content warnings: panic attacks, mentions of racism, homophobia and transphobia, discussions of near-death experiences
representation: queer protagonist with anxiety, genderqueer love interest, pansexual Black main character, Korean lesbian main character, trans lesbian main character, biracial (white-Mexican) fat gay main character with anxiety, f/f side relationship

“Here’s how my friends describe me to new people: ‘This is Declan. He left his last boyfriend at the altar, so watch out.’”

We all know that I love cheesy romcom's. I also love the non-cheesy ones, but those are few and far between. However, despite (or maybe because of) my love for them, I tend to be very picky about the ones I like. I'm happy to report that The Love Study is one of the ones that I like!

This adult romcom follows Declan, a commitment-phobe in his late twenties who meets Sidney, a genderqueer advice YouTuber who invites him to be on their show called The Love Study. The Love Study would involve Sidney setting Declan up on dates with people and every week he reports back so that they can have an open discussion about modern dating for queer people. However, as Declan goes on these dates, he begins to develop feelings for the host of the show instead.

As previously mentioned, I love romcom's, so I'm also very aware of the traps they can fall into. Thank god, The Love Study falls into almost none of them, and even when it did I didn't mind at all. Sure, you can tell where the story's going pretty much from page one, but you don't read a romcom to be blown away by plot twists. You read so you can fall in love with some characters who are falling in love. And oh boy did I fall in love with these characters.

Not just Declan and Sidney, who I adore, but also the entire cast of supporting characters. Declan has a friend group from college who call themselves the Marginalized Motherfuckers (or, the Motherfuckers for short) and Sidney quickly becomes incorporated into this group. This group is made up of Mia and Ronnie, who are getting married, Mason, the guy Declan left at the altar, and Oscar, who is getting his own book which I'm very excited for. They're all queer and have such a loving, supportive friendship that made me feel all the warm and fuzzies. They don't take each others shit but also are always there for each other in a way that felt extremely authentic, especially in terms of tight-knit queer friendships (I say as someone with a tight-knit friend group made up almost entirely of queer people). It's also just fantastic to read a book where all the major characters are unapologetically queer.

As much as I love it, I can see this book not working for some people. It's very dialogue-heavy, with lot's of discussions about relationships that are often long passages, and that just won't work for some people. But I think that the way it's written is so smartly done that every line feels natural and you don't question why these people seem to be monologuing a lot. Sidney being an advice YouTuber means that the book can get away with a lot of deep conversations that regular people might not have on a day to day basis, which also means that a lot of tropes can be easily avoided. There's constant communication between Declan and Sidney about their relationship, which results in a refreshing lack of stupid misunderstandings. There are lot's of moments in the book where a character will say something wrong, apologise for it and the other person is understanding, something which I think happens a lot in real life but I never see in fiction because it isn't dramatic enough.

This book's discussion of mental health is also top notch. Oscar and Declan both have anxiety and there's never a moment when their struggles are invalidated. There's a beautiful scene where Declan is talking to Mia and Mason about having a panic attack and they're hurt he never mentioned it, demanding that the next time it happens they tell him. He says: "And help how? Hold my hand while I cry?" somewhat incredulously, but Mia and Mason both respond affirmatively because they want to be there to help him in any way they can. And it's like that throughout the book!

The ending nearly made me cry, which is ridiculous because it isn't sad at all. It was just really wonderful and hit me in a way I didn't expect it to. This entire book is really wonderful. If you like queer adult romance, then this should be at the top of your TBR because it's one of the best I've ever read.

I received an ARC of this book for free as part of a blog tour in exchange for an honest review.