rallu

such a quick and entertaining read!
it really hit all the right spots for me. from fake dating to friends to lovers heaven, this was everything i looked for. bonus points for being a wlw story written by a lesbian author because representation and own voices matter a lot to me.
although the novella is very short and fast paced i had an amazing time reading it and despite the accent being put on the actions rather than the characters so the story could move on more easily, i found myself getting attached to the main leads, especially anna. i related to her on so many levels and i love how they handled the relationship with her mother. i think that must be one of my favorite things about this novella, actually. since all the fake dating plot starts essentially from her trying to please her mother i'm glad they got some mother-daughter development by the end. cleo was a good love interest and i could see and understand why anna would fall for her. she didn't stand out a lot, but she was loveable and entertaining in her own ways. the relationship between the main characters seemed very natural and genuine to me and their sweet moments even got me swooning at times.
not a 5 stars because although i liked it a lot and it was a really good read for my thursday night, i did feel like it got a bit rushed around the middle, even for a novella. it didn't bother me THAT much and i can look past that but i still discarded a star to stay true to myself.
all in all it was a really enjoyable experience and i will keep an eye out for this author in the future because i'm interested to read more, i can see the potential.


i received an arc for free, all the opinions are my own.

leaving similarities to a certain worldwide famous boy band aside, i really enjoyed reading this book and it was a good read to start off my year.

but i do have to say that it was a slow start for me, personally. i couldn't get into it for some reason and i had to put it down after the first 100 or so pages. it was a bummer because i was so excited to read it but as soon as i picked it up again i finished the rest of the book in one sitting. i don't know if my mood affected how i got into it in the first place but what matters is that i got hooked on it the second time around.
the plot is quite unique i would say, as in i would expect to see it in fanfiction and i have seen it in fanfiction before but it hits different when it comes in the form of a source material.
so we have a boy band that's at the peak of their career and things are just getting better from here. throw in a controlling management, an international tour, a boy forced into the closet ever since he was 16, some (il)legal drinking and you have the perfect recipe for chaos.
what i liked about the characters is how real they felt. now, granted, we don't know much about who celebrities really are underneath their public persona but i felt like the authors did a good job portraying the members of the band as individuals, teeangers who just want to be themselves but also as rising stars who are under surveillance at all times. i like that they have flaws and they admit to them. i love how our main characters, zach and ruben, both get to challenge their inner demons and admit that there are issues they both struggle with and are willing to work towards fixing them.
zach's coming out journey was beautiful and heartbreaking and inspiring all at once. i also loved having ruben being so confident in his sexuality and already out in the story, it was a nice touch. sure, coming out plots are inspiring and the representation is needed as well but already established queer characters are just as needed.
i love how this was more than just about their relationship, though. sure, that played a huge part and the lgbtq+ topic was one of the reasons i picked up this book in the first place, but it also addressed how controlling and cruel the industry can be. all the things the boys and the people involved had to go through should definitely be eye opening and if not for changing anything, at least it's important for them to be acknowledged.
i have to admit, i feel like the last straw for their rebellion being their relationship and them not being allowed to come out felt a tiny bit flat after angel ALMOST DIED. i feel like that should have been a wake up call, not just the beginning of the end. but i do understand why they did it this way and it still made me emotional.
i appreciate how nothing was rushed and the things didn't all get resolved over night, as i really loved the pace throughout the whole novel, but it still ended on a nice, positive and hopeful note that left me with a smile on my face.

i received an ARC in exchange of an honest review, all the opinions are mine.

***
amanda lovelace is one of the authors that i will always come back to and read everything they release no matter what. ultimately, i don't think this is their best work and although it's definitely not to be overlooked, it was a bit of a disappointment since i had my expectations very high.
it's raw and empowering but it feels a bit repetitive when you put it next to all her other poems.
the illustrations were beautiful but i felt like there weren't enough unique ones.
as always i appreciate the trigger warnings placed at the beginning of the book and i think they're very useful and needed.
when it comes to all of amanda lovelace's books i feel like you could easily skip this one but if you have the time and you really want to read it you should.

i'm thankful that i received an ARC in exchange of an honest review, all the opinions are mine.
***
i truly don't even know where to start and i mean this in the best possible way.
you had me at queer romance but i got so much more than i expected and i couldn't be happier! i loved it so so so much and i highly recommend it.
the story is heartwarming, adorable and wholesome and it follows two teenage girls that couldn't be more different finding themselves and each other. the representation is amazing, as annie is a lesbian and beebee is a trans sapphic and the story does a great job dealing with queer issues while still maintaining the vibes of a rom com. i live for fluffy lgbtq+ content because i feel like it's needed to contrast the bury your gays trope. i fell in love with the characters and their uniqueness and the fact that they're so real and relatable.
ati times i felt like it was a bit fast paced considering it was a graphic novel and maybe it was partly because i was enjoying it too much but the ending left me wanting more. the story fell into place nonetheless and i loved every moment i spent reading it. i'm hoping for a sequel because i'd love to see what's next in the protagonists' lives, but the ending scene was the perfect way to end this beautiful story.

i received an ARC in exchange of an honest review, all the opinions are mine.

being in love with your best friend's sister - who's off limits and isn't even interested in you that way (or so you thought) - is hard enough as it is, but throw in the fact that you have to spend an entire weekend with her because you got locked out of your own house and you've got aurora's definition of a disaster.
overall this was an entertaining and very quick read, which isn't that bad, in and of itself, but it does, however, mean i didn't get to connect with the characters that well so some things fell a little bit flat for me. i am well aware that this is a novella, so things are supposed to be fast paced but they were maybe a bit too fast paced for me to get attached to anything - the plot, the characters, the setting, etc.
one thing that didn't fall that flat for me was the romance, which is why i decided to be less harsh about the story itself than i orginally wanted to since the romance was the one thing i was there for. it was cute, i felt the chemistry the main characters and their moments were sweet and managed to get a smile or a chuckle out of me at times. i even highlighted some paragraphs and bookmarked some pages so at least it left me with that. i also liked that we got glimpses of their past and that helped consolidate their relationship one way or another in my eyes, but it still left me wanting more.
i wish the characters on their own got a bit more developement because they felt a bit 2D sometimes, but i understand that the author couldn't get too deep into it given the length of the novella. i would, however, read a full novel about the characters with the same plot but developed because the premise was really good and it has a lot of potential.
i think the story lacked some depth when it comes to aurora's friendship with hope which is why i couldn't really understand why aurora thought it would the end of the world if hope found out she liked her sister. the only time we got somewhat of a look into their bond was towards the end, but when it comes to understanding their dynamic in relation to lyla it was a bit too late for me, although on its own that scene is one of my favorites. it was really hard for me to care about their friendship getting ruined when i didn't see said friendship on paper, i was only told about it.
the angst almost got me, but not quite and, as a huge angst with a happy ending lover, it was kind of disappointing. i knew i was supposed to feel it and i wasn't totally indifferent, but at the same time it didn't really affect me the way it was supposed to because i didn't care about the characters enough at the time. call it schrodinger's angst, if you will.
the end was cute, it wrapped everything out really nicely and i was content with the way everything turned out. it's promising without being too idealistic and it definitely left me feeling pretty good about the story. it wasn't a masterpiece or something that i will think about for a long time, but that's okay because not every read has to be this groundbreaking piece that has you questioning your life. i'm glad i could enjoy it for what it was.
as for the author, as a side note, the premises of her novels are so good sometimes i wish we could get full on novels instead of novellas just so i can properly get to enjoy them and their whole potential.