise.

There is a lot of frustration and miscommunication between the two of them. While Izzy is a love guru she is abysmally bad at improving her own love life. Jane has several issues stemming from her dysfunctional family, but those are not deeply addressed nor resolved.

But again this book scores point for having a realistic character with a mental illness and for her being older than 45 with no real experience with love and relationship. Which is a more realistic view.

Izzy is a technical writer who has bipolar disorder. She’s really good at giving relationship advice to her friends even though she doesn’t do relationships herself. Her best friend suggests her to write a book about love and Izzy reluctantly agrees and her journey begins. It was a fun and well written book. I liked the main character, she was well developed and interesting but I had trouble connecting with her love interest, Jane. I wanted to know her better, read what she was thinking. I prefer dual pov when it comes to romance books.

ARC provided by both NetGalley and The Publisher in exchange for an unbiased review

I first want to express that I can appreciate a romance that touches upon some heavy topics. This one touches mental illness and abuse. So if those aren't you thing you might want to consider skipping this read.

I have been thinking about how to review this one for a couple of days. I overall liked the story of Izzy and Jane. You can tell they are attracted to one another, but because Izzy has sworn off dating because of she is bipolar, she sort of misses this attraction. She does however begin to see it once her close friend convinces her to write a self help book about relationships since Izzy is so good at giving love advice. Jane seems sweet, but has issues of her own that doesn't totally appear until midway through the romance.

Though I appreciated the themes, I didn't connect totally. I think because the romance moved too slow. It didn't move quick enough to really keep me engaged. Once the book picked up for me, it was over. If the pace was quicker and the overall romance shorter, I think I would have liked it much better. I can't complain about not having enough sex scenes in this one because there are plenty and that is probably one of the things that kept me interested.

Anyway, I rate this one 3.25 stars.

I was really excited to read this one! The beginning of the book really drew me in and I was ready to fall in love with another book...but that didn’t happen. Honestly, it might just be my own personal issue, but I had a hard time connecting with and enjoying the romantic relationship once it started...
The foundation of the romance seemed to be more physical and lust filled. I love a romance when the two have a deeper connection and solid foundation before the physical side starts. Totally my preference though.

I was surprised to see that the main character was older. She seemed younger...her inner and outer dialogue reflected that. It wasn’t a bad thing...just surprising.

Overall, the descriptions in the story took me there and I was easily able to see myself there in the moment. The plot was good, I enjoyed the book within a book aspect. I also had no issues with the main character’s mental health. There were some uncomfortable moments for me, but for the most part I would say it’s a good book. Was I totally satisfied? No. But I’d be willing to give it another go in the future...maybe then...

I will definitely check out more books by this author, this was the first book I’ve read from her!

*Thank you Bold Strokes for providing this ebook in exchange for my personal review

This is a weird one for me to review because while this book kept me interested and stayed on my mind when I wasn’t reading it, I didn’t particularly care for the story or the characters and found myself having to suspend my disbelief quite a lot. I’m starting to realize that maybe I don’t like rom-coms as much as I thought I did...or maybe I’m just really picky when it comes to this sub-genre.

Izzy Treadway is a 47 year-old technical writer who has bipolar disorder. Her first real heartbreak coincided with her first bipolar episode, and so Izzy is convinced that if something like that ever happens again, she’ll lose control. She can’t let that happen, Izzy’s worked too hard to get where she is: mentally stable and almost happy. It’s kinda ironic since she has a knack for fixing everyone else’s relationships. Over the summer, Jane Mandoza, a university professor spends a few weeks testing out the intern program at the company where Izzy works and the two women are drawn to each other. Too bad Izzy doesn’t do relationships and Jane doesn’t date coworkers...Until they both do.

My main issue with this book is that Izzy (and pretty much everyone else) acts like a 20 year-old. There’s no way you can convince my otherwise. I wanted to read a book about mature characters dealing with real life issues and that isn’t exactly what I got and I was disappointed.

It’s rare that we get characters with good mental illness rep. I think in this case the author did a great job portraying Izzy’s disorder and I love that it wasn’t used against her in any way. It wasn’t used to create drama or further the plot. It was just there and she tried her best to deal and cope with it. The thing that really bugged me though was how long it took her to admit it to Jane. As if it were a dirty secret that made her less than. I can understand the fear of ~coming out because there’s still such a stigma surrounding bipolar disorder, but I still wish Izzy had been upfront about it.

Jane’s father is a homophobic asshole (let’s be honest) with a violent streak. He’s beaten Jane almost to death when she was a teenager, and now he hits her mom, but Jane keeps showing up to Sunday dinners? Why? I don’t get it. As someone who’s dealt with that type of thing, I cannot understand Jane, but I’m curious as to why the author decided to incorporate that family dynamic into her book because it didn’t add anything to the plot. It felt a little over the top.

That being said, the writing is pretty decent and I would definitely read something else by Kimberly Cooper Griffin. The relationship between the two MCs is feels real and is quite believable. It progresses over the course of a few months with its ups and downs. I don’t know if this book is getting a sequel or not, but I would probably read it if that were the case.

I’m giving this a 3.25 stars, but I don’t think this book is bad by any means. It just wasn’t exactly what I was hoping it would be.

Thanks to Bold Strokes Books for providing me with a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review

This was a fine read - a surprising rom-com that is more on the serious end of the rom-com spectrum. Izzy is a technical writer at a publisher, and is working on a romance advice book. Turns out that she's great at giving other people advice but is terrible with her own love life. So much so, that when a new intern, a professor from a local college, shows heavy interest in her, Izzy simply misses it.

I think I like both Jane and Izzy as characters, and you can see how each of their circumstances have shaped how they view themselves and the world around them. Lizzy was peppered with uncertainty and doubt with regards to her bi-polar disorder. Jane has a horribly abusive father who beats on her mother, her and her friends. Their situation causes them to be horrible communicators and that drives most of the story. There's some good stuff in that, especially since it does take some time for Izzy to read Jane's signals. It was frustrating when they finally got together and you know something is off, but they just don't talk to each other. It causes a blow out that feels really unnecessary.

This was a nice rom-com, that relies more heavily on the romance part. There's a whole bunch of rom-com tropes packed in here, so if its your thing, I'd say go for it. It is fairly nicely paced, but I feel like Jane's problems are punted to the background just a little too much. There are some interesting ways that Izzy's point of view blocks our perception of Jane, but I felt like screaming at Izzy to just ask her what was wrong! I think that will get people the most upset, but it should not be that much of a problem for some folks.

The title made me interested and confused, even by the end I only sorta understood why it was the title.

The story is about Izzy and Jane. Izzy is a technical writer for a tech company called Gigify. She's also quite the love guru for her friends, even though she does not have love (or wants love) at the beginning of the book. But, then her friends convince her to write a book with all her advice in it, and that's where stuff starts changing for her.

It also starts changing after she meets Jane, a new Intern --sorta--. It's a bumpy beginning for them, and a bumpy middle and end too now that I mention it, and both have baggage and secrets that they keep that keeps the reader on their toes.

I liked most things about this book, the characters were good, and the story was just a little different than I thought it would be here and there, so that was a nice different sort of thing too. A fun read.

I received this book via Netgalley thanks to Bold Strokes Books.

Izzy Treadway is a 47 year old user guide writer for a tech company in California. She has no love life, but she is exceptionally good at offering relationship and love advice to her friends. With some prompting from her best friend, she embarks on a journey to pass this wisdom along by writing ‘An Idiot’s Guide to Love’. In the meantime, Jane Mendoza starts working for the same company. She is a professor trying out the company’s intern program on behalf of the university. Interest is mutual, but they are unable to share all of their baggage with each other. Will lying by omission end their relationship?

The novel is narrated in third person from Izzy’s point of view. Chapters are arranged with the current story followed by ‘An Idiot’s Guide to Love’ book entry. I liked that arrangement and felt it served the story well. That is, until later in the book when the advice given by Izzy in the entries did not match her actions in real life, or simply started getting cumbersome and interrupted the flow of the story.

Since the story is narrated from Izzy’s point of view, we know right away what her baggage is. Izzy is bipolar and was diagnosed in her 20’s after her girlfriend broke up with her and sent her on a downward spiral. Now set on a good management routine for her disease, Izzy does not want to risk falling in love and triggering an episode. I do not have personal experience with this disorder, but if true to what the author attempts to portray, she did a phenomenal job at conveying it. I think that is the highlight of the novel. The reader gets a glimpse at the mindset of someone with bipolar disorder symptoms. All the questions that can surface with sometimes the simplest of dilemmas. Like when Izzy gets a scone and her mind rambles about Jane possibly not liking scones to being a glutton if she eats both of them. When Izzy was being a ‘chatterbox’, the reader could easily pick up on it. Same when Jane was distant. One could readily see it through the dialog and scene description. It was eye opening how all consuming the disorder can be and the struggle by an individual to not be defined by it. Of course, that opens the door to the stigma associated with mental illnesses in our society.

On the other hand, the most aggravating issue was how much Izzy preached communication in her guide’s entries but then would do the opposite in her life! All the issues could have been easily addressed if communication was indeed something the characters did. And yes, I said characters since Jane was also to blame. For example, one of the big issues in the relationship was Izzy’s need to keep up with her running schedule. If Izzy would have simply explained how running was part of her routine to help with depression, Jane would have been fine with it. For two women in their 40’s, wow, talk to each other guys!

On a side note, the guide mentions moving in with your partner because it provides an economic advantage. Well, I couldn’t stop laughing because that was exactly what my mother said when I told her I was moving in with my now wife of 15 years!

Overall, a mostly straightforward story showcasing a main with bipolar disorder. 3.5 stars

ARC generously provided to me by BSB via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.