goodnessgraceous's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
working at a failing queer magazine as she finds herself falling for the rich, cold woman who is helping keep the magazine alive.
The novel delves lightly into gender expression and butch identity and is one of few lesbian romcoms where both leads are somewhere on the masc-identifying spectrum. An old-fashioned feel-good, comforting love story.
Graphic: Toxic friendship
Moderate: Sexual content and Toxic relationship
Minor: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Drug use
hailstorm3812's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Minor: Transphobia, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Homophobia
bookbuyingwithkatie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Lesbophobia and Homophobia
vtleon715's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Minor: Sexism, Transphobia, Body shaming, and Homophobia
hanna's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Can you believe sapphic representation has gone so far lately?? We're getting our own toxic relationship stories 🥲
Okay, first the positives: I loved how unapologetically queer everything was — we stick together and that was shown here beautifully. There's also good starting thoughts about lesbian/sapphic gender expression and how sometimes we put ourselves back into heteronormative relationship norms by being obsessive about whether someone's a butch or a femme.
I really struggled with this, I'm sad to say. Liz wasn't developed enough at all as a main character and while Daria was developed, it wasn't in a positive sense. There's so much telling and not showing especially when it comes to their relationship. Suddenly they're confessing feelings for each other and there was just no build up to it. Daria gets her little redemption arc but she just seems to be two completely different people from the start of the book to the end.
The drama annoyed me a lot too — there's consequences for a mistake that Liz made but it's not even her fault! Suddenly she's out here apologizing to everyone for being a terrible friend but she's not even the one who made a mistake in the first place, it infuriated me so much.
So — nice butch representation, love myself a queer found family but the plot just wasn't it.
Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Homophobia and Toxic relationship
Minor: Drug use and Drug abuse
rickireadss's review against another edition
2.0
wow, where do i even begin? since this is an ARC, i am gonna try (key word is try) and be short and sweet and not do a long af review. but this is a VERY negative review. proceed with caution. cw listed at the end!
Graphic: Infidelity, Toxic friendship, Homophobia, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Drug use and Emotional abuse
caseythereader's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
- Raise your hand if you're looking for a sweet, funny, and smart lesbian Pride and Prejudice retelling! Oh, everyone is looking for that, and here it is in JUST AS YOU ARE!
- This book is a loving homage to P&P, to queer culture, to trying to find yourself when you're somewhere between labels. I adored Liz and Daria, modern incarnations of Elizabeth and Darcy down to every last detail.
- One of the things I loved most about this book was how steeped in queer culture it is. So often books feature one or two queer characters surrounded by straight people, but this book is queer down to the bones. Every character is queer, they move entirely through queer spaces, and references to our pop culture touchstones abound. Heaven.
Graphic: Cursing, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Sexual content, and Alcohol
decklededgess's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is an all femme cast retelling of Pride and Prejudice in found family/coworker dynamics instead of family. That is why it took me 30% of the book to realise that it was a retelling despite the names Jane, Liz, Lydia, Katie, Charlotte, and so on STARING ME IN THE FUCKING FACE. Frankly embarrassing for me.
Needless to say I am absolutely over the moon and obsessed with how good this book is. It's got all the angst, all the tension filled enemies to lovers interactions, the tight knit family/friends dynamics, and more. The drawn out tension between Liz and Daria was EXQUISITE. The way their interactions were charged with heat from the dead start...oh man oh boy.
I love how this story hit all the significant plot points of not only Jane Austen's original text but also the 2005 movie adaptation as well. It felt cinematic in an incredibly poetic way. I also really loved the small changes that allowed for this story to exist with an all queer femme cast too. The little changes did nothing to detract from the heart of the story and the emotional aspects of character relationships. It felt well crafted as an original story within the framework of it being a classic retelling.
I just really loved this book.
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Drug use, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, and Homophobia