Carla ✨

My heart is bursting with LOVE.

Why haven't I read this earlier?

the only reason it gets 4* is because it ended too fast 🥲

(wasn't trying to make a pun but... kinda pun intended 😂)

4.5 ⭐️

oh gosh, this book ❤️‍🩹

We are talking about a YA coming of age novel where the characters arcs were beautifully written, the rep is *chef's kiss* and the setting could only be described as perfectly on point. Conversations were witty, funny and the friendships were so wholesome from minute one. But this is NOT a retelling. Or at least not a retelling of any well known stories (I am real bad with history, I'm sorry I can't be more precise).

Gwen and Art were a delight to read, their banter going from hate to that sort of friendship where you're like, ugh I hate them but I've grown attached, it was awesome.

Side characters were also a delight to read.

Sydney was funny as hell, fierce protector but also with a no bullshit policy. I wish we got to see more in detail him courting Agnes, that would have been so sweet.

Bridget was the kind of woman I wish more books had. She knew what she wanted, and she took it. She put herself first and foremost, and made sure everyone around her knew it.

Her relationship with Gwen was so sweet, because while Gwen was all gay panicking towards Bridget, she was being all serious but friendly not knowing what to expect out of their encounters.

Also, Gabriel? I love him, he is my baby, protect him at all costs 🥺. Poor boy struggles so much with the idea of being King, and not disappointing anyone and at the same time coping with all of it by spending time buried into books to the point of not sleeping.

The only thing I really wished we could have seen more of is the development of Art and Gabe's relationship. While Art was so sure about himself and his sexuality, por Gabriel struggled real hard with it, and, I know we could attribute the lack of Art's empathy to him having had his heart broken not long ago, but I wished there had been more moments of understanding between them.

It's such a thin line that in part I was like, good for Art for not wanting to meet people where they are because he's already there (as he says, it saves on the commute 😂) but I also hoped for him to be more lenient with Gabe 💔.

At the end of the day this book kind of felt like it lasted forever, because it kind of felt like it wanted to have equal parts romance and story but I never really got the full picture for either of them?

Like, it feels like so many key parts are missing from both the romance and the plot, but if they had been included the book would have lasted even longer.

Let us be honest, I wanted more romance than plot, but that was just my personal craving when I started the book, but it wasn't necessarily bad. The plot twist at the end tho, I really wasn't expecting things to go down the way that they did :')

I don't know what else to say, I really enjoyed my time with this book and laughed real hard while doing so.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and Net Galley for the opportunity to review this ahead of its release! As always all my opinions are my own, no matter the situation.

i loved it, it would have been 5 stars if the plot twists didn't appear out of thin air

i like to trace plot twists out in a book, specially if i didn't see them coming but with these ones? i saw them coming and at the same time, nothing in the book was validating my suspicions so when they came to be i was like, are you for real? we had 3+ povs and nowhere NOWHERE were any hints that any of this would be happening, I don't like this, it makes me mad

and i am petty, because i like to play detective, and i hate when i can't in a book that i should be able to, so thats where the half star went

other than that, i loved it I LOVED IT, couldn't have asked for a better book to pick up distopy again, really recommend you pick it up if you haven't thought of it yet

3.5⭐

okay, where should i start? i feel like this theme of books where a writer searches for inspiration in another person of a similar background, job wise, is never quite done to my expectations

i have to say the start of the book is equal parts funny and confusing. too many pov's in our fmc's inner monologues and (possibly) the fact that my kindle decided to hell with the format, which i just 🫠 (wouldn't know how else to express the feeling😂)

aside from that the first time our mc's meet is so funny and so delightful that i was IN, i just wanted to keep reading

i would like to say the "romance" at times felt rushed? a bit insta-lovey? i guess that's what happens when two hot people with a libido to envy get together 😂 also, spicy scenes were hawt, but along the book they kind of died down? as in they got less and less detailed and cut short? lee, i know you can give us the spice, don't be shy about it next time 👀

i really did like how we got insight into the mmc's thoughts and troubles, it was an unexpected yet interesting turn of events, but i wasn't really a fan of the shared pov (at least not with the formatting i got🫠)

after those pov's though, i felt like the fmc's pov's were a bit shallow which kind of reinforced by the end with how things ended? it kind of still felt like their love story was just a transaction which i wasn't expecting🫠

either way i had fun and i enjoyed the book, would 100% read something from the author again, it can only get better from here!

thanks to periwink press and netgalley for the arc and as always my reviews are my own regardless of where the book comes from 🙂‍↕️