I really, really like this book. Four and a half stars.

At first I felt like I was reading an updated, lesbian version of the Brat Pack novels of the 1980s. Everyone was drinking a lot and doing a moderate amount of drugs and almost everyone was having quite a bit of sex and none of it seemed to mean very much. But the more I read, the more it started meaning. The shallow hookups were still shallow hookups but the book itself is about deeper questions. What is a love story, really? How do you figure out who you are and what want and who you're going to be?

At a certain point near the end of the book, it struck me that the title echoes The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, and the narrator, Andie, is trying to figure out whether she's a Prufrock, who the mermaids will never sing for, or if she just hasn't found her story yet. The book also deals with some aspects of what it means to love and support someone with a chronic health condition, though chronic illness is not as central to the book as it is to Moskowitz's Sick Kids in Love.

This book reminded me powerfully of what it's like to be young and trying to answer all those questions and also what it's like to go through life powerfully drawn to someone who is never going to want you the way you want them. It's got a lot of big feelings and I get very invested in how things were going to work out for the three central characters. It doesn't finish with a big happy every after, but I did find myself quietly satisfied.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Teen for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. (By the way, the imprint is Entangled Teen, but I definitely class this as a New Adult novel, not Young Adult.)

I think it's fair to have mixed feelings about The Love Song of Ivy K. Harlowe and the messages it fossilizes. It dishes out a decent chunk of dramatically unlikeable characters and unhealthy dynamics on the cusp of disturbing - some of it downright unreadable without cringing - and it's really in its concluding chapters that anyone is redeemed or their alarming actions/attitudes righted. This aside, it's pretty astute in how it portrays platonic affection and polyamory, the ambiguity of post-high-school paths and the plans and postponed ambitions that its protagonists have to make allowances for, and the ambivalent, amorphous status of partnerships and social pressures for tender-aged adults in the age of Tinder. I think the last third was a tad more enjoyable and truly turned it around for me - at least in edging us towards the light at the end of the tunnel for Andie's enduring enthrallment with Ivy - and the ending energetically tied up loose ends with more thorough tact, but the essence of the Andie/Ivy tensions and the equivocal emotional explosions that weren't tended to 100% left me a little uneasy.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book, all thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled: Teen for kindly passing on this arc! 💫

The Long Song of Ivy K. Harlowe is an interesting premise set alongside a really great flipped plot genre of enemy to friends. Our main character Andie pines for her bestfriend, and opposite Ivy. The characters felt a bit wooden and I would of loved to see the cast of side characters in a bit more depth. The only qualm I faced while reading was Andie's actions felt invasive at times in her obsession with her friend and Dot. It is exceptionally hard to root for Andie and Ivy in this regard.

But life is messy, and this read reflects that reality quite a bit. Overall a nice read with good writing earns a solid 3 stars.

This is exactly what a “new adult” book shouldn’t be for me.

Andie is in love with Ivy, but Ivy doesn’t do love. She hops from one girl to the next, sometimes multiples in a night. That is until Dot comes along. A couple years younger than the main and her obsession. Andie here is the main, book is written from her POV, Ivy her obsession. Dot sort of stalks her way into Ivy’s life and becomes a constant in Ivy’s revolving door of hookups. Andie can’t stand this, she pines and pines of Ivy and sabotages any thing she can have. Andie’s whole life and personality revolve around Ivy, she seems like such an incredible door mat.

Ivy and Dot’s “relationship” develops and they do as well, but remain rather superficial and annoying to me. Andie might be one of the most annoying characters I’ve ever come across. And her parents? I just don’t get how they can be ok with all that goes on under their roof, it’s one thing to be excepting, but quite another to almost be enablers and encouragers. The rag tag group of friends you don’t get to know much about because, as mentions before, Andie’s obsessed with Ivy. This almost feels like some sort of stalker story, but it really isn’t. All I can say is the writing was decent enough but I couldn’t wait for this one to be over and start a new, and hopefully better book for me.

I requested this book expecting it to be a friends to lovers romance. So, it was obviously an adjustment once I realized it was not.
This is certainly a novel approach to best friends to lovers trope. What happens when one of the friends is in love but the other falls for someone else. The Love Song of Ivy K. Harlowe is about more than romance. It is about messy and complex friendships and accepting that sometimes you don't get what you want in life. I really felt for the MC, Andie. Her relationship with her best friend Ivy has always been complicated but gets even more so with the arrival of Dot and she has to watch the girl she loves, fall for someone else. It was painful to see her pine for Ivy. I kinda had a like/hate relationship with Ivy. She sometimes comes off as mean and lacks consideration for others feelings. I liked that the ending was realistic but still hopeful for Andie and her maybe future relationship with Alyssa.
Overall, it was an okay read for me but only because I mostly read romance and expected this to be a best friends to lovers (just like Andie did) So, it was surprising for me to watch it go in another direction, one which I didn't personally love. But the only problem I have is the plotline. The writing was really great and I would recommend it to people looking for something different from the usual romance books.

Copy provided by the publisher, via NetGalley.

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for the arc of this book. All opinions are my own.

When Hannah described this as the great lesbian love story, I was immediately sold. That’s exactly what it was. I fell absolutely in love with Ivy and Andie. What a beautiful journey about growth, love and learning what your limits are.

This book follows Andie as she tries to grapple with her feelings for Ivy and still live her life. When Dot comes on the scene Andie must deal with the fall out as she doesn’t just leave after her night with Ivy. What starts as one story you think is going to happen blooms into something completely different. The journey that Andie goes on throughout this book is such a beautiful mix of self discovery and messy problems. I loved every second of this. It’s such a great story and one that should be told. That life may not always be this grand love story or adventure. You can find yourself in the most obscure places, even when you don’t want to find yourself at all.

Ivy. Oh Ivy. What a joy to watch Ivy transform as well. It was fun and fluid and her relationship with Dot was so cute!! I loved it. It wasn’t this picture perfect thing but it worked for them and that’s so important. Not everything is made the way society wants, but it can still work and that’s how these two were. It was fantastic.

I loved the core group of friends and their ability to be there for one another. Andie’s parents were also incredible. It was like this little found family, mixed with an incredible friend group and growing up. What a book. So, so good!