I got very excited because this is only the second ARC I’ve been accepted for, in exchange for an honest review, and we all love new queer books, right?

But… I don’t know that I loved it. I thought the premise was pretty solid: the story starts out with the happy ending first, as our protagonist, Edi, is engaged to her childhood sweetheart, Rowan. When Rowan suggests they take a break (read: screw around), Edi is thrown for six and falls instead into the arms of the ever- charming museum curator, Fred - a woman. Brilliant - give me women leaving trash men for sexy and mysterious curators any day.

However, I was left pretty disappointed by this book. It was fairly heavily marketed as being a sapphic romance, and while that was an element of the plot, it was much less pivotal than I was expecting. I’ve since read one review that suggested it’s less of a sapphic romance and more of a hetero break up story, and I don’t think I can phrase it better.

Beyond the slightly slow start (if I’d have known I’d have to read that much straight-people drama and not get to the gay love interest until 40% of the way through, I may not have started…) I found the characters pretty underdeveloped. As a novel than focuses on friendships as well as romantic relationships, I’d hoped the supporting cast would at least be a loveable band you can really rally behind and related to. However, with 6 best friends to meet, the reader doesn’t get a chance to know them well, and they lack depth.

Also, I’m not sure if this is my super gay spidey-senses speaking, but wow the red flags the main guy, Rowan, was raising from the outset were visible from space. I know you’re not supposed to like him, but it made me kinda mad Edi put up with him for so long. And again, possibly the lesbian u-haul urge in me, but is it weird that people would get engaged without living together first? It feels weird…

I also found myself super confused over the time period and could not work it out. In one scene, the friends are setting Edi up with an online dating profile - bearing in mind the main characters are supposed to be in their twenties (I *think*?) they were using Facebook and Plenty of Fish, and it made me irrationally mad… These were the go tos in 2010, but not today?! But in the same scene, the mostly-straight friends were also clued up on non-binary identities which like… in 2010, rly?! I don’t even think most straight friend groups *now* would consider much beyond heteronormativity as an option for a previously hetero-presenting pal… (although maybe I’m being harsh, admittedly I haven’t dated in a decade).

I liked the concept, but did not love the execution.

tw: transphobia

First of all, I want to say that I really wanted to enjoy this book, but I am incredibly disappointed by it. From the way it was marketed compared to what the book is about, undeveloped characters, dragged-out situations to the most unfortunate - transphobic lines in the book, and the poor attempt of cover-up.

Now, this book was marketed as a book about finding love after a break-up when you least expect it, and it was implied that it centers on a sapphic romance. Did this book have a sapphic romance? Sure. Was it the main plot point of the book? Absolutely not. I will get more into it, but I want to discuss the transphobic comment I referenced.

When I requested this book on NetGalley, I was very excited to read it. Between that time and the time I received the book, I saw a few reviews referencing a transphobic comment made in the book. The main character, Edi, goes on a date with a man, and while she's there she receives a dick pic from someone on a dating app. Her date notices, she rushes to say that it's obviously not hers (first offense) and her date says something along the lines of 'thank god, because that would be a next-level deception' (even more disgusting). I hope I don't have to explain why this entire conversation is transphobic.

You can imagine my surprise when I got to that part of the book and the date's line read: ‘Well, that would have been a first for me from an online date, I have to say.’. The main character's line, however, remained the same, as transphobic as it was the first time - but now even more highlighted without the date's even worse response. So what I can only assume happened is that because of the reviews, the line was changed. What I can say with certainty, is that it didn't help. Whoever decided on the change either did not understand why the reviewers were calling this out, or simply didn't care enough to do the job right. So not only did they try to sweep this under the rug, but they did it quite poorly.

This conversation brings absolutely nothing to the scene and the story overall, and it could've been completely left out. We were led to believe that the date was not a great guy, so if the point of him being transphobic was to emphasize that, the right thing would've been to have the main character react to what he said - to show that she doesn't agree. By simply changing his line, we are left with a scene that didn't need to happen and the main character's own transphobic line. There was no note in the book indicating and acknowledging the change, and without it this seems like a very poor cover-up, especially as the issue wasn't really fixed and when the reviews directly quoting what was said in the book are available to see.

With all that said, the book suffers from other issues as well. It was clearly marketed wrong, as this wasn't a sapphic romance we were promised. The main character, Edi, is engaged to Rowan at the beginning of the book, and they stay a couple for most of the book. The love interest that was mentioned in the synopsis, Fred, becomes a relevant character only in the second half of the book, and even then she's more of an episodic character and not someone we see a lot of.
The book could've been marketed in plenty other ways as it deals with a lot of topics, such as having (and leaving) a toxic relationship, finding yourself as a person, discovering your sexuality, it explores friendship - but perhaps the issue was that none of these topics was explored very well. They were touched on, but we don't really go into any of them in a substantial way.

The story itself was not my favorite - it is hard for me to see why Edi stays with Rowan as long as she does, he is a very unlikeable character, and it is hard for me to comprehend how their relationship lasted until this point (the flashback show us he doesn't really respect Edi, and the homophobia isn't cute). While I enjoyed the element of friendship with her friend group that part also felt lackluster to me. She has 5 close friends, and out of them, three were completely interchangeable for me. I felt like only Lily and Faith had real personalities, the rest of them were very flat, two-dimensional characters.

The characters often said things that I found very cringy, and some lines sounded like they were supposed to be more profound than they actually were. The feminism referenced in the book is also questionable at best, with Lily being described as having a 'smash-the-patriarchy vibe' and saying that having only one maid of honor is 'just the thing the patriarchy wants'.
The romance Edi has with Fred is fine, I don't have much to say about it, but I am confused as to why it was marketed as being the central part of the book. I would be more inclined to say that the main plot is just Edi figuring herself out. We don't see much of Fred, so we don't learn that much about her.

All in all the characters were flat for the most part, the story was dragged-out and the book was much different than I expected it to be based on the synopsis. There really wasn't much I enjoyed about this story. The transphobia, the attempt at "fixing it", making it worse, and then never addressing it really sealed my disdain for this book. Unfortunately, I would not recommend this book at all.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to thank NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

When Edi’s childhood sweetheart and new fiance wants to take a three month break and open their relationship, for the first time ever she’s single. When she meets Winifred, she begins to question her relationship with her fiance, Rowan.

This book was an easy read and a lot of fun. It got me out of a reading slump with its funny side characters, frustrating men and sweet romance. I would definitely say that this book is more about friendship than romance though, so do not go into it expecting that. However, I think the friendships in this book made it more enjoyable and added a great cast of characters for Edi to interact with whenever she needed advice while on her journey.

I would have loved to read more about Edi’s friends and how they all got so close. I also would have liked Edi more if there was more to her. I also would have loved to read more about Edi’s life like her interests, why she had certain insecurities, and why she put up with Rowan, even though she didn’t seem that crazy about him and all her friends didn’t like him. These are small things though.

If you are looking for a fun, easy, romantic comedy about strong and reliable friendships, then I think you should check out The Break Up!

Pacing was awkward, was not the sapphic romcom I was expecting since it’s not really either. Edith and her friend group were definitely the highlight of the story.

Thanks to Netgalley and HQ for the e-ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review.

I usually don't read descriptions of books before reading them, and I think that by doing that I enjoyed this book more than a lot of people - I just knew this book was about a break during an engagement and that it was labeled as f/f.
This is a book about Edi and here fiancé's break, sure, but it's more about her friendships with the girls (though 5 is a big number of friends to try and keep track of), and finding herself. Therefore, if you are looking for the sapphic romance, you might get frustrated - the book isn't focused on that, though we do see it.

I chose this book mostly because of the cover and the prospect of the f/f romance, and I think the cover is kinda misleading - it's a beautiful cover but not the right cover for this book. If the book was described as a self discovery book, the power of friendships, I think it'd be better, and truer to the book's essence. And it should have a cover that's more like it.

Talking about characters, I absolutely despise Rowan and after everything that happened, I can't believe Edi would still call him her best friend or want to keep being friends with him. He's a homophobe and that in itself is a big red flag imo, even if she doesn't identify as a lesbian.

It wasn't the romcom I was expecting, but it was a quick read.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.

The concept of this book, along with it being marketed as a sapphic romance is initially what drew me in. However, the further I read, the more it felt as though the wlw relationship served solely as a vehicle to help Edi break up with her male fiancée - which doesn't occur until around 85% of the way in. The transphobic comment made whilst Edi is on a date also left a foul taste. It occurs whilst Edi is on a date with a man; in the midst of the scene, she receives an unsolicited dick pic from another male. When the guy notices this on Edi's phone, she informs him it isn't hers, to which he replies with relief because that would be a 'next level deception'. Although the guy is painted as an ass from the beginning of the scene, Edi seemingly doesn't bat an eyelid at the transphobic comment, nor is it ever addressed again. I understand wanting to paint a guy as an ass, but I can't see the reasoning behind having a transphobic comment included if it never intended to serve a purpose outside of a throwaway comment. Edi does not address it, and they move on. Transphobia is not the base of painting men with shitty humours, and I see no purpose for it having been included in the first place.

Outside of that, I thought the book was an okay read. Edi's female love interest, Fred, felt as though she had a lot more potential than she was given. There were multiple opportunities to flesh out her character, but they never seemed to come into fruition. The same can be said for hers and Edi's relationship - it's heavily dependent on allusion, and there is little examples of them actually developing their relationship outside of implied developments the readers are left to piece together.

Rowan was an ass from the beginning, but the homophobia portrayed when he found out Edi was dating Fred also fell quite stale. I understand that his reaction to finding out his then ex-fiancee sleeping with a woman is something that occurs in real life, however, I just felt there could've been other reasons for them to come to a breaking point. The inclusion of homophobia and transphobia felt as though the author didn't know how else to steer their experiences outside of reliance on shitty beliefs.

Edi's friendship group were the highlight of the book for me, however a friendship circle of six felt a bit complicated to pick up with at times. The same can be said for Rowan's friends - at times, it felt as though they all blurred into one person I struggled to distinguish.

Overall, I enjoyed the pacing of the book, but I felt there was a lot that could've been improved on. It certainly isn't the sapphic romance that it initially was marketed as, but I appreciated Fred's character nonetheless.

When I saw the premise for The Break Up, I was immediately interested. Especially because I love a sapphic romance.

Edi and her boyfriend Rowan are engaged. He suggests they date other people for three months, just so they can be sure they’re not missing out on anything. And that’s how Edi meets Fred.

My biggest issue with The Break Up is that, as a supposedly wlw romance book, it takes too long for the romance to start. Up to 50% of the book, Edi and Fred meet 2 or 3 times and their interactions were actually very short, so that was a bummer.

Their dates felt pretty rushed too, and it seemed like the author was telling us stuff instead of showing us, which made me not care about them as much. Even though I knew they were supposed to be into each other, I didn’t really feel a connection between them.

Another thing I didn’t vibe with was the fiancé. He’s awful and Edi should’ve dumped him right away. I wasn’t a big fan of her group of friends either, for a couple of reasons. One: who has that many super close friends? Two: sometimes it was hard to tell who each friend was, because there are like 5 of them. Most of the time Edi is with them, and I felt like she was too connected to them to be her own character.

Which leads me to how the story ends: she’s trying to deepen her connection with herself, which is completely fine, but it didn’t make me feel anything, because her friends were involved—which isn’t a bad thing, but since they’re always with her it didn’t feel like anything was different.

I was so excited to read this book, but there was hardly any romance and Eid's relationship with Fred just wasn't it. I expected more of the book to be focused on them, but too much of the beginning of the book was focused on her relationship w Rowan. I liked Edi's relationship with her friends, although i don't think it was necessary to have so many or spend so much of the book focused on them... I found myself confused on which was which, their personalities were basically the same. I don't know the authors background but the whole thing feels like it was written by a woman longing to use her romantic relationship with another woman as an accessory. *sigh* This was not the sapphic romcom i so desperately wanted.

this did not give what it was meant to give and it was very disappointing. the characters fell flat, as did both romances and it was just meh :(

It’s next to impossible to really nail down the essence of this book, because it seems that the author was not sure what they wanted to be writing. The cover shows two women holding hands, and the summary specifically highlights the relationship between the MC (Edi) and the woman she meets on this break, Fred. It’s described as “breathtakingly romantic.” Unfortunately, I could not disagree more.

While seemingly marketed as a f/f romcom, the majority of the book focuses on Edi’s relationship with her fiancé, Rowan. I would estimate 50% of the novel is about them. Another 30-40% focuses on Edi’s friendships within a group of 5-6 other women, who are difficult to differentiate between because their personalities are rather flat in my opinion. The last 10-20% is about her romance with Fred, and the most captivating thing about that relationship is Fred’s attempts at teaching Edi her own self worth, and how to love herself.

I did not find most of the characters likable at all, and no one stood out on the pages. The dialogue was not natural, and the writing was most often only descriptive of the actions taking place to move the plot forward. Throw in a casual dose of transphobia that is never addressed, and this was a one star read for me. All said, I wanted to like this novel, and simply did not.

*Thank you to NetGalley, HQ and HQ Digital Inc. for providing me with this Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review!*

Sum It Up:
Edi and Rowan have been the golden hetero couple since their teens, so it’s only natural for them to be getting married… right? The Break Up by Charlotte Barnes explores what happens when they take a final “break” to explore all their desires before tying the knot for good.

This story of identity, friendship and self-worth was a charming, relatable and fun read. I found myself picking this up each night when I needed something light and entertaining to step into. I really enjoyed the balance between the easygoing slice-of-life scenes and the exploration of gender identity and navigating relationships as they go through major changes.

What Worked Well:
I really enjoyed the way the sapphic romance was written between Edi and Fred. Though some of the interactions were cliché (I’m looking at you, figure drawing class) they still came off as sweet, endearing, and realistic to most queer-panic flirting that happens today! I enjoyed the dialogue between Edi and Fred as well, as it often gave the reader an example of a supportive relationship vs. her conversations with self-centered Rowan.

While I would normally complain about the absence of spice, the fade-to-black scenes in this book were very sweet and kept the focus on the exploration of identity and relationships vs. sexualizing the sapphic relationships.

What Could Be Stronger:
The biggest issue I had with this story was how long it took Edi and Rowan to actually break up! I was prepared for maybe 1-2 chapters of backstory before the big break-up moment, but Barnes gave us almost 20 chapters before the couple actually separates. The chapters are short, but it still felt like there were too many before the story really got interesting.

At points, it felt like Fred was such an unflappable “cool girl” that she became more of a foil to Edi’s character than her own person in the relationship. We needed Fred to see Edi grow, in both her view of herself and her ability to advocate for her needs in her relationships, but I was also hoping for more about Fred to match.

Favorite Quotes/ Parts: Edi and Fred’s first date, the realism of Edi’s feelings after the break up, Edi and Fred in the figure drawing class, and the ending!

Who Should Read This: Fans of Rom-Coms, late in life lesbians, newly queer folks, sapphic readers, people who like sweet stories

So here's the thing about this book... It's not that it's bad, it's actually well written and funny, but I do agree with other reviwers that it's been sold as something other than what it actually is.

That being said, if you're looking for a saphic romcom, as both the cover and the blurb may suggest this book is, you will be disappointed.

Edi and Rowan have been together for their entire life and are recently engaged when he proposes they open up their relationship before getting married. She she meets a woman that makes her question her sexuality and with her five best friends goes on to figure out what all of that means for her.

I think this book would work out much better if it was sold as a the story of their friendship, which is for sure the highlight of the whole thing and Edi growing out of a shitty relationship.

I mean Rowan is the worst type of guy you can imagine (and in 2022!) so I really did not care about him at all and was rooting for their break up the whole time. The female love interest, on the other hand, it's not very well developed and while she's obviously a much better catch then Rowan, it just felt kinda whatever to me still.

Lily, Faith, Cora, Betty and Molly are the only thing that made this book worth for me, so if you're interested in reading something with great female friendship and really funny banter this might work well for you!

But, like I've said before, if you're looking for sapphic romcom, better go elsewhere.

* I got an ARC from NetGalley and HQStories in exchange for an honest review.

2.5


I was very disappointed in this book. I was really hoping for a sapphic romcom and this focused more on the main character's heterosexual relationship. Also there was transphobia towards the beginning with the Jeremy guy. Which I know he wasn't supposed to be likeable but transphobia is gross. Also the whole "are you turning gay" thing left a bad taste in my mouth... Bisexuals exist. And then another trope I hate is the pretty girl who doesn't know she's pretty and puts herself down... Boring.

This book receives a solid 2.5/5, if only because I really enjoyed Edi's friends. However, this book is marketed as a wlw romcom, and it was not. Waiting until the 50% mark for any romance, while Edi's fiance is treating her like dirt and she's just taking it, is genuinely painful to get through. If I weren't reading this to review, I would have DNF'd around 20%. However, I do think this could be saved by better marketing this book (and thus helping the reader's expectations so they are not blindsided like me when reading) as a book about a breakup, and a later-in-life coming of age story with strong female friendships.

Overall, a well-written, well-developed story of Edi, with strong characters who I really enjoyed (though I do think her friend group could use an edit, there were a lot of names to keep track of), I just found myself wanting more of the sweet sapphic romcom this cover and description led me to believe it was.

I thought I was going to like this one, but I was wrong. I had a hard time reading it and keeping up with the story. I was feeling like I was reading the same things over again. Edi going out with the girls, seeing Rowan from time to time and sometimes Fred. One chapter was about her getting the promotion, but this felt like something forced, like she didn't even have the job the whole book.
I liked the girl friend group Edi had, even though some of the scenes were a bit cringe. Edi was an okay character, but I felt like I was missing most of the things in the book like her relationship with Fred. I wanted to read more about her thoughts and feelings, both for her relationship with Fred and Rowan. Like this great first love with Rowan, why is it so special? Why and what does she exactly feel when she's with Fred? The whole plot about her turning out bisexual was okay, but I just wanted to read here too more of her thoughts. I got the feeling like Edi was missing a lot of things for the reader to connect with her.
I just didn't like the book and the writing. (even though Little Mix was mentioned three times)

NetGalley thank you for the free ARC!

Well, that was the most short lived happiness ever. Chapter two and we’re already doubting our fiancée in more ways than one. Awesome start to that ‘forever’ pact (aka marriage), Edith.

Rowan is… I don’t even know how to describe him.

“I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything with you, Edi, but we’ve never really known anything different and in the nicest way possible, I still want to marry you but I also want to talk with other girls”.

What. The. Heck.

If you don’t believe that’s what he actually said, here’s a direct quote:

“We would still be together. And life would absolutely carry on as normal in a lot of ways. But imagine, okay, imagine you’re on a night out with the girls and a man comes up to you and says, hey, can I get you a drink? If you wanted to say yes, you could!”

Then Edi asks him if the same would apply for him when he’s out and he “nodded instantly”.

Did I mention Rowan cheated on Edi well before they were engaged as well? No one is surprised, after everything we’ve been told about him already. Hey, at least he asked permission this time! 🙄

Did the author set out to make the worst character in the history of fictional characters? Because if so, she dang well succeeded. Rowan is toxic beyond belief. I could transform this entire review into an angry rant about why Rowan is unbelievable. Oh, wait, I don’t need to bother. Our lovely Edith has written out a table for us. Three simple sentences:
1) Rowan sleeping with other people
2) Rowan leaving me
3) I’ll always know that Rowan wanted to sleep with other people AGAIN and I’ll have to carry that around forever and how do I live with that knowledge?

Step one done, Edi. Step two: break up with the bastard.

Also, who compares a bad feeling to speculums and lubricants?? I am seriously weirded out.

I felt obligated to finish the book no matter how much I wanted to hurl my Kindle across my room (I think I was literally shaking in anger at some points) but that wouldn’t be an honest review because in full transparency, I wish I’d DNF-ed this one well before the 27% mark (which is when I finally gave up).

I read some other reviews and came across an alarming amount that mentioned a transphobic comment (the same one) and that sealed the deal for me. I wasn’t going to force myself any further.

Big thank you to NetGalley and HQ for the eArc in return for an honest review.

I think this book was just subpar. The plot never felt all that thought out, and the characters weren't that interesting. I never really felt much connection between Edi and Fred. In fact, Fred was not a memorable character of any sort. The writing was more telling than showing so things never felt that impactful. The random flashbacks were not helping and I think the book would have improved without them, since they never seemed that important and just gave small insights on Edi, things we could have learned in the present time of the novel. I also just wasn't a fan of Lily with her white woman feminism and how the novel seemed to demonize an open relationship. However, I did like the premise of the book and I enjoyed Edi and Faith's friendship. I also really liked how Edi had a therapist, however, I think that Edi's therapist should've had more scenes because she seemed to really help Edi. I think that if Fred was replaced with a man then it'd essentially be a cheesy new adult romance novel that isn't that great, but if that's the book that they're going for then they did succeed with that.

1.5 ⭐️ Dnf at 60%
I just I didn’t get it. I did not connect with any or the characters I did not like the way this was written. I hated the language of this book. It is definitely not a cute sapphic love story I was hoping for. I was kinda interested at first but god it was really boring and did not interest me at all. It just was not it for me. I just couldn’t read it anymore.

This book was not for me. I don't normally rate books a 1, but when there is problematic language and behaviours in it, I do.

First problem I had with the book was me personally. For me this book wasn't interesting. I didn't connect with Edi, and I absolutely hated Rowan. I hated that Edi struggled so much to let Rowan treat her as disposable and even at the end of the book, she still didn't understand how manipulative Rowan was. This book was marketed as a romance, and LGBTQIA+ romance and it wasn't. It is more women's fiction than anything.

The biggest problem I had with the book, however, was the language used. There were transphobic comments and anti-LGBTQIA+ comments. When these comments happened, I could have just DNFed the book, but I decided to persist to see if these comments would ever be addressed. They did not.

This book was, I think, supposed to be about Edi finding herself, her worth and exploring the platonic love of her friendships. I found the friends, although, ride or dies, to be mean, catty and anti LGBTQIA+. They were so tone deaf on lesbians, and lesbian relationships. Even though I think they were trying to be funny, it came off as uneducated and mean.

I wish books would stop making transphobia and queerphobic comments without them being challenged. There is no reason to make them without even an internal dialogue about why it is wrong or problematic. Unfortunately, for me, these comments set the tone for the novel and I just could not enjoy it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an open and honest review. All opinions are 100% mine.

The Break Up - Reseña (Spanish - English)

Antes de nada, muchas gracias a NetGalley por proporcionar este libro en digital antes de su publicación el 25 de Marzo.

Hay muchas cosas que decir sobre este libro porque por un lado he disfrutado mucho pero por otro no era lo que creía que era. Así que voy a empezar por lo «negativo» y así os dejo con el buen sabor de boca!

La sinopsis y la portada tienen que reflejar no sólo lo que se va a leer pero también las expectativas que pueda tener quien quiera leerlo. Es decir, si en este caso tenemos una portada con lo colores típicos de una novela romántica-new adult, entonces se espera un tono más parecido quizás a The love Hypothesis, The hating game o uno de mis favoritos The mistletoe motive. Esperas que lo principal sea la relación romántica entre las chicas de la portada, que se menciona en la sinopsis. Y el problema es que no se centra tanto en ese aspecto como en el desarrollo personal de Edi, la protagonista. Así que, básicamente, nos encontramos con un libro que venden y dirigen a una audiencia LGTBQ+ y que espera una especie de comedia romántica, y en su lugar se encuentran con algo bastante diferente.

Ahora, si el marketing no fuera por ahí entonces el libro se llevaba las 4 o 5 estrellas porque el mensaje final y los personajes y demás me gustan muchísimo. Creo que la historia es muy interesante para explorarla de ambas formas: más desenfadado como esperaba o quizás un poco más serio (aunque sigue teniendo esa gracia tan típica). Quiero decir, que habría cogido el libro igualmente, pero la nota al final ha bajado porque me siento ligeramente engañada.

Dejando eso de lado.

El libro nos presenta en la siguiente situación Edi y Rowan se van a casar, quedan con sus amistades, con sus familias y en resumen todo parece ir viento en popa. Pero un día, Rowan le propone tener una especie de «relación abierta» durante tres meses antes de casarse. Así que entre unas cosas y otras, Edi conoce a una chica que junto a sus propias experiencias y sus amigas (y algún amigo de Rowan) le lleva por otro camino de desarrollo personal interesante.

Con ese resumen creo que se refleja mejor la idea del libro que no se centra en el plano romántico, pero sí en el personal. El mensaje feminista que hay de fondo y ya más claro hacia el final me gustó mucho y creo que si se hubiera desarrollado de otra forma incluso podría haber más cosas sobre el romántico con la muchacha. Mi problema en ese sentido es que aunque me identifiqué mucho con esa relación y con la de las amigas, creo que no se desarrolla lo suficiente como para llegar a ser algo relevante como tal. Aquí lo único que se explora es la evolución de la protagonista.

Ahora, los personajes me parecen increíblemente profundos y complejos, incluso los segundarios (Monty, Fred, Faith). Por eso creo que a este libro le faltan algunas vueltas más. Creo que con algún cambio en cuanto al ritmo del libro y al marketing, sería una propuesta muy buena. Y es que es muy fácil de leer, de picarte. Pero al principio se desarrolla demasiado la relación con Rowan y seamos sinceras, la sinopsis ya nos deja claro que con Rowan no se va a quedar. Tienes esa duda, sí, pero sinceramente creo que está muy claro que no.

En resumen, si no fuera por cómo lo están vendiendo, el libro sería un 4-5 fácil. Por el mensaje feminista, por los personajes, por el desarrollo de la protagonista, porque en verdad son muy cuquis Edi y la chica que conoce. Es un buen libro, pero no una buena campaña de marketing y me da mucha rabia porque últimamente lo estoy viendo mucho.

-ELE

First of all, thanks to NetGalley for providing this book in digital format before its publication on March 25.

There are many things to say about this book because on the one hand I enjoyed it a lot but on the other hand it was not what I thought it was. So I'm going to start with the "negative" parts and so I leave you with the good things!

The synopsis and the cover have to reflect not only what is going to be read but also the expectations that the reader may have. That is, if in this case we have a cover with the typical colors of a romance-new adult novel, then you expect a tone more similar to perhaps "The love Hypothesis", "The hating game" or one of my favorites "The mistletoe motive". You expect the main thing to be the romantic relationship between the girls on the cover, which is mentioned in the synopsis. And the problem is that it doesn't focus so much on that aspect as it does on the personal development of Edi, the main character. So, basically, we get a book that they're selling and targeting to an LGTBQ+ audience who are expecting some sort of romantic comedy, and instead they get something quite different.

Now, if the marketing didn't go that way then the book would get the my 4 or 5 stars because I really, really liked the end message and the characters and such. I think the story is very interesting to explore in both ways: more lighthearted as I expected or maybe a bit more serious (although it still has that very typical humor). I mean, I would have picked up the book anyway, but the grade at the end has dropped because I feel slightly cheated.

That aside.

The book presents us in the following situation Edi and Rowan are getting married, they are meeting their friends, their families and in short everything seems to be going smoothly. But one day, Rowan proposes to her to have a kind of "open relationship" for three months before getting married. So between one thing and the other, Edi meets a girl who together with life experiences and Edi's friends (and some of Rowan's) takes her on interesting path of self development.

With that summary I think that the idea of the book is better reflected, which is not focused on the romantic plane, but on the personal one. I liked a lot the feminist message in the background, already clearer towards the end, and I think that if it had been developed differently there could even be more about the romance with the girl. My problem in that sense is that although I identified a lot with that relationship and with that of the friends, I think it is not developed enough to become something relevant as such. The only thing explored here is the evolution of the protagonist. Which, again, I liked.

Now, I find the characters incredibly deep and complex, even the secondary characters (Monty, Fred, Faith). That's why I think this book is missing a few more twists. I think with some change in terms of the book's pacing and marketing, it would be a very good proposal. And it's very easy to read, to grab you and make you want to read more. But at the beginning, the relationship with Rowan is overdeveloped and let's be honest, the synopsis already makes it clear that she is not going to sray with Rowan. You have that doubt, yes, but honestly I think it's pretty clear that it's not gonna happen.

In short, if it weren't for how they're selling it, the book would be an easy 4-5. For the feminist message, for the characters, for the development of the main character, because, Edi and the girl she meets, they are really cute. It's a good book, but not a good marketing campaign and it makes me very angry because I'm seeing it a lot lately.

-ELE