In the Event of Love Review | Courtney Kae | Is It Worth Reading?

In the Event of Love by Courtney Kae book cover

★★★½☆ 3.6 / 5 (calculated from Amazon, Goodreads & romance.io reader ratings — 10,804 combined)

Overall	7.2/10	Romance	7.5/10
Characters	6.8/10	Writing	7.0/10
Emotion	7.4/10	Heat	8.0/10
Ending	7.0/10	Re-read value	7.5/10

A steamy, snow-dusted Hallmark movie in book form — sapphic second chances, a small-town tree farm to save, and a lumberjane who will melt you faster than the December frost.

If you love cozy holiday rom-coms with genuine heat, In the Event of Love by Courtney Kae should be on your December TBR. This debut earned a Publishers Weekly starred review and blurbs from Ali Hazelwood, Helen Hoang, and Lana Harper, and it kicks off the Fern Falls series.

Our take: This is comfort reading with a spicy edge — a warm, tropey, single-POV holiday romance that leans fully into its Hallmark DNA. It is not the most nuanced book on our list; some readers find the heroine hard to warm to and the plot predictable. But if you want cozy, sweet, and surprisingly steamy, it delivers exactly that.

The Evidence Scorecard

Here is what reviews across Amazon, Goodreads, and romance.io consistently reveal — the praise and the honest caveats.

★★★☆☆ Writing & Voice

Evidence:

✓ Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review, praising a “rainbow-tinted confection” readers “will devour.”
✓ Readers love the cozy, atmospheric descriptions — the tree farm, cafe, and snow are frequently called “hot cocoa” reading.
✓ Honest caveat: some romance.io reviewers flagged “cringe dialogue” and “bizarre pop culture references” that pulled them out of the story.
✓ The first-person, single-POV voice is divisive — immersive for some, limiting for others who wanted Rachel’s side.

★★★☆☆ Dialogue & Banter

Evidence:

✓ Library Journal praised the “fun banter and narrative.”
✓ Ali Hazelwood called it “exactly the slow-burn, second-chance, friends-to-lovers romance I was craving.”
✓ The flirtation between Morgan and Rachel is a highlight — playful, teasing, and charged.
✓ Some readers found the humor uneven, with jokes that miss as often as they land.

★★★☆☆ Chemistry & Romance

Evidence:

✓ Library Journal: the “chemistry between them sizzles from the beginning.”
✓ The second-chance/childhood-friends setup gives the reunion built-in emotional stakes.
✓ Honest caveat: a notable minority found Morgan “deeply unlikable,” which undercut their investment in the couple.
✓ The romance relies on flashback “fantasies” that some readers found confusing or thin on backstory.

★★★☆☆ Heat

Evidence:

✓ romance.io rates steam 4/5 (explicit, open door) — genuinely spicy for a holiday romance.
✓ Reviewers repeatedly call it “surprisingly horny” and “sizzling,” with memorable woodsy, outdoorsy scenes.
✓ The heat is well-integrated with the slow-burn tension rather than tacked on.
✓ A few felt the spicy scenes “didn’t really work” for them tonally against the cozy Hallmark frame.

★★★☆☆ Emotion & Depth

Evidence:

✓ Readers report crying “more than once, but in the best way” over the found-family and forgiveness themes.
✓ Morgan’s “not being enough” arc and reconciliation with her father resonate with many.
✓ Honest caveat: several wanted “more depth,” feeling the emotional beats and backstory were rushed.
✓ The parental estrangement and grief threads add welcome weight to an otherwise light story.

★★★☆☆ Pacing

Evidence:

✓ Library Journal called it “fast-paced,” and readers often finish it in a day or two.
✓ The “save the tree farm” fundraiser plot gives the story a clear forward engine.
✓ Some found Morgan’s repetitive inner monologue (dad, Christy, “not enough”) slowed the middle.
✓ The reconciliation with her father struck a few readers as “too quick” and underdeveloped.

★★★☆☆ Ending

Evidence:

✓ Delivers a satisfying HEA that ties the fundraiser and romance together “naturally.”
✓ The epilogue is famously polarizing — readers call it “wild,” “bonkers,” and “insane” (in both good and bad ways).
✓ One reviewer noted the author “made it work” despite a premise they’d normally hate.
✓ If you dislike big time-jump or over-the-top epilogues, this one may not land.

★★★☆☆ Re-read & Comfort Value

Evidence:

✓ Multiple readers put it on their “re-read every December” holiday rotation.
✓ High comfort factor — “like a warm hug” and “a mug of hot chocolate” are recurring descriptions.
✓ Fans immediately want the companion book, In the Case of Heartbreak (Ben & Adam).
✓ Less re-readable for those who bounced off Morgan or the pop-culture-heavy voice.

Quick Facts

Author	Courtney Kae
Published	August 30, 2022 (Kensington)
Length	320 pages
Series	Fern Falls #1 (standalone)
Steam Level	4/5 (explicit, open door)
Tropes	Second chance, childhood friends to lovers, holiday, small town, forced proximity
Ending	HEA (polarizing epilogue)

You’ll Love This If…

✓ You want a queer Hallmark-style Christmas romance with real spice.
✓ Small-town, save-the-farm, home-for-the-holidays tropes are your comfort zone.
✓ You love a “sexy lumberjane” love interest and cozy, atmospheric settings.
✓ Second-chance and childhood-friends-to-lovers stories melt your heart.
✓ You enjoyed Alexandria Bellefleur’s Seattle trilogy or Alison Cochrun’s rom-coms.

Avoid If…

You need a highly original plot — this leans hard into familiar Hallmark beats.
You struggle with a prickly, sometimes unlikable first-person heroine.
You prefer dual POV; this is Morgan’s single POV only.
Over-the-top epilogues or pop-culture-heavy dialogue annoy you.

Book Synopsis

When Los Angeles event planner Morgan Ross’s career implodes after a tabloid scandal, she retreats to the last place she wants to be: her small hometown of Fern Falls, which she fled at eighteen. Waiting for her is a mountain of old heartbreak — most of it wrapped up in Rachel Reed, her one-time best friend and first kiss, the girl who broke her heart years ago.

Now Rachel runs her family’s struggling Christmas tree farm, the only thing standing between Fern Falls and a corporate developer who wants to swallow the town whole. Morgan decides she can set her feelings aside long enough to plan a spectacular fundraiser and save the farm. But between the vanilla lattes, the cozy barn, and Rachel’s new lumberjane muscles, keeping things strictly professional proves impossible — and a heartwarming holiday happy ending starts to feel a lot less unlikely.

My Review

I picked up In the Event of Love wanting exactly what it promises — a queer Hallmark Christmas movie with the heat turned up — and on that front it delivers beautifully. Kae nails the cozy, pine-scented atmosphere of Fern Falls, and the “sexy lumberjane saves the tree farm” premise is pure sapphic holiday catnip. The spice is genuinely spicy, which sets it apart from the chaste Hallmark movies it lovingly mimics.

The heart of the book is a second-chance romance between two people who were best friends before one doomed kiss blew everything apart. When Kae leans into that ache — the “not enough” wound Morgan carries, the strained relationship with her father, the pull of a hometown she both loves and resents — the book finds real emotional footing, and I teared up more than once.

It’s far from flawless, and I want to be honest about why it lands at 3.6 rather than higher. Morgan is a prickly, sometimes frustrating narrator, and because we’re locked in her single POV, Rachel can feel underdrawn. The pop-culture references and some of the banter didn’t always work for me, and the reconciliation with her father resolves almost too neatly. Reviews are genuinely split on the heroine and the wild epilogue.

Still, taken for what it is — a warm, tropey, steamy holiday comfort read — it succeeds. If you go in wanting cozy over complex, you’ll likely finish it in a weekend with a mug of cocoa and a smile.

Romance Profile

Pairing	F/F (Morgan & Rachel)
Central trope	Second chance / childhood friends to lovers
Heat level	High (explicit, open door)
Conflict	Old heartbreak, hometown baggage, corporate threat to the farm
POV	Single POV (Morgan), first person

Emotional Profile

✓ Cozy — a “warm hug” of a holiday setting.
✓ Steamy — genuine spice woven into the slow burn.
✓ Tender — found family, forgiveness, and self-worth themes.
✓ Light — ultimately feel-good and low-stakes despite some tears.

Content Warnings

Death of a parent (backstory)
Alcoholism / substance abuse
Reference to cheating (the inciting tabloid scandal)
Parental estrangement and grief

Book DNA

Vibe	Cozy, festive, steamy Hallmark
Setting	Fern Falls, a small mountain town in California, at Christmas
Pace	Fast, easy one-sitting read
Comps	Written in the Stars; a spicier queer Hallmark movie
Best for	Readers who want cozy holiday comfort with heat

Similar Books You Might Enjoy

Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun — another second-chance sapphic road to reconnection, with more grief.
Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur — cozy, tropey sapphic rom-com comfort.
Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake — small-town queer romance with heat and heart.
Count Your Lucky Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur — friends reunited, cozy and warm.
Forget Me Not by Alyson Derrick — an emotional second-chance sapphic love story.

For more like this, browse our full guide to Sapphic Second Chance Romance Books, and for more cozy hometown swoons, don’t miss our Small-Town Lesbian Romance roundup.

About the Author

Courtney Kae (she/they) writes sweet and steamy queer romance. In the Event of Love is her debut and the first book in the Fern Falls series, followed by In the Case of Heartbreak. She lives in Southern California with her family, cats, and a growing hoard of houseplants, and is known for pairing Hallmark-style coziness with genuine heat.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is In the Event of Love a sapphic romance?

Yes. It is an F/F romance between Morgan Ross and Rachel Reed, two women who were childhood best friends and first loves before a falling out. Morgan is bisexual, and the couple’s endgame is firmly sapphic.

Does In the Event of Love have a happy ending?

Yes, it delivers a full HEA. The fundraiser plot and the romance resolve together, followed by an epilogue that readers find memorable — and divisive.

How steamy is In the Event of Love?

Quite steamy. romance.io rates it 4/5 (explicit, open door). Reviewers repeatedly call it “surprisingly horny” for a cozy holiday romance, with several on-page scenes.

Is it a Christmas book?

Yes. It is set during the holiday season in a small mountain town and centers on saving a Christmas tree farm, giving it a full festive, Hallmark-style atmosphere.

Do I need to read the Fern Falls books in order?

No. In the Event of Love is a standalone. The companion book, In the Case of Heartbreak, follows side characters Ben and Adam and can be read separately.

Is it single or dual POV?

Single POV. The whole story is told in first person from Morgan’s perspective, which some readers loved and others wished included Rachel’s side.

Why do some readers rate it lower?

The most common critiques are that Morgan can be unlikable, the plot is predictable, the pop-culture references and dialogue can feel cringey, and the epilogue is polarizing.

Who will enjoy In the Event of Love most?

Readers who want a cozy, tropey, steamy queer holiday romance — especially fans of small-town settings, second chances, and Alexandria Bellefleur or Alison Cochrun.

Final Verdict

In the Event of Love is a cozy, steamy queer Hallmark movie in book form — and if that’s what you’re craving, it hits the spot. It won’t win points for originality or a universally beloved heroine, and the epilogue divides readers. But its warm setting, genuine spice, and second-chance tenderness make it a reliable holiday comfort read. For the right mood, it’s absolutely worth reading — a solid 3.6 / 5.

Where to Buy

Buy In the Event of Love on Amazon

Note: This is a plain, non-affiliate link provided for your convenience. We do not earn a commission from purchases made through it.

July 30, 2026 0

Here We Go Again Review | Alison Cochrun | Is It Worth Reading?

Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun book cover

★★★★☆ 4.1 / 5 (calculated from Amazon, Goodreads & romance.io reader ratings — 20,293 combined)

Overall	8.1/10	Romance	7.8/10
Characters	8.6/10	Writing	8.7/10
Emotion	9.4/10	Heat	6.0/10
Ending	8.4/10	Re-read value	7.8/10

A cross-country road trip, a dying mentor, and two former best friends who never stopped loving each other — this is the queer rom-com that will wreck you and heal you in the same breath.

If you love second-chance romances where the reunion is soaked in grief, humor, and a decade of unspoken feeling, Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun belongs at the top of your list. It won the 2025 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Romance, was a Stonewall Book Award honoree, and landed on best-of-year lists from Publishers Weekly, BookRiot, and Elle.

Our take: This is far more than a rom-com. Cochrun braids laugh-out-loud banter with a genuinely devastating storyline about a beloved teacher’s terminal illness, and the result is a book most readers finish in tears. The romance itself is tender and slow, sometimes taking a back seat to the grief plot — but for readers who want a story with real emotional weight, that trade is exactly the point.

The Evidence Scorecard

Here is what the reviews across Amazon, Goodreads, and romance.io consistently reveal — the praise and the honest caveats.

★★★★☆ Writing & Voice

Evidence:

✓ Booklist (starred) and Publishers Weekly (starred) both praised the prose; PW called it “Cochrun’s best yet.”
✓ Readers repeatedly describe the prose as “beautiful” and note the recurring “prickly pear” metaphor as a genuine highlight.
✓ The dual-timeline structure (present road trip woven with childhood flashbacks) is widely credited with giving the leads real depth.
✓ A recurring criticism: the running gag of swearing with celebrity names (“Kristen F-ing Stewart”) grated on many readers and feels like it will date quickly.

★★★★☆ Dialogue & Banter

Evidence:

✓ UK and Amazon reviewers single out the dialogue between the MCs as “such a highlight.”
✓ The comedy is genuinely funny — readers report laughing out loud even while crying.
✓ Logan’s chaotic energy versus Rosemary’s uptight precision fuels sharp grumpy/sunshine sparring.
✓ Some found the bickering repetitive, as both characters cycle through the same defensive patterns.

★★★★☆ Chemistry & Romance

Evidence:

✓ The friends-to-rivals-to-lovers arc feels earned; readers describe them as “the other half of each other’s heart.”
✓ The romance is tender and swoony — “dancing in car headlights,” changing song lyrics to be secretly about your best friend.
✓ Honest caveat: several readers felt the grief plot overshadowed the romance, which develops slowly and quietly.
✓ A romance.io reviewer flagged “contrivances” and “melodrama” you have to accept for the reunion to land.

★★★★☆ Heat

Evidence:

✓ romance.io rates steam 3/5 (open door), but reviewers note it “really means it” — there is essentially one on-page scene, largely elided.
✓ This is an emotion-first romance, not a spice-forward one; readers seeking heavy heat will want to look elsewhere.
✓ Includes ace/demi representation, which shapes the low-key physical tone.
✓ The intimacy that exists is emotional rather than explicit — a plus for slow-burn fans, a miss for spice-seekers.

★★★★☆ Emotion & Depth

Evidence:

✓ This is the book’s superpower — near-universal reports of “sobbing,” “ugly crying,” and needing to put the book down.
✓ The New York Times Book Review said it “will have you weeping.”
✓ Handles terminal illness, grief, ADHD/neurodivergence, addiction, and religious trauma with striking care.
✓ Joe, the dying mentor, is repeatedly named as the emotional core — his storyline blindsides readers in the best way.

★★★★☆ Pacing

Evidence:

✓ Several readers note a slow start before the characters “suck you in.”
✓ The road-trip structure gives the middle strong forward momentum, city to city.
✓ A minority found the repetition of the same character struggles draining over 368 pages.
✓ The final act accelerates emotionally — “the last 100 pages” are where most readers report crying hardest.

★★★★☆ Ending

Evidence:

✓ Delivers a full HEA — PW praised the “beautiful romantic reunion.”
✓ Readers describe the resolution as “anchored in the real world,” bittersweet but hopeful.
✓ The grief and the romance resolve in parallel, which most found cathartic rather than tidy.
✓ A few wanted a touch more romance-focused denouement after the emotional climax.

★★★★☆ Re-read & Comfort Value

Evidence:

✓ Named a favorite book of 2024 by multiple readers who “can’t wait” for more Cochrun.
✓ Comfort value is complicated by the heavy grief — this is a cathartic cry, not a light re-read.
✓ Strong appeal for teachers, neurodivergent readers, and anyone who has lost a mentor.
✓ Some noted timely pop-culture references may feel dated on re-read.

Quick Facts

Author	Alison Cochrun
Published	April 2, 2024 (Atria Books)
Length	368 pages
Steam Level	3/5 (open door, low)
Tropes	Second chance, childhood friends to rivals to lovers, forced proximity, road trip, small town
Awards	Lambda Literary Award winner; Stonewall Book Award honoree
Ending	HEA (bittersweet)

You’ll Love This If…

✓ You want a rom-com with real emotional stakes and are okay with crying a lot.
✓ You love second-chance and childhood-friends-reunited stories.
✓ You appreciate ADHD and neurodivergent representation done with care.
✓ Road-trip romances and found-family dynamics are your catnip.
✓ You loved Kiss Her Once for Me or Ashley Herring Blake’s Bright Falls books.

Avoid If…

You want a light, purely fun rom-com with no heavy themes — terminal illness is central here.
You need high heat; this is a low-steam, emotion-first romance.
Repetitive character arcs or a recurring pop-culture gag will frustrate you.
You prefer the romance to stay front-and-center rather than share space with grief.

Book Synopsis

Logan Maletis and Rosemary Hale were inseparable as kids — running wild through the woods of their conservative small town and dreaming of escape. Then an incident the summer before high school turned them into bitter rivals, and after graduation they went a full decade without speaking. Now in their thirties, both are teachers at their old alma mater, stuck in the very town they swore they’d leave: uptight Rosemary clinging to security, chaotic Logan hiding behind an apathetic shrug.

When their beloved former English teacher and lifelong mentor, Joe, reveals he has only months to live, the two are forced together to grant his last wish: a cross-country road trip in the “gayest van west of the Mississippi.” From Washington State to the Grand Canyon to coastal Maine, the journey forces Logan and Rosemary to confront their shared past — and the possibility that the person they each ran from is the one they were meant to find their way back to.

My Review

I went into Here We Go Again expecting a breezy road-trip rom-com and got something far weightier — in the best way. Cochrun, a former high school English teacher herself, has written a love letter to the mentors who shape us, and Joe’s storyline is the beating heart of the book. It sneaks up on you: you come for the enemies-to-lovers banter and stay for a meditation on grief, chosen family, and living fully in the time you’re given.

The romance between Logan and Rosemary is tender and slow-building, rooted in a childhood bond that never fully broke. Their dynamic — chaotic sunshine crashing into anxious control — produces some of the sharpest dialogue I’ve read in a contemporary sapphic romance. The dual-timeline flashbacks do a lot of quiet work, so that by the time they finally reach for each other, it feels inevitable rather than convenient.

It’s not flawless. The recurring bit where characters swear using celebrity names wore thin fast, and both leads circle the same wounds a few too many times across 368 pages. The romance also occasionally yields the spotlight to the grief plot, so if you came strictly for the love story you may feel the balance tip. And the heat is minimal — essentially one fade-to-black scene.

But none of that dimmed the experience for me. This is a book that made me laugh out loud and then sob, sometimes on the same page. It’s the kind of story you finish with mascara-stained tissues and a fuller heart, already recommending it to everyone you know.

Romance Profile

Pairing	F/F (Logan & Rosemary)
Central trope	Second chance / childhood friends to rivals to lovers
Heat level	Low (open door, one scene)
Conflict	Old betrayal, fear of vulnerability, grief
POV	Dual POV, third person

Emotional Profile

✓ Devastating — expect real, heavy tears over the grief storyline.
✓ Funny — genuine laugh-out-loud comedy balances the heartbreak.
✓ Tender — a soft, earned reunion romance.
✓ Hopeful — ultimately life-affirming despite the sadness.

Content Warnings

Terminal illness (cancer) and death of a major character
Grief and bereavement (central themes)
Mental illness, addiction/alcoholism (referenced)
Homophobia and religious trauma; family abandonment
Reference to the AIDS crisis

Book DNA

Vibe	Bittersweet, funny, cathartic
Setting	Cross-country US road trip (WA to Maine)
Pace	Slow start, momentum builds on the road
Comps	Delilah Green Doesn’t Care; Kiss Her Once for Me
Best for	Readers who want emotion-first queer romance

Similar Books You Might Enjoy

Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake — small-town queer romance with big feelings and sharp humor.
Forget Me Not by Alyson Derrick — another emotionally devastating second-chance love story.
Count Your Lucky Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur — friends-reunited banter with a cozy heart.
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston — queer romance that blends yearning with real emotional depth.
Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur — opposites-attract sapphic rom-com comfort read.

For more like this, browse our full guide to Sapphic Second Chance Romance Books, and if you love the rivals-to-lovers spark here, don’t miss our Enemies-to-Lovers Lesbian Romance roundup.

About the Author

Alison Cochrun is a former high school English teacher and the author of queer love stories including The Charm Offensive, Kiss Her Once for Me, Here We Go Again, and Every Step She Takes. She lives outside Portland, Oregon, with her wife, her son, and two very needy dogs. Her fiction is known for pairing sharp humor with deeply felt explorations of mental health and neurodivergence.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Here We Go Again a sapphic romance?

Yes. It is an F/F romance between Logan and Rosemary, two women who were childhood best friends, became rivals, and reconnect as adults. It won the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Romance.

Does Here We Go Again have a happy ending?

Yes, it delivers a happily-ever-after for the central couple, though it is bittersweet given the grief woven through the story. Publishers Weekly praised its “beautiful romantic reunion.”

How steamy is Here We Go Again?

It is low heat. romance.io rates it 3/5 steam (open door), but there is essentially one on-page scene that is largely faded to black. This is an emotion-first romance rather than a spicy one.

Do I need to read Alison Cochrun’s other books first?

No. Here We Go Again is a standalone. Fans of her earlier books like Kiss Her Once for Me will enjoy her signature blend of humor and heart, but no prior reading is required.

Is Here We Go Again sad?

Very. A central storyline follows a beloved teacher’s terminal illness, and most readers report crying — often heavily — especially in the final third. It is cathartic rather than bleak.

What tropes are in Here We Go Again?

Second chance, childhood friends to rivals to lovers, forced proximity, a cross-country road trip, small-town setting, and found family, plus strong ADHD/neurodivergent representation.

Is there content I should be aware of?

Yes — terminal illness and death, grief, mental illness, addiction, homophobia, religious trauma, and a reference to the AIDS crisis. Check the content warnings above if any of these are sensitive for you.

Who will enjoy Here We Go Again most?

Readers who want a queer rom-com with genuine emotional depth — especially teachers, neurodivergent readers, road-trip romance fans, and anyone who has loved and lost a mentor.

Final Verdict

Here We Go Again is a rare rom-com that earns its laughs and its tears in equal measure. The recurring celebrity-swear gag and a slightly repetitive middle keep it from perfection, and readers craving high heat should look elsewhere. But as an emotionally rich, award-winning second-chance love story about grief, growth, and coming home to the person who knew you first, it is a triumph. If you’re willing to cry, it is absolutely worth reading — a well-deserved 4.1 / 5.

Where to Buy

Buy Here We Go Again on Amazon

Note: This is a plain, non-affiliate link provided for your convenience. We do not earn a commission from purchases made through it.

July 30, 2026 2

Count Your Lucky Stars Review | Alexandria Bellefleur | Is It Worth Reading?

Count Your Lucky Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur book cover

★★★★☆ 4.0 / 5 (calculated from Amazon, Goodreads & romance.io reader ratings — 31,614 combined)

Overall	7.9	Romance	8.2
Characters	7.8	Writing	8.3
Emotion	7.6	Heat	8.0
Ending	6.5	Re-read value	7.5

First love, second chance, and one very judgmental cat — Bellefleur closes out her Written in the Stars trilogy with the grump we’ve been waiting three books to watch fall.

If you love grumpy-sunshine banter, forced-proximity roommates, and a first-love reunion with genuine emotional stakes, Alexandria Bellefleur’s Count Your Lucky Stars belongs on your second-chance shelf. It is the Lambda Literary Award winner’s steamy send-off to Elle, Darcy, Brendon and the whole friend group — this time handing prickly, commitment-shy Margot her own happy ending with the girl who got away.

Our take: This is a warm, funny, genuinely spicy comfort read carried by sparkling prose and a beloved grump at its center — and it is also, by wide reader consensus, powered almost entirely by a miscommunication trope that Margot herself could resolve in a single honest conversation. Score it on cozy charm and chemistry and it soars; score it on plot tension and a rushed final act and it dips. At a 4.0 weighted average, both things are true at once.

The Evidence Scorecard

Every score below is backed by what readers and reviewers actually reported across Amazon, Goodreads and romance.io — not vibes.

Writing & Voice ★★★★☆

Evidence

✓ Entertainment Weekly praised Bellefleur’s “droll, distinct voice,” noting her “one-liners zing off the page.”
✓ Booklist gave the series a starred review for its “wit-infused writing”; Library Journal called her prose “sparkling.”
✓ Amazon reviewers repeatedly call the book “well-written” and “better than Written in the Stars” on the sentence level.
✓ The dissent: a romance.io reviewer found the dialogue “pedestrian” and the characters thinly described — a minority view, but a real one.

Dialogue & Banter ★★★★☆

Evidence

✓ The grumpy/sunshine dynamic is built on sharp back-and-forth; USA Today singled out the “palpable” chemistry between Margot and Olivia.
✓ Readers highlight Margot’s “no-nonsense, blunt” voice as the funniest thing in the book.
✓ The returning friend group (Elle, Darcy, Brendon) keeps the banter varied rather than two-hander claustrophobic.
✓ Humor peaks in the now-famous “cat scene,” cited by multiple reviewers as the most memorable moment.

Chemistry & Romance ★★★★☆

Evidence

✓ A four-star USA Today review calls Margot and Olivia “a perfect grumpy/sunshine pairing” whose chemistry “ramps up throughout.”
✓ The first-love / second-chance framing gives the attraction built-in history and yearning that readers found swoony.
✓ romance.io tags confirm the core draw: second chances, friends to lovers, forced proximity, grumpy & sunshine.
✓ Weakness noted by readers: the leads “aren’t really talking until the very end,” so the bond leans on heat more than conversation.

Heat ★★★★☆

Evidence

✓ romance.io rates it Steam 4/5 — “explicit, open door.” This is a spicy read, not fade-to-black.
✓ Booklist noted “scorchingly hot love scenes”; Library Journal cited “delicious dirty talk.”
✓ Amazon reviewers describe the steamy sections as “s-t-e-a-m-y” and “well done.”
✓ One caveat readers raised: at times “it felt like that’s all that was happening” — heat occasionally standing in for emotional progress.

Emotion & Depth ★★★☆☆

Evidence

✓ Readers finished it “through happy tears” and connected with Olivia’s people-pleasing and Margot’s abandonment fears.
✓ BookPage praised the “thoughtful conversations about relationships” underneath the comedy.
✓ The emotional engine — Margot’s fear of being left again — is real, but relies heavily on withheld communication rather than fresh conflict.
✓ A recurring critique: some found the characters “dull” or “flat,” feeling the depth was told more than shown.

Pacing ★★★☆☆

Evidence

✓ A four-star Amazon reviewer praised the steady pacing that avoids “timeline whiplash” common to second-chance books.
✓ But the same reviewer described the final act as “a train hurtling down the track sans brakes.”
✓ A DNF romance.io reviewer felt “the story dragged on and on” relative to how little plot detail was provided.
✓ Net effect: comfortable in the middle, uneven at the edges — slow to detail, then suddenly rushed.

Ending ★★★☆☆

Evidence

✓ The epilogue is a reader favorite — “great,” with beloved glimpses of Elle, Darcy and baby Lowell.
✓ But the resolution leans on a “grand gesture” that arrives fast after a book of avoidance.
✓ Because the central conflict is miscommunication, the fix can feel abrupt: one honest talk undoes 300 pages of tension.
✓ This is the single most common complaint and the main reason our Ending sub-score sits at 6.5.

Re-read & Comfort Value ★★★★☆

Evidence

✓ Widely described as a “warm hug” comfort read and a “great conclusion to the series.”
✓ Fans of the trilogy get a satisfying reunion of the whole cast, which rewards re-reads in order.
✓ Low-angst conflict (“not too extreme or drawn out”) makes it easy to revisit.
✓ Works as a standalone, but re-read value is highest for readers already invested in the friend group.

Quick Facts

Title	Count Your Lucky Stars
Author	Alexandria Bellefleur
Series	Written in the Stars #3 (reads as a standalone)
Publisher & Date	Avon · February 1, 2022
Length	384 pages
Genre	Contemporary sapphic rom-com
Tropes	Second chance, friends-to-lovers, first love, forced proximity/roommates, grumpy-sunshine
Heat	4/5 — explicit, open door
POV	Dual POV, third person
Ending	HEA (with epilogue)
Awards	By the Lambda Literary Award–winning author of Written in the Stars

You’ll Love This If…

✓ You adore a prickly, commitment-phobic grump slowly melting for a sunshine heroine.
✓ Forced-proximity roommates and a first-love reunion are your comfort-read catnip.
✓ You want genuinely spicy, open-door scenes alongside your rom-com humor.
✓ You’ve read Written in the Stars and Hang the Moon and want the friend group’s send-off.
✓ A low-angst conflict and a warm, tears-of-joy HEA sound perfect right now.

Avoid If…

The miscommunication trope is a dealbreaker — this book runs almost entirely on it.
You need external plot stakes (career, deadline) to actually affect the romance.
You dislike endings that resolve fast via a single grand gesture.
You want richly described, deeply layered characters over cozy vibes.
You prefer closed-door or low-heat romance.

Book Synopsis

Margot Cooper does not do relationships — she tried once, it detonated, and casual hookups have suited her fine ever since. But with her whole friend group now paired off and engaged, she is starting to feel like a fifth wheel. Then, while touring a wedding venue as Brendon’s “Best Woman,” she comes face to face with Olivia Grant: her childhood best friend, her first love, her first everything — and, it turns out, the wedding planner she is about to be stuck working alongside.

Olivia’s last decade has not gone to plan either. Married and divorced by almost thirty, she is rebuilding in Seattle and cannot afford to blow this new job. When circumstances leave her without a place to live, Margot offers up her spare room — a textbook case of forced proximity that reawakens every spark the two of them once had. The trouble is that their first attempt at love ended in heartbreak, and Margot is terrified of being left again. Can two people who lost each other once count their lucky stars for a real second chance?

My Review

There is a specific pleasure in watching a series’ most guarded character finally get cornered by their own heart, and Count Your Lucky Stars delivers exactly that. Margot has been the sharp-tongued, loyal-to-a-fault best friend across the whole Written in the Stars trilogy, so handing her a first-love reunion — with the one person who ever got past her walls — is an emotionally satisfying way to close the group’s story. Bellefleur’s prose does the heavy lifting here: it is witty, warm, and “sparkling” in exactly the way critics from Entertainment Weekly to Booklist have described, and the grumpy/sunshine chemistry between Margot and Olivia is palpable from their first stunned eye-contact.

Where the book is honestly divisive is its engine. This is, as more than one reader bluntly put it, “miscommunication: the book.” Almost every beat of conflict traces back to Margot refusing to say one true thing out loud — which is a little tongue-in-cheek, since Margot openly complains about characters who won’t communicate. If that trope delights you, the yearning will land beautifully. If it frustrates you, you may spend chapters wanting to shake her. I landed in the middle: the pining is real and the payoff is sweet, but the romance leans on heat to carry stretches where the two leads simply are not talking.

The pacing follows suit. The middle is cozy and steady — mercifully free of the timeline whiplash that plagues a lot of second-chance novels — but the final act arrives like a “train hurtling down the track sans brakes,” closing threads in a rush of grand gesture. The epilogue, thankfully, is a genuine treat, checking in on Elle, Darcy and the extended family in a way longtime readers will love. And yes: the real scene-stealer is the cat, who earns every laugh reviewers keep crediting her with.

Judged as what it actually is — a low-angst, high-comfort, spicy series capstone — it succeeds. Judged as a tightly plotted drama, it wobbles. A 4.0 weighted average across more than 31,000 ratings feels exactly right: a little softer than the beloved Written in the Stars, but a warm, worthy goodbye to characters readers clearly adore.

Romance Profile

Pairing	Margot (prickly commitment-phobe) & Olivia (sunshine people-pleaser)
Dynamic	Grumpy × sunshine; first love reunited
Central conflict	Fear of abandonment & withheld communication
Spice	High — explicit, open door (4/5)
Slow burn?	Medium — history means the pull is immediate
Representation	Sapphic (F/F); bisexual lead

Emotional Profile

✓ Cozy, warm, and reliably funny more than heavy.
✓ Real yearning and pining rooted in a shared past.
✓ Tender in its treatment of people-pleasing and fear of being left.
✓ Occasional frustration if miscommunication tropes get under your skin.
✓ A happy-tears, feel-good landing.

Content Warnings

Explicit on-page sexual content
Divorce and its emotional aftermath
A parent in poor health / caretaking stress
Abandonment fears and past heartbreak
Miscommunication-driven conflict

Book DNA

Vibe	Warm, witty, spicy comfort read
Setting	Contemporary Seattle
Pace	Steady middle, rushed finale
Comps	Delilah Green Doesn’t Care; Here We Go Again; Mistakes Were Made
Best for	Grumpy-sunshine and second-chance fans who want low angst and high heat

Similar Books You Might Enjoy

Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur — the opposites-attract, fake-dating book that started the series.
Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake — another grumpy-sunshine sapphic rom-com with a small-town reunion.
The Fiancée Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur — more of Bellefleur’s spicy, banter-forward queer romance.
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston — if you want the same found-family warmth with a twist of magic.
Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun — a childhood-friends-to-enemies-to-lovers road-trip reunion in the same second-chance vein.

For more like this, visit our full guide to Sapphic Second Chance Romance Books — or dive deeper into our Second Chance Lesbian Romance: 25 Sapphic Books, Reviewed.

About the Author

Alexandria Bellefleur is a bestselling, award-winning author of swoony contemporary romance, best known for lovable grumps and the sunshine characters who bring them to their knees. A Pacific Northwesterner now based in New York City, she won a 2021 Lambda Literary Award and a Ripped Bodice Award for her debut, Written in the Stars. The Written in the Stars trilogy — Written in the Stars, Hang the Moon, and Count Your Lucky Stars — cemented her as a go-to name in queer rom-com.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Count Your Lucky Stars a standalone or do I need to read the series first?

It works as a standalone — the central romance is self-contained. That said, it is Book 3 of the Written in the Stars trilogy, and readers who’ve met Elle, Darcy and Brendon in the earlier books get far more out of the returning-cast moments and the epilogue.

Is Count Your Lucky Stars a spicy read?

Yes. romance.io rates it 4/5 steam — explicit, open door — and reviewers consistently describe the love scenes as genuinely steamy. It is not a fade-to-black romance.

What tropes does the book use?

Second chance, first love reunited, friends-to-lovers, forced proximity (roommates), and a classic grumpy-sunshine dynamic, all in a contemporary rom-com frame.

Is there a happy ending?

Yes — a full HEA with an epilogue that readers particularly love for its check-ins on the wider friend group.

Why isn’t the score higher given the strong writing?

The prose, humor and heat score very well, but the plot runs almost entirely on a miscommunication trope and resolves in a rushed final act. Those two recurring complaints are why the weighted average settles at 4.0 rather than higher.

Who are the main characters?

Margot Cooper, a blunt, commitment-averse woman who prefers casual hookups, and Olivia Grant, a warm, people-pleasing wedding planner rebuilding her life after a divorce — and Margot’s first love.

Is the romance sapphic / F/F?

Yes. It is a genuine sapphic romance between two women, with a bisexual lead in Margot.

Should I start with this book or Written in the Stars?

If you like reading in order, start with Written in the Stars. If you specifically want a second-chance, first-love reunion, you can begin here — it stands on its own.

Final Verdict

Count Your Lucky Stars is a warm, witty, satisfyingly spicy send-off to a beloved friend group — a comfort read that leans on sparkling prose and grumpy-sunshine chemistry rather than plot tension. Go in for the yearning, the humor, the heat, and the cat; adjust expectations for a miscommunication-driven conflict and a rushed finale. For fans of the trilogy and of low-angst sapphic rom-com, it is an easy recommend, and a fittingly hopeful close to the series. 4.0 / 5.

Where to Buy

Buy Count Your Lucky Stars on Amazon

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July 30, 2026 0

One Last Stop Review | Casey McQuiston | Is It Worth Reading?

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston book cover

★★★★☆ 3.9 / 5 (calculated from Amazon, Goodreads & romance.io reader ratings — 309,423 combined)

Overall	7.8	Romance	8.0
Characters	8.8	Writing	8.2
Emotion	8.2	Heat	6.0
Ending	8.0	Re-read value	7.5

A cynical twenty-three-year-old falls for the beautiful girl she keeps meeting on the Q train — then discovers Jane has been displaced in time, stuck on that subway line since the 1970s.

If you love found-family ensembles, a slow-burn sapphic romance, and a high-concept magical-realism twist wrapped in a big-hearted rom-com, One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston belongs on your list. From the author of Red, White & Royal Blue, it was a New York Times and USA Today bestseller and landed on best-of-2021 lists from NPR, TIME and Publishers Weekly.

Our take: a warm, queer, deeply re-readable romance whose scene-stealing chosen-family cast and inventive time-slip premise are its beating heart — held back only by a saggy middle and a runtime a lot of readers found too long for the story.

The Evidence Scorecard

Every score below is backed by what readers and reviewers actually reported across Amazon, Goodreads and romance.io — not vibes.

Writing & Voice ★★★★☆

Evidence

✓ The New York Times Book Review calls it a “gorgeous novel” that layers romance, loneliness and generational trauma.
✓ Readers praise “beautiful writing” and an easy, propulsive style that “made it go by fast.”
✓ Many feel McQuiston “grew a lot as an author” since Red, White & Royal Blue.
✓ A minority flag “a few weird style choices and a few cringe moments” that pull them out of it.

Dialogue & Banter ★★★★☆

Evidence

✓ The banter across the roommate/diner crew is a consistent highlight — quotable and genuinely funny.
✓ Jane’s cocky, swaggering voice plays well against August’s guarded cynicism.
✓ Tagged “funny” on romance.io; readers call it a real rom-com that lands its jokes.
✓ The humor occasionally tips modern/anachronistic for a character supposedly from the 1970s.

Chemistry & Romance ★★★★☆

Evidence

✓ A slow-burn subway crush that readers found genuinely swoony — one calls Jane “probably my favorite love interest in a book so far.”
✓ The early kiss is handled cleverly so it deepens rather than resolves the relationship.
✓ The stakes (“save the girl lost in time”) give the romance real urgency and heart.
✓ A vocal minority “couldn’t get invested” in the leads and found the central pairing flat.

Heat ★★★☆☆

Evidence

✓ Rated Steam 3/5 on romance.io — open-door, but not the book’s main focus.
✓ The intimacy is warm and character-driven rather than explicit throughout.
✓ One much-discussed subway scene is a standout for readers who want the spice.
✓ Best for readers who want emotion and slow-burn over wall-to-wall heat.

Emotion & Depth ★★★★☆

Evidence

✓ Readers report crying repeatedly — “I sobbed like 10 times over how perfect it was.”
✓ Content notes: queerphobia, past child neglect, death/grief — the book takes real emotional risks.
✓ Themes of loneliness, chosen family and being “unmoored from normal time” resonate deeply.
✓ A caution: readers with missing loved ones note the cold-case thread “can absolutely get to you.”

Pacing ★★★☆☆

Evidence

✓ The single most common criticism: it is “simply too long for what it is” and “starts to drag.”
✓ Several readers found it “a grind to push through to the finish.”
✓ The mystery and time-slip plotting keep the back half moving once it clicks.
✓ A recurring note that the side plots are “way more interesting than the main plot.”

Ending ★★★★☆

Evidence

✓ The “save Jane” climax pays off the premise and delivers a satisfying, earned HEA.
✓ Readers describe crying happy tears — “I cried a little at the end.”
✓ The clever resolution to Jane’s time-displacement is widely praised as inventive.
✓ A few wanted a tighter final stretch after the long build.

Re-read & Comfort Value ★★★★☆

Evidence

✓ A genuine comfort read — one reviewer “read this book three years ago, and I still think about it.”
✓ The found-family cast (Myla, Niko, Wes, Isaiah) is the reason readers return.
✓ Frequently named a go-to “happy sapphic romance” people struggle to find elsewhere.
✓ Some feel it “could grow into a five star upon reread” once the pacing is known.

Quick Facts

Title	One Last Stop
Author	Casey McQuiston
Series	Standalone
Publisher	St. Martin’s Griffin — 1 June 2021
Length	~432 pages
Genre	Contemporary sapphic romance with magical realism / time travel
Tropes	Slow burn, found family, time travel, subway crush, save-the-love-interest, multicultural cast
Heat level	Open-door (3/5)
POV	Third person, close on August
Ending	HEA
Recognition	NYT & USA Today bestseller; NPR, TIME & PW best-of-2021

You’ll Love This If…

✓ You want a genuinely happy, big-hearted sapphic romance
✓ Found-family ensembles are your favorite thing in fiction
✓ A high-concept magical-realism / time-travel hook excites you
✓ You like a slow burn with real emotional stakes
✓ You loved Red, White & Royal Blue and want McQuiston’s queer warmth in a WLW story

Avoid If…

You want a short, tightly-paced read (this one runs long and sags in the middle)
Magical realism / time travel in your romance is a dealbreaker
You need to click with the leads immediately (August is prickly early on)
You want wall-to-wall explicit heat
Cold-case / missing-persons content is too heavy for you right now

Book Synopsis

Cynical twenty-three-year-old August doesn’t believe in much — not psychics, not easy friendships, and definitely not movie-love. Newly arrived in New York with a ragtag band of roommates, a night shift at a 24-hour pancake diner, and a chaotic subway commute, she expects nothing to change. Then there’s Jane: all hard edges and a soft smile, the girl who saves August’s day and quickly becomes the face she looks forward to on the train.

But August’s subway crush is impossible in more ways than one — Jane is displaced in time, stuck on the Q line since the 1970s. With the help of her unforgettable found family, August sets out to do the impossible and free the girl lost in time, even if it might mean letting her go. It’s a warm, queer, magical-realist romance about home, loneliness, and believing in the impossible.

My Review

One Last Stop is the kind of romance that people press into your hands and swear will fix your week — and for the most part it earns that devotion. Casey McQuiston takes a deceptively simple meet-cute — a girl you keep seeing on the subway — and bends it into something stranger and more tender: Jane isn’t just elusive, she’s displaced in time, riding the Q line since the 1970s. It’s a premise that could collapse into gimmick, but McQuiston plays it for real emotional stakes about loneliness, memory and the fear of losing people.

The romance itself is a satisfying slow burn. August’s guarded cynicism thaws believably against Jane’s cocky, swaggering warmth, and readers consistently single Jane out as one of the great sapphic love interests — the sort you swoon over. The book is also smart about not letting a mid-story kiss defuse the tension; if anything, it raises the stakes. On romance.io it sits at an open-door 3/5, and the heat, when it arrives, is character-driven rather than the point.

But the real magic is the found family. Myla, Niko, Wes and Isaiah — the roommates and the Billy’s Diner crew — are so vivid that a chorus of readers admit the side characters and their arcs are more compelling than the central plot. That’s a double-edged compliment: it speaks to how alive this world is, but also to a structural softness. The love story sometimes gets crowded out by everything happening around it.

The honest knock, and it’s near-universal, is length. This is a long book that “starts to drag,” and more than a few readers found the middle a grind before the mystery pulls everything taut again. If you can settle into its unhurried rhythm, the payoff — a genuinely happy, tear-jerking, chosen-family HEA — is worth the ride. As a warm, re-readable, unabashedly queer comfort romance, it’s close to essential; just don’t come to it expecting something lean.

Romance Profile

Pairing	F/F — cynical newcomer (August) & time-displaced charmer (Jane)
Dynamic	Slow-burn subway crush; opposites who thaw each other
Central trope	Time-slip love interest + save-the-girl-lost-in-time
Conflict	Jane’s displacement in time, August’s fear of believing in anything
Heat	Open-door (3/5)
Build	Slow burn over a New York summer and many subway rides

Emotional Profile

✓ Funny and warm, with a genuinely joyful found-family core
✓ A real ache around loneliness, grief and generational trauma
✓ Swoony slow-burn longing that pays off
✓ A tear-jerking, hopeful HEA readers cried over

Content Warnings

Queerphobia
Past child neglect
Death / grief
Cold-case / missing-persons subplot
Homelessness and financial precarity

Book DNA

Vibe	Warm, queer, magical-realist New York rom-com
Setting	Brooklyn / New York City subway (present day & 1970s)
Pace	Slow burn; long, with a saggy middle
Comps	Red, White & Royal Blue, The Time Traveler’s Wife, Kiss Her Once for Me
Best for	Readers who want happy sapphic romance + found family + a magical hook

Similar Books You Might Enjoy

Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur — a witty, big-hearted contemporary sapphic rom-com with the same warmth
Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun — cozy, emotional queer romance with a strong found-family feel
Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake — funny, steamy sapphic contemporary with a scene-stealing friend group
She Gets the Girl by Lippincott & Derrick — sweet, low-heat sapphic romance if you want the warmth without the length

For more like this, visit our contemporary sapphic romance reading list. And Sapphic slow burn lesbian romance.

About the Author

Casey McQuiston is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of queer romance, best known for the breakout debut Red, White & Royal Blue, followed by One Last Stop, the YA novel I Kissed Shara Wheeler, and The Pairing. Their work is celebrated for combining sharp humor, richly diverse casts and unabashedly hopeful queer love stories. One Last Stop was a bestseller and a fixture on best-of-2021 lists.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is One Last Stop a standalone?

Yes. It is a complete standalone romance with its own HEA — no series reading required.

How steamy is One Last Stop?

Moderately — rated 3/5 on romance.io, open-door but not the book’s main focus. The intimacy is warm and character-driven rather than explicit throughout.

Is One Last Stop a sapphic romance?

Yes. It centers a F/F romance between August and Jane, with a broader cast of queer characters, and is one of the most-loved “happy sapphic romance” contemporaries.

Does it have a happy ending?

Yes, a satisfying, tear-jerking HEA. The clever resolution to Jane’s time-displacement is one of the most praised parts of the book.

What is the time-travel element?

Jane is displaced in time — stuck riding the subway since the 1970s. It’s magical realism rather than hard sci-fi, and it drives both the mystery and the romance.

Why do some readers rate it lower?

The most common criticism is length and pacing — the book runs long and sags in the middle. Some also find August prickly and hard to warm to early on.

Do I need to read Red, White & Royal Blue first?

No. They are unrelated standalones. Fans of that book’s queer warmth will likely enjoy this, though the tone here is more magical and bittersweet.

Who wrote One Last Stop?

Casey McQuiston, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Red, White & Royal Blue. One Last Stop was their second novel.

Final Verdict

One Last Stop is a warm, inventive, unabashedly queer romance whose found-family cast and time-slip premise make it a genuine comfort read — the kind people re-read and still think about years later. Its length and saggy middle keep it from perfection, and August takes a while to win you over, but the emotional payoff and that joyful chosen-family heart make it easy to recommend to anyone craving happy sapphic romance with a magical twist. 3.9 / 5.

Where to Buy

Buy One Last Stop on Amazon

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July 30, 2026 0

She Gets the Girl Review | Lippincott & Derrick | Is It Worth Reading?

She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick book cover

★★★★☆ 4.1 / 5 (calculated from Amazon, Goodreads & romance.io reader ratings — 81,341 combined)

Overall	8.2	Romance	8.3
Characters	8.7	Writing	8.3
Emotion	8.0	Heat	2.0
Ending	7.5	Re-read value	8.0

A chaotic flirt and an anxious overthinker team up on a five-step plan to win over other girls — and, of course, fall for each other instead.

If you love hate-to-love YA, opposites-attract banter, and a sweet campus romance with genuine emotional weight, She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippincott & Alyson Derrick belongs on your list. Written by a real-life married couple, it became a New York Times bestseller and a Goodreads Choice Award nominee.

Our take: a warm, funny, low-heat sapphic rom-com carried by two exceptionally well-drawn heroines and dual first-person voices you can tell apart blindfolded — with more emotional depth (alcoholic parents, class anxiety, cultural identity) than its cotton-candy premise suggests.

The Evidence Scorecard

Every score below is backed by what readers and reviewers actually reported across Amazon, Goodreads and romance.io — not vibes. Here is the case for each rating.

Writing & Voice ★★★★☆

Evidence

✓ Kirkus calls it “sweet, honest, and filled with personality”; Publishers Weekly praises the “lightly funny alternating narration”
✓ Written in everyday, accessible language — reviewers repeatedly note it reads fast and easy
✓ A rare co-authored novel where the seams never show; the married co-writers deliver one seamless voice per narrator
✓ School Library Journal highlights how it balances rom-com fun with genuine seriousness

Dual POV & Character Voice ★★★★★

Evidence

✓ The single most praised element: readers say they can tell Alex and Molly apart “before even reading the name at the chapter”
✓ Alex reads as sarcastic, chaotic and guarded; Molly as anxious, controlled and painfully earnest
✓ One reviewer: “each dealing with their own issues… both of their perspectives are excellently written”
✓ The distinct inner voices make the alternating structure a strength rather than a gimmick

Chemistry & Romance ★★★★☆

Evidence

✓ Classic opposites-attract / hate-to-love build that readers found “humorous and heartbreaking”
✓ The five-step-plan premise gives the leads a natural reason to grow close before they admit anything
✓ Banter praised as “always amusing,” with deeper conversations that “felt so natural”
✓ A minority (mostly older YA readers) did not fully connect with the romance or the premise

Heat ★½☆☆☆

Evidence

✓ Rated Steam 1/5 on romance.io — “glimpses and kisses,” essentially closed-door
✓ Age-appropriate YA content (marketed 15+, grades 9–12); sweet rather than explicit
✓ The emotional intimacy, not physical heat, is where the book invests
✓ Ideal for readers who want a low-spice, wholesome sapphic romance

Emotion & Depth ★★★★☆

Evidence

✓ Tackles an alcoholic parent, class anxiety and cultural identity — “meaningfully,” per School Library Journal
✓ A standout scene on class: Alex cannot simply “do what she loves” because she must earn a living and support her mother
✓ Readers describe feeling “seen as a fellow queer woman” and relating to both leads
✓ BCCB notes the substance is added “without weighing it down”

Pacing ★★★★☆

Evidence

✓ Widely described as a “quick read” finished “in one sitting”
✓ One reviewer: “never found myself bored or losing interest… an excellent read all the way through”
✓ The plot is admittedly predictable, but the characters keep the pages turning
✓ A few readers found it hard to get into early on before it clicked

Ending ★★★★☆

Evidence

✓ A “joyful ending” (BCCB) with Molly running after Alex in formalwear to declare her love
✓ Delivers a satisfying HEA that most readers found earned and swoony
✓ Recurring wish across reviews: “could’ve used an epilogue” — readers wanted a little more time with the couple
✓ One reader noted the story “never gives… any meat” at the very end despite a strong build

Re-read & Comfort Value ★★★★☆

Evidence

✓ Repeatedly called a “cute pick-me-up” readers would happily revisit
✓ Frequently recommended as a gateway sapphic YA — several “first sapphic book” reviews
✓ Strong comp appeal for fans of She Drives Me Crazy and Some Girls Do
✓ Companion novella (Joy to the Girls) gives returning fans more of Alex and Molly

Quick Facts

Title	She Gets the Girl
Authors	Rachael Lippincott & Alyson Derrick
Series	Standalone (companion novella: Joy to the Girls)
Publisher	Simon & Schuster BFYR — 5 April 2022
Length	416 pages
Genre	YA contemporary sapphic rom-com
Tropes	Hate-to-love, opposites attract, friends to lovers, forced proximity, matchmaking gone sideways
Heat level	Sweet / closed-door (1/5)
POV	Dual, first person (Alex & Molly)
Ending	HEA (joyful; some wished for an epilogue)
Recognition	NYT bestseller; Goodreads Choice Award nominee

You'll Love This If…

✓ You want a sweet, low-heat YA sapphic rom-com with real heart
✓ Hate-to-love and opposites-attract are your comfort tropes
✓ You adore dual POV where each narrator has a truly distinct voice
✓ You want a fun premise that still handles hard topics with care
✓ You loved She Drives Me Crazy, Some Girls Do, or Crush (Hulu)

Avoid If…

You want explicit, open-door heat (this is closed-door YA)
Predictable rom-com beats frustrate you
You need a long, epilogue-rich wind-down after the climax
You have aged out of college-freshman YA drama and want adult leads
Insta-crush premises (pining over a near-stranger) are a dealbreaker

Book Synopsis

Alex Blackwood is a headstrong, chaotic flirt who knows exactly how to get the girl — keeping one is another story. Molly Parker has her whole life under control except for her crippling shyness and her hopeless, unspoken crush on the impossibly cool Cora Myers, whom she has never actually spoken to. The two could not be more different, and they collide the night before their first year of college begins.

Fresh off a breakup and desperate to prove to her ex that she is not a selfish flirt, Alex offers Molly a deal: she will coach Molly through a five-step plan to win Cora over. As the two chase their respective “dream girls,” they slowly, inevitably start to wonder whether the person they are really falling for is each other. It is a hate-to-love campus rom-com pitched as She's All That meets What If It's Us.

My Review

She Gets the Girl is the rare YA rom-com that earns its charm honestly. On paper it is pure formula — chaotic flirt, anxious wallflower, a matchmaking scheme destined to backfire — and yet it lands with real warmth because Lippincott and Derrick invest so heavily in who these two girls actually are.

The dual first-person narration is the book's engine. Alex and Molly are so distinct on the page that readers routinely say they can identify the narrator before the chapter heading tells them. Alex's sardonic self-protection and Molly's earnest overthinking generate genuine comedy, and the slow thaw from wary allies to something more feels natural rather than plotted.

What elevates it above cotton candy is the substance underneath. Alex's story quietly reckons with an alcoholic mother, the fear of repeating that pattern, and the very real pressure of paying her own way through school — a class-conscious thread you rarely see handled this well in YA. Molly's arc digs into cultural identity and the courage it takes to be seen. These threads add weight without ever souring the sweetness.

Is it predictable? Yes — most reviewers say so cheerfully, because the destination was never the point. The main knock is that the ending, while joyful, arrives a touch fast; a chorus of readers wished for an epilogue to linger in the happy. As a low-heat, big-hearted gateway sapphic romance, though, it is close to ideal.

Romance Profile

Pairing	F/F — chaotic flirt (Alex) & anxious overthinker (Molly)
Dynamic	Hate-to-love, opposites attract, coach/mentee turned lovers
Central trope	Matchmaking scheme → falling for each other
Conflict	Self-protection, trust, and pining for the “wrong” girls
Heat	Sweet / closed-door (1/5)
Build	Slow-burn friendship-first over a single college semester

Emotional Profile

✓ Feel-good and funny for most of its length
✓ Real ache around an alcoholic parent and financial insecurity
✓ Tender exploration of cultural identity and being truly seen
✓ A swoony, kick-your-feet HEA that readers loved

Content Warnings

Parental alcoholism (a central thread of Alex's story)
Slut-shaming
Family conflict and emotional distance
Financial stress / class anxiety

Book DNA

Vibe	Sweet, funny, big-hearted YA campus rom-com
Setting	A college campus in Pennsylvania, first semester
Pace	Quick, bingeable; predictable but propulsive
Comps	She's All That, What If It's Us, She Drives Me Crazy, Some Girls Do
Best for	Readers who want low-heat, high-heart sapphic YA

Similar Books You Might Enjoy

She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen — fake-dating enemies-to-lovers sapphic YA with the same sweet-funny energy
Some Girls Do by Jennifer Dugan — opposites-attract YA romance between a track star and an ex-beauty-queen
Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake — if you want the same dynamic aged up and steamier
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo — for a more literary, historical sapphic coming-of-age
Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli — warm, funny queer YA about figuring yourself out in college

For more like this, visit our best friends-to-lovers sapphic romances roundup.

About the Authors

Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick are a married writing duo based in Pennsylvania. Lippincott is the #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Five Feet Apart and author of The Lucky List and Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh. Derrick made her debut with She Gets the Girl and is the author of Forget Me Not, longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. Together they have also written the companion novella Joy to the Girls and Make My Wish Come True.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is She Gets the Girl a standalone?

Yes. It is a complete standalone with its own HEA. There is a companion holiday novella, Joy to the Girls, that revisits the characters, but you do not need it to enjoy the main book.

How steamy is She Gets the Girl?

Very low heat — rated 1 out of 5 on romance.io (“glimpses and kisses”). It is a sweet, closed-door YA romance appropriate for readers 15 and up.

Does She Gets the Girl have a happy ending?

Yes, it ends with a joyful HEA. The main critique is that some readers wished for an epilogue, as the ending arrives a little quickly.

Who are the main characters?

Alex Blackwood, a confident, chaotic flirt, and Molly Parker, a shy, anxious overthinker. They are college freshmen with very different personalities.

What are the main tropes?

Hate-to-love, opposites attract, friends to lovers, forced proximity, and a matchmaking scheme that backfires into real feelings.

Is it a good first sapphic book for teens?

Absolutely — it is one of the most-recommended gateway sapphic YA titles, with many readers noting it was their first sapphic book and a positive, affirming one.

Does it deal with any serious topics?

Yes. It thoughtfully explores parental alcoholism, class and financial stress, and cultural identity, without losing its overall feel-good tone.

Who wrote She Gets the Girl?

Married couple Rachael Lippincott (coauthor of Five Feet Apart) and debut author Alyson Derrick, which is part of why the two narrators feel so distinct.

Final Verdict

She Gets the Girl is a sweet, funny, low-heat sapphic YA rom-com that punches above its cotton-candy premise thanks to two beautifully distinct heroines and real emotional stakes beneath the banter. It is predictable and could have used an epilogue, but it is also warm, affirming and hugely re-readable — one of the best gateway sapphic YA romances out there. 4.1 / 5.

Where to Buy

Buy She Gets the Girl on Amazon

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July 29, 2026 1

Those Who Wait Review | Haley Cass | Is It Worth Reading?

Those Who Wait book cover by Haley Cass, a slow burn sapphic romance about a grad student and a politician

★★★★☆ 4.3 / 5 (calculated from Amazon, Goodreads & romance.io reader ratings)

Overall	8.9	Romance	9.3
Characters	9.0	Writing	8.1
Emotion	8.9	Heat	7.8
Ending	8	Re-read value	8

A grad student who is only just learning how to talk to women and a politician who has never let anyone get close agree to keep things simple, until simple stops being enough for either of them.

If you love friends-to-lovers slow burns, a friends-with-benefits arrangement that quietly turns into something real, and a heroine learning to be herself in public as much as in private, Those Who Wait by Haley Cass belongs on your list. It is especially suited to readers who want a long, patient burn with genuine emotional stakes rather than a quick spark that fizzles out by the second act.

Our take: this is a patient, character-first slow burn that earns its considerable length, though the deliberate pacing and a stretch of third-act miscommunication will test readers who prefer their conflict resolved quickly. If you’re willing to sit with two guarded women slowly choosing each other, it more than delivers.

Quick Facts

Author	Haley Cass
Publisher	Independently published
Publication date	March 31, 2020 (current edition: March 20, 2025)
Pages	562
Language	English
Series	Those Who Wait
Series order	Book 1 (standalone-first)
Genres	Contemporary Lesbian Romance, Slow Burn
Format	Kindle, Paperback, Audiobook
ISBN	979-8988492917
ASIN	B0F24GNJ6W

Reader Match

Perfect for readers who…

✓ Love a friends-to-lovers slow burn with a genuine friends-with-benefits stage in between
✓ Enjoy a discreet or closeted love interest whose career keeps her guarded
✓ Want a long, immersive read with room for the relationship to breathe
✓ Like a sweet, still-learning heroine paired with a confident, take-charge love interest
✓ Are fine with an explicit, open-door heat level

Avoid If

Skip this if you want…

A short, quick read (this is a 560-plus-page slow burn)
No miscommunication-driven conflict (the third act leans on a prolonged separation)
A closed-door or low-heat romance
A plot-heavy book rather than a character- and dialogue-driven one

Book Synopsis

Sutton Spencer is finishing graduate school with a literature degree in hand and very little idea what to do next, on paper or in her love life. She has only recently started to admit to herself that she’s attracted to women, and she has no idea how to act on it. When a friend creates a dating profile on her behalf and sends a message she never would have written herself, Sutton braces for an awkward, embarrassing reply.

Instead, she ends up talking to Charlotte Thompson, a rising politician who has built her entire adult life around discipline, ambition, and keeping her personal life completely out of view. Charlotte isn’t looking for anything serious, and definitely isn’t looking for anything public, but she’s charmed enough by Sutton’s honesty to keep talking anyway. What starts as an unlikely friendship between two women who seem to want opposite things turns into something neither of them planned when Sutton suggests a no-strings arrangement so she can get comfortable with a woman she already trusts.

Charlotte agrees, reluctantly, worried about taking advantage of Sutton’s inexperience, and for a while the boundaries hold. But the more time they spend together, the harder it becomes to separate the physical from the emotional, and both women start noticing how much of their day quietly revolves around the other. As Sutton grows more sure of herself and Charlotte’s career reaches a turning point that will force her to decide how much of her life she’s willing to keep hidden, the label they’ve both been avoiding becomes impossible to ignore.

What follows is a slow, sometimes painful reckoning with vulnerability, ambition, and the cost of staying guarded for too long, as Sutton and Charlotte try to figure out whether the safest arrangement they ever agreed to might actually be the love story neither of them saw coming.

My Review

Those Who Wait earns its length by refusing to rush the parts that matter. Cass spends real time on Sutton and Charlotte’s friendship before either woman touches the word romance, and that groundwork is what makes the eventual shift so effective. The dialogue is a particular strength, teasing, specific, and revealing of character rather than generic romance-novel banter, and the push-pull between an unpolished, still-learning Sutton and a composed, controlling Charlotte gives the courtship a genuine sense of discovery on both sides.

The middle section, where the friends-with-benefits arrangement slowly stops being just physical, is where the book is strongest. Small domestic moments and unhurried tension do more work here than any single grand gesture, and reader consensus consistently points to this stretch as the most swoon-worthy part of the book. The open-door intimacy is frequent and well written, treated as an extension of the emotional relationship rather than a separate ingredient dropped in for heat.

Where reader consensus is more divided is the back third, where a lengthy, near month-long separation driven by miscommunication and Charlotte’s fear of vulnerability slows the momentum the book spent hundreds of pages building. Some readers find the reconciliation, nudged along by supportive friends and family rather than purely by Charlotte’s own reckoning, a little too tidy given how much space the falling-out is given. Others feel it earns the emotional payoff of the eventual reunion. Either way, it’s a shift worth knowing about going in, since the tone noticeably darkens before the happy ending lands.

Taken as a whole, this is a book that rewards patience: a slow burn in the truest sense, carried by two well-drawn leads and a friendship-first structure that makes the romance feel earned rather than assumed.

Romance Profile

Relationship	FF
Trope	Friends to Lovers, Friends with Benefits, Political Romance, Slow Burn
Age Gap	No
Slow Burn	Yes
Forced Proximity	No
Heat	Explicit, open door
Ending	HEA
Representation	Lesbian, bisexual awakening
Dual POV	Yes
Steam	[Add rating]

Emotional Profile

Swoony
Angsty
Hopeful
Tender
Bittersweet

Content Warnings

Not officially published by the author or publisher; compiled from reader reviews and should be verified before use. Please add or adjust after reading.

Extended on-page miscommunication and a prolonged breakup
Closeted/discreet relationship due to political career pressure
Explicit sexual content
Career setback and public scrutiny tied to an election

Book DNA

Main Tropes	Friends to Lovers, Friends with Benefits, Political Romance, Slow Burn
Relationship Dynamics	Guarded, controlled love interest vs. earnest, still-learning heroine; friendship-first foundation
Emotional Journey	Curiosity to intimacy to vulnerability, with a painful detour through fear and avoidance
Reader Moods	Swoony, Angsty, Hopeful, Tender
Themes	Living authentically vs. staying hidden, ambition vs. intimacy, learning to trust
Tone	Slow-building, dialogue-driven, with a sincere emotional core
Heat	Explicit
Ending	HEA
Representation	Lesbian, bisexual awakening

Similar Books

For more similar books visit: Slow Burn Lesbian Romance Recommendations

About the Author

Haley Cass is an American author of contemporary sapphic romance based in Massachusetts. She began publishing independently in the late 2010s and built a devoted readership through serialized fiction before releasing Those Who Wait, the book that became her breakout title and the start of an ongoing, loosely connected series set in the same world. Cass is known for long, patient slow burns, dialogue that favors specificity and wit over stock banter, and heroines who are allowed to be imperfect and still figuring things out. Her backlist includes companion titles such as Forever and a Day and Midnight Rain, along with standalone novels like On the Same Page and When You Least Expect It. She remains an active, independently published author who engages directly with readers online, including through a Patreon where she shares additional content between book releases.

FAQ

Is Those Who Wait spicy?

Yes. It sits at an explicit, open-door heat level, with several detailed intimate scenes woven throughout the back half of the book.

Does Those Who Wait have a happy ending?

Yes. Despite a difficult stretch in the third act, the book ends with a clear HEA for Sutton and Charlotte, including an epilogue.

Can Those Who Wait be read as a standalone?

Yes. It’s the first book in the loosely connected Those Who Wait series and works perfectly as a standalone, though a companion novella and further books share the same world.

Is Those Who Wait slow burn?

Yes, it’s one of the more patient slow burns in the genre, building from friendship to a friends-with-benefits arrangement before either woman admits to real feelings.

Is there an age gap in Those Who Wait?

No. Sutton and Charlotte are both adults without a significant age difference driving the story.

Who narrates the audiobook?

The audiobook is narrated by Lori Prince.

Is Those Who Wait a friends-to-lovers romance?

Yes. The central relationship moves from friendship, to a no-strings arrangement, to a committed romance.

Does Those Who Wait use dual POV?

Yes, the story alternates between Sutton’s and Charlotte’s perspectives throughout.

Final Verdict

Who should read it: fans of friends-to-lovers slow burns, friends-with-benefits arrangements that turn real, political romance, and dual-POV storytelling with room to breathe.

Who shouldn’t: readers who want a fast-paced plot, minimal miscommunication, or a shorter read.

Final score: [Add score]

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Buy Those Who Wait on Amazon

July 29, 2026 0