I hate to say this but the first half of this book wasn't particularly enjoyable. I thought Ivy and Andie's relationship was uncomfortable to read. Andie's obsession with Ivy, and Ivy's complete self-obsession, made it feel really icky to read the interactions between these two. When Dot comes along, she seems so incredibly young and Andie's actions towards her felt quite bully-like. Thankfully, the second part of this novel won me over.

I thought the characterisation in this is very good. Our three main characters, Ivy, Dot and Andie, all developed from their young, self-absorbed stage to a more well-rounded, likeable character. In saying this though, I liked that Ivy remained honest with herself and the way she sees relationships. It was great to see a description of an atypical romance and relationship.

No spoilers here but some big themes were unpacked in this novel, which again gave it a lot more depth to when it started out. An interesting way to relay a story as honestly, the three mains were not likeable initially.

This novel is definitely worth a read if you are looking for a new adult romance that pushes some unconventional boundaries.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Entangled Publishing for a copy of this novel. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

This was a quick, engaging read with lush detail but with a lot of unhealthy relationships.

I do appreciate the queer and disability rep, with the latter being done in a respectful manner, and wasn't made the focus on the character. However, I had a lot of trouble with the relationships. Andie is obsessed with her best friend Ivy, and has convinced herself that they will date eventually, to the point that when Ivy starts dating Dot Andie goes a bit crazy.

I've definitely had crushes that seemed to consume me, but Andie's actions towards Dot, and her later time with Elizabeth, felt like a train crash that kept going, and her lack of growth was disappointing.

I really liked this author's style of writing though, and I would try another of her books.

Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for an ARC.
This was kinda a slow burn to me. I kept waiting for something to happen. But of course it quickly picked and I found myself scanning through the pages!
This to me felt to be a woman's fiction/romance read!.which I just devoured.
Looking for a quick read with cute, loveable enjoyable characters?
Read this beautiful book!

“There’s always been something so exotic and intriguing about how damaged Ivy is, and I don’t really feel bad about saying that, because I know it’s what she wants people to think. Ivy wears her trauma like it’s a sexy dress. She puts up walls to make you desperate to break them down and turn her into that girl she was on the street around Christmas, and then she makes you feel like you’re special for noticing….”*

Andie is in love with her best friend Ivy. She waits in the wings hoping Ivy will tire of her string of one night stands and start a romantic relationship with her. Then Ivy meets Dot, who manages to keep her attention, and they seem to be in an actual relationship. Andie must decide whether to accept Dot or declare her love for Ivy and let the chips fall where they may.

The most important thing readers should know going into this book is that it’s not a romance novel, rather it’s more a new adult/women’s fiction novel with romantic elements. What I mean is that a romance novel focuses on the people navigating the relationship, typically a couple. In this novel, Andie’s love for Ivy is the focus as Ivy begins a relationship with Dot. While Andie has relationships with other women during the course of the novel, the story is more about her finding herself and growing as a person, both as a person and a partner.

I adore so much about this book, including the way it explores chronic illness, includes a strip club, and looks at various kinds of relationships. The book made me want Andie to win Ivy over, yet Dot grew on me. Each character is a delight.

For me, this was a four and a half star read rounded up to five.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Teen, an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC., for providing an Advance Reader Copy.

*Please note that my review is based on uncorrected text.

A story of love and friendship, but also of growing up. This was a good read. I enjoyed the characters and watching their growth and struggles.

I really enjoyed this book! This is a very unusual book about romance with a very queer cast, which I always love. It ended up taking some turns at the end that I wasn't expecting, but I still really appreciated what it did with Dot and Ivy's relationship, and how it showed different kinds of love than from what we're used to. Our main character was a bit hard to like at times and that really frustrated me throughout the story.

Our MC is in love with her best friend and watches as she flits from one person to the next. She bides her time thinking that one day the best friend will realize the perfect person is her. Then the best friend meets someone new, someone who isn’t just a one time fling. This story has quite a few turns in it. I enjoyed the read.

An unusual queer New Adult love story centering the complex relationship between Andie and her best friend (and longstanding crush) Ivy. Though the central characters develop and grow throughout the novel, the ending isn't picket-fence perfect.

The Love Song of Ivy K. Harlowe is a story about Andie, a nineteen year-old lesbian who has been in love with her best friend, Ivy, for as long as she can remember. In Andie's mind, the only problem is that Ivy is afraid of relationships, more apt to bring home random girls from their local gay club (that happens to allow minors in without blinking an eye) than to date anyone. Ivy has never been in a relationship and never brings home the same girl twice, until Dot.

When Dot, a seventeen year old Vietnamese "baby gay" that Ivy sleeps with one night becomes a regular fixture in their lives, and Ivy starts to clearly fall for her, Andie is convinced that there is something wrong with her, and she is incredibly antagonistic toward Dot and very obsessed with Dot and Ivy's relationship to an unhealthy and intrusive degree.

To be clear, I found this book compulsively readable, despite not really finding it realistic and not liking many characters besides Dot and Andie's dad. I very much enjoyed the development between Dot and Ivy, and even Dot and Andie. I loved the addition of Andie's dad's bipolar disorder and the explorations of relationships between people with different abilities, and discussions surrounding taking on an unexpected caretaker role. I loved the family-run strip club that treats and pays its employees as it deserves. I loved the narrative that all love stories are different and that people have different breaking points and different needs, and that monogamy isn't the only way to go.

I found that there wasn't much depth in that none of Andie and Ivy's friendships besides the unhealthy and idealized one between the two of them were delved into much, despite a supporting cast with a lot of potential. The drug use, while integral to the story and something I tend to enjoy to read about when done well, wasn't even well researched. The "E" that they were doing, was done in tabs, to the point where Ivy told Dot "maybe half a tab for you next time," making it seem that the author was under the impression that ecstasy/mdma and acid are one-in-the-same. They are not.

I also didn't enjoy the nonchalance of the gay club allowing seventeen year olds in, despite the fake IDs. The relationship between Dot and Ivy was a bit dicey to me as Dot was freshly seventeen and still in high school, where Ivy would go to pick her up regularly despite being a college student and in a completely different phase in her life. The age of consent was mentioned, and a two year age difference isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it was a bit more normalized than I would've liked.

I also didn't think the relationship with Andie and Elizabeth was dealt with well, especially for how unhealthy it was. I get that this book revolves around unhealthy relationships, but Elizabeth's biphobia and tendency to control Andie were not touched on enough. I can't help but feel like this could have been a better book were it longer, more in-depth and better researched.

I’ve been a fan of Hannah Moskowitz’s books for some years now, leaving me at a point where if I see she’s releasing a book, I really want to read it. This was no exception! I was looking forward to it even more when I saw that it was an all queer cast, and I was just so in love with the idea of that many characters I could see myself in.

Unfortunately, it took until roughly 80% for me to like this book. While the characters were so great and so developed that I never had to scramble to play a quick game of “Which lesbian said this”, it was also really hard to connect to Andie. I still stand by my idea that the first 80% from any other perspective would have been flawless, spectacular. I do like who Andie grew to be in the later stages of the book, though. At the end, there wasn’t a single character that I found I disliked simply because of the growth they all went through.

The writing was good, as expected. She has a way of writing that just sucks me into a book and lets me envision myself there, and that’s what kept me dedicated to finishing, even at times where I wasn’t sure I wanted to. If the development and major event happened earlier, the writing quality could even have bumped this up to a 4, instead of the 3.5 it’s currently sitting at.

And god, that major event sure was something! It was unexpected, despite knowing it was happening in some sense due to trigger warnings I saw for the book. It took me completely by surprise and I was even moved to tears in the middle of it. You see, despite the fact that my inability to relate and connect to Andie made it harder to get through, I still felt connected to the rest of the characters. So when a moment( that I’m not giving details about to avoid spoiling the literal turning point of this book) hit, it is happening to characters I’d come to love. Seeing everyone’s character development after this event was also this beautiful thing to see, just letting me adore these well-crafted characters so much more.

The problem was, I associated this book with romantic love, romance. The title and description tell you one part of this story and I let myself get caught up in that. But in reality, it’s a book about so much more. It’s about found family, real family, pure and tumultuous friendships, true dedication and how tragedy can make you think clearer, and be better. Romantic love was still an aspect, but not nearly as important as I’d let myself believe.

I received this book in exchange of a honest review. It wasn't what I expected by reading the blurb, but it was still pretty enjoyable. THE LOVE SONG OF IVY K. HARLOWE is messy because life can be messy and confusing, so I can see how some people will appreciate this story. I think the author has a talent for writing new adult and I look forward to reading more of her work.

Book Review for The Love Song of Ivy K. Harlowe
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Hannah Moskowitz always delivers beautiful books that punch you right in the feels, and "The Love Song of Ivy K. Harlowe" is no different. Andie is 19 and in love with her best friend, Ivy, who has no intention of settling down with anyone—until she does. "The Love Song of Ivy K. Harlowe" doesn't go where I expected at all, but it was a beautiful story about friendship, love, and the things that don't make us broken.

I'm not really sure what to feel about this story. It's got a group of friends situated in a seemingly unhealthy dynamic...I can't put my finger on the exact message this group of ladies was trying to send, but it just felt off.

The character development fell flat for me, I was hoping for more depth. Andie's friendship with Ivy, Ivy's jealousy over Andie's relationship...it was all very dramatic being that this is a 'new adult' title. Sadly, all the characters were just unlikeable for me and because I couldn't really connect with any of them, it was hard to root for a happy ending.

The Love Song of Ivy K. Harlowe is a just-scratches-the-surface, quick read for someone looking for something light to pass some time with. The writing is solid and the story is interesting enough, but I wouldn't recommend this one if you're hoping for some depth as it's just not there.


Thank you Entangled Publishing for the e-arc to read and honestly review.

It wasn't what I expected by reading the blurb, but it was still pretty enjoyable. I am a bit too old to be the target audience, but it did give me brat pack vibes.

I am probably not really the target audience for this, but it was still fun. Well developed characters (and some of their families and friends) -- you could really tell how they would be enough so that when some of them change, it hits home. It seems kind of like a romance novel (or maybe more than one), but various things happen that take it off the rails and I didn't predict the ending, but it was still satisfying.

From the first paragraph, I knew this book would be a good one. I immersed myself into the book from the first chapter and I cannot say enough good things about this book! Honestly amazing! The writing is incredible and the plot is just one to die for. I am absolutely obsessed with this book. My favorite part would have to be the character development throughout the book. Character development is something I look forward to and this book did not disappoint. I am obsessed with the cover to! The feel of the whole book is just my favorite.

I have such mixed feelings about this book that it's hard for me to write this review. There are some things that I really liked, like the queer representation in all the characters and how the author masterfully portrayed the ambiguity of life. What really kept me from fully enjoying this book was that I simply just did not like the main characters. Andie, Ivy, and Dot take their turns engaging in toxic relationship behaviors that left me cringing. I also really disliked that Dot was 17 and still in high school while the other characters were 19-20 and in college. However, the last third of this book tied things up nicely and left me somewhat satisfied with its concluding message.

THE LOVE SONG OF IVY K. HARLOWE is messy because life can be messy and confusing, so I can see how some people will appreciate this story. I think the author has a talent for writing new adult and I look forward to reading more of her work, but this one just didn't do it for me.

This is officially one of my favorite wlw romances.

This book seems extremely shallow at the beginning, the main character is in love with her best friend who spends her time having meaningless hookups with any woman who walks. As it goes on, the story prompts a lot of questions about what love really means and who deserves the love story that they want.

Almost every single relationship in this book is toxic and or unhealthy, but I think it was written well. Andie knows she's treating her girlfriend bad but she can't pull herself out of the cycle she's been in her whole life, Ivy knows she's hurting Andie but she can't bring herself to upset the balance of their friendship, and Dot knows that one day what she and Ivy have will have to change but she is willing to put up with a lot to get the girl she loves.

Life is messy and this book displays that perfectly. I loved this book with all its flawed characters.

This book has high highs, low lows, big feelings...some very real feelings too. It went places I did not expect, and kept me reading without a break till the last page. The characters are young and grating and foolish and likely not for everyone, but they will speak to the messy queers who might need them, to see there's a life beyond the town you were raised in and goals bigger than the next night out.