THIS REALLY JUST WASN'T MY CUP OF TEA

When I requested this book from Netgalley it was with so much hope for a great, diverse and inclusive read. Well, it was diverse and inclusive. But if you as me, it was not great. I think this might just be my personal preference and others might enjoy it. However, I certainly didn't...

👍 What I Liked 👍

Queer: I absolutely loved how inclusive this was! It was queer in all the best ways, featuring pansexuals, bisexuals, non-binary and gender-fluid characters. It was great to see such a broad representation in one single book!

Humor: There were some honest to god LOL moments in this book that I actually truly enjoyed. Sadly, many of the moments that were supposed to be funny were more awkward, cringeworthy or simple way over the top. But the funny moments were there, and they were hillarious!

"I think I had the upper hand for a minute here, but I've lost it now."
- Declan


👎 What I Disliked 👎

Dialogue: First of, there was simply too much of it. Secondly, the dialogue didn't seem to fit the characters at all. These characters are all nearing their thirties, yet they still talk like frat boys! I am sorry, but I have a hard time imagining any people of this age (if any at all) talk like that... I didn't get it and it made connecting with the characters super hard.

Motherfuckers: I don't even know where to start with this. Firstly, this gang of friends refer to themselves and the Motherfuckers... Who does that? In all honesty, I can't take a group of people seriously if they refer to themselves like that. Again, the whole frat boy thing. Not my style. Secondly, these guys are supposed to be friends, right? Yeah, no, they aren't friends. They are bullies. This is definitely a toxic group that I would not want to be a part of. They incessantly bully and tease Declan about leaving Mason at the alter, not taking into account how difficult and traumatizing it was for him. That's not friendship if you ask me...

Giggling: Yeah, again, I can't take a group of adults seriously when they continuingly giggle! Only schoolgirls with silly crushes giggle! Adults do not giggle! They laugh, roar, chuckle or snigger. They don't giggle. Yet the characters in this book did nothing but giggle. And whenever they did, I would imagine them with pigtails, braces and pimples.

The Love Study: The idea of the Love Study was interesting - using Declan's experiences to study the intricacies of queer dating. I was on board for the idea, just not the execution. In reality, the Love Study takes up only 1/3 of the book. And even then, there's very little studying. It's more just talking about bad dates on live YouTube. There's no study and there's very little dating. It was very disappointing.

3.5 Stars (rounded up to 4)

Cute, funny, and entertaining!

The Love Study is a charming rom-com featuring the quirky, awkward Declan who’s struggling with the pressures of full-time commitment, and the non-binary, YouTuber Sidney who isn’t interested in a relationship of his own but who's excited to make a weekly show about the ins and outs of dating in the genderqueer world.

The characters are witty, hesitant, and likeable. The writing is honest and insightful. And the plot is a push-pull tale of tension, humour, snappy dialogue, flirting, friendship, anxiety, and the importance of communication, boundaries and respect in relationships.

Overall, The Love Study is a lighthearted, humorous, engaging tale by Ripper and even though I found the first part of the story to be a little slow and it took me a little time to get used to the non-binary pronoun it is nevertheless a sweet, angsty, enjoyable tale.

The Love Study is such a refreshing rom-com. I like a traditional rom-com as much as the next person, but I didn’t know how much I wanted a non-traditional rom-com until reading this one!

I really enjoyed Declan’s openness. He agrees to participate in The Love Study, and though Declan’s issues are more with commitment than dating, seeing him get out of his comfort zone was nice. Sidney was such an amazing character. I can’t remember reading a more mature character. They are one of the major reasons that this book was so refreshing, not just because they are non-binary, but because of their whole outlook.

I loved that neither Declan nor Sidney felt the need to fall into relationship norms. They did what worked for them. I think if more couples did this it would really help with people’s happiness. The Love Study also does a great job of explaining queer dating in a way that is enjoyable to read without an information dump.

I highly recommend this book, especially if you are looking for something a little different from the usual rom-com.

Friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes as is the “let me help you find someone to date; whoops you’re the one that I want” trope, and The Love Study delivered both of these.

Declan has commitment issues and left his fiancé at the altar six years ago. His friends bring this up on a regular basis, which probably makes it hard for him to move on from this, even though he is now friends with his jilted ex.

Declan’s indecisiveness makes him the perfect guest for Sidney’s YouTube show, and they and Declan have such a good rapport that Sidney’s fans immediately start shipping them. So of course, Declan and Sidney start dating, and everything is going well…until Declan’s insecurities start planting seeds of doubt.

The narrative unfolds from only Declan’s perspective, so the reader doesn’t know anything more than what Declan knows. This makes his worries more realistic; if the reader was privy to Sidney’s thoughts, it would diminish the tension.

I would recommend The Love Study. The tone is fairly light, and there’s lots of great banter that made me laugh. I also loved seeing a romance with a nonbinary love interest. I’m looking forward to reading more from Ripper in the future.

I received a copy of this book from Carina Press/NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

At first I liked the story, a gay guy and a gender queer person immediately attracted to each other, although they first covered it up by arranging dates for Declan, a lot of queer characters, -did I already say a lot, like almost everyone?- and a funny and cute read.

After a few dates which I thought were meh -like Declan thought too- Sidney and Declan fell for each other. But after that I got a bit bored. It wasn’t that funny anymore or I might have overrated the funny part. It got even a bit childish at times.The cuteness stayed but didn’t develop any further and the commitment issues? Well, Declan had them for a long time.

I loved the premise, the appearance of a gender queer character in a rom com, but I liked the performance a little less. For me it’s just an okay story, nothing more, nothing less.

I received an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3-3.5 stars- Not a perfect fit for me, but some great attributes to make it worth the look

The Love Study was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I was intrigued by the plot, loved that it featured a genderqueer main character, wasn’t a traditional romance in many senses of the word, and felt really true to itself. But honestly, I expected more pizzazz I guess, or maybe it just didn’t hook me enough. That said, though this couple wasn’t “it” for me, I can’t help but be interested in the next pairing on the horizon, so *shrugs emphatically*.

The writing in The Love Study is really smooth, the dialogue felt natural for the characters, and the romance was cute. I liked the indirect way Sidney and Declan’s relationship begins because it felt authentic and very organic. I also appreciated that the path and resolution was so different from the norm rather than trying to fit into a frame that wouldn’t work for these characters. So yes, lots of positive for this book. And yet, I frequently felt very “meh” about the characters themselves.

If I were going to pinpoint what went wrong for me, I would say it was lack of connection. Though Declan and Sidney are physically intimate, the scenes are fade-to-black or referenced after the fact. And while I wouldn’t say my romances need to be extra steamy, perhaps the exclusion of those scenes combined with the characters’ awkward and quirky exchanges gave The Love Study a bit of Young Adult feel, which is admittedly not my jam. Additionally, there was a good amount of inner monologues and in depth analysis of feelings or reactions. Despite this working for the book’s plot and fitting the characters’ personalities well, my interest would wane.

In the end, I think this is a case of great story and writing, just not exactly a good fit for me. Nevertheless, The Love Study is definitely a book I’d recommend to teenagers or young adults because it truly does a great job at recognizing that romance, gender, and attraction is very much a spectrum and celebrates the differences in each couple’s concept of happily-ever-after.

The Love Study is a cute, amusing romance with a pretty low angst level, which I appreciated greatly. Life is angsty enough during this crazy pandemic, so a bit lighthearted romance is definitely a good thing. That said, I feel like this one is better suited to older teens and young adults than myself. That didn't keep me from enjoying the story, but Declan felt more juvenile than I would've expected and that gave it a younger vibe to me. There are also some good points explored in this one, including the importance of communication. The story is well written and engaging, the dialogue is witty, and the sexual intimacies are fade to black. All in all, it's a quick, entertaining read and a great way to while away a rainy day.

I really wasn't sure about this for the first third of the book. I found Declan a litle irritating and his friends annoyed me. The only person I liked from the beginning was Sidney. However, somehow over the course of this novel I started to really like Declan and was actively rooting for him. I really enjoyed seeing his personal growth throughout the book and his relationship with Sidney develop.

This was utterly charming and I loved the two main characters but it had a slower burn than I prefer so dnf this time

This book was such a delightful suprise for me!
It's sweet. It's fun. It's quirky.
What suprised me the most is how inclusive this story is. It gave me such a good insight into the LGBTQ community.
My only reason for giving it 4⭐ is that I wished there was a deeper look into queer dates. I was really hoping to learn more.
Aside that, this is such a cute story. I definitely recommend it.

I absolutely love the diversity in this book! The main characters are queer and nonbinary so I love the representation.
That being said, I did not quite like this book. It was an awkward read with dialogue that just didn't grip me. The intro felt too rushed then it was a constant apology fest. Not to mention needing consent for everything, from saying to asking something. I felt no chemistry because of that plus they both felt robotic.
I did like Mason. I wanted more of him! I would read a sequel about him.

Declan is known as the guy who’d left his boyfriend at the altar. This fact isn’t exactly helping him to get a date. Not that he’s looking for one. After that disastrous day, Declan had sworn off dating. At least until he is introduced to Sydney - a Youtuber with a love advice program who invites him to participate in their newest series - The Love Study. Declan agrees to go to a set of random blind dates and discuss each of them live. However, he quickly realizes that it’s not one of his dates that will capture his heart but the host themself.

The Love Study is a super-fast contemporary romance read with lovely friend dynamic and sweet romance. I enjoyed the Youtube aspect of the story, even though I’m often wary of books that relate to social media in some way. I sort of wished there would be more of the blind dates but I think the amount allowed the main relationship to be established faster and progress more naturally. I also loved how “unconventional” Sydney’s and Declan’s dates were as someone who used to be in a long-distance relationship in which there was either not seeing each other for half a year or two weeks long date. I liked the friend group dynamic and the way the author reflected how random talks with people close to you can be. I loved showing how important communication in a relationship is and that ultimately it is the thing that keeps people together not even the most romantic meet-cutes. It’s a trend I’ve been seeing in romances recently and I’m really happy it’s going that way.

All in all, I really enjoyed The Love Study and it was great to see non-binary love interest in a contemporary romance book. I hope we will see more of them in the future.

This was a fast read that I binged all in one day. I loved the strong friend group that MC Declan has, as well as the diversity of the characters throughout the story. The range of LGBTQIA representation was impressive. I think it will be great for all sorts of readers to be able to see themselves in a book character. Hopefully that representation continues throughout this series.
I thought the premise of the Love Study show was fantastic and fun. I thought it would build up some angst in the story, as well as provide the rom-com aspect. That being said, with there only being 3 dates, it seemed to be cut short. I feel like that part could have been drawn out and made the book a lot more entertaining. It just seems that if you are going to title a book after something, it should be more of a main factor.
While I enjoy that Declan has a core group of friends, I thought it was kind of rude that they would constantly bring up something he did 6 years ago. They need to let it go. Especially when it clearly caused him a lot of anxiety and regret.
I thought Sidney was great, but I think there could have been more character development for them. I feel like we only learned really surface level stuff.
I was surprised this was such a closed-door romance given how much talk there was about sex.. Personally, I love steam, and would have enjoyed more out of this. It was too much "fade to black" each time.
Overall, I felt like this maybe should have been marketed as a YA novel. The characters do a lot of growing up, which is great, but it just felt too juvenile for the currently listed audience.

Thank you NetGalley, Harlequin, Carina Press and Kris Ripper for gifting me an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!
There is a lot to love here! First, as a millennial who has grown up watching/still watched YouTube, I loved seeing an influencer as a main character. That career path is a very prominent one in my generation and it’s nice to see more characters I can relate to! This is also my first book with a non-binary main character! This was a perspective I’ve never read from before and it’s always exciting to find a book you can learn from!
Call me crazy, but I personally didn’t feel the chemistry between Sidney and Declan. I really liked this both as characters separately and they had a great friendship, but I think they weren’t the best matched. That being said, I feel like readers got a better understanding of Declan than Sidney which definitely influenced how I related to them!

The Love Study is an LGBTQ+ friendly book, that focuses on Declan, a queer man in his late 20's, who has sworn off dating after leaving his last fiancé at the altar 6 years before. Enter Sidney, a non-binary YouTube star who comes up with the idea of finding Declan dates on The Love Study. I enjoyed this book. I liked Declan and Sidney and I thought that their relationship grew organically. I also enjoyed the banter between them, and their friend group, and how supportive everyone was of one another. We get a lot of Declan's inner monologue, which I enjoyed, but could sometimes make things hard to follow. I felt like the resolution may have been a bit rushed, which is why I took it from a 4 star read to 3.5. Overall, I thought this was enjoyable, and a great read if you are looking to expand your horizons.

Big thanks to NetGalley and Carina Press for the advanced copy of this book!

Hey, Kris Ripper? My heart called and it has a bone to pick with you (it says thanks!).

The Love Study is all about relationships and our expectations. From ourselves, our partners, the entire experience, really. Declan is hopeless at love, so when he decides to date years after he left his last boyfriend at the alter, he goes for an unconventional route. Sidney has a YouTube show and decides to take a look at queer dating with The Love Study, where Declan is the subject. They set him up on dates to learn from his experiences, but in the midst of this, Declan realizes the person he actually wants to date is closer than any of those others could ever be.

This book was adorable. All of the characters were interesting and likeable and incredibly queer. Declan, our main character, was excited and funny and painfully awkward. You know all those times where in your head you think 'man this is so awkward'? Declan has those moments to but he says what he's thinking out loud - hilarity ensues. Sidney was so different from Declan, but the author really made it work here. They were compatible that way. Sidney is very analytical, very logical. Declan is very prone to panic and innuendo. Sidney evens him out a bit and Declan brings them out of their shell.

The characters are all in their mid-late twenties, and I honestly felt like their experience is so true to these younger millennials. Listen - we're drowning in debt and the world is shit. No, we don't all have families and 9-5 jobs and a clear path in life. Thank you Kris Ripper for letting us live. The 'Motherfuckers', the friend group/found family in this book were such a joy to read. I love them teasing one another while simultaneously being ride or die.

The romance was sweet and the arc was expected, but I think it was handled very well. The emphasis on clear communication, consent, and respectful boundaries was so refreshing to read. Sometimes I think it can really take you out of a book to see these things discussed in an almost clinical way, but Ripper managed to make it feel natural here.

Overall, I really enjoyed it! I really kind of hope we get a whole series with these characters... I would love to read them all!

The Love Study is filled with laughter and the finding of love, even when you might have given up or you might have been afraid to start dating again.

In The Love Study, we are introduced to Declan Swick-Smith, a man who left his ex at the alter years ago, constantly has to hear about it from his friends when being introduced to other people. And we have Sidney, a non-binary Youtuber who is the host of The Love Study live streams, who invites Declan onto their show.

I gave The Love Study three stars, loving Declan and Sidney and their chemistry together. But I also felt that while this was definitely something that was cute and funny, I just wasn’t invested in the story itself. It felt like a hastle to even pick up the book and the reluctance I felt throughout reading this just showed that I wasn’t really interested in reading this story. Which has nothing to do with the characters and their romance, just that this story wasn’t for me at all.

I loved the aspect of the Love Study live streams and that was definitely the first time I’ve heard of such thing but I felt disconnected from Declan and Sidney. They were cute together and you could tell that they have many laughs together and the physical chemistry is definitely noticeable, which I enjoyed greatly.

I’m not going to tell you to not pick up this book, because that’s not true. I think The Love Study is a story that is definitely interesting and you should definitely pick it up, but for me, I think that this was a good read and that I do wish that I was a little more invested in the story.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me with an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is not my usual genre,  however I wanted to take the opportunity to read something from outside my norm. And I am glad I did!! Thank you for  opening up my mind to something totally different. Characters were so well developed that I felt as though I knew them. I love when a book draws you into the story and it feels like you are living it with them.

Thank you so much @HarlequinBooks & @NetGalley for giving me this eARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review (Release Date | 29 September 2020)

SYNOPSIS | Declan's friends delight in telling people that he left his last boyfriend at the altar but in reality, Declan has commitment issues. When he meets Sidney (a non-binary advice YouTuber) they hatch a plan to set him up on a series of dates with the goal of reporting back on how it went in the next YouTube episode. Declan realizes that all of the dates are pretty average because the only person he has chemistry with is Sidney.

WHAT I LIKED:
- I appreciated the diversity in the characters (includes a wide range of LGBTQ+ identities)
- this is the first book I have read with a gender fluid main character

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
- the writing style & use of language like "amazeballs"
- a lot of the dialogue between Declan & Sidney felt very "psychotherpist-y" & just really unnatural
- I didn't root for the primary romance between Declan & Sidney
- considering the majority of this book is dialogue, I feel like I don't know Declan or Sidney at all beyond the fact that Declan likes to cook & Sidney has a YouTube
- waaaayyyyy too much giggling

This is the gentlest, most wholesome romance I've read in a while. It was a quick, light read that definitely entertained me. I hope this book finds its audience. I'm afraid that audience is not really me, sadly.

Some thoughts, which may persuade readers one way or another:

* The book has a nonbinary main character (yay! I don't know that I've come across a nonbinary lead in a romance before) but they are not a POV character, which felt like a real missed opportunity for me. I think there's power in first person romance to share a lived experience, and we didn't get that.
* That said, I love that the gender of the nonbinary character was not a source of tension or conflict. They get to thrive and get their happily ever after.
* Relatedly, as this was a single POV first person novel, it's part of a trend I've noticed in first person romance, where the character who is less outspoken, more awkward, etc. is not given a POV, and in my opinion it makes it harder for the reader to witness the development of the relationship. I don't feel like readers get to know Sidney well at all over the course of this book.
* It's a closed door romance, which is obviously a perfectly fine choice. I personally found the way sex (or activities leading to sex) was portrayed in this book a little confusing. I felt like the book did not relate bodily feelings effectively. It was not, in a word, horny. That may appeal to some readers.
* The book is extremely dialogue-heavy, which again, may appeal to a lot of readers. The kind of voice in this book is the kind that uses words like "awesome sauce," or plays with language to make a word like faildate or capitalize something like Very Grumpy Face. There are Harry Potter references (I hope those get edited out) and Hamilton references. That kind of writing doesn't appeal to me personally.
* Regarding the sense of place, again, I found this confusing. It's in the Bay Area? But it did not feel grounded to me. A date to an American style diner? That doesn't feel right given the food scene in the Bay Area. Drinking bottled water??? That detail really threw me out. Apart from the wasteful optics, who drinks bottled water when you have Hetch Hetchy water available to you??? And our POV main character is an office temp, and I'm just like, I know so many people who've been priced out of the Bay Area working in more lucrative fields than office temping, so I'm just going to have to suspend disbelief.

All in all, it's a light, sweet book. I think it would be a good book for teens or younger adults who like romance but are uncomfortable with a lot of sensuality and want something queer.