Unfortunately, I didn't like this one and struggled to finish it. I think Can't Resist Her had a great premise and some interesting moments, but I thought the characters, the dialogue and the chemistry were not fleshed out enough and the writing never quite came together to make this a compelling romance. It's a shame, because I would've loved to add this to my shelf.

Summer Graves returns to her hometown of Austin, Texas, determined to save her grandmother's high school from demolition, facing off against the progress-driven Aiko Holt, a local on the architectural team. Sparks fly as they confront their shared past, including a memorable senior-year dance kiss. Despite their opposing views on neighborhood development, their unresolved passion reignites. As they navigate their differences, Summer and Aiko must decide if their love can withstand their conflicting ideals and rekindle amidst heated debates.

I think this is an it's not you it's me problem with this author. I think she's talented but every time i try one of her books i never make it far. I always get very bored, very quickly.

DNF Feb 1st at 40%. I didn’t feel chemistry between the characters and wasn’t believing it was all from one encounter many years ago. It all fell a bit flat for me. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook to review.

Thank you NetGalley for an e-arc. I wanted to love this sapphic, black romance but ultimately the writing and story fell short for me. Hoping for great things from this author in the future.

Absolutely in love with this cover but after months of having this book in currently reading, I finally give up.

This author's writing style is not for me and the characters lack a lot for me to actually connect to them. Thus, I'm not really rooting for their romance.

DNF 42%

I am just so bored. It’s mostly that contemporary romances are harder to keep my brain engaged, and even listening via audio I’m just, meh. I do like the characters, though I do feel like some of Summer’s “this is all gentrification” is an oversimplification, but I could also be way off the mark with that interpretation. I think right now I’m just not the right audience though I may come back and give this another shot at a later date.

I tried to like this one but it just wasn't for me. I had to DNF. I had a lot of hope going in but it fell flat for me. I considered pushing through but a couple of my friends who have read it didn't love it so I decided to not finish.

DNF at 30% unfortunately this book was very preachy in the political view sense. The romance was like warm. I just couldn’t be bothered to keep reading.

Thank you NetGalley for an e-arc.

I wanted to love everything about this book but unfortunately the characters fell flat. The dialogue between them didn’t feel real enough for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

I wanted to love this book so much. It was a sapphic Black story with an interesting plot and beautiful cover - how could I not like this?
Unfortunately the story fell flat and was dull at times. I think this book had a problem with the pace and had I not had an ARC I would have DNF'd this sooner than I did. The dialogue was very awkward and artificial and didn't fit with the narration. I think this book has potential but it needs more work. Reading this almost put me in a slump. I couldn't connect to the characters and I had to DNF.

Thank you to the publisher for my copy!
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I have thoroughly enjoyed this book and I already gave copies to friends! Would highly recommend to everyone!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced reader's copy and the opportunity to read this early. Review has been posted on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

This one had such potential, and just fell short. I felt like it included a lot of stereotypes, and not a lot happened within the plot.

This book was… kind of all over the place. But also, somehow, very little happened.

The main romance was between Aiko and Summer, who shared one anonymous kiss in high school and have been thinking about it (obsessively, and kind of weirdly?) ever since. They re-unite and fall head over heels in love, despite disagreeing over the ethics of gentrification.

And that’s basically all that happens. They fall on different sides of a re-building project, which is the only conflict for the entire book (and it’s resolved alarmingly easily). The dynamic between them, specifically the way Aiko thinks and talks about Summer’s body, made me very uncomfortable. By the second half of the book I was rooting for them as a couple, but for the first half I couldn’t see why they were well-matched.

There was so much scope for the town and people to be better fleshed-out. Summer would be having a heart-to-heart with someone in the final chapter who we are told she has known for her whole life, but has only appeared at this moment. Other characters only appeared when they specifically serviced the main story, so it felt like they existed in a vacuum.

I also found myself cringing at the way some of the straight characters discussed things like coming out (but not in the way you might think!). For example, when Summer recalls how she told her dad she had a crush on the first time, and he responds with fondly remembering how happy he was that she felt comfortable to tell him. That’s not how anyone talks! It felt a little too textbook, and jarred with the rest of the scene.

There was a lot of potential in this book, but ultimately very little of it was realised.

I received a free copy for review. All opinions are my own.

I wanted to love this one a lot more than I did. I just couldn't get behind the couple. It does do what it says on the tin though

I do like a second chance romance and Aiko…damn. (sizzle)

Kianna Alexander creates a stem that made me sit up and take notice. I want an Aiko…pretty please.

Can’t Resist Her not only brings together Summer and her high-school crush Aiko, but talks about an all important issue today: gentrification. Though from Aiko’s point of view, we are also talking about urban renewal and development. I found this conversation to be fascinating because I see both points of view. It’s hard to know what to do in these circumstances as I watch stores close and none move in to fill their empty places. As downtown areas become deserts and malls become parking lots.

I love the heat and toys brought into play between the two women. Alexander brings lots of spice to the pages.

My only real issue with the story happens early on when Aiko is deciding what to do about her job and whether to pursue Summer. I’m not a huge fan of the thought process and I have to admit it turned me off to the whole relationship. This is just a personal reflection and has nothing to do with the writing or the story. Sometimes our personal life can’t get separated from what is on the page.

The conversations about community, urban renewal versus gentrification, and of course the steam between Summer and Aiko kept me entertained. Can’t Resist Her gives us a stem to remember.

I received a free copy of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.

DNF at 40%

This came down to the characters not feeling multidimensional. The author had an excellent idea but the book needed polishing before publishing.

Thank you to Netgalley and Montlake for the ARC.

In this Cinderella-esque second chance romance, two girls meet at a high school masquerade dance just before graduation. One wears acrylic, glass-like shoes and kisses her princely crush even as her mask keeps her own identity secret. She flees, leaving an earring in her wake. Summer keeps the remaining earring on a necklace as a reminder of that night, while Aiko holds onto the lost one as her own memento. They meet again fifteen years later in their high school gym just before it's scheduled to be demolished. Aiko sees the earring around Summer's neck, and they pick up where they left off with a coffee date and all the sizzling chemistry of their youth. The only problem? Aiko works for the architecture firm designing the new building for the school property. And Summer is leading the protests against destroying the high school her grandmother founded.

In addition to giving us a love story between two Black lesbians (Aiko is also API) in a genre that doesn't tell enough of their stories, this book offers discussion about gentrification through Summer and Aiko's battle for the school property. Like many queer stories in the real world, this one has both joy and pain. Aiko was a popular student athlete in high school, but her more masculine fashion sense marked her out, and she felt isolated despite her social circle. Meanwhile, Summer came out to her grandmother first because that was her safe, trusted adult. In the present, she is estranged from her mother due to her lack of support for Summer's identity. Her father and sister are accepting, and we see her mother start to make amends later in the story. The joy comes from Summer and Aiko's time together, the connection they forge, and the ways they express themselves with confidence as adults.

Despite the promising premise, I had several issues with the book. The first thing to strike me was the writing. Conversations are stilted, and the dialogue on dates reads like a series of interview questions, lacking back-and-forth banter or the joys of discovering one another. Details are announced rather than rounding out a scene, including exhaustive lists of clothing worn, foods eaten, and roads taken rather than a meshing together of sensory information or prioritizing the most striking bits.

The final act breakup was also frustrating to me, an area that can make or break a romance story. It rubbed me the wrong way that people in both Aiko and Summer's lives acted like they couldn't figure things out because of their different opinions about the school. It bothered me because the conflict is not necessarily indicative of deeply incompatible values since Aiko is mostly on board with construction insofar as she needs to keep her job to pay for her mother's medical care. She otherwise listens to Summer and values her point of view. And how is compromise not considered as a possibility by anyone (personally, not in terms of values)? Only after the breakup do family members wonder why they were both so either/or about the whole thing and ask them (mostly Summer) to interrogate the reasons for their actions.

Finally, and this is a big one for a teacher, the way schools are handled in the story was a major issue for me. So Summer is a preschool teacher. And A) she works for a private school even as she runs around as a card-carrying liberal agitator and B) the high school she's trying to save is a charter school. Her view is that public school is impersonal and about "progress," so she feels she will make a bigger impact teaching in a private school. Wut. She talks about how she interviewed at private schools that were part of "chains" (yay capitalism at work) and prefers a sort of boutique operation that doesn't pay her as well. Cool. To be clear, I get why families might feel motivated to seek out better school options for their children as school funding disparities impact their communities, but for a teacher not to see how school "choice" further damages the education ecosystem with prohibitive hefty pricetags is beyond me. At least she gets called on it halfway through by Aiko, and we later learn that she is experiencing some repressed guilt about her decision to go private (but not before she tells Aiko she doesn't get to have an opinion about schools because she's not a parent). Despite this revelation, there's no further conversation about it, and it doesn't seem to impact her decisions going forward. The whole debate is just dropped. In addition, the gentrification conversation has a rushed resolution. I admire what the book has to say about creating community spaces, but I despair at the message that personal appeals will sway businesspeople towards socially conscious action. Call me a cynic.

This story is hot and steamy and could be a fun romance for many readers. It's also set in Austin, TX and has plenty of Texas vibes and attitude.
The plot wasn't hitting beats for me personally and I struggled to engage with the main character, but I would recommend this novel for readers who want Sapphic fiction.