Book Review : I Think I Love You by Auriane Desombre // YA romance with well written bisexual representation

I Think I Love You was light, heart-warming, dramatic and entertaining YA romance with well written bisexual representation.

Synopsis

A sweet and funny debut novel about falling for someone when you least expect it . . . and finding out that real life romance is better than anything on screen.

Emma is a die-hard romantic. She loves a meet-cute Netflix movie, her pet, Lady Catulet, and dreaming up the Gay Rom Com of her heart for the film festival competition she and her friends are entering. If only they’d listen to her ideas. . .

Sophia is pragmatic. She’s big into boycotts, namely 1) relationships, 2) teen boys and their BO (reason #2347683 she’s a lesbian), and 3) Emma’s nauseating ideas. Forget starry-eyed romance, Sophia knows what will win: an artistic film with a message.

Cue the drama. The movie is doomed before they even start shooting . . . until a real-life plot twist unfolds behind the camera when Emma and Sophia start seeing each other through a different lens. Suddenly their rivalry is starting to feel like an actual rom-com.

*** Disclaimer : I received e-copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to PRHGlobal for free copy. ***

Review

heart-warming, dramatic and entertaining YA romance with well written bisexual representation

I Think I Love You was lovely YA Romance that revolved around two gay girls, Emma and Sophia whose views for romance are totally opposite but working on movie for contest made them see each other through different lens. The story was about bisexual representation, coming out to parents- what big deal it can be, teenage angst, family, trust, betrayal, friendship, and romance.

Writing was fun, witty, lucid, and heartfelt. Story was written in first person narrative from alternative perspective of Emma and Sophia that made understanding both characters and their feelings for each other easy. Setting of NY in summer was great making it perfect for summer read.

Plot was super-fast paced. It started with Emma getting the idea of making gay romcom with help of her friends on receiving an email from school about NYC-LA film festival contest and winner price was just hard to ignore. But then Sophia returned- only other gay in her nerd group- back into her life and their group after disappearing to Paris for a year with no contact. She was totally anti-romantic and had a reason to believe love only ends in tears. Emma was sure she came back to ruin her movie and Sophia wanted to be part of the group again but not part of the romcom movie. It was interesting to see how these two would work on movie with their different opinions and constant bickering.

All characters were relatable and realistic. As both characters had different view towards romance and had different personality, I can see readers would be divided, some romance lovers would love Emma while others Sophia. I liked them both.

Emma was passionate, fiery, loyal and fiercely protective friend. She was bisexual and still haven’t came out to her parents about her sexuality that made her feel less confident and worthless. She believed she would never find her love, would never have dream-come-true romance like her parents had because in giving herself opportunity for happiness would mean coming out to her parents and she dreaded their reaction. Her dilemma and insecurity was realistic. I loved her pitch for her movie and I could see why it meant so much for her from the beginning. I liked how Sophia made her see her worth, boosted her confidence and made her believe she too could find happiness.

Sophia’s character was more interesting and complicated. Shewas gay, confident, stylish and fiery but She had so much angst because of family issue. She was struggling with her parents’ divorce, her mother remarrying and settling in Paris, and her father with new house that didn’t make her feel like her home. It made her feel abandoned, lonely and believe love never lasts for anyone. She couldn’t let it out to her friends. She pretended nothing was wrong in her life, she had great time in Paris that made her friendship with group and specially Tom complicated. I loved how Emma made her see she couldn’t let it all be in her, friends are meant to be there for these things, how she realised what she denied for a year was actually happening to her and made her understand her parents and love even more.

I loved friendship between characters, how they each supported both Emma and Sophia and worked for movie trying to solve Emma and Sophia’s disagreements and arguments that turned out both good and bad with lots of drama. I loved sweet bubbly Kat who was Emma’s cousin, costume designer of her movie, always supported her and always saw good in people. Myrah screen writer of Emma’s movie, never had stable relationship, true love, or long-lasting boyfriend. Tom was Sophia’s best friend and, like Kat, was shy and lovely. Matt– in charge of sustenance. They all developed along with Emma and Sophia as the story progressed, some showed surprising reaction while some showed their hidden ugly personality.  It was pretty easy to guess who that person was. You can see some surprises coming and yet enjoy the book.

Best part of the book was friendship, romance and bisexual representation. Friendship, family, and romance was well balanced. F/F romance was cute. I loved the way author wrote hate-to-love trope. I enjoyed bickering between Emma and Sophia, how their hate for each other changed, started to understood each other better and how it slowly turned into something special. I love many lovely moments between them but that after the movie event on stairs just before climax was the best scene.

Climax was interesting. I knew who caused trouble as I said it was predictable but I liked seeing characters’ reaction to it, how they handled it and how they were going to find out the truth to make peace in group once again but that caused another kneejerk reaction and complicated matters between Emma and Sophia even more. It was great to read how they both realised what their heart truly wanted. End was lovely and feel-good. I loved Sophia’s plan and I loved how Emma saw big gestures are not necessary to make love special.

I saw some average to negative reviews but I don’t find anything as such wrong with the book except it was predictable and that’s not something new in contemporary romance. It totally was enjoyable for me but yes not wow book. that’s why 4.5 stars.

Overall, I Think I Love You was light, heart-warming, dramatic and entertaining YA romance. If you love hate-to-love romance, diverse characters, well written bisexual representation, and of course YA contemporary, I highly recommend this book.

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Just in case you missed, check out these recent YA Romance I read…

• A Taste For Love
• New Year’s Kiss
• All I Want for Christmas

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#BookReview : I Think I Love You by Auriane Desombre // #IThinkILoveYou #YA #romance with well written bisexual representation @PRHGlobal #partner https://t.co/JlfqG1VlkP

— Books Teacup and Reviews (@BooksTnReview) April 30, 2021