This book is definitely one of the best books i've read this year so far! The Pride and Prejudice references were so clever and also the direct quotes!!!!! Hello!? How is not everybody going crazy about this book?!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

It isn’t often you have an honest representation of ADHD in girls. That was why I wanted to read it and seeing Lou’s daily struggles, I saw my own. It’s hard, as someone with ADHD to manage all aspects of your life without letting one or two parts drop - something that is accurately shown to us, without sugarcoating.

Also seeing so many different parts of our gorgeous rainbow on the page. And the reminder that it’s okay to not have it all figured out right away. I’ve been Lou, so I get it. 🧡

I just wasn’t convinced by Lily’s storyline. As an adult who’s done safeguarding- this should have been resolved with teachers/police. I get it was furthering other storylines, but it perpetuates that men get off without being held accountable for their crimes. (And yes, it is a crime)

Overall, enjoyable and cute. Smashed it out for the most part in one day. And it’s nice to see a book take part in Liverpool!

A gentle non-issue "issues" teen romcom. - with Scousers!

Girl meets girl, girl hates girl at first sight, girls go on magical beach trip... meanwhile, ADHD, chronic shyness, manipulative teen ex-boyfriends, running, the sights and sounds of Liverpool, romance here, there and everywhere: I swear, if you just genderflipped Heartstopper and added more issues, you might get this, only you'd be wrong. Lou, our Liverpudlian protagonist, is trying hard to deal with her new ADHD diagnosis in her own way, even as her best friend group are dealing with each of their own issues, until Londoner new girl Isabel joins and then the story gets going.

A gentle, mildly humorous romcom, with some light swearing, and with cameos from real Liverpool landmarks, including the Liver Birds, this reps Merseyside and neurodivergence and queer love. Nothing groundbreaking but certainly satisfying.

Four stars.

First of all thank you to NetGalley and Harperfire for the advanced copy of this wonderful YA debut novel!

Back to the book. It is hard to believe this is debut novel. I fell into the world Leanne had written sp easily. They are a born writer and look forward to more stories from them especially after what they described as their wip during book launch.

This is a pride and Prejudice for the modern world and with a sapphic love story at its centre. It also shows the journey of someone post diagnosis for adhd.

The story is in POV of Eloise 'Lou' and she is far from perfect and is a very real character to root for. Isabelle is the Darcy and again is far from perfect. These two go from enemies to lovers and discover lots about each other and themselves the biggest thing being that being in love does not solve all problems and communication is key!

The other characters in the book are wonderful mixture of personalities and took me back to uni/sixth form days when you find your weird people for life (I've still got mine)

This is also a love story to Liverpool. A city often portrayed horrifically this story tears down those preconceptions and shows the Liverpool I know and love.

Cannot recommend enough. Excellent YA debut

This was an amazing read, I would recommend it over and over.

Sometimes in books ADHD isn't portrayed well, however this book was so accurate, especially with the fear of rejection. The way Leanne Egan wrote her characters made it feel as if I could understand completely what they were experiencing.

As for everyone knowing Eloise was gay before she even knew; that was relatable considering that's exactly what happened to me. These characters were so lovable and relatable, the friendship dynamic was sweet.

Overall; I loved this book. The miscommunication trope isn't one I enjoy, but the make-up between Eloise and Isabel was worth it.

I want a book about Wil, want to learn more about them! And Benji, he was a fun character.

Oh my GOSH I cannot tell you how much I loved this book. Honestly just the most perfect YA romance with such a refreshingly clear focus on class and privilege. I don't usually enjoy enemies-to-lovers but this was done so well (and in any case was more accurately enemies-to-friends-to-lovers). And I just about wilted away with joy when - mild spoiler alert - Lou finally figured out that Isabel is queer because of the books she was browsing in (iconic Liverpool radical bookshop) News From Nowhere like has there EVER been a cuter way for a character to be sort of outed?

This book was absolutely delightful! There characters were messy and complicated but realistic and the references to other books where everything! So many moments had me giggling-kicking-my-feet and I'm just as much in love with Liverpool now as Lou is.
Thank you so much for the ARC!

LGBTQ, teen drama, Neurodiversity, heartbreak, class divide and romance - Lover Birds covered them all. A true representation of life amongst a group of 16/17 year old girls. I have to admit I did read the whole book with a scouse accent! Enjoyable read for YA readers.

It took me longer than it should have to twig that I was reading a modern, queer, Scouse take on Pride and Prejudice - what a fantastic surprise! Leanne Egan manages to make the 'enemies-to-lovers' trope feel fresh and engaging, as it's the journey rather than the end result that matters here.
Narrator Eloise (Lou) is such a well developed character that I feel like I genuinely know her (or AM her!). She is not a super-smart know-it-all who saves the day, or a clumsy shambles who makes all the wrong decisions, but is realistically somewhere in the middle - just working her way through teenage life and trying to figure out her recent ADHD diagnosis. The ADHD representation is woven into the story so honestly and expertly, and I think it's going to be an important book for so many of my students (to both see themselves, and understand their friends better). The same is true of the LGBTQ+ representation - never feeling forced, and always totally authentic - and also class issues, something that isn't often touched on in YA fiction, but is an important part of British life.
This book is also about the wonderful city of Liverpool, and took me right back to my youth and the places I love (The Egg Cafe!!). I think anyone reading it who is not local will surely want to visit as a soon as possible - and rightly so!

A love letter to Liverpool, queerness, friendship, & the things that make us who we are.

I Loved this!!

Great neurodivergent rep! As someone with ADHD, everything that was described was pretty much spot on! (apart from wanting to run a marathon, but good for Lou i guess! ) I loved that it didn't just cover the basics, it went into all of the things that people don't see, the rushing thoughts, the overthinking, the skin picking, the lot!

Lou was a great MC, I really loved her, and again, being called 'too loud' or 'insufferable' is definitely something that I related too, because it definitely comes pat and parcel with a busy brain!

I loved the relationship between Lou and her group and friends as well as her as Isabel. The working class setting was great, again coming from a working class background, and the whole dynamic between the two was really interesting to see unfold.

Definitely recommend and will definitely be stocking our small bookshop.

Did anyone else picture an intensely shy Amy from I Kissed a Girl as Isabel while reading this? (Yes, trying to imagine a shy Amy is a stretch, but that's my only queer reference point right now)

So, as usual, I chose this book because I like the cover. But thankfully, I found the story quite interesting, too. Firstly, because I'm living with someone who has ADHD and having this story told from Lou's perspective really helped give me some insight into how she navigates the world.

I also found the class divide behind this enemies-to-lovers story easy to relate to. I honestly don't know if I would have forgiven Isabel for being so pretentious and judgy! Let alone her mum and aunt. I hope that Lou grows up and runs a mile from this family.

But otherwise, was into it.

I’m kind of bummed because at first I thought I would like this, but I just didn’t really.

I liked the ADHD representation and the way the author really showed and made you understand how living with ADHD impacted Lou. That was nicely done.
But I found myself struggling to like Lou, and since she was the main character, this made enjoying this book tricky for me. She came across as very judgmental and dare I say mean. Like the way she treated Isabel in the beginning really bothered me. Yes, she said something mean about you, yes, everyone is like 16 years old so they’re going to be a bit dramatic about things. But she borderline bullied her for a while there imo, and I’m not into those kinds of romances, and therefore couldn’t take the romance seriously after that.

Overall, it was a quick, well-paced read that just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

What can I say? I absolutely loved this book. Amazing queer representation and even some representation of a character with ADHD- a first for me. This was wonderfully written and gives you all the feels. Would recommend to anyone!

I love reading books with the enemies-to-lovers trope so this was a perfect read for me, I loved it overall.

So, I'm meant to say I love the joyful queer rep - and I do! - but actually, what I want to shout about is the wonderfully joyful scouse-ness. That's something underrepresented in YA novels, and I loved how Lou, the main character, is passionate about her culture and really brings it alive. I was also impressed by the tender portrayal of ADHD as a complex condition that is to be embraced rather than overcome. Both of those themes wove into the romance, giving it depth. It's light, sweet, and joyful, while also containing insights into neurodivergence, shame, and self-acceptance.

Bright, refreshing, relatable. I loved this book, Elouise and Isabel are great characters, and their eventual story together is so wonderful. The representation is beautiful too.

I loved this book! I loved Eloise and her adhd and I loved Wil and their personality and how all the friends reacted to each other and dealt with the horrible Jay. Simply put I adored this book and loved every aspect of it esp how Eloise and Isabel finally get together.
5 stars

I don't normally ready YA but this came up and I thought I would give it a read. It was such an easy read that I finished it over two days.

The representation of ADHD was done really well, including the concerns of the character about how to help herself and what would happen with medication.

A nice little book reminding of the joys and pain of younger years.

This was a simple, fun, easy and quick read. The perfect type of book for your holiday, beach, pool kind of read. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

Lover Birds is such a compulsively enjoyable book that even such a grouch as myself read it across two evenings. The grouchiness is my old, chronic genre-related complaint; but this book connected with me despite all my baggage. Lover Birds is an absolute love letter to Liverpool, and at the same time it's so grounded in the UK in general: I don't mean just the school system, but the general dynamics that reads very true to the UK. A lot of the fracture lines in the novel come from the still all-pervasive classist prejudices, and that's so good to see on the page instead of glossed over. It's unbelievable that to this day nothing tanks a person's social standing in certain circles as much as being judged as working class, frequently on the basis of your accent alone. The book doesn't just acknowledge that in passing, it leans into it heavily and makes its characters confront that without making any allowances for this being a highschool lesbian romcom - a genuinely propulsive and funny one at that. That alone would have been a great recommendation for the book, but it packed so much more that that: an open depiction of ADHD, examination of queer steretypes, girl friendships, toxic relationships (if I have one complaint, it's that I would have dearly liked to know what happens in Isabel's relationship with her posh bestie).

Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins for an advance copy of Lover Birds.