Seriously, you should be talking about this! It is the queer f/f romance you’ve been looking for. Thank you so much to @berkleypub for sending an advanced copy my way last week (and netgalley e-copy this week!).

Jo, a famous Chinese-American Hollywood writer, and Emma, her Jewish assistant, are photographed looking cozy on the red carpet, and rumors start to fly. As Jo is wrapping up her work on a successful TV series and starts to work on the script for a James Bond-type movie, the two women get closer, and the paparazzi continues to read into their every move. How will that impact Emma’s move to a new position and Jo’s first foray into movies? Do they actually have feelings for each other or have rumors just gotten out of control?

I finished reading this book at 1:30am the day after I received it, so clearly I loved it a whole lot. 😂 It is a slow-burn queer romance featuring two strong-willed, ambitious women. As a post-#metoo office romance, the power dynamics of their relationship were handled extremely well. Jo was very very careful not to abuse her position of power. Throughout the book, they both lifted each other up and made each other better. There were some miscommunication plot points as they were each silently figuring out their feelings for each other, but these didn’t feel over the top or dragged out. This whole book was a romp.

It took me a little while to get into this book but once I did I was glad I stuck with it. Jo is a child actor and a writer for a hit TV series. She has been slated to write for the new Agent Silver movies, but it hasn't been announced yet just rumors. She invited her personal assistant to the SAG awards with her in order to serve as a buffer. While on the red carpet the reports start asking about Agent Silver so Emma steps in and says something funny to Jo and the picture that is taken says 1000 words or 1000 wrong words and now the world thinks they are dating.

I'm a sucker for a slow burn and anything about movie stars, so this was the perfect combination. I'll definitely be looking for more titles by this author.

I loved this book so, so much. It was such a slow burn it was excruciating, but oh boy was it worth it.

Emma and Jo were both such great, strong characters in their own rights. Jo is so admirable for what she's gone through as a woman of color in Hollywood, and how she stood up for the racism she faced in the show she was on as a child. Emma is so bright and strong and I loved how she stood up for herself throughout the book.
I also loved the friendships in the book. Emma and Avery, and Jo and Evelyn had the most fantastic friendships I've seen in a long time. The support between these women was just so wonderful.

The romance here was sooooo slow burn. There is a miscommunication-type trope throughout much of the book, but I think it is justified given the further plot of the book. I really liked how Jo and Emma would get close to finally admitting their feelings to each other, but then they'd pull back for reasons. They were so respectful of each other always, and the consent between them was amazing. There wasn't a lot of physical affection between Jo and Emma, but the little there was...it was so good.

Overall, I loved this book so, so much. I think the tease and slow burn got to be a little too much eventually, and their first kiss was a little confusing/too vaguely written. But, this was the wlw romance book I've been waiting for, and I want everyone to read it when it comes out!

*Thank you to the publisher for providing me a copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for my review!*

This novel combines a number of my least favorite tropes, and the Hollywood setting is not my cup of tea -- but the writing is solid, most of the characters likeable, and I know it will be popular at the library. I'll certainly recommend it to rom-com and romance fans who may be looking to branch out a bit from m/f contemporaries.

This book was all kinds of wonderful. It was playful but held serious tones to it. I feel it lightly covered difficult topics that arise when one is part of not only the LGBTQ+ community, but also being a successful woman in a male dominated world.

At times, it felt very similar to the movie The Proposal, until the story takes off and it becomes its own entirely. I loved this book from e-cover to e-cover and I literally did not move from my position on the couch until I was done reading.

Wilsner delivers a beautiful story of two women trying to find comfort in a workplace that challenges them, and learning what it means to truly let yourself have what you deserve in life. It was a lovely read and one I will definitely revisit when hit officially hits shelves.

What a wonderful and charming debut! More books like this one are needed in the marketplace!

I really loved Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner. There's something so fascinating about watching two people come to the realization that they MAY IN FACT have feelings for each other. Even better, these are two women (we need more romances like THIS). I hope the author continues writing similar novels because I know so many readers are going to eat them up!

Actual: 4.5 stars

I got an early request for this book, and because I live in a conservative area I wanted to know what the scandalous factor was ahead of time. I love the idea of a cool romcom for the LGBT crown, but honestly, this was not very rom or very com. It was a quick read, but honestly, it was pretty boring. The best character was the sister and she wasn't even that funny, more just cute and supportive. The Hollywood angle was vaguely interesting, and some of the references were only thinly veiled, but it didn't feel like anything written by some super in-the-know-insider. The racy factor was so-so. Spoiler, they didn't even really kiss until like 90% in, and didn't do more than that until the last chapter, which was not very explicit. Meh.

This was a new one for me I was really excited to see such inclusivity and not only the cover but the writing in contact as well. A cute story a nice contemporary romance I was all Lynn from start to finish.

Jo Jones is a famous, and notoriously private, actor and screenwriter. So when a red carpet picture of her and her assistant Emma leads to rumors of a secret romance, she sticks to her policy: no comment. But as the rumors continue to grow, Jo and Emma both begin to wonder if there is more to their relationship than they realized.

LOOK AT BERKLEY!!! DOING QUEER STUFF!!!! BY A QUEER AUTHOR!!!! I'm so happy they picked up this book. It's quite the slow burn and it took me a minute to get into it, but I was absolutely charmed by Jo and Emma by the end. The boss-assistant relationship, especially in Hollywood, is very rocky terrain, but Wilsner doesn't shy away from the complicated power dynamics involved here. In fact, #MeToo plays a big role in the plot, and issues of power and consent are placed front and center. This is a fun, clever, and sparkly queer romance that I thoroughly enjoyed.

One of my favorite parts of this book was the community of women it created who supported, uplifted, and backed each other up. Even apart from the beautiful and well earned love story between Jo and Emma, this book focused on the ways women can help each other succeed, and help each other overcome injustice, and that was a message that really spoke to me. Jo and Emma's relationship had an excellent foundation of friendship underneath it. Their feelings built from many small actions, and Meryl Wilsner made sure to show them, so the reader could also get swept up in their journey. I also really appreciated that the author didn't gloss over the power dynamic between the two, but allowed them to sensitively navigate it, and finish strongly. This book was a real joy to read, and I finished wanting even more from all of the characters!

I loved reading about a romance between two women. I loved the main plot and think the boss/employee romance aspects were handled well. The set-up of the romance took a little too long for my taste and some of the prose got a little repetitive. But that may make it more realistic because people rehash the same ideas and conversations in real life. Overall I think it was a good book and would recommend it to people looking for queer stories or slow burn romance.

A solid, fun f/f romance that avoids every trope of f/f romances. It is also a perfect slow burn - not to be over dramatic, but I felt like I would die if these two characters did not end up together by the end of the book.

I sincerely hope this author starts working on their next book asap. Also I really hope this bodes well for more mainstream f/f romance releases that get the types of promotional pushes other romances get.

4.5 stars!

This book really surprised me! I thought I was going to get a slow burn romance (which I did) but what I also got was a set of fully fleshed out characters, a great conversation about sexual assault/harassment, and power dynamics.

I loved how we got to see Emma and Jo go from boss and worker, to friends, to lovers. This book really reminds me of Mariana Zapata's books for so many reasons. One is obviously the slow burn, the way that we get to know and fall in love with watching them build and build to the romance. But also I loved how we got to fall in love with their friends and family as well and get to know these characters better through their friends and family.

Once I started this book I really couldn't stop reading it and that is something rare for me these days. The reason for not quite a 5 stars is because I like for my HEA to be wrapped up nice and tight and this book didn't quite deliver on that. We definitely know they get that HEA but I wanted to see a bit more of it.

I really can't wait to read more from this author and I definitely think romance readers should check this book out!

This was an outstanding debut from Meryl Wilsner! Fresh, original characters, cute age gap romance, so much fun all around. Looking forward to more from Wilsner in the future!

What’s this, you say? A WLW romance in a contemporary setting and with one of my absolute favourite dynamics of all time—independent, hardworking, wealthy mentor and her equally hardworking, capable, and amazing mentee? Something to Talk About delivers all this and more and is… wait for it… definitely something to talk about! (No, I won’t apologize for that low-hanging fruit of a pun.)

One thing that stands out to me is how this novel handles power dynamics and consent. As mentioned above, this novel does deal with a definite mentor/mentee romance, but Wilsner takes great pains to navigate the situation with the imbalance in mind. At no point did I make the human facial equivalent of the unamused emoji at my pages; in fact, it was so comforting to see an interaction style I love handled in such a graceful way. Jo and Emma are both aware of the complications them deepening their relationship could cause.

The conflict in this novel hinges upon a lack of communication at points. While this scenario can annoy me in other works, I felt the conflict astoundingly well done in Something to Talk About. While I was still yelling, “Please, kiss already!” at my screen at several points in the novel, my frustration was the the delicious flavour of ‘slow burn satisfaction’ and not ‘oh my god, please just talk about this already’!

The side characters of Evelyn and Avery were also an absolute delight. I loved getting to see how Jo and Emma interacted with them and greatly enjoyed every ounce of page time they got. Frankly, I wish I had a sister or a best friend like Evelyn and Avery were to Jo and Emma, respectively.

Last but not least, this novel feels so authentic every step of the way along Jo and Emma’s journey. It can be difficult to find a romance story between women that feels like it was made for queer folks like me, but Something to Talk About absolutely hits the mark. I’m grateful and lucky this book is out in the world.

In short, the only reason I could come up with not to recommend this book to a romance fan is if they don’t like slow burns… and even then, I might just do so anyway. Something to Talk About delivered on every expectation I had and then exceeded it. Can’t wait to go buy a physical copy and give it a home on my shelves!

it surprises me that Berkley hasn't released a F/F romance before now! I loved this book and recommend it to everyone

This was a fun, sweet, character-driven romance that I thoroughly enjoyed. It was definitely a slow-burn, with most of the “action” taking place in the last chapter or two of the book. In fact, my one complaint is that it felt like the story ended somewhat abruptly. There was a brief epilogue, with a momentary glimpse into the characters’ lives several months into the future, but no real check-in with all that happened in between, no description of them settling in to their new, happy normal.

I would have enjoyed seeing how their relationship progressed once they finally got together. How did it go when Jo eventually met Emma’s parents? What was it like for Emma in her new job? Whatever happened to the non-profit Jo was trying to establish? I’m hoping this might be the first in a series where we get to read about other characters in future installments, but also get to check back in with previous characters (like Jo and Emma, Avery, Evelyn).

I did enjoy the way the author created diverse, authentic characters that allow the reader a window into their unique lives and experiences. The author also did a good job of incorporating consent into the romantic moments. I can see this becoming a more common occurrence in contemporary romance novels, and I think that's definitely a good thing.

A really fun debut, and a breath of fresh air in bringing a lesbian romance to the world of rom-coms. More of this, please!

Once I got over my initial disappointment that this was not a fake-dating-for-the-tabloids story as I somehow got it into my head that it was (who knows how), I ended up really enjoying this slow burn Hollywood wlw romance. The age gap and power dynamic issues are addressed head on, and I liked how the #metoo subplot that got introduced midway through was handled. As much as I sometimes say mutual pining is the reason for my existence, this slow burn was a little TOO slow sometimes! I think the pacing could have been better in the second half of the book but at the end of the day I'm just so happy to see a wlw romance like this getting published and I enjoyed reading it.