I received an advanced copy of I Think I Love You through NetGalley so I could share my review with you!

Emma and Sophia have extremely different outlooks on life. Emma is a romantic, a lover of rom-coms and sweet love stories, while Sophia is a pragmatist who prefers a more reality-based approach towards life. The only thing they seem to have in common is a mutual goal to enter an upcoming film festival, even if their artistic visions are starkly different. Sophia wants to film something artistic with a hard-hitting message, while Emma knows this is her chance to create the Gay Rom-Com of her dreams. Their conflicting visions threaten to undermine the film project entirely, but when romance sparks between the pair, something entirely new is created.

You can get your copy of I Think I Love You on March 2nd from Underlined!

When you mix the rivals-to-lovers trope with a theatrical backdrop and sprinkle in some queer romance, you’ve got the recipe for a truly fantastic book (at least in my opinion)! I Think I Love You had so many fantastic elements, which, when combined, made this one of my favorite contemporary reads of the year! As someone who comes from a theatre background and who identifies with the queer representation in this story, reading I Think I Love You felt like seeing a part of myself reflected in the world of publishing. Watching Emma and Sophia fall in love on-page was rather like watching a rom-com specifically tailored to my interests and identities. Oh, and did I mention that I Think I Love You takes inspiration from my favorite Shakespeare play of all time, Much Ado About Nothing! All this to say, I think I love this book!

My Recommendation-
If you love a good queer rom-com, you absolutely need to pick up a copy of I Think I Love You! This sweet and romantic story would be perfect for fans of Casey McQuiston and Becky Albertalli!

I Think I Love You is a rather saccharine romance, all about the idea of falling in love and the challenges of friendship. Seeing as I'm rather into that... plus... enemies to lovers sapphic romance? Sign me up immediately.

The novel is very sweet and character driven, even though there are some ostensibly fleshed out plotlines about the movies Emma and Sophia work to direct, as well as their plots to set up their friends. The care the group shows one another despite Emma and Sophia's bickering became really important to me. They pay so much attention to each others' emotional states and do whatever's necessary to share light in their lives. We love to see a strong friend group! And believe me when I say strong--this lot goes through so much drama in the span of 320 pages.

I related mainly to Emma. I'm a romantic at heart, I love rom-coms and the idea of love. I don't say it a lot because publicizing my labels makes me uncomfortable, but I'm also bi like she is. She has a lot of thinking to do about the way her identity fits in with her family, and some of it affected me rather personally. I can vouch for the rep, and I'm so grateful for the increased visibility in traditional publishing. Every year I get more books to add to my queer reads list, and I couldn't be happier.

Although I personally empathized more with Emma, Sophia's motivations were more fleshed-out for me. I felt so bad for her because of how lonely she feels after returning from Paris feeling disconnected from the friend group. I don't necessarily agree with her viewpoint on love, but I can certainly understand it as a defensive mechanism against all the broken romances she's seen. It's absolutely tragic to me that she had to feel that way for so long--I felt so sorry for her.

Going to get up on a brief soapbox and talk about the movie Emma plans to make during the novel. She's right about 100% of it. We have so little positive wlw representation in Hollywood, and even less of it made by women themselves. I'd totally support her project if it were real, because she's intrepid and authentic and so enthusiastic about showcasing love's possibilities. I'm not much of a movie buff, but that's the kind of film I'd love to see more of.

I do feel the obligation to bring up a small problem I had. Throughout the book, the boys of the friend group are... unnecessarily villified, let's say. I understand the importance of showing one-sided friendships and consent, but was uncomfortable with how at every opportunity, the girls saw the possibility of malice in their previously-kind friends. That struck me as odd, especially in the moments when they didn't give any indication of actually being bad friends? I personally don't go looking for hidden signs of misogyny and evil in my male friends, but you do you Emma and Sophia, I guess. This probably isn't the ideal novel for anyone who needs positive roles for men in their literature--I can suggest several of those if you'd like to email me.

All minor quibbles aside, I'm delighted to recommend this film-centric contemporary novel for your reading pleasure. 4/5 stars for I Think I Love You. You'll be seeing more of this book, because I won't be able to stop including it on my rec lists!

Thoughts and Themes: When I started reading this book I was a bit concerned that I wouldn’t like it. It really did start off slow and the characters were not that loveable. I also made the mistake of reading other people’s reviews and so many of them focused on how the story revolved around the other character’s love lives so I was hoping those were wrong.

Once I got about halfway through the book though, I was invested and needed to know what would happen to each of them. I was glad that the book didn’t focus entirely on the other characters that were in the story and while we got their love lives, those needed to be included to progress the rest of the book.

I really liked how both of the girls feelings are all on the page and they are all over the place. I really liked the messiness of the whole story and them falling in love with each other. I thought that was my favorite part in this story. I loved the way both of their views on love change through the course of this book and how this book shows the different ways love can present itself to us.

Spoiler: Something I really enjoyed about this story was Emma’s reaction to her parents when she came out to them. I thought it was very realistic and it reminded me of when I came out to my parents, you expect a reaction and you kind of want a reaction because you build up to this moment so for them to dismiss it kind of hurts.

Characters: Throughout this story you get to meet the two main characters, Sophia and Emma along with some of their friends. I liked reading as Sophia and Emma both develop as characters both with each other but also on their own. I thought it was great to see the changes that they go through as they become more open with themselves and their families. I thought it was also good to see that they both were having their own difficulties with keeping things from their parents.

I liked that we got to meet some of the other side characters and get to know them. I thought it was great that they were included because so much of who Emma is really relies on how she feels about Kate.

While Matt is such a a-hole throughout the story, I really liked that he was included in this book. I thought his inclusion really showed the extent that a guy would go to when he doesn’t get what he wants. I can’t say much about this and what happens without giving away plot pieces but this is a great point that I wanted to make about this story.

Writing Style: The story is told in first person through both Emma and Sophia’s perspective. I liked that this book goes back and forth between these two characters because you get to see what each of them are thinking. I liked not only getting one side of the story but seeing them apart from each other and watching their development with their friends and family.

This reads like a fairly standard YA high school slice-of-life. 2 stars doesn't mean I hated it, but I know that there are others who will enjoy this book more than me. A relatively quick read, I Think I Love you is a rivals-to-lovers f/f YA high school drama set in New York City. I liked the aesthetic a lot, and the plot moves along fairly quickly, but I think the friend group was a bit too "scheme-y" for my tastes. Schemes on schemes on schemes, and to me, that grew a little old after awhile. However, I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone who's looking for a fun, low-stakes, YA high school drama.

Netgalley review to be shared on Goodreads and Twitter. Thank you Random House Children's and Netgalley for a copy of this arc in exchange for an honest review!

I Think I Love You is an adorable, laugh-out-loud queer YA rom-com that I already know will be a huge hit with teen readers. It’s a contemporary retelling of Much Ado About Nothing, but can certainly be enjoyed by readers who aren’t familiar with the original. Emma and Sophia may be in the same friend circle, but they couldn’t be more different. When they decide to enter a film competition, the two (of course) clash and can’t seem to agree on anything—and they quickly decide to split the group up and create competing films. But Emma and Sophia have no idea that their friends have a behind-the-scenes scheme that just might make them see each other in a new light. Emma might actually get the rom-com of her dreams with the person she least expected.

This YA contemporary is definitely a novel where the characters and their relationships stand out. Both lead characters are passionate and feel multi-dimensional. Emma is bi and Sophia is a lesbian, and the two have always pushed back against their friends’ expectations that they should date just because they’re both queer. Much to Emma’s chagrin, Sophia has just returned from a year away in Paris, and desperately wants to find a place for herself in her old friend group again. Emma and Sophia’s friend group is fleshed out and I loved following their hijinks. They’re the kind of friends who will do whatever it takes to help their pals out—including coming up with a wild plan to trick Sophia and Emma into spending time together.

In addition to being a romance, I Think I Love You is very much about family, both chosen and biological. The two protagonists have very different yet equally complex families. Sophia is still processing her parents’ divorce and her mom’s decision to remarry and move to Paris. She’s struggling with feelings of betrayal and abandonment, while wishing she could go back to the idyllic family of her childhood. Meanwhile, Emma has a wonderfully tight-knit family whom she’s afraid to come out to. As the two grow closer, they find themselves opening up to each other about their families, despite their supposed arch-enemies status. And while they both work on their films for the contest, they find themselves exploring their own fears, anxieties, and wishes through the camera lens.

Auriane Desombre’s writing style is funny, fresh, and easy to read. The alternating perspectives work well, and both Emma and Sophia felt like distinct voices. I truly loved the way friendships and family are dealt with in I Think I Love You, and I believe that Emma’s coming out plotline will resonate with many readers. I found the pacing of the novel to be well thought out, and it kept me engaged in the story all the way through.

I Think I Love You is a sweet, fluffy rom-com that is perfect for fans of retellings, or readers who enjoy the enemies-to-lovers or opposites-attract tropes. It’s a light and utterly readable romance that will also be a hit for younger teens or those who are new to YA romance. I’m so excited to have another sapphic rom-com to add to my library collection and share with the teen book club at my library. I’ll be recommending I Think I Love You to fans of Jennifer Dugan, Marisa Kanter, and Kelly Quindlen. Auriane Desombre is certainly a new voice in YA that I’ll be keeping my eye on!

I absolutely LOVED this book, and loved it so much more than I thought I would. I thought I'd like it, sure, but I didn't see myself absolutely falling in love with the characters, their stories, and their love. I must admit I'm far more of a Sophia when it comes to love, being a level of skeptical that my friends often despair at, and leaves my husband utterly bemused I ever married him, let alone that I'm queer and attracted to women as well.

I read this book in three sittings, because I just couldn't put it down when I started reading. It's the length of an average novel at around 320 pages, but it felt so easy to take in that I barely noticed the time going by; I was just so involved in the story.

The author has managed to capture the perfect balance between 'easy read' and 'emotional investment', which is a fine balance to strike in any novel, but in a romantic novel especially is even more difficult. To keep it light with heavier moments where needed, balanced out with genuine snapshots of comedy... It just really, really worked, and I loved every page.

It takes a lot for me to just gush over a novel, especially anything that does center romance, but I'm in love with this book - and this couple - and I think you will be, too.

2 stars.

I truly wanted to like this book because of the representation. Perhaps I'm too old and cynical but if all it takes for you to fall for someone is knowing that they like you then you're not he die hard anti- romantic that you think you are. This book has a very middle grade trying to be older vibe and it personally didn't work for me.

Sophia at least had some depth as a character, but she was probably the only one out of the group of 6 that did. Emma's biggest issue in the book is coming out to her parents. HUGE ISSUE. but the book also says that she parents are supportive of all her choices and an incredibly close family. I really think that was made to be a bigger deal than it should've been.

Also for a book marketed as a f/f relationship there's a LOT of hetero stuff going on. I felt like half the book was talking about Tom and Kate and Myrah and Peter. Like... we don't even meet Peter in the book and there's like whole sections about him.

Matt and his whole sabotaging subplot was absurd. Who would believe such a thing? Also if they're such close friends and such "good wholesome" people then i really doubt matt's douche and entitlement attitude would have flown under the radar for all those years. You don't just wake up one day and act like that.

Overall this book wasn't it for me. 2 stars for the rep alone.

Emma was so excited to recruit her friends for the film festival. She was a die-hard romantic determined to make the gay rom-com of her heart, but the return of Sophia posed a problem. Sophia had lost all faith in love and wanted to make an angsty artsy film. After butting heads, they decided to split into two groups, but their friends had an idea they hoped would reunite them all.

I had no clue when I picked this book up, that it was a Much Ado About Nothing retelling. Reflecting on the story, I can see it clearly now. There were the two romances, and the plotting to get enemies Sophia and Emma together. There was even a nefarious plot, which gave this light hearted tale a touch of drama, but the story was punctuated by many new and fresh elements as well.

I had a great time running all over New York City with this crew, while also getting to see Sophia and Emma's view of each other slowly soften. I so wanted Emma to find her match, while I hoped something would dispel Sophia's negative opinions about love. These two went from throwing angst-filled grenades at each other to exchanging stolen glances and cute and witty banter.

The book leans on the lighter side, but Desombre gave it some emotional depth. Sophia realized she was bisexual and was out to her friends, but not her parents. Her fear of revealing her sexuality to them was backed up several times in the story by her parents' actions, and it was something that weighed heavily on Emma throughout. Sophia was struggling with her parents' divorce and her mother up and moving to a new country without her. She had a lot of emotions to work though, and I felt her angst was justified to a certain degree. It was very heartwarming seeing these two work through their issues with a little help from each other.

Overall: This story was light-hearted with a touch of drama and some really cute and sweet moments, I enjoyed watching Sophia and Emma work through their problems, make a movie, and find love.

This book took me a bit by surprise. At the beginning I wasn't expecting to love this book so much becase the characters just irked me a bit too much and I just didn't see how they could ever be in a convincing relationship. However, as I kept reading and the relationship developed I fell in love. The characters grew so much together and at the end of the book they were just so cute and I was swooning. I also quite enjoyed all the side storylines with the friends. However, this is also where my main problem with this book was. I just feel like the was a lot of unnececary drama in between the friendships that also affected the main relationship and plot. It just was annoying and everything time one thing got resolved another useless drama got started. I just wish that wasn't really the case for this book because if you cut those things out you get a damn cute saphic love story with an amazing focus on friendships.

F/F enemies to lovers? Okay, you got me. I really enjoyed this one! I love that the publishing world is finally allowing authors to write simple contemporary YA books normalizing diversity.

I really didn’t like the characters but i think it made the story more realistic that they were selfish and obnoxious.

Over all it was a sweet story with wonderful LGBTQIA representation. I would recommend this book to high school students for a leisure read.

I Think I Love You is a fabulously fun, quirky, and entertaining contemporary. The romance is what hooked me - I'm a sucker for all enemies to lovers and queer ones even more so! Featuring detailed and complex characters, it's about the fronts we put up to the world. Do opposites attract? If something starts out as a lie, does that mean it always is one? Talk about a predicament all fake daters find themselves in. And I love fake dating!

The characters were obnoxious and selfish but I loved how they were also realistic and relatable. I liked the romance but I wish there was a little more development. I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a Much Ado About Nothing retelling, but it defintely felt like one. So, if that's something you're looking for, or if you want an entertaing f/f YA romance, I'd recommend this.

I loved this book so much. I Think I Love You is the queer modern-day Much Ado About Nothing retelling I never knew I needed until I read it. It tells the story of Emma, an unabashed romantic bisexual whose goals for the summer are simple: make the gay rom-com of her dreams for a film festival with her friends. her plans are thrown for a loop when Sophia, still reeling from her parents’ divorce and her mother's remarriage returns from spending the year in Paris and threatens Emma's plans. Through meddling and matchmaking from their friends, Emma and Sophia may just discover something deeper between them underneath all the banter and bickering.
I adored this book. It was such a breath of fresh air. It was equal parts emotional as well as funny and sweet. I hadn't known about the Much Ado About Nothing angle going in, but as a big Shakespeare fan, I absolutely loved it! it was layered in but updated so well. I really enjoyed the ways that Desombre both played with, poked fun at, and homaged the original in hers while making it feel fresh and new and able to stand on its own.
I really enjoyed the writing in this; I thought Desombre did an excellent job of putting you in the moment and evoking the senses as well as the emotions of course. Even if it plays on tropes we’ve seen before, she made her own story, and as Emma pointed out in the book, there are not enough happy queer love stories, particularly with WLW or bi girl characters, and I loved the care the author took in representing that. It made me feel seen and warmed my heart. I also loved that as a bonus we got body positivity fat rep with Kate who embodied the Hero character in this. I loved her and Emma and their friendship. It felt very real.
I had a very good time reading this book and if you’re looking for a queer enemies-to-lovers good time, look no further than I Think I Love You out March 2nd!


I will be posting this full review on Goodreads on 2/16/21 and this review on Instagram (@findangoh) on March 4th as part of the TBR and Beyond Book Tour.

I THINK I LOVE YOU is the sapphic rivals-to-lovers story that I needed to heal me. I love the dynamic between Emma and Sophia, from their intense dislike of each other to the gradual love and respect they show for each other. Please read it if you want a fluffy romance that reminds you that while love is complicated and scary and hard, it is worthwhile.

. I Think I Love You follows Emma Hansen and Sophia Kingsley, two girls in the same friend group, competing for a coveted first-prize trip to a film festival in Los Angeles. To attend the NYC-LA Film Festival, all they have to do is create a fifteen-minute short film in the genre of their choice. Easy enough, right?

When Emma finds out about the film competition, she instantly ropes her friends into helping her create the Gay Rom Com of her dreams. It’s a subject that’s close to her heart, especially since she’s out at school, but not to her family - save for her cousin, Kate. Everything seems to be going as planned, until Sophia is back after spending a year abroad in Paris, and is determined to shoot down every idea of Emma’s.

Following her mother’s remarriage, Sophia has spent the last year in Paris. While returning home after spending a year away is never easy, Sophia’s also got the additional stress of trying to fit back into her old friend group. Especially after she’s the one who stopped responding in the group chats, and didn’t tell anyone that she was coming back. With news of the competition, Sophia’s eager to use it as her way to get back “in” with her friends. But her pragmatic, still-jaded-from-her-parents-divorce self seems to put her foot in her mouth at every chance.

Before long, the group decides it’ll simply be easier to just split up into two groups: Emma, Kate and Myrah in one, and Sophia, Tom and Matt in another. It’s an easy-enough temporary solution for the sake of the competition, but Kate, Myrah, Tom and Matt are determined to get everyone back together, and getting along. With their meddling, it isn’t before long that Emma and Sophia start seeing each other with a different lens.
I found I Think I Love You to be an incredibly fast-read -- In fact, it’s the book that got me out of a reading slump. I kept going “Oh, I’ll just read one more chapter”, and before I knew it, it was 12:30 am, and I had finished the book. I really enjoyed how each chapter alternated between Emma and Sophia’s point-of-views. I haven’t read a lot of enemies/rivals-to-lovers where we get to read both points of view, and really appreciated how it allowed us to understand both girls better.

One of my favorite things about I Think I Love You was how Emma’s bisexuality was approached. I loved how she wanted to fight for representation, and how Desombre discussed how important representation is. I loved how supportive Emma’s friends and cousin were. There’s a specific moment in I Think I Love You between Emma and her parents that I loved, but I can’t touch on it too much because it’s a major spoiler. The strong friendship and family dynamics in I Think I Love You were such a standout for me. Emma’s special bond with her parents was adorable to read about, and I really appreciated how they .properly communicated about their feelings In contrast, Sophia’s relationship with her dad, and her more complex relationship with her mom was one that was more familiar to me, and one that I saw a lot of truth in. Something I truly loved about the familial relationships in I Think I Love You was the communication that occurred between the children and their parents, despite the complexity of their dynamics.

There was definitely a lot of scheming, whether between Emma, Myrah, and Matt, or Tom, Kate, Myrah and Matt, or any other combination of the group, and I enjoyed the chaoticness of it all. You could definitely tell how they all cared for one another, and how they just wanted the best for one another. That being said, I wish there was less manipulation, or at least more honesty about the schemes after they had occurred.

It’s been a while since I read Much Ado About Nothing, so I will say that a lot of the references completely flew over my head, but that didn’t take away from any of my enjoyment! What I didn’t love, however, was how some of the characters felt a little obnoxious to me? This might just be because I’m an adult reading YA, but they felt really young to me. I have a lot of empathy for Sophia, who self-isolated from her friends due to FOMO and feeling left out, but returning home and expecting everything to be the same, when you haven’t put in the effort to maintain those friendships, and continuously comparing everything to Paris definitely got on my nerves. Emma also felt a little juvenile and self-centered, and I wish that the two of them would’ve actually tried to see things from the other person’s perspective. I also felt like I might’ve missed some moments, because it felt like Emma and Sophia’s annoyance-to-rivals-to-lovers journey felt very abrupt.

Overall, I found I Think I Love You to be an easy read, and thoroughly appreciated the bisexual representation in it.

I dont read nearly as many sapphic books as I’d like to, so I was excited to try this f/f romcom. Sadly though, I was not a fan. Both of our main characters are insufferable. Self centered, obnoxious, and needlessly dramatic. They are both just so toxic and terrible. Also, the plot contains so much unneeded drama and lying from every character. It just got so frustrating to read. Drama in a book should make the reader excited and anxious, not annoyed and angry. And the word love was thrown around so much. Every character in this book felt the need to say they were in love after like 2 days of dating their S.O. It got incredibly annoying
And for a queer romance, there was so much straight content to read. So much of this book is focused on all the other friends and couples in the group. Also, It is so rare to have a friend group with one queer person in it. It’s a bit nit picky but I found it unrealistic that a group of friends from a New York City art school would only have one queer person. Much less that the school would only have 2 out sapphic students. I came for gay content, but if anything the straight couples got more attention, which i just was not interested in reading.

ive been having a hard time trying to rate this book im not sure why but ive got a lot to say so lets get into it! this book follows a bisexual girl named emma who is super into rom-coms and all thing lovey, as well as a lesbian girl named sophia who after her parents divorce, no longer believes in lasting love. they don't really like each other but are part of the same friend group making a film for a film contest, although emma and sophia both have extremely differing ideas to what their film should be.
i'll divulge into what i liked and didn't like about the book, but im hiding it under a spoiler section just in case!!

the good:
- i thought emma and sophia were SO cute like even during the enemies stage how they would unconsciously point out positive quirks about each other in their heads it was adorable
- the book was so sweet overall, i really enjoyed the idea of the book
-the balance (or lack thereof) in the friend group was a dynamic i both loved and hated at times but its a sweet friend group in general
- emma and sophia in the end and parts of them in the last 50% were nice, i liked seeing the development especially in emma.
-emma and her going on and on about france in the beginning was sort of pretentious BUT i can sympathize with her because she used it as a cover up to how she actually felt AND she understood her faults for that. i really loved emmas arc through the story, she was my favorite character.

issues i had:
- the characters: especially in the beginning, i found both emma and sophia sort of insufferable. emma acted so immature and her actions and words were just.. childish. i can't even recall why she didn't like sophia at first, was it that people thought they were going to get together as the only sapphic girls in their grade? but thats not sophias fault....? im not sure, that part was sort of confusing. emma was just not a favorite character for a lot of the book but by the near-end i really started to warm up to her (i also realized i can relate with her more than i thought)
- the miscommunication and careless planning and meddling was really frustrating at times. you just KNOW its all going to blow up in their faces and cause a bunch of unnecessary problems BUT I WILL SAY it prompted maturation and growth out of the characters so im not too mad about it
- side characters: not a biggie but i would've liked to see more content from myrah i thought she had a lot of unused potential. maybe more out of tom too.

more i liked!!!!
- the pacing of the story was quite nice (except the i-love-yous came very very fast and early to me but i won't hold it against the book, its supposed to be cute!) \
- the way the book wrapped up was amazing, i especially loved the final 20% or so
- emmas development was really great to read about, also getting to read more about the reasons behind why emma and sophia act the way they do is nice. also emma confronting her parents made my tear up :'(

the characters had this real aspect to them. though the book is a little on the (i don't want to say childish, but teenage-y?) side, it was overall super cute and fun! its an adorable sapphic love story <3

I can’t believe this is Auriane Desombre’s debut novel! I couldn’t get enough of her entertaining and flawless writing and the witty banter between the characters. I love the fact that this story was told through Emma and Sophia’s points of view because I felt as though I was given a front-row seat to their conflicting thoughts and emotions. This author definitely deserves the highest of fives because she gave this lovely story the right amount of angst, humor, romance and heart-breaking moments and I’m not ashamed to admit that I had a hard time with putting my kindle down after I got past the first page.

Thanks to this wonderful author, I fell head over heels in love with film making because I got to hang out with Emma, Sophia, Myrah, Kate, Tom and Matt while they were busy with brainstorming ideas and blending their unique talents in order to create the best movie ever! I love the fact that friendship and matchmaking were huge themes in this story and I must admit that Auriane Desombre has done a fabulous job with portraying the deep bonds between these endearing characters.

I THINK I LOVE YOU is such a fresh retelling of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Such a wonderful f/f story set in NYC. I thoroughly enjoyed the characterizations and voice in this story. The words really held you the entire time. I would give this story a higher rating than 5 stars. I highly recommend it!