Fun concept, well thought out, and a great story. Loved the lack of third act breakup. Shame about the racism.

I love how G Benson’s books don’t just stop as soon as the couple overcomes an obstacle and gets together. Instead, the characters continue to grow as individuals and as a couple. Benson also handles heavy topics beautifully.

Mostly really liked this, but for a while in the middle the main character becomes quite grating and is kind of a dick. When she

refuses to believe her crush is bi when she comes out to her, and then refuses to believe her in two subsequent conversations

I really didn’t like her. I wish at the end she properly apologised for that. (I’m glad the author more than made up for this in Imogen, Obviously). The main character was also pretty horrible to her mum on several occasions.

I also wish we had more than an epilogue email of

the main couple being out and girlfriends. I want more of them being properly cute together and not kind of fighting!

I never thought I’d find a book I related to so much, but being obsessed with sapphic media in general, and But I’m a Cheerleader specifically, as well as LGBTI internet discourse, but being like “I can’t be gay because there’s already one gay in my family so I must be straight” was literally my life. I knew every word to every song on several Tegan and Sara albums, and would obsessively rewatch But I’m a Cheerleader, crying at the end every time, and was like “yep, totally normal for a straight person.” Thank you Becky Albertalli for making me feel so seen.

The writing was sometimes repetitive, hated the constant Happy Potter references, and the ending could have done with another chapter and an epilogue (I hate when a romance ends the second they get together) but overall I liked the plot and characters and writing.

My favourite things about this book were the setting (the set of a B movie) and that the characters were Jewish.

The drawbacks were the contrived plot complications, and the fact that

Noa never properly dealt with and apologised for her snooty opinions, and Lilah never opened up properly about her insecurities relating to her appearance. I wanted Noa to properly tell Lilah about how she finds her smart etc. I’m glad she said she only kept complementing Lilah’s appearance because she couldn’t express her full feelings, and I’m glad she started enjoying romance novels, but they needed to have a conversation about Lila’s feelings about pageants, that she enjoyed them but also they instilled body image issues in her. We also know that Lilah read Radcliffe Hall, but did she genuinely like reading that or was it to impress Noa and subtly come out to her? I need to know! And lastly, and most annoyingly, they never had a conversation about candy floss! Lilah never found out what that meant, and Noa never properly confronted the fact that she is into femmes. That would be so important to their relationship and their individual identities! It’s so frustrating!

But overall I really liked it.

Update 07/02/2025: Wow I really agree with everything I said last time, except WHY DIDN’T I LIKE QUINN RILEY? SHE IS ONE OF MY ABSOLUTE FAVES NOW AND IS A BIG PART OF WHY I LOVE THIS BOOK!

This isn’t perfect. Some of the dialogue is a bit wooden and unnatural (mostly from side characters, not the two mains). Sometimes the discussions of politics felt unnatural. The consistent use of the q-slur (up to six times in a single sentence!) was frustrating.

However, I’m still giving it five stars because the good stuff overwhelms the bad stuff. It was long, but it felt necessary to flesh out both characters and give a real backstory to their relationship, making it feel real and not forced. I love that both main characters have fully rounded relationships with other characters and both are dealing with issues, which are given equal weight. I love the ADHD rep.

I love that one character gets hyper fixated on reading femslash fanfics of characters the other has played! I cried when she took her to her wife’s grave.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the audiobook narrator.

Despite the issues, I absolutely loved this book.

Not quite five stars just because there were a few too many “their fingers brushed” but otherwise perfect

Edit: registered and decided actually it’s perfect and all the “their fingers brushed” are actually super cute and I love them so much

Edit for second listen:
A lovely cozy holiday romance. While the inner monologues can get a bit repetitive, and the episodic nature of the story somewhat hampers the forwards drive, this is more than made up for by so many iconic scenes: particularly Morgan getting to fulfil her romantic dream of kissing on a Ferris wheel (like in the American movies), and Ali getting to fulfil hers of making love on a rug in front of a roaring fire, with a glass of brandy.

Also, other than being a bit too much tell rather than show, the epilogue of this book is perfection. Getting to see the two families interacting, hearing about the characters becoming friends with each others’ friends, and catching up on the side characters we have met, plus, most importantly, seeing how the lives of the two main characters have meshed. All romances should have an epilogue like this.