At eighteen Maeve has a lot going for her. She's smart, talented, ambitious, and she has an amazing group of friends. What she doesn't have is The Boy. And she firmly believes that it's her muscular dystrophy and confinement to a wheelchair that is keeping him from falling head over heels for her. Still, it can't hurt to flirt a little, right?

There aren't a lot of books available where you can see a character like Maeve who, yes, is dealing with some physical limitations, but is still allowed to be a normal teenage girl. A lot of books would make Maeve a trope- someone to feel sorry for or perhaps to be inspired by, not someone to relate to in a million different ways.

I think the only bit I wasn't crazy about was the end. It felt a bit like it cut off in the middle of a scene and that was unsettling because I would have liked to know at least a little about what followed.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press. for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

Ok honestly, I have a ton of opinions going from one extreme to the other .

Lets talk about the heartbreak in this story - SPOT ON. Seriously DEAD SPOT ON!

The rest of it, fell flat to me.

Because the protagonist has Muscular Dystrophy, I wanted to read this story. But what I also want are plausible connections, a focus, and a woman who knows her worth even if she relies on a wheelchair for mobility. Was the point of this story that people with disabilities need love too? That's a good point - maybe a different outcome, then? There is no differentiation between a good relationship and one that is just about a kid wanting to get some action. People who take advantage of those who have disabilities, whether it is due to health or age or circumstances outside of their control each deserve their own lesson. This story needs further development.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books Publishing for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review*

emoji rating scale: 😩🙁😐😀😍
Not a Love Scene rating: 😩

I really wanted to love this YA story because I haven’t read anything like it in the past, but I did not vibe with this read. AT ALL. *insert crying face* I almost DNF’d this, to be honest. So let’s dig right on in!

This story follows Maeve — an 18 year old girl who’s living with a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy — who’s trying to figure out how live like a “normal” human. It fell short for me with Maeve’s personality, her friends, and her love interests. AKA: this whole book.

What stood out to me the most was how completely self absorbed she is. It was constantly brought up that she felt like everyone was staring at her wheelchair, or her service dog, or the fact that she’d have a completely normal guy standing next to her, or the fact that she DIDN’T have a guy next to her, etc. I felt like the point of this book was to let others know that you aren’t defined by your disability…but instead the book revolved around the fact that Maeve was extremely defined by it. *you’re still an independent woman, girl*

DON’T 👏 EVEN 👏 GET 👏 ME 👏 STARTED on the horrible love interests that I hope teens / young adults run from after they read this story. UGH! This is the most frustrating part for me. I hate reading about a girl who can do SO much better, but who settles for the bottom of the bottom (I’m talking about where the bottom feeders live).

First we have Cole Stone — a total idiot, a man not worth my breath — who *I’m sorry to say* is just not that into you girl! This dude didn’t care about her disease, didn’t care about really getting to know her, didn’t care about holding an in-person conversation, didn’t care a whole lot about anything other than sex.

Then we have some more wasted breath with the second *random* love interest, KC. I totally get *and applaud* Megale for bringing up a really serious issue: depression in teens. But bringing it up is where it ended. There was no character development here; I felt like KC was just thrown into the pages randomly, and because of him, Maeve ended up in the hospital. *hell to the no*

And also, who only talks to their friends via text messages but never seems to have real face-to-face interactions with them?

UGH. I am getting heated just writing this review. I may be in the minority here with my opinion but this book just irked me so much, I can’t stand it.

I'm only realizing now how apt the title is. Our heroine, Maeve, is looking to get laid, not fall in love. She's a high school senior and film director who falls for her hottie actor, with the fuckable name Cole Stone. He doesn't seem to be all that into her at first, but Maeve likes that Cole doesn't seem to give a shit about Maeve's disability, so she persists. I wasn't sure if I should mention Maeve's disability in this review, and I appreciate that there's no wheelchair on the cover. I am referencing the disease because I think it should be an appeal to readers who, like me, are interested in #ownvoices stories of living with illness.

It's not the page-turniest novel I've ever read, but Maeve is a believable character and unpredictable. Her friends are cool, but imperfect, even/especially her best friend's boyfriend who is kind of a dick to Maeve, who sort of shrugs it off, sort of.

This book had some positive aspects to it, particularly that people in wheelchairs are just people with the same wants and needs of non-wheelchair bound people, but the main character seemed to be underdeveloped and overly focused on sex. I wasn't able to develop empathy or even much sympathy for her, unfortunately,

Maeve just wants a regular life but her disability makes it anything but regular. When she meets Cole Stone, she is determined to get what she wants and convince him that she wants the same things regular teenagers want, and she wants it with him.

This book was disappointing to me, I was expecting a bit more from the storyline. It was well written and flowed well, just not for me.

This was a DNF for me. Sadly I tried really hard to press on but I could not connect at all to the Main Character in this story, I applaud the author for giving this character a voice but I personally just could not get into it. I may try again at a later date.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing this digital copy for preview in return for an honest review.

I received a copy of THIS IS NOT A LOVE SCENE from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much!

FOUR stars and here’s why:

S. C. Megale nailed the gut-wrenching experience of a first love’s heartache. The title says it all: this book is not a love scene. It's an honest, realistic, and quite refreshing story about teens navigating school, friendships, and the dating trenches.

Life is not a bunch of roses. It’s filled with friends, ups and downs, and challenges that can either make you or break you. Friends keep teens sane. Parents drive teen nuts. Sometimes it's the reverse. But at the end of the day, they’ve got their backs. Well, most of them do. This book has it all and then some . . . in spades.

I laughed. I cried. I wanted to jump up and down and scream at times. Mostly, I want to say thank you to the publisher and author for writing a book that I believe accurately reflects what a YA book should represent nowadays.

If you like YA stories that will make you laugh and ugly cry too, then this book is for you. Highly recommend.

This book had an interesting premise but I could not connect to the main character, Maeve and couldn’t understand what she saw in Cole. Others will enjoy but this one wasn’t for me.

This was really good and I'm always excited for a diverse read. I liked it. The characters were refreshing in their authenticity. The romance was realistic and doesn't sugar coat.