Honestly, I think this is a prime example of how romances should be written! I found myself sort of devouring this book, but not because it was full of twists and turns, but just because I really liked the characters and cared about the plot.

I think a lot of romance books miss the mark because the plot and romance are not well integrated--this book could not be further from that. The plot necessitates the romance and the romance necessitates the plot, which means the story feels very connected and driven the whole time.

I also thought this depiction of queerness in adult women was very honest and true to many people's real life experiences. This book was perfect in the way it acknowledged and drew attention to queerness while also establishing a normalcy around it. Including acknowledgements of homophobia and harmful queer experiences, while the actual queer relationship was celebrated and never questioned, was a really refreshing way to see these relationships depicted (especially since we see so much queer trauma and pain in modern media).

Something else I really enjoyed about this book were the characters. Oftentimes I find myself kind of cringing or feeling like the friend characters in romance books are just sort of there to convince me that the character has a life outside of their romance plot line. This book was very unashamedly a romantic romance and platonic romance. I loved all the characters, the friends' banter felt authentic, and it was a joy to watch friendship be just as valued as the romance of the book.

Overall, I thought this book was a marvel, and I think it'll (if it hasn't already) become a staple of queer romance writing.