Welcome to the Short N’ Sweet Book Review! For the ten years that I’ve been reviewing books on this blog, I’ve written long, wordy reviews that, let’s be honest, not a lot of people are probably reading. I’ve recently decided to shorten those reviews and get straight to the point – what is this book about, who wrote it, where you can find and a short review on what I loved, liked and maybe thought could be better.
Today’s review is a super fun and sweet queer rom-com between a logical actuary and a dreamy, hopeful astrology lover, Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur.
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ABOUT THE BOOK
After a disastrous blind date, Darcy Lowell is desperate to stop her well-meaning brother from playing matchmaker ever again. Love—and the inevitable heartbreak—is the last thing she wants. So she fibs and says her latest set up was a success. Darcy doesn’t expect her lie to bite her in the ass.
Elle Jones, one of the astrologers behind the popular Twitter account, Oh My Stars, dreams of finding her soul mate. But she knows it is most assuredly not Darcy… a no-nonsense stick-in-the-mud, who is way too analytical, punctual, and skeptical for someone as free-spirited as Elle. When Darcy’s brother—and Elle’s new business partner—expresses how happy he is that they hit it off, Elle is baffled. Was Darcy on the same date? Because… awkward.
When Darcy begs Elle to play along, she agrees to pretend they’re dating to save face. But with a few conditions: Darcy must help Elle navigate her own overbearing family over the holidays and their arrangement expires on New Year’s Eve. The last thing they expect is to develop real feelings during a fake relationship.
But maybe opposites can attract when true love is written in the stars?
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Genre: Romance
Pages: 384 pages
Part of a Series?: The first in a series
Release Date: November 10th, 2020
Publisher: Avon
Source: Borrowed Library Ebook
Find the Author: Website / Instagram / Twitter / GoodReads
FIND THE BOOK:
GoodReads / BookShop (support your local indie!) / IndieBound / Barnes and Noble / Amazon / Audible / Book Depository / Apple Books / Kobo / Google Play
SHORT N’SWEET REVIEW
I’ve been reading basically nothing but rom-coms the past few weeks that I’ve actually been able to read and so when I stumbled upon a Buzzfeed article that recommended rom-coms for perfect summer reading, I had to check it out. I had read quite a few of them but one in particular stood out to me and that was Count Your Lucky Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur. I realized it was not the first in the series and went searching for the first one and was stoked to see my local library had it available on ebook. I immediately borrowed it and consumed it in a little over a day.
I absolutely adored this book. I admit, I have very little experience with F/F romance, especially one with a bisexual main character, and I loved being able to experience one that I really loved. I’ve tried some others in the past that I just couldn’t get there and it made me sad because there are so few to begin with. This book was reminiscent of all my favorite romantic comedies and I was hooked from the very beginning. As a bisexual woman too, I just super appreciated Elle as a character and I was so happy and grateful to see someone like me on the page, since that is even more hard to find.
I also have a soft spot in my heart for the sunshine one and the grumpy one trope as well. Elle is rainbows and brightness and hope and magic and Darcy is logic and cynicism and reluctance and closed off. I often compare mine and my husband’s relationship to that trope – he is so absolutely the sunshine one and, yeah, I admit, I’m the grump one so I enjoy reading it. I love it too because I love a good romance where there’s a grumpy, cynical character that finds the one person who can break that hard exterior and that so definitely happens here. Elle and Darcy’s relationship is so pure and sweet and I enjoyed following along with it. Add in the fact that is so obviously loosely inspired by Pride and Prejudice and I was in love. Then there’s the fake relationship trope – seriously this book took so many of the things I love from different romances and just made it one squishy, fun, emotional, swoony romance that I just absolutely adored.
It also super made me want to get a reading done. I only know that I’m a Pisces sun and that’s it and I enjoy that kind of thing, even if I don’t totally believe it. It’s just fun to think about it and do it. I really loved that part of the book – it was something new and different and I love that it was literally Elle’s job and how she made it fun and successful and how it made her happy. Its often laughed at as such a millennial notion and I liked seeing it in a book as a legitimate thing. I mean, of course, Elle’s parents and family don’t see it as such and Elle struggles with wanting their approval so badly but she also is so firm in herself and what she does because she’s so happy and I appreciate that. I struggle with that often too and I liked seeing a character being content to do makes them happy, regardless of what others think.
Lastly, I just loved that it took place in Seattle. I visited Seattle with my husband back in 2020 for my 32nd birthday, right before everything shut down from the pandemic and I honestly fell absolutely in love. I would move there in a second if I could and I just loved everything I did there, from the extremely tourist-y stuff to the less so. I loved recognizing places in the book and learning about new places I want to check out the next time I go. I especially laughed at a part in the beginning of the book when Elle talks about going to the bathroom at these public restrooms near the Pike Place market and talks about how awkward they are. Seriously, I’ve been to those restrooms and I will never forget them. The bottom of the stall doors are so high that I was afraid people could see my naked lower half as I peed and the top part of the stall door is SO low that when you stand up, you can make eye contact with those all around us and its just so awkward! I laughed my ass off when I read that part because I immediately knew what she was talking about.
All in all, a super fun, romantic read that’s perfect for pride month, or come on, any month really. I’m already a few pages into the second book and am loving it and can’t wait to read the entire series.
RATING:
4 out of 5 Stars
