Thanks to NetGalley and Clash publishing for the ARC.

Another sad girl story. I liked the mood of the novel. It had me kind of nostalgic for my twenties, being naive and looking for validation in all the wrong places. However, I think the female character lacked depth and some of her observations were superfluous and vapid.

I really wanted this book to scratch a Sally Rooney itch that I've been having since Intermezzo was released. While the narrator had moments of relatability, she really just spent the majority of the novel being insecure, whiny, and horny. I felt that the writing style had a lot of telling, not showing,

I liked the idea of this book more than I liked the book. I love me some weird girl lit and I love unlikeable characters… and while all of our characters are unlikeable… they were also boring 🤣

Our FMC is a recent college graduate who is writing her first novel… but the whole novel thing was not flushed out at ALL and I really would have loved to see that grow and develop.

Everyone in this book is super privileged and there were definitely some lines that made me uncomfy.


I was waiting for the shoe to drop… but I was left wanting.

Thank you NetGalley and CLASH books for the ARC!

"It goes without saying that I'm not working on my novel because all I can do is think about sex." Oh girl, we know. Despite its title, there is nothing about love in this novel, just sex. The unnamed protagonist filters every single interaction through the lens of sexual desirability: whether someone will have sex with her or not, whether she is desirable enough or not. So, if you’re looking for anything beyond that, you won’t find it here.

"Something I'm realizing is that you can have sex with someone and it doesn't mean you know them any better than before you had sex with them." And honestly, that’s how I felt after reading this novel. I closed the book feeling like I knew nothing about its characters, not even the protagonist herself. They’re hollow, without depth, without a past, without any sense of motivation behind their thoughts or actions. In a novel that lacks a clear plot and relies almost entirely on its characters to drive the narrative, this absence of character development is a real issue. There’s no emotional connection, no exploration beyond the surface of desire. It all becomes repetitive, like reading a loop of fleeting encounters without any meaning attached.

This book reads like an episode of Girls directed by Wes Anderson. I had a hell of a time deciding if the writing style was intentional or lacked personality, and was very pleased to decide it was the former.

This book is for the women growing up in the 20th and 21st centuries believing that your value is measured externally - without someone to observe you and your performance, do you really exist? And specifically, if an attractive man doesn't grace you with his attention, then what the hell are you doing wrong?

At first I thought our narrator was vapid and brutally direct in her evaluations, but in all honesty there's a piece of me that feels some resonance with her general attitude toward men, herself, and the world. After all, who among us hasn't had moments of looming dread RE: our future?

Lots of kindle highlights for me in this novel, bright moments of dark and existential humor that brought much needed levity to what is ultimately a pretty bleak (but ultimately hopeful) six months in the Hamptons.

Big thank you to CLASH books for the opportunity to read an early copy of this book!

Rounded up from 4.5 stars on The Storygraph.

'Without an imagined gaze, I am not real.'

Lover Girl is a story that showcases the female experience of navigating the newly adult part of your life where you don’t have a sense of who you are or what you want, leaving behind this untethered sense that you’re not real - an experience that has you searching for validation, or some sort of a tether, in all the wrong places. It's the journey of being oddly attached to objectification and mistaking being someone's convenience for being someone's choice - for being wanted and possibly even loved by someone you have no business existing around.

Nicole Sellew brings us the written version of this life stage in a very lived-in way. With a nameless main character and an aimless stream-of-consciousness approach to the writing, the reader can feel like a part of the novel. Our main character can easily become an extension of ourselves, making the emotions and experiences in this book all the more potent.

There’s a quiet, or perhaps not so quiet, heartbreak in these pages. Between the cracks of the main character's coping mechanisms is the sensation of being lost and untethered, a carefully curated ennui, a hateful misery (a little hard to stomach at times, but honest), disappointment, frustration, and a sort of compounding heartbreak.

On a technical level, this was an enjoyable read. While the plot may feel a bit lacking to some, it is undeniably full of drama. The writing flows well and kept me hooked in, not wanting to put this down throughout my time with it. I also feel that Sellew really understands the story she set out to tell, giving the novel a fitting endpoint. Though I would have devoured another 100 pages or more, Lover Girl felt like it came to the natural and open-ended conclusion that it needed to, without overstretching or feeling forced.

In my honest and humble opinion, this is a book that the reader needs to connect to if they’re going to enjoy it. Though I enjoyed the writing from the start, the real value, for me, comes from the emotions that Lover Girl stirred up. The deep, dull heartache, the desire, the feeling of being seen for such an isolating and monumental experience in my womanhood. Otherwise, I can see how it could be perceived by a seemingly minimal plot and deeply flawed characters at face value.

A huge thank-you to NetGalley and CLASH Books for the opportunity to read and review this ebook. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

After I finished this, I struggled and mulled with it for a while before I could write a review. First and foremost, TW to readers, as it’s casually mentioned/implied that the protagonist gets assaulted at a party, and then is immediately glazed over.

This book is extremely interesting as it would be the personification of ennui, where it just feels like each day is the same blase and boring day. I will say, it was a very fast read that kept me engaged from start to finish, and I really enjoyed the vocalization of what it’s like to be in a situationship, however, when I finished the book, I just thought “okay. cool” and moved on with my day.

This is a story about a young woman navigating life and relationships with emotionally unavailable men. Even though she’s described as a “lover girl”, she is more emotionally unavailable than any of them. Our heroine is your typical pick-me, not-like-other-girls main character. She is obsessed with her looks and hates every woman she encounters. She’s also lonely, and that is more honest than anything else about her. Maybe “Lonely Girl” should’ve been the title.

The men in this story are horrible, but that seems like a true depiction of the current dating landscape. Sex always feels like it’s being done to her, almost against her will. She’s never a participant in the act, her pleasure is never mentioned. I don’t know how intentional that is on the author’s part, but it blurs the line enough for me to be confused about her consent.

I don’t think the premise was honest about “escaping to work on her novel”. Her writing is mentioned a few times in passing, and by the end of the book we still know nothing about the nature of her writing.

I struggled through the first half of this book. The writing was stiff, the characters unlikable, the plot nonexistent. It definitely got better as it went on, but I don’t think I will be recommending it to people. To be fair, I don’t think the author is a lost cause. But this book could use a couple rounds of edits.

The main characters every action is determined by her perception of the male gaze and the quiet that comes with physical connection. This book encapsulates what desire feels like to someone deeply sensitive to the point of apathy.

I just finished Lover Girl and I’m still sitting with that quiet ache in my chest — the kind that only comes from reading something honest, raw, and beautifully defiant.
As a woman who’s lived a few decades, I felt the sting and sweetness of this one in my bones. Nicole Sewell has written a novel that isn’t afraid to get messy — with love, lust, shame, freedom, and the many masks we wear just to survive.
This book isn’t about tying everything up with a pretty bow. It’s about standing in the wreckage, picking up a shard, and looking yourself in the eye. There’s so much rage here. So much tenderness too. I saw my younger self in some of these pages. I saw friends. I saw all the ways women must shapeshift to be loved, or simply left alone.
Sewell’s voice is unflinching and intimate, like a diary written in lipstick and blood. It’s poetry and grit. It’s for the girls who never learned to say no — and the women learning to say it now, even if their voices shake.
If you want something safe and polite, this isn’t it. But if you want something that tells the truth in all its uncomfortable, beautiful, liberating glory — Lover Girl is a must-read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Clash Books for the ARC!

2⭐️ — Not for Me

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love Lover Girl—the premise intrigued me, and I went in with high hopes. Unfortunately, this one just didn’t land. It gave Normal People energy, but without the emotional resonance or depth I was hoping for.

I found it difficult to connect with any of the characters. The FMC is clearly going through a lot, but her choices felt frustrating, and her voice came across as whiny and self-sabotaging rather than sympathetic. I kept waiting for a moment of growth or redemption that never really came.

The writing had moments of potential, and there were themes that could have been powerful, but the execution felt uneven. I considered DNF’ing more than once, but pushed through since it was an ARC.

I hate giving low-star reviews, but sometimes a book just isn’t your match—and that’s okay. If you enjoy moody, introspective fiction with messy protagonists, this might work better for you.

I began reading this book because from the title I thought it would be a romance. This book is not about true love, nor is it about a love triangle between the two mentioned boys. This book doesn’t even end in the main character being in a relationship. Throughout the book the main character remains “nameless” which confuses me. I don’t really know what the moral of the story was. Though, the author can have greater writing if she recognizes that there’s a need for a good plot, and a named main character.

Lover Girl had a premise I was excited about—romantic tension, emotional baggage, and a heroine trying to find her way after heartbreak. There were moments of charm, and Nicole Sellew’s writing style has an easy, conversational tone that makes the book a quick read.

That said, the story didn’t quite hit the mark for me. I had a hard time connecting with the main character at times, and while her emotional journey had potential, it felt a bit underdeveloped. Some romantic elements were predictable, and a few key plot points felt rushed or too convenient.

Still, I appreciated some genuinely sweet and funny moments, and I think readers who enjoy lighter women’s fiction or second-chance romance may find more to love here.

Overall, it’s a middle-of-the-road read for me—suitable for passing time, but didn’t leave a lasting impression.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

so... i thought the main character was interesting enough, and the kind of stream-of-consciousness writing style didn’t really bother me—in fact, it worked in parts and made it feel more personal and raw.
that said, the whole book felt a bit shallow. not in the writing itself, but in the way nothing really built to anything. it ended and i just kind of sat there like... oh. that’s it? it had potential, but i do wish it had gone a bit deeper or been longer, something to make it feel more complete.
overall, i didn’t dislike it, but it didn’t leave much of a mark either.
2.5 stars rounded up.

thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

Lover Girl is like looking into the mind of someone who really just needs to be validated by the opposite sex. Our main character spends a lot of time in their head thinking they’re the main character in everyone else’s lives instead of just their own. If the author’s point is to make you not like the MC, they’ve succeeded. I did not care for her, but I did pity her. I did however enjoy a look into the minds of Cameron and Lucas. One particular chapter of Cameron’s made me laugh out loud. A relatively quick read! Thank you CLASH books and Net Galley!

Thank you NetGalley and Clash Books for this ARC.

I really enjoyed this. It belongs on any women vs the void book list, heavyyyy on the void. Definitely for fans of Emma Cline’s The Guest.

I loved the stream of consciousness feel to the prose, and the alternating POVs with the boys. This book was aimless and pointed all at the same time, and some of the main characters choices really stressed me out. I liked the ending, and didn’t feel like I was left with a bow nor do I feel like I was left with a bunch of loose ends.

This was well written, well paced, and only for people who like dry humor.

This book was everything! I loved the messy vibes, the yearning and the coming of age drama. The character driven plot made this feel very relatable. Fab writing. Thankyou NetGalley and clashbooks for letting me read this ARC.

In this literary work, Sellew writes a romantic book on forbidden desires. A young woman, given refuge by a friend named Lucas, finds comfort in the Hamptons while writing her novel; escaping from New York City to the Hamptons should have been an inspirational experience. Instead, it causes her to become distracted alone in the neglected. Her past lovers' appearances exacerbate her situation. She struggled to understand love and its expectations. Navigating her relationship and figuring out herself send her into a downward spiral as she strives to please the boys, with her body image becoming a top priority.

Lover Girl's plot is intriguing, and some people would find it relatable. Although I read the book to the end, I craved more details to immerse myself in the world. The character lacked depth. I felt like the book came to an end quickly. She didn’t do any internal checks, fully understanding herself and why she felt she needed to seek validation externally. I'll recommend this book to romance lovers.

Lover Girl is a book with an incredible premise, and a main character with a strong internal personality and a deadpan irony that I enjoy reading.

However, the although Lover Girl, the nameless main character comes of as witty and ironic, her distaste for everybody and everything, without growth in any sense, makes her incredibly hard for me to relate to. But maybe that’s the whole point. Lover Girl is both a victim of her environment and someone who self-victimises, and the lack of growth may reflect the stagnation she’s trapped in.

Still, the book is riddled with small inconsistencies that pulled me out of the narrative. For instance, Lover Girl claims she’s not on social media, yet references Instagram and online interactions. Her recounting of how much she’s drunk also shifts. These could be deliberate choices since after all, she’s an unreliable narrator, but they felt more distracting than illuminating.

Reading this made me unexpectedly grateful for not being in the characters’ shoes. Their lives feel hollow, directionless, and devoid of meaning. That irony is underscored by the quote from the start the book:

“I wash out my smoothie glass and stare at the strip of white wall between the sink and the window and get the sense that my life could very easily become boring and meaningless if I’m not careful.”

Overall, Lover Girl was an interesting read that made me consider a life very different from mine, yet do not envy living.

Thank you to NetGalley and CLASH Books for the ARC!

Nicole Sellew’s Lover Girl is a stylish, introspective, and unapologetically candid debut that plunges readers into the lush and morally slippery world of youth, privilege, and longing. Perfectly suited to modern literary fiction with echoes of autofiction, this novel doesn't just flirt with drama—it dives headfirst into the chaos of desire and self-destruction. The story follows a young woman who flees the emotional wreckage of her life in New York City and seeks escape—first in the opulent summer enclaves of the Hamptons, then in the romantic disorientation of Paris. The protagonist becomes entangled with two men: her wealthy friend Lucas and her ex, Cameron—torn between authenticity, expectation, and passion. Through this love triangle, the novel explores not just emotional volatility, but the deeper currents of identity and agency. “What she calls ‘love’ will take her to... decadent parties... eventually, to Paris.” But this is not a tale of simple romance. It’s a crucible for rites of passage, self-definition, and emotional survival. The relationships she navigates—and at times, clings to—are less about who she desires and more about who she’s becoming. Though Lover Girl is a relatively compact novel, its emotional reach is expansive. Sellew’s vivid style suggests strong potential, even if powerhouse comparisons aren't in evidence yet. Her prose is cinematic without being flashy, observant without condescension, and consistently grounded in emotional truth.