The only complaint that I would have about this book is that it isn't longer, but since it's a novella, I'll just say that Anita Kelly absolutely DID THEIR THING for only doing it in ten chapters.

This book is about Sam (they/them) and Lily (she/her). They're both shy (even though Lily is "Bold Lily" for the first half of the book) and absolutely adorable. Sam's had a crush on Lily for forever and when Lily sees them alone at karaoke she decides to make her move. There's lots of of flirting and lots of drunk serious conversations through the night, and that is all I will say about the plot for the sake of spoilers.

Some highlights:

ESCAPES Rating:
Enjoyment - 10 | Start - 9 | Characters - 10 | Atmosphere - 8 | Plot - 8 | Ending - 9 | Style - 10

This author absolutely has me in a chokehold. This was the start of me working through her backlog after reading and loving Love & Other Disasters, and um.....if I wasn't convinced I'd read everything they've written before now, I'm convinced now.

First off, let me say that I adore Sidney. I think the author did an incredible job with not providing too much information. As a cisgendered woman, I know I’m guilty of wanting to know things about someone pre-transition in the back of my mind, and the author didn’t let me do that. Sidney just was, and I’m sure a lot of people really appreciate the way that someone who doesn’t identify as male or female was depicted in this book vs other depictions I’ve seen in the past.

With that said, I think what ended with me feeling unsatisfied with this book was that it was a little too realistic for my liking? Romance tends to have some amount of fantasy to it, but everything in this book was….pretty unremarkable. It was sweet and there were a lot of really funny moments (Declan’s friend group, “the motherfuckers”, are truly a treat) but the book as a whole just fell flat for me.

I definitely don’t regret reading this book, but I also probably won’t continue on with the rest of the series.

I tried to read this book a few months ago and could tell it was going to be more serious than I was prepared for in that moment, but when I finally revisited it, I realized it had way more funny moments than I expected! This is a second-chance romance that hits on some really hard topics. It definitely gets super serious (there's one chapter that references sexual assault and shows drug/alcohol abuse, self-harm, and just general toxicity pretty explicitly), but a lot of the hardest parts of the book are flashbacks. I think Tia Williams did an incredible job balancing the pain that both the main characters felt from their time in high school with their current lives. 

I truly love the concept of this! I'm a big fan of retellings in general, taking an established story and finding a fun twist to add to it. In Once & Future, King Arthur has been reincarnating since the days of Camelot, refreshing in new young bodies until Merlin is able to successfully help him "complete the cycle." As this is happening, Merlin is also aging backwards. When Ari turns out to be the next "Arthur", Merlin is 1. around the age of a teenager and 2. shocked that the 42nd Arthur is a girl.

Honestly, had this been taking place on "Old Earth", as it's called in the book, I think this book would've been filed under the Dystopian genre. There's a mega-corporation, Mercer, that basically runs the universe at this point, as they have full control of resources. The characters only know the information that Mercer is willing to provide to them (near the end of the book, Merlin references the concept of homophobia and they've never heard of it -- and it's clearly not just because the characters have made a choice to not "know their history") and many planets/communities live in constant fear of Mercer.

I love the way that Arthur was retold, how Merlin was introducing us to each character and who they were to Arthur 1, and the twists that the authors added to make sure it wasn't just a repeat of the story that we all know so well. Also, super gay, super anti-capitalist, nonbinary representation, folks of various races....just, diversity all around, and not in a way that feels forced. I can't wait for the next book! =)

I'm not much of a re-reader, but I could definitely see this book being one that I return to. I love both a reality tv setting AND a plot that basically revolves around cooking, and this one got both in there?! The romance is adorable, Dahlia is a hot mess and I absolutely love her for it.