Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this anthology and I felt it was particularly well done. Well-represented of people of colour and queer protagonists, I loved the different takes on popular tropes, written usually in a unique and interesting way. Natasha Ngan's Silver and Gold, Amy Spalding's Five Stars, Laura Silverman's The Passover Date, Gloria Chao's Teed Up, Mason Deaver's Boys Noise and Disaster by Rebecca Podos were particular stand-outs for me, and I would have loved some of the stories to be full-length novels.

I definitely would recommend it for anyone who enjoys LGBTQ+ YA anthologies, and this is a stand-out read for me this year.

Release date: December 7th, 2021!!

Average rating: 3.06
Rating: 4

This is probably the BEST anthology I've ever read. Ever! The concept itself is amazing, each author executes their tropes really well, and there's such great diversity in, not only the characters, but also the themes of the stories. Just amazing! So happy to read this.

Natasha Ngan - Silver and Gold ("Snowed in Together") 3.5 stars

was a bit confusing and hard to grasp bc i didn't realize it was fantasy hahahahaha, but I loved the concept and was really rooting for these characters. it definitely had that ~snowed in together~ fuzzy feeling.

Amy Spalding - Five Stars ("Mistaken Identity") 4 stars

kewwwwwwwt. li mistakes our mc for her uber and, instead of correcting her, our mc just goes along with it. i could NEVERRRR, but kewt. definitely a fun take on the mistaken identity trope.

Rebecca Kim Wells - Unfortunately, Blobs Do Not Eat Snacks ("Kissing Under the Influence") 4 stars

i was a bit confused by this one at first (it's like my brain can't process anything other than contemporary rn), but i ended up REALLY enjoying it. not only did i really like the characters, but i was also suuuuuper intrigued by the plot itself. typically with anthologies, i feel like more focus goes into the characters, but this had a magical intriguing plot alongside that i really liked.

Ashley Herring Blake - Edges ("The Grumpy and the Soft One") 2 stars

i wanted to really like this one, but it felt really underdeveloped to me and lacked a solid plot. the characters also felt really one-dimensional and i just couldn't root for them the way i wanted to. i don't know. i just didn't like this much. i kept waiting for more and, unfortunately, it never really came.

Julian Winters - What Makes Us Heroes ("Hero vs. Villain") 3 stars

i'm not a HUGE fan of superhero-type stories (think: extraordinaries, the rest of us just live here, etc.), but i am a huge fan of julian winter's writing. their story in "out now" was the only story that still stands out to me much from that collection. overall i didn't like the whole concept much, but could connect with the characters and loved the writing. still quality.

Hannah Moskowitz - And ("Love Triangle") 2.5 stars

at first, because of the story being told in second person, i was sooooo confused. i got used to it relatively quickly though and then i enjoyed the story quite a bit. i just felt confused by some elements (especially the ending- really random and unbelievable to me). i feel like it lacked

Sara Farizan - My Best Friend's Girl ("Best Friend's Girlfriend") 3 stars

annnnnother superhero story. not a huge fan, like i said above, but i did enjoy this regardless. i will say, i feel like we didn't really get to know the li. we got to know the best friend wayyyyy more and that made me root more for the friendship than anything else. i also feel like this was really unrealistic and a bit problematic in some elements. i did like the writing style a LOT though and the concept was sick.

Claire Kann - (Fairy)Like Attracts Like ("Mutual Pining") 1.5 stars

i just didn't get this one. i wanted to and i tried reeeally hard, but it just wasn't for me. i liked certain elements, but couldn't connect with it as a whole.

Lilliam Rivera - These Strings ("Sibling's Hot Best Friend") 1 star

not for me. i feel like it lacked proper development and i didn't connect to the characters at ALL. the ending was super rushed too and everything wrapped up too quickly.

Laura Silverman - The Passover Date ("Fake Dating") 5 stars

this went by so quickly and was over way too soon! i swear i got so wrapped up in the story, it felt like i was only reading for a minute or two. i am DYING for a full-length novel about these two. i loved everything about this! all the feeeeeeeels.

Rebecca Barrow - Bloom ("Love Transcends Space Time") 4 stars

at first, i was like "whaaaaat? :/" and then i was like "aw wut :(" the first half of this had me a bit confused and a little bored, but once the romance started i was ALL IN. this is absolutely beautiful and the writing had me nearly in tears. NEARLY IN TEARS I TELL YOU!! stunning, lovely, breathtaking.

Gloria Chao - Teed Up ("Oblivious to Lovers") 2 stars

this was kindaaaa cute, but i just didn't feel all the feels. i feel like this focused more on the mc and her career path than anything else. the romance was really lacking and then just rushed in the end.

Mason Deaver - Boys Noise ("Only One Bed at the Inn") 2.5 stars

i liked this story and the connection the mc and li had, but it doesn't really fit the trope as much as i would have wanted. they've stayed in the same bed multiple times before and weren't that taken aback by it. this is one of my favorite tropes so i was looking forward to this one a LOT, but i was left disappointed. again, the romance was nice and sweet, but not what i expected or needed.

Malinda Lo - Girls Just Want to Have Fun ("Secret Royalty") 4 stars

wow this was such a pleasant surprise. when i first started reading this one, i felt a bit confused, but it ended up being one of my faves. lo's ability to create SO much character development and worldbuilding in such a short amount of pages is honestly SUCH an immense talent and skill. i don't know why, but when i think of the "secret royalty" trope i usually imagine someone not knowing they're royalty and then figuring that out, but this took a different type of angle and i wasn't entirelyyyyyyy into it to be honest which is why 4 instead of 5 stars. still amazing though!!!!!! good god.

Rebecca Podos - Disaster ("Second Chance Romance") 4 stars

this was so cute and unexpected. i absolutely loved the discussion on how often bisexuality is confused and misinterpretted. it's honestly exhausting. the whole end of the world thing was also very trippy and added so much depth and suspense to the story. overall, i really really loved it.

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reading comments

48%: considering i'm not a huge fan of anthologies, i am really liking this ATM.

78%: loving nearly every story and questioning everything now. do i hate anthologies or have i never read a good one?

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tbr comments

I kind of subconsciously swore off anthologies bc I have not been enjoying them, but an anthology where each love story is based on a typical romance TROPE?? r u kidding??? innovative. perfection. stunning.

I was soooo excited about this, but now it's been sitting on my netgalley shelf for literal MONTHS so, in order to review before its pub date, I'm gonna read a story or two every single day for the rest of the month/until I finish it. HOLD ME ACCOUNTABLE!

Fools in Love is full of some of my favorite authors ever. I've read them all and you can easily search this blog of my rave reviews. So when I saw this star studded anthology I knew I had to request it. In the past years I have relied on romance to brighten my weary days. To give me hope in the darkest of days when nothing was certain. It's just a reminder about how important these stories, these feelings, and happiness are.

Anthologies are notoriously hard to review because they involve so many different plots, characters, and settings…but that’s also what makes them captivating, and Fools in Love is no exception. In such an fun collection of stories, four in particular stood out to me: “The Passover Date” by Laura Silverman, “Teed Up” by Gloria Chao, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” by Malinda Lo, and “What Makes Us Heroes” by Julian Winters. These stories caught my attention with strong protagonists, beautiful relationships, enjoyable plots, and creative twists of familiar romantic tropes. However, most of the other stories just didn't entice me and were fairly forgettable. I was disappointed to only really love these four stories, but that's the risk with anthologies. With great representation and diverse voices telling the stories, this book is perfect for anyone who enjoys reading love stories.

It's tough to rate any collection of short stories because you like some a lot more than you do others because of reasons that are personal to you only. With this compilation in particular, knowing the tropes in advance kind of defeated the purpose at times... I tried to stay open-minded, and I think it worked (mostly) as I only strongly disliked one story out the 15 presented.
4 of them were absolutely delightful. I recommend the following:
- FIVE STARS
- WHAT MAKES US HEROES
- MY BEST FRIEND'S GIRL
- TEED UP.
The rest was overall quite cute, but not as remarkable (in my humble opinion).

*I got a free ebook through Netgalley, this in no way influenced this review*

This was such a fun book to read!

Fools in Love is a collection of 15 stories where two characters fall in love against all odds. There were some stories that were amazing and I would love to see them as complete books. There also were some stories that I had to push to get through.

I really feel this is a good book to read around Christmas, because a lot of the stories gave me that Hallmark movie vibe!

I also loved all of the diversity in the book and I discovered some new authors as well!

Anthologies are hit or miss for me. I thought this would be a hit, as I have read books by many of these authors and loved them. I also loved the idea of exploring common romance tropes. This ended up being a miss for me, but I think it could be more me and not the book. I think others will appreciate all the different genres here, which was probably one of the reasons the collection didn't work for me as a hardcore contemporary reader.

If you are looking for a light, fluffy romance with tons of LGBTQ+ representation, Fools in Love is the book for you. I read most of the stories in one sitting. The stories are cute, short, and uncomplicated. The characters a diverse and lovable. This book seems to have turned me grandmotherly because all I want to do is pinch the characters' cheeks and give them a hug. The perfect light read for the holiday season.

While none of these stories particularly resonated with me, the majority of them were quite sweet and comforting. I loved the range of genres in the book, and I immensely appreciated the diversity of characters. However, most of them didn't really stand out in a way that would make me say "Oh, yes! This is a favourite!"

Certainly a book I would recommend for teenage readers, especially queer teenagers, but I think I was hoping for more when I started this book.

Such sweet and romantic love stories! I absolutely loved the diversity and representation in these and the different authors and the LGBTQ representation. However. I didn’t love them all as I hoped I would. It started out really great, but then it kind of fluctuated a little with how much I enjoyed the stories.
All in all I did really enjoy the experience.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and author for an e arc of this book.

DRC provided by Perseus Books, Running Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Representation: queer protagonists of colour, queer white protagonist, lesbian white protagonist, bisexual white protagonist, queer Black protagonist, queer fat Black protagonist, Latine protagonist, Jewish protagonist, queer protagonist, Taiwanese protagonist, gay trans white protagonist, queer Chinese-coded protagonist, lesbian Jewish protagonist, bisexual secondary character of colour, lesbian white secondary characters, queer Black secondary character, queer secondary character of colour, Jewish secondary characters, queer white secondary characters, queer Chinese-coded secondary character, bisexual white secondary character, bisexual white tertiary character, Latine tertiary characters, Jewish tertiary characters, tertiary characters of colour, Taiwanese tertiary characters.

Content Warning: violence, institutional racism, anxiety, death, sexism.

Fools in Love edited by Rebecca Podos and Ashley Herring Blake is a beautiful anthology about love with a myriad of different characters from numerous backgrounds, with various identities and sexualities.

Silver and Gold “Snowed in Together” by Natasha Ngan ★★★★

Five Stars “Mistaken Identity” by Amy Spalding ★★★★★

Unfortunately, Blobs Do Not Eat Snacks “Kissing Under the Influence” by Rebecca Kim Wells ★★★

Edges “The Grumpy One and the Soft One” by Ashley Herring Blake ★★★★★

What Makes Us Heroes “Hero vs. Villain” by Julian Winters ★★★★

And “Love Triangle” Hannah Moskowitz: I do not read stories by bullies.

My Best Friend’s Girl “Best Friend’s Girlfriend” by Sara Farizan ★★★★★

(Fairy)like Attracts Like “Mutual Pining” by Claire Kann ★★★★

These Strings “Sibling’s Hot Best Friend” by Lilliam Rivera ★★

The Passover Date “Fake Dating” by Laura Silverman ★★★,5

Bloom “Love Transcends Space Time” by Rebecca Barrow ★★★★

Teed Up “Oblivious to Lovers” by Gloria Chao ★★★,5

Boys Noise “Only One Bed at the Inn” by Mason Deaver ★★★★

Girls Just Want to Have Fun “Secret Royalty” by Malinda Lo ★★★★,5

Disaster “Second Chance Romance” by Rebecca Podos ★★★★,5

This is the kind of book that no believers should read. An Anthology about love and its clarity. The true love that everyone is looking for and few can see. Thank you so much to the Authors for this amazing piece of work. Society needs books like this.

This was compilation of cute, sweet short stories focusing on LGBTQ representation. I loved how the stories were from several different genres and explored all kinds of romance tropes. It was a fun and happy collection that definitely warmed my heart.

I definitely liked some stories better than others but overall this collection was delightful. I’m not usually a fan of short stories because they are so quick but once I accepted that these stories were more like snapshots of a relationship, I could get more on board.

My only complaint is that everything was happy. There were no but struggles or hurdles and each story ended with a happily ever after. After awhile, the stories got to be predictable and a bit boring because of this. Don’t get me wrong, I still loved it! I just wish there were a bit more challenges to overcome in some of the stories to make the love more worthwhile.

Fools in Love is a collection of short stories about love. Each one of the stories was completely different and written by different authors.

I found this idea to be super interesting, as I’d never actually read a book of short stories, much less one where each story is written by a different author. I really enjoyed all of the stories, they were super fun, light reads and easy to get through when you just want a quick read.

If you like cute romance scenarios, but don’t want to commit to a whole novel, this is definitely a great alternative. It gives you everything you look for in a romance book, but not as big a commitment.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and author for an e arc of this book.

Fools in love is a collection of short stories that features 15 authors that took on the task to write a story based on the most famous love tropes out there. As everyone, I do have my favourite tropes when it comes to romance, but it was still nice to read such a variety of them. I do believe that as a whole this collection was cohesive and enjoyable.

My ratings for each individual story are:

- Silver and Gold by Natasha Ngan 4/5
- Five Stars by Amy Spalding 3/5
- Unfortunately, blobs do not eat snacks by Rebecca Kim Wells 3/5
- Edges by Ashley Herring Blake 3.5/5
- What makes us heroes by Julian Winters 3/5
- And by Hannah Moskowitz 4.25/5
- My best friend’s girl by Sara Farizan 3/5
- (Fairy)like attracts like by Claire Kann 2/5
- These strings by William Rivera 2.5/5
- The passover date by Laura Silverman 3.5/5
- Bloom by Rebecca Barrow 4/5
- Teed up by Gloria Chao 3.5/5
- Boys noise by Mason Deaver 4/5
- Girls just want to have fun by Malinda Lo 2.5/5
- Disaster by Rebecca Podos 2.5/5

FOOLS IN LOVE is an eclectic collection of joyful teenage teenage love stories, and I loved every second of reading them. Many of these stories struck me as very experimental; concepts and techniques are developed in these stories that you wouldn't see from a full-length YA novel, which was very refreshing, if not risky. Of course, given the diversity in genre and author style there were stories I preferred over others; however there is truly something for everyone in this collection.

Standout stories were written by: Mason Deaver, Julian Winters, Ashley Herring Blake, Laura Silverman, Amy Spalding and Lilliam Rivera. (AKA the contemporary ones, which is my preferred genre)

3.5 rounded down

i’m not a major fan of short stories Or stories that are based in romance but, this had some really fun concepts. I enjoyed the different authors voices and the heavy LGBTQ influence.
It’s hard to rate a short story collection done by different authors and in different styles but generally i had a good experience. it felt like fan fiction one shots but made on ao3 instead of wattpad.

Review is up on The Wellesley News!

Society needs more short story anthologies. Too often, I’m not willing to start a whole new book because I don’t have the mental capacity to digest an entire story, but a good short story can pull you in without capturing too much of your time. And then the story is extremely good, so you end up reading the next one, and then the next, and the next, and the next.
“Fools in Love” satisfies the itch for a good story — a good love story, at that — perfectly, with stories by a group of absolute rockstar authors, all giving their take on a tried and true romcom trope. Besides the fact that this book has absolutely superb queer representation, I also think the lineup of stories is incredible. Usually with anthologies, I find a few stories that I like amidst a sea of less enjoyable ones, but I had a superb time with this entire book.
I’m veering away from my usual review format now to have enough space to discuss every story. Enjoy my very short thoughts!
“Silver and Gold” by Natasha Ngan is a take on the “snowed in” trope and is a lovely way to start things off. Amy Spalding’s “Five Stars” is a hilarious case of mistaken identity when a girl’s crush mistakes her car for a rideshare. “Unfortunately, Blobs Do Not Eat Snacks” is a cute love story about two magic students kissing “under the influence” (of a magic dust, not from drugs). “Edges” by Ashley Herring Blake made me squeal with excitement multiple times because I absolutely love the “grumpy one and soft one” trope.
“What Makes Us Heroes,” a delightful spin on the “hero x villain” trope, is by Julian Winters and features a teen superhero trying to get over his ex and the son of local villains who helps him out with that. “And” by Hannah Moskowitz considers the question, what if you simply resolved a love triangle with polyamory? “My Best Friend’s Girl” features, as you might imagine, the trope of the same name, but make the best friend a superhero and the main character also a girl.
Claire Kann’s “(Fairy)like Attracts Like” is sapphic mutual pining set at a fairy summer camp. “These Strings” by Lilliam Rivera tackles the “brother’s hot best friend” trope with a backdrop of puppeteering. Laura Silverman convinced me with “The Passover Date” that fake-dating is actually amazing and that straight people do exist. “Bloom” by Rebecca Barrow is about love transcending space and time, but no, it’s not about space—it’s about time traveling by way of magic flowers.
“Teed Up” is a classic Gloria Chao story with total obliviousness and a lot of golf. Mason Deaver warmed my heart with “Boys Noise,” where two boy band members have only one bed in their hotel room. “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” by Malinda Lo is the “secret royalty” trope in a futuristic sci-fi world. Rebecca Podos’ “Disaster” wraps it up with a second chance romance between two girls growing up in the 90s.
“Fools in Love” comes out on Dec. 7. I received an early copy from the publisher, Running Press Kids, in exchange for an honest review.

A really thorough anthology! There were a few cringe-worthy stories, but that’s expected in a book of shorts. I liked the diversity.

Book 43 of my 2021 Reading Challenge

Fools in Love: Fresh Twists on Romantic Tales

Summary (via Goodreads)
Expected publication date: December 2021 (I read an ARC)

Join fifteen bestselling, award-winning, and up-and-coming authors as they reimagine some of the most popular tropes in the romance genre.
Fake relationships. Enemies to lovers. Love triangles and best friends, mistaken identities and missed connections. This collection of genre-bending and original stories celebrates how love always finds a way, featuring powerful flora, a superhero and his nemesis, a fantastical sled race through snow-capped mountains, a golf tournament, the wrong ride-share, and even the end of the world.
With stories written by Rebecca Barrow, Ashley Herring Blake, Gloria Chao, Mason Deaver, Sara Farizan, Claire Kann, Malinda Lo, Hannah Moskowitz, Natasha Ngan, Rebecca Podos, Lilliam Rivera, Laura Silverman, Amy Spalding, Rebecca Kim Wells, and Julian Winters this collection is sure to sweep you off your feet.

First Impressions/Judging a Book by Its Cover
I selected this book while browsing on NetGalley (full disclaimer below). The cover, along with the tagline "Fresh Twists on Romantic Tales", attracted my attention and the description kept my interest after I clicked through.

I've been especially drawn lately to books of short stories, especially by multiple authors, because that's about what my attention span can handle at the moment. There really isn't a downside - I hope to enjoy it but it's not a huge commitment if I don't (I'm one of those that HAS to finish a book I've started).

My Opinion
4 stars

**I received an electronic copy of this book via NetGalley and would like to thank the author and/or publisher for the opportunity to read and honestly review it**

I read this book in August and it was a perfect light vacation read. It embraces the tropes in a "wink-wink-nudge-nudge" way but also doesn't make fun of them; they became tropes or formulas for a reason and that's because there are readers that respond to them. Each story also listed the trope they were leaning into and that was fun - there were some I hadn't thought of as tropes before.

I also think short stories worked well because part of the reason I get frustrated with certain tropes is because if people JUST TALKED there wouldn't be so much miscommunication and unnecessary drama but with the entire story only lasting a few pages, things are condensed and cleared up quickly. After looking at my notes and seeing how many times I noted "good length", this format definitely worked for me.

As always with collections with multiple authors, I liked some stories more than others but looking at the book as a whole, I liked or loved all of them. I took a few notes on each story individually so I might as well include them.

"Silver and Gold" by Natasha Ngan:
I really liked this one. It had an unique concept and went deep enough to care without being overly gushy.

"Five Stars" by Amy Spalding:
First crushes and butterflies is exactly what my jaded heart needed to read at this moment. There was a meet-cute that was still semi-plausible.

"Unfortunately, Blobs Do Not Eat Snacks" by Rebecca Kim Wells:
I would read a longer version of this for the plot and the adventures, not even just the romance. I also loved the line, "Davina kissed her and it was like the answer to a question she'd only recently realized she'd wanted to ask."

"Edges" by Ashley Herring Blake:
This was deeper than I expected for a short story. The author packed a lot in but it felt natural. It was cute.

"What Makes Us Heroes" by Julian Winters:
Light and fun.

"And" by Hannah Moskowitz:
Having a poly type relationship at a young age wasn't something I'd read before, especially to have it handled so maturely with clear and open communication.

"My Best Friend's Girl" by Sara Farizan:
Everyone is just chill. It's nice to read a story with queer relationships where the act of coming out isn't the whole plotline.

"(Fairy)Like Attracts Like" by Claire Kann:
I felt the characters' relief at being seen.

"These Strings" by Lilliam Rivera:
This is the kind of story that I liked for the reasons above...having it in a short story format kept the time before the confession of feelings manageable so I was still invested and not screaming at the book like a maniac.

"The Passover Date" by Laura Silverman:
The kind of ending that made me sigh. New love.

"Bloom" by Rebecca Barrow:
This story was good but since most of the story had them apart from each other, there weren't as many 'romance' aspects as in other stories.

"Teed Up" by Gloria Chao:
Cute. I know exactly what the author means when they describe someone as "tasting like sunshine" when they kiss.

"Boys Noise" by Mason Deaver:
Long but cute.

"Girls Just Want to Have Fun" by Malinda Lo:
This one was fine. Again, it's something that would have driven me crazy as a longer book but as a short story, it was a whirlwind and fun.

"Disaster" by Rebecca Podos:
Not plausible but what end-of-the-world scenarios are? It was fine.