Ahhh! Soft and sweet enemies to lovers, just the way I like it. I'm not usually the biggest fan of enemies to lovers but this one really did it for me.

This was so cute! I really enjoyed the bisexual rep in this story, and how nuanced the coming out plotline felt. I think where it faltered with me was the inclusion of the coming out plot overall--it's something that I think it great in YA books, but I think personally I'm a bit worn out when it comes to reading about that pain pretty often. I also don't mind a miscommunication plot at all, but I wanted a little more from the conflict in this book. Overall, this is a sweet story that I enjoyed.

***thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for this ARC in exchange my honest review.

2.5 ˚✩ ⋆｡˚ ✩

“i want them to know that bisexuality is valid, and i want them to know that bisexual love stories are as possible and beautiful and lovely as any other.”

i think i love you by auriane desombre is a light-hearted young adult contemporary sapphic romance. emma is hopeless romantic that wistfully hopes for her own big romance moment, while struggling with coming out as bisexual to her parents throughout the book. sophia is openly lesbian and more sensible when it comes to romance and relationships, because as her past has shown, they always end in heartbreak. they orbit in the same friend group but have a rough start in trying to create a film for an upcoming film festival together. the writing was easy and i finished the book quickly - but overall, this was quite a disappointment.

“you’ll find your love story,” she whispers as i climb over her to take my seat.

the romance: the book is marketed as a rivals to lovers/hate to love romance…but it really wasn’t, and i think the premise of that is where my disappointment began. one of the main reason they hated each other was, at least for emma, due to everyone’s assumption that they would end up together. the foundation of the rivalry just seemed foolish - how is that your main reason for disliking someone you barely speak to? then, all it really took to go from hate to love was the friends lying about them liking/loving each other, which barely made sense for them to even believe as they only spoke to each other by arguing around the friends. it felt as though the romance happened so fast, because of the scheme, yet with little progression. most of the novel was both of them just thinking of eachother in a different light and not actually having any meaningful conversations. i wasn’t invested in the romance unfortunately, the flirting was cute but the entirety was too unrealistic and sudden.

i think i love you by auriane desombre reads like a coming of age story of a bisexual young girl more than a rivals to lovers sapphic romance story, though it had that too.

inidividually, every so often, the characters were relatable, specifically with the representation and emotions around the serious issues, such as the parents’ divorce and coming out journey. i know this is young adult genre, but mostly they felt very immature and dramatic. i loved that emma was an HGTV fan because i’m a huge one so i related to that. i also felt for sophia with her loneliness and near cynicalness, but at one point it just wasn’t progressing. i get that she was afraid to open up and be vulnerable about her issues (very much understandable), but it just turned into many lingering self-centered chapters. both of them just had too many ‘the world is ending’ reactions to issues that honestly weren’t that alarming, but they are teenagers after all.

the side characters were alright, but they had the most relevance and focus in the story. kate seemed like more of a main character in the novel and the friends’ drama subplot with her and tom was just too overpowering over the central romance between emma and sophia. we never even met peter, but he’s spoken about multiple times with myrah too. there were more m/f romance mentions than with the main f/f one, making it harder to become invested in the anticipated romance. plus, the reveal of matt being the culprit was predictable. the ending with emma and sophia reuniting for their movie also felt a bit rushed, but i think the talk emma had her parents at the end was very real and written well.

This was a fun read. I loved the premise of making a movie. I wasn't a fan of the reasons for the rivalry or becoming enemies it wasn't enough of a compelling reason. The characters fell for each other fast there wasn't enough development. Enemies to lovers, hate to love aren't always my favorite tropes and I didn't like how it was handled in this book. I find it hard to believe the only two queer people in the friend group were together queer people tend to gravitate towards each other whether out or not. Ultimately a good book but not for me. Check this out if you love reading books about filmmaking and hate to love romances.

Tropes on tropes! I am living for this recent trend of incredibly trope-y rom-com style sapphic books. For so long, we had to have heartbreakers and tearjerkers and bittersweet endings. Bring the good times on.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I had a lot of hope for this teen sapphic romance. In the end, I felt a little bored and that both characters were annoying. I thought the movie aspect would have been more prominent but it seemed like a side plot to the both the main characters hatred to each other.

I was first drawn to this book because look at that cover!! This book is highly YA, as in lots of angst, dumb decisions, lack of communication, and very cheesy. However, I still thought it was cute. The frenemies to lovers trope might be overdone but it's a good trope and I enjoy it. The meddling friends trope is less enjoyable for me and at times I thought it was pretty annoying, but I may be biased as dishonesty and manipulation are pretty significant pet peeves of mine. This isn't the best YA romance in the world, but I liked most of the characters, and the coming out stuff and bisexual rep I was totally here for. It's a YA book where the dumb teenagers act like dumb teenagers instead of mature young adults, so if that's not your jam, maybe skip this one, but I thought it was worth the read.

Thank you NetGalley, author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My rating : 4 / 5 stars

This is such an adorable and extremely cute novel! I had so much fun reading it in one or two sitting because it is just a page turner! Where do I start? I Think I Love You is just a comfort read for anyone who loves angsty teenagers falling in love and cutesy moments about films, life and growing up and finding your purpose in life. Emma and Sophia are such an adorable couple, Emma a hopeless romantic and Sophia the complete opposite, they have such great chemistry together and I just love the bantering trope in the novel! It is so well done that it was not too much and just perfect for the pace of the novel!

I think the writing style is very easy to get into, it screams quite YA but that is also what I love about it. It has been a while since I’ve read anything YA contemporary so this just stands out to me more because it is just a delightful read that lifts your mood up! The pacing of the story is also very well done, Auriane kept things light with some very important topics discussed in the novel like Emma coming out, and I think we need more voices like Emma’s! Healthy friendships and relationships with one another, not just between friends but also with families and just with anyone at all! I absolutely love Emma and relate to her more, she has a vision for things and she knows what she ultimately wants and goes for it.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading this book, also because of the ENEMIES TO LOVERS TROPE ahhhh it is just so well done! I think it is quite apparent who the love interests are but you just have to read it for yourself! Whatever that you have in your mind, it is way better than that! All in all, it is a beautifully written book that everyone should pick up! It is the perfect book for when you just want some sweetness in your life!

This was cute but ultimately milquetoast queer YA take on Much Ado About Nothing. I enjoyed this concept and plot but sadly the writing and characters were hardly engaging, and I struggled to read this as I found it quite dry and boring. Still, I'm glad it exists and that queer teens have something like this to read.

I really thought I was going to love this book and I didn’t hate it. The story was great, the characters were just really unlikable for me so it was hard for me to root for them ultimately.

I Think I Love You was a fun read that I found to read really quickly. I really enjoyed my time reading it and would definitely recommend.

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.

This what is a sweet slow burn enemies to lovers Romance they gave a platform to bisexuality. Throughout the book Emma and Sophia are constantly at odds with one another over the direction of their movie their friend group and their ideals about romance in life. Their antagonistic bickering was sometimes aggressive and other times adorable to read.

I enjoyed watching these teenagers wander through New York City as they made their short film. And I also appreciated how much importance was placed on the concept of coming out to one’s family as bisexual which carries with it a different significance then coming out as gay for lesbian. This book also gave weight to the ramifications of divorce on all members of the family.

The author do excellent job pulling together so many heavy topics with levity and ease.

I want to say that I loved this enemies to lovers story. But sadly that just didn’t happen. I didn’t love it at all. This one is a full ⭐️⭐️ rating. I didn’t care for the characters and kind of really hated them.

"I Think I Love You" is a YA contemporary enemies to lovers book that I was highly anticipating, and I ended up really enjoying it.

I think that the enemies to lovers trope was used very well, and I liked seeing how the relationship of the two main characters developed over the course of the story.

Overall, I thought this was a very enjoyable read, and if any fellow YA fans are looking for another LGBTQ+ contemporary romance to pick up, give this one a chance!

I was very excited about the premise of this book–sapphic YA contemporary rom coms are something I would love to see more of and wish I'd had more of when I was in high school. Not to mention that rivals to lovers is a trope that I love, and the film festival setting sounded amazing! Unfortunately, I Think I Love You did not live up to my expectations.

Firstly, I felt that Desombre had a lot of good ideas, but wasn't able to execute them, or perhaps tried to include too much. Parts of the plot felt rushed to me, and I was disappointed that it seemed to be at the expense of character development. I found both the main characters to be rather bland and unlikeable. I was never able to get all that invested in Emma or Sophia as individual characters, nor in the romance that developed between them. This was even more true with the friendships in the book, which unfortunately was due to the side characters being one-dimensional and lacking background. I really wanted to be more drawn in and fond of the friend groups since interesting friend dynamics tend to make a story more engaging. Because the book was rushed, the rivals to lovers aspect was also extremely unsatisfying. I'm sure some people will adore this book, but sadly it did not work for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Children's/Underlined for granting me this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I’m almost upset becuase we didn’t have lgbt books like this when I was growing up. I very cute ya romance book especially for questioning kids! Highly reccomend

I really wanted to love this book, but I just couldn't't fully get into it. The writing quality is pretty low; not only is the prose really basic, but none of the characters have much depth (despite their experiences) or likability. My best way to describe this is to bring in the example of One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston: I would say Casey's /prose/ writing style isn't the most beautiful, however they have a way of building unique, detailed and lovable characters that sets their writing apart. This book just didn't give that to me.

I think one of my main problems when people write books like this is that often adults don't really know how to write teenagers in a way that feels authentic and unique to the teenage experience, so you get these cartoonish,, repetitive, annoying teens such as the two main characters featured in this book. Teenagers just don't act like this! It's in no way enjoyable to read as a teenager when this is how they're written. The plot and character writing was super repetitive. How many times do we have to hear about how Sophias afraid of love and Emmas obsessed with it before its like okay! we get it!

This was such a cute book! A sapphic enemies-to-lovers AND featuring a film festival, this novel explores what love truly is and how it is not always as straightforward as the movies.

I received an eARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a bit hard to rate. I liked the overall writing style and the distinctive voice Desombre gave to each of the protagonists. But as this is the fourth YA ARC I’ve given a 2-star review too, I think the problem might be a more personal one (especially with YA contemporary). There is just too much repetition in this book – too much hammering in the fact that Emma wants but is scared of a sweeping romance and Sophia believes love doesn’t really exist due to her parents’ divorce and her friends shoving her aside for their romantic partners. Maybe YA authors think they have to do this to keep teenage readers focused but excessive repetition really annoys me! And, possibly, strikes me as authors not trusting their readers to completely understand their characters unless everything is spelled out for them.

And the narrative itself is a hot mess! There are anywhere from 4 to 7 different sub-plots taking up way too much space while the main plot (which is supposed to be Emma and Sophia falling in love while competing against each other in a film competition) dilutes and ultimately ends up underdeveloped. Emma and Sophia are fine enough characters – I especially liked Sophia coming to terms with her romantic feelings for Emma – but it’s stifled by sub-plots and side characters I just didn’t care about.

For example, Tom and Kate’s drama takes up WAY too much time that would be better suited for Emma and Sophia’s development. While I liked Kate, both she and Tom are relatively flat characters that don’t add much to the story other than being Emma and Sophia’s best friends respectively, and being a catalyst for Emma and Sophia’s romantic entanglement. Then there’s Myrah, who is also flat and truly feels like a Brown Paper Doll. Her skin is described as a deep brown but there’s no mention of her possible cultural background, her family, or her life outside of the other cast of characters. Kate and Emma have a little bit more of a cultural backstory but not much. Other than Sophia’s self-aware praises of France, no other countries are mentioned. Since Emma is Latina, why wouldn’t she discuss Latin American cinema with Sophia to show that France isn’t the be-all, end-all of film? Why not have Kate and Emma think about incorporating Latin American fashion styles in their project, why not have Myrah and Emma discuss telenovelas and what tropes they could use for a rom-com script? This novel just felt void of any cultural nuances other than the vague nods at French culture and I find that wildly hard to believe given the setting is New York City. I don’t buy this post-racial feel, particularly in this current environment where teenagers across the United States are much more aware of their privileges and the oppression of communities of color.

The best parts of this book were Sophia’s grief for the life she had before and Emma’s fear of coming out to her parents. Other than that, I don’t think teenagers will get much out of it other than it being a sapphic contemporary with a mild rivals-to-lovers bend. The side characters suck up too much of the narrative while being bland and empty of much nuance. Coupled with the asinine way Emma and Sophia start to catch feelings in the first place, it wasn’t very enjoyable.