Full disclosure, I did end up DNFing this book, but I read approximately half of it.

I was really excited about the plot, because I thought it was a new and refreshing idea to see a woman recover from and work through a break up / poor relationship. However, once I started reading it, I was let down by the amount of time spent focusing on said relationship. Additionally, it did not feel like a natural progression from "we are so in love" to "we need to see other people." ESPECIALLY since he actually went ahead and booked a venue. I just...struggled to get into the novel.

One good aspect of this novel was the strong element of friendship. However, I did think there were too many people in the friend group for me to truly connect with anyone or get a good sense of their personalities. I was constantly mixing the friends up.

I did see other reviewers commenting about there being a transphobic comment and I looked for it and saw that the line had been adjusted which I do appreciate. However, I was still upset that this was something that was included in the first place, and I struggled even more to get into the book after that point.

Overall enjoyed. It is a breezy rom com that was quick and fun to read. I liked reading about a character discovering herself.

Thank you to the publisher for granting me access to this one in exchange for an honest review!
I genuinely had a fun time with this one and enjoyed it a lot. I'll get into why I enjoyed it but I feel like this could've all been avoided had only Edi known what did she actually want and started actually saying what she wanted. But then we wouldn't have had this novel so I'm gonna let that slide.
That said, Edi's indecisiveness irked me quite a lot, it seemed like she wanted other's opinions on just about everything so I was truly confused as to why was she even taking any decisions for the relationship at all. I mean she's clearly not the best person for that role. And then there is Rowan, I guess it should suffice to just call him an ar*e and call it a day. I'm very surprised that these two are supposed to be adults and grown-ups. These "flaws" for the lack of a better word, would've been more tolerable if they had been teenagers. I know adults don't always have their sh*t together but these "flaws" weren't technically flaws at all in my opinion. They came off to me as more being immature.
My favorite parts were of course the friendships between the MC and her group of friends, that's the only saving grace of this novel. I enjoyed it solely because most of the novel is just Edi and her friends.
There aren't descriptions of anything, not of places, not of how the characters look, literally nothing. It is all just conversations with some stuff about what that particular character was doing at the moment and that's it. Thankfully, I can't picture characters as real people even if they're described so it didn't put me off but it'll definitely put someone off who can.
I'll still recommend this because the things I didn't like or found irksome didn't actually dim my enjoyment of the happenings.

<i>I received the arc through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

dnf @ 51%.

- heroine is a major doormat

- how can i get to 51% and only have the other love interest pop up on page 3 times? the rest of the time she's vaguely mentioned.

- most of the book focuses on rowan and his many fuckups: he cheated on edi before the engagement, he came up with the idea to 'sow some wild oats' for 3 months <i>after</i> they got engaged (he also lied to his friends and said <i>6 months</i>), he's constantly lying to edi about his dates or how many people he's slept with, and so on. he's a conceited jerk and i can't figure out why the author chose to put him on page so much.

- <b>the cover and summary are wildly misleading</b>: i genuinely thought this was going to be about edi falling in love 30% into the story and living her best life with her new girlfriend and instead i got this weird angst cheating fest with a woman who feels like she's asleep 90% of the time because not once does she think about what she wants or how all of this is affecting her.

- i appreciate female friendship and everything but why did there need to be a 6 friends group? when only two of them are relevant to the plot? aka lilly, the angry feminist who wants to smash the patriarchy and faith, the Lesbian™ - who are such caricatures i can't be bothered to take them seriously. their interactions felt like filler since it didn't enrich the plot or...anything.

- also, that transphobic comment was in very bad taste and we absolutely didn't need it to figure out that woooow, jeremy isn't that nice of a guy and that edi wouldn't want anything to do with him. and she stayed the whole 'date', wth.

Rating: 3/5 stars

Content Warnings: cheating, homophobia

I'm not 100% sure what I was expecting from this book, but it certainly wasn't what I got. This novel follows Edi, who has just gotten engaged to her childhood sweetheart Rowan, when he proposes they open up their relationship for a few months before they get married. Edi is reluctant, but agrees on the basis that her alternative is forever knowing her husband wanted to try dating other people. Though Rowan has clearly only thought about himself with this idea, Edi stumbles upon an opportunity to explore her sexuality.

This was a very middle of the road book for me. I found it to be a relatively easy and fast read. I think my hatred for Rowan and my desire for him to get his comeuppance was largely what kept me reading at a fair pace. For the most part, reading this book was an enjoyable experience. I really appreciated how much emphasis is on Edi's platonic relationships with her friends - arguably this is more central to the story than any romantic connections. I also liked the love interest Fred, who had me swooning at times. I was a little worried at some points that the plot might edge into 'lesbian seduces woman away from her boyfriend' territory, but my fears were unfounded. I actually really liked the way this book ended, I think it made a lot of sense for Edi's character.

My couple little pet peeves were really nothing major. The Break Up suffers a little from millennial pop culture references sneaking in there. The references to specific songs felt a bit pointless most of the time, and the one Friends reference made me roll my eyes, but it was nothing major. I also found that there were a LOT of named side characters to keep track of, and the amount felt unnecessary - definitely some of these characters roles could have been condensed into two or three characters rather than five or six. I also felt some of the plot elements that were introduced but never really went anywhere - like Edi getting a promotion - could have been ditched to make the book less meandering.

Nevertheless, this was ultimately a good read - I always appreciate a book I can read quickly, and this one definitely delivered on that!

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC of this novel.

I got very excited because this is only the second ARC I’ve been accepted for, in exchange for an honest review, and we all love new queer books, right?

But… I don’t know that I loved it. I thought the premise was pretty solid: the story starts out with the happy ending first, as our protagonist, Edi, is engaged to her childhood sweetheart, Rowan. When Rowan suggests they take a break (read: screw around), Edi is thrown for six and falls instead into the arms of the ever- charming museum curator, Fred - a woman. Brilliant - give me women leaving trash men for sexy and mysterious curators any day.

However, I was left pretty disappointed by this book. It was fairly heavily marketed as being a sapphic romance, and while that was an element of the plot, it was much less pivotal than I was expecting. I’ve since read one review that suggested it’s less of a sapphic romance and more of a hetero break up story, and I don’t think I can phrase it better.

Beyond the slightly slow start (if I’d have known I’d have to read that much straight-people drama and not get to the gay love interest until 40% of the way through, I may not have started…) I found the characters pretty underdeveloped. As a novel than focuses on friendships as well as romantic relationships, I’d hoped the supporting cast would at least be a loveable band you can really rally behind and related to. However, with 6 best friends to meet, the reader doesn’t get a chance to know them well, and they lack depth.

Also, I’m not sure if this is my super gay spidey-senses speaking, but wow the red flags the main guy, Rowan, was raising from the outset were visible from space. I know you’re not supposed to like him, but it made me kinda mad Edi put up with him for so long. And again, possibly the lesbian u-haul urge in me, but is it weird that people would get engaged without living together first? It feels weird…

I also found myself super confused over the time period and could not work it out. In one scene, the friends are setting Edi up with an online dating profile - bearing in mind the main characters are supposed to be in their twenties (I *think*?) they were using Facebook and Plenty of Fish, and it made me irrationally mad… These were the go tos in 2010, but not today?! But in the same scene, the mostly-straight friends were also clued up on non-binary identities which like… in 2010, rly?! I don’t even think most straight friend groups *now* would consider much beyond heteronormativity as an option for a previously hetero-presenting pal… (although maybe I’m being harsh, admittedly I haven’t dated in a decade).

I liked the concept, but did not love the execution.

tw: transphobia

First of all, I want to say that I really wanted to enjoy this book, but I am incredibly disappointed by it. From the way it was marketed compared to what the book is about, undeveloped characters, dragged-out situations to the most unfortunate - transphobic lines in the book, and the poor attempt of cover-up.

Now, this book was marketed as a book about finding love after a break-up when you least expect it, and it was implied that it centers on a sapphic romance. Did this book have a sapphic romance? Sure. Was it the main plot point of the book? Absolutely not. I will get more into it, but I want to discuss the transphobic comment I referenced.

When I requested this book on NetGalley, I was very excited to read it. Between that time and the time I received the book, I saw a few reviews referencing a transphobic comment made in the book. The main character, Edi, goes on a date with a man, and while she's there she receives a dick pic from someone on a dating app. Her date notices, she rushes to say that it's obviously not hers (first offense) and her date says something along the lines of 'thank god, because that would be a next-level deception' (even more disgusting). I hope I don't have to explain why this entire conversation is transphobic.

You can imagine my surprise when I got to that part of the book and the date's line read: ‘Well, that would have been a first for me from an online date, I have to say.’. The main character's line, however, remained the same, as transphobic as it was the first time - but now even more highlighted without the date's even worse response. So what I can only assume happened is that because of the reviews, the line was changed. What I can say with certainty, is that it didn't help. Whoever decided on the change either did not understand why the reviewers were calling this out, or simply didn't care enough to do the job right. So not only did they try to sweep this under the rug, but they did it quite poorly.

This conversation brings absolutely nothing to the scene and the story overall, and it could've been completely left out. We were led to believe that the date was not a great guy, so if the point of him being transphobic was to emphasize that, the right thing would've been to have the main character react to what he said - to show that she doesn't agree. By simply changing his line, we are left with a scene that didn't need to happen and the main character's own transphobic line. There was no note in the book indicating and acknowledging the change, and without it this seems like a very poor cover-up, especially as the issue wasn't really fixed and when the reviews directly quoting what was said in the book are available to see.

With all that said, the book suffers from other issues as well. It was clearly marketed wrong, as this wasn't a sapphic romance we were promised. The main character, Edi, is engaged to Rowan at the beginning of the book, and they stay a couple for most of the book. The love interest that was mentioned in the synopsis, Fred, becomes a relevant character only in the second half of the book, and even then she's more of an episodic character and not someone we see a lot of.
The book could've been marketed in plenty other ways as it deals with a lot of topics, such as having (and leaving) a toxic relationship, finding yourself as a person, discovering your sexuality, it explores friendship - but perhaps the issue was that none of these topics was explored very well. They were touched on, but we don't really go into any of them in a substantial way.

The story itself was not my favorite - it is hard for me to see why Edi stays with Rowan as long as she does, he is a very unlikeable character, and it is hard for me to comprehend how their relationship lasted until this point (the flashback show us he doesn't really respect Edi, and the homophobia isn't cute). While I enjoyed the element of friendship with her friend group that part also felt lackluster to me. She has 5 close friends, and out of them, three were completely interchangeable for me. I felt like only Lily and Faith had real personalities, the rest of them were very flat, two-dimensional characters.

The characters often said things that I found very cringy, and some lines sounded like they were supposed to be more profound than they actually were. The feminism referenced in the book is also questionable at best, with Lily being described as having a 'smash-the-patriarchy vibe' and saying that having only one maid of honor is 'just the thing the patriarchy wants'.
The romance Edi has with Fred is fine, I don't have much to say about it, but I am confused as to why it was marketed as being the central part of the book. I would be more inclined to say that the main plot is just Edi figuring herself out. We don't see much of Fred, so we don't learn that much about her.

All in all the characters were flat for the most part, the story was dragged-out and the book was much different than I expected it to be based on the synopsis. There really wasn't much I enjoyed about this story. The transphobia, the attempt at "fixing it", making it worse, and then never addressing it really sealed my disdain for this book. Unfortunately, I would not recommend this book at all.

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

I would like to thank NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

When Edi’s childhood sweetheart and new fiance wants to take a three month break and open their relationship, for the first time ever she’s single. When she meets Winifred, she begins to question her relationship with her fiance, Rowan.

This book was an easy read and a lot of fun. It got me out of a reading slump with its funny side characters, frustrating men and sweet romance. I would definitely say that this book is more about friendship than romance though, so do not go into it expecting that. However, I think the friendships in this book made it more enjoyable and added a great cast of characters for Edi to interact with whenever she needed advice while on her journey.

I would have loved to read more about Edi’s friends and how they all got so close. I also would have liked Edi more if there was more to her. I also would have loved to read more about Edi’s life like her interests, why she had certain insecurities, and why she put up with Rowan, even though she didn’t seem that crazy about him and all her friends didn’t like him. These are small things though.

If you are looking for a fun, easy, romantic comedy about strong and reliable friendships, then I think you should check out The Break Up!

Pacing was awkward, was not the sapphic romcom I was expecting since it’s not really either. Edith and her friend group were definitely the highlight of the story.

Thanks to Netgalley and HQ for the e-ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review.

I usually don't read descriptions of books before reading them, and I think that by doing that I enjoyed this book more than a lot of people - I just knew this book was about a break during an engagement and that it was labeled as f/f.
This is a book about Edi and here fiancé's break, sure, but it's more about her friendships with the girls (though 5 is a big number of friends to try and keep track of), and finding herself. Therefore, if you are looking for the sapphic romance, you might get frustrated - the book isn't focused on that, though we do see it.

I chose this book mostly because of the cover and the prospect of the f/f romance, and I think the cover is kinda misleading - it's a beautiful cover but not the right cover for this book. If the book was described as a self discovery book, the power of friendships, I think it'd be better, and truer to the book's essence. And it should have a cover that's more like it.

Talking about characters, I absolutely despise Rowan and after everything that happened, I can't believe Edi would still call him her best friend or want to keep being friends with him. He's a homophobe and that in itself is a big red flag imo, even if she doesn't identify as a lesbian.

It wasn't the romcom I was expecting, but it was a quick read.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.

The concept of this book, along with it being marketed as a sapphic romance is initially what drew me in. However, the further I read, the more it felt as though the wlw relationship served solely as a vehicle to help Edi break up with her male fiancée - which doesn't occur until around 85% of the way in. The transphobic comment made whilst Edi is on a date also left a foul taste. It occurs whilst Edi is on a date with a man; in the midst of the scene, she receives an unsolicited dick pic from another male. When the guy notices this on Edi's phone, she informs him it isn't hers, to which he replies with relief because that would be a 'next level deception'. Although the guy is painted as an ass from the beginning of the scene, Edi seemingly doesn't bat an eyelid at the transphobic comment, nor is it ever addressed again. I understand wanting to paint a guy as an ass, but I can't see the reasoning behind having a transphobic comment included if it never intended to serve a purpose outside of a throwaway comment. Edi does not address it, and they move on. Transphobia is not the base of painting men with shitty humours, and I see no purpose for it having been included in the first place.

Outside of that, I thought the book was an okay read. Edi's female love interest, Fred, felt as though she had a lot more potential than she was given. There were multiple opportunities to flesh out her character, but they never seemed to come into fruition. The same can be said for hers and Edi's relationship - it's heavily dependent on allusion, and there is little examples of them actually developing their relationship outside of implied developments the readers are left to piece together.

Rowan was an ass from the beginning, but the homophobia portrayed when he found out Edi was dating Fred also fell quite stale. I understand that his reaction to finding out his then ex-fiancee sleeping with a woman is something that occurs in real life, however, I just felt there could've been other reasons for them to come to a breaking point. The inclusion of homophobia and transphobia felt as though the author didn't know how else to steer their experiences outside of reliance on shitty beliefs.

Edi's friendship group were the highlight of the book for me, however a friendship circle of six felt a bit complicated to pick up with at times. The same can be said for Rowan's friends - at times, it felt as though they all blurred into one person I struggled to distinguish.

Overall, I enjoyed the pacing of the book, but I felt there was a lot that could've been improved on. It certainly isn't the sapphic romance that it initially was marketed as, but I appreciated Fred's character nonetheless.

When I saw the premise for The Break Up, I was immediately interested. Especially because I love a sapphic romance.

Edi and her boyfriend Rowan are engaged. He suggests they date other people for three months, just so they can be sure they’re not missing out on anything. And that’s how Edi meets Fred.

My biggest issue with The Break Up is that, as a supposedly wlw romance book, it takes too long for the romance to start. Up to 50% of the book, Edi and Fred meet 2 or 3 times and their interactions were actually very short, so that was a bummer.

Their dates felt pretty rushed too, and it seemed like the author was telling us stuff instead of showing us, which made me not care about them as much. Even though I knew they were supposed to be into each other, I didn’t really feel a connection between them.

Another thing I didn’t vibe with was the fiancé. He’s awful and Edi should’ve dumped him right away. I wasn’t a big fan of her group of friends either, for a couple of reasons. One: who has that many super close friends? Two: sometimes it was hard to tell who each friend was, because there are like 5 of them. Most of the time Edi is with them, and I felt like she was too connected to them to be her own character.

Which leads me to how the story ends: she’s trying to deepen her connection with herself, which is completely fine, but it didn’t make me feel anything, because her friends were involved—which isn’t a bad thing, but since they’re always with her it didn’t feel like anything was different.

I was so excited to read this book, but there was hardly any romance and Eid's relationship with Fred just wasn't it. I expected more of the book to be focused on them, but too much of the beginning of the book was focused on her relationship w Rowan. I liked Edi's relationship with her friends, although i don't think it was necessary to have so many or spend so much of the book focused on them... I found myself confused on which was which, their personalities were basically the same. I don't know the authors background but the whole thing feels like it was written by a woman longing to use her romantic relationship with another woman as an accessory. *sigh* This was not the sapphic romcom i so desperately wanted.

this did not give what it was meant to give and it was very disappointing. the characters fell flat, as did both romances and it was just meh :(

It’s next to impossible to really nail down the essence of this book, because it seems that the author was not sure what they wanted to be writing. The cover shows two women holding hands, and the summary specifically highlights the relationship between the MC (Edi) and the woman she meets on this break, Fred. It’s described as “breathtakingly romantic.” Unfortunately, I could not disagree more.

While seemingly marketed as a f/f romcom, the majority of the book focuses on Edi’s relationship with her fiancé, Rowan. I would estimate 50% of the novel is about them. Another 30-40% focuses on Edi’s friendships within a group of 5-6 other women, who are difficult to differentiate between because their personalities are rather flat in my opinion. The last 10-20% is about her romance with Fred, and the most captivating thing about that relationship is Fred’s attempts at teaching Edi her own self worth, and how to love herself.

I did not find most of the characters likable at all, and no one stood out on the pages. The dialogue was not natural, and the writing was most often only descriptive of the actions taking place to move the plot forward. Throw in a casual dose of transphobia that is never addressed, and this was a one star read for me. All said, I wanted to like this novel, and simply did not.

*Thank you to NetGalley, HQ and HQ Digital Inc. for providing me with this Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review!*

Sum It Up:
Edi and Rowan have been the golden hetero couple since their teens, so it’s only natural for them to be getting married… right? The Break Up by Charlotte Barnes explores what happens when they take a final “break” to explore all their desires before tying the knot for good.

This story of identity, friendship and self-worth was a charming, relatable and fun read. I found myself picking this up each night when I needed something light and entertaining to step into. I really enjoyed the balance between the easygoing slice-of-life scenes and the exploration of gender identity and navigating relationships as they go through major changes.

What Worked Well:
I really enjoyed the way the sapphic romance was written between Edi and Fred. Though some of the interactions were cliché (I’m looking at you, figure drawing class) they still came off as sweet, endearing, and realistic to most queer-panic flirting that happens today! I enjoyed the dialogue between Edi and Fred as well, as it often gave the reader an example of a supportive relationship vs. her conversations with self-centered Rowan.

While I would normally complain about the absence of spice, the fade-to-black scenes in this book were very sweet and kept the focus on the exploration of identity and relationships vs. sexualizing the sapphic relationships.

What Could Be Stronger:
The biggest issue I had with this story was how long it took Edi and Rowan to actually break up! I was prepared for maybe 1-2 chapters of backstory before the big break-up moment, but Barnes gave us almost 20 chapters before the couple actually separates. The chapters are short, but it still felt like there were too many before the story really got interesting.

At points, it felt like Fred was such an unflappable “cool girl” that she became more of a foil to Edi’s character than her own person in the relationship. We needed Fred to see Edi grow, in both her view of herself and her ability to advocate for her needs in her relationships, but I was also hoping for more about Fred to match.

Favorite Quotes/ Parts: Edi and Fred’s first date, the realism of Edi’s feelings after the break up, Edi and Fred in the figure drawing class, and the ending!

Who Should Read This: Fans of Rom-Coms, late in life lesbians, newly queer folks, sapphic readers, people who like sweet stories

So here's the thing about this book... It's not that it's bad, it's actually well written and funny, but I do agree with other reviwers that it's been sold as something other than what it actually is.

That being said, if you're looking for a saphic romcom, as both the cover and the blurb may suggest this book is, you will be disappointed.

Edi and Rowan have been together for their entire life and are recently engaged when he proposes they open up their relationship before getting married. She she meets a woman that makes her question her sexuality and with her five best friends goes on to figure out what all of that means for her.

I think this book would work out much better if it was sold as a the story of their friendship, which is for sure the highlight of the whole thing and Edi growing out of a shitty relationship.

I mean Rowan is the worst type of guy you can imagine (and in 2022!) so I really did not care about him at all and was rooting for their break up the whole time. The female love interest, on the other hand, it's not very well developed and while she's obviously a much better catch then Rowan, it just felt kinda whatever to me still.

Lily, Faith, Cora, Betty and Molly are the only thing that made this book worth for me, so if you're interested in reading something with great female friendship and really funny banter this might work well for you!

But, like I've said before, if you're looking for sapphic romcom, better go elsewhere.

* I got an ARC from NetGalley and HQStories in exchange for an honest review.

2.5


I was very disappointed in this book. I was really hoping for a sapphic romcom and this focused more on the main character's heterosexual relationship. Also there was transphobia towards the beginning with the Jeremy guy. Which I know he wasn't supposed to be likeable but transphobia is gross. Also the whole "are you turning gay" thing left a bad taste in my mouth... Bisexuals exist. And then another trope I hate is the pretty girl who doesn't know she's pretty and puts herself down... Boring.

This book receives a solid 2.5/5, if only because I really enjoyed Edi's friends. However, this book is marketed as a wlw romcom, and it was not. Waiting until the 50% mark for any romance, while Edi's fiance is treating her like dirt and she's just taking it, is genuinely painful to get through. If I weren't reading this to review, I would have DNF'd around 20%. However, I do think this could be saved by better marketing this book (and thus helping the reader's expectations so they are not blindsided like me when reading) as a book about a breakup, and a later-in-life coming of age story with strong female friendships.

Overall, a well-written, well-developed story of Edi, with strong characters who I really enjoyed (though I do think her friend group could use an edit, there were a lot of names to keep track of), I just found myself wanting more of the sweet sapphic romcom this cover and description led me to believe it was.

I thought I was going to like this one, but I was wrong. I had a hard time reading it and keeping up with the story. I was feeling like I was reading the same things over again. Edi going out with the girls, seeing Rowan from time to time and sometimes Fred. One chapter was about her getting the promotion, but this felt like something forced, like she didn't even have the job the whole book.
I liked the girl friend group Edi had, even though some of the scenes were a bit cringe. Edi was an okay character, but I felt like I was missing most of the things in the book like her relationship with Fred. I wanted to read more about her thoughts and feelings, both for her relationship with Fred and Rowan. Like this great first love with Rowan, why is it so special? Why and what does she exactly feel when she's with Fred? The whole plot about her turning out bisexual was okay, but I just wanted to read here too more of her thoughts. I got the feeling like Edi was missing a lot of things for the reader to connect with her.
I just didn't like the book and the writing. (even though Little Mix was mentioned three times)

NetGalley thank you for the free ARC!