She Gets the Girl

I had high hopes for this book.. It's written by an actual couple who met in college, that sounds like a recipe for an amazing rom-com, you would think. Sadly, this book fell very flat for me.
While I am not the biggest romance reader, I do appreciate a cute rom-com from time to time.
In this case I just did not care enough about the characters. Both of the girls were very annoying to me in the beginning, thankfully this wasn't a big problem as I continued reading. I also could predict the major events, which just made me feel like I was wasting my time reading.
Instead of fully DNFing this book I decided to skip parts until I found something interesting to read.
What I really appreciated was the time spent on family dynamics. While the drunk parent has been a bit played out in the romance genre (imo) I thought it was really interesting that Molly has conversations with her mother about their heritage and how it effects them differently.
I think if the book had focussed more on their families and not a DUFF remix I would have enjoyed it more.
The reason I gave it three starts is because it's not a bad book, it's just not my taste.

“If you spend your life focusing on the never, then you'll never actually do anything.”

This book has been on my TBR for the longest time and I am so glad I finally took the leap to finishing it, especially with it being Pride Month.

It was so easy to form a connection with Alex and Molly despite them both being so individually different. Alex had to grow up too fast, spent most of her life looking after her mother instead of the other way around and she had walls so high because she was afraid to be vulnerable so Alex made herself appear like she didn't care about anything. Molly is the exact opposite where she struggles to stand her ground and speak up for herself and she struggles with anxiety. While their experiences seemed dissimilar, their shared insecurity underneath it all is that they both didn't feel enough. I loved that underneath the surface, this book was about self-acceptance and acknowledging your self-worth.

I do wish that there was more time spent on the development of the romance between Molly and Alex. I'm a sucker for a slow burn and I just would've loved to have seen their love for one another blossom more so I could enjoy it further.

Overall, this was a cute read and I enjoyed it!

There are not a lot of queer books out there, and not a lot of actual wlw romantic ones and we definitely need more!
This could have been your standard romance book, with just a little twist. Its cute, it's sweet, a bit expected but I don't mind it at all. It is well written and makes your heart happy and calm!

I strongly suggest you go with the audiobook as listening to the 2 povs is making this so much better and more interesting.

I need more books like this one for a quiet night of reading!

3.5/5 ⭐
Pretty average rom-com. Nothing I haven't read before. The classic helping-her-get-a-girlfriend-but-falling-for-her-in-the-process. Super predictable but I still enjoyed it because I'm basic. The changing room scene was my favorite. Alex really grew on me throughout the book because I really didn't like her at the beginning. I liked the college and job part. We had parts with each of their moms. I didn't mind them but I wasn't super invested. I read this in one sitting. It felt like not that much really happened but I wasn't bored. That doesn't make any sense but whatever. It was entertaining ok. They only mentioned the fact that they were gay once. It wasn't like their sexualities were mentioned a lot. It just felt like a normal straight rom-com but between two girls. So I don't know how I felt about that. The ending was fine, it just takes the main couple until like 10 pages from the end to finally get together so we don't have a lot of their relationship but we do get plenty of them hanging out and bonding. But yeah overall nothing new, nothing crazy, but entertaining and cute.

4/5
I can say a lot of things about this books but I'm mostly want to express how much i enjoyed it.
I found myself laughing out loud many times to Alex remarks (as i write this i just found out it's supposed to be comedy !)
I also worried and cringed (not in a bad way) for Molly. I had to stop reading sometimes because i expected the worst and that they would put poor molly into such an awkward situation... I'm glad it never actually happened.

I suffer from social anxiety so to some extent i could related to Molly character and I'm so glad she started to work around it with Alex help. Like i felt proud myself as Alex got better at social interactions and how loose she was with Alex around.

At first i didn't think i would really like that they two got together because like it's says Alex has someone that loves her (before we knew she was a btch) and Molly was interested in Cora so i rooted for each.
I even rooted for Cora and Molly till the end tho

this was SO GOOD

it was a cute little romcom for a majority of the book. hating each other to begrudgingly helping each other to becoming friends to falling in love-type tropes throughout the whole book.

but then... then the last 30% hit me like a freight train. maybe i'm a sucker for a mother-daughter relationship in a book but DAMN TWO OF THEM??

this is such a good book and i am so in awe. i can't believe this has been on my tbr for like 2 years and im just now getting to it.

I didn't totally enjoy this and I might even go so far as to say it's bad. Every important or serious moment felt like it passed with little to no reflection. Which that being said this was basically a 90s movie retelling so is it fair of me to ask for more? Probably not. It was cute, surface level lesbian romance and that's exactly what I got so I don't think I have room to be upset lol

I loved this book for several reasons. At the start of the book I sure didn't think I would end up giving it 5 stars, but it turned out to be such a sweet, endearing little story that I couldn't stop listening to it!

One of the most refreshing details of this book taking place in the real world is that homophobia doesn't even get a single mention. It's completely normal that these girls are into each other and the book holds onto that. I've read quite a few queer YA novels the past years that make it one of the biggest plot points in their books and I'm just not there for it anymore. Our lives are not just suffering or bending under the pressure of society. This book gave queer romance a chance, a space to unfold, room for the characters to grow and have their own emotional journeys without the all encompassing negativtiy from the outside. This story is not a prison for their characters but a landscape to explore.

I also ended up loving both of the main characters and I am sure both the way it was written from their two perspectives WITHOUT repeating scenes and the voices by Natalie Naudus and Valentina Ortiz added to it. They both learned and grew and it was just lovely to witness. I was rooting for them the entire way! I do have to say that this book is predictable; positively, charmingly predictable. It didn't bother me because I just wanted them to succeed and be happy.

I wanted to give the book 4.something stars but the fact that I wanted to keep listening and then when it was all over and I still wanted to know what was gonna happen next convinced me to give it 5 instead. Because it deserves it. It's a great queer YA novel and its messages should be treasured.

Literally loved this book so much. I really loved the chemistry between the two characters and the way their relationships developed as the story progressed. The slow build up to them realizing they have feelings for one another was so well written. I think it makes it even better that the authors for this book are a married couple as well! The last quarter of the book made me cry (positively) and i think this is one of my fav books to come out from the month of May 2023!

When opposites meet sparks fly and it is awesome for us. I love the repartee. I love how their friendship grows and becomes a solid foundation. The interactions between Noah and Beth with Alex made my heart melt. I just love how this whole friendship dynamic plays out. How they both improve each other.

She Gets The Girl plays out just like a movie...a movie I want to watch over and over again.

I received an ARC of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.

Check out the rest of my review at Phoebe's Randoms. Link in bio.