I will confess that I was really, really disappointed by this book. And not because it's poorly written, but because, for a book that goes out of its way to represent a bisexual woman, the queer community and an open/polyamorous relationship, I often felt like these communities became the butt of a joke. I feel that especially strongly about how the open relationship was depicted.

In many ways, I did enjoy watching Georgina recover from her grief over her father's death, get herself out of a rut in her normal life, rediscover her love for music and come out to herself and the people who love her. The premises for this book were amazing, and a good part of the book was really fun to read, with a tone that reminded me of other queer romcom novels.

But I simply could not get over how often queer women were depicted as stereotypes. While some of the lesbian characters got independent personalities, most of them were reduced to haircuts and items of clothing and a tendency to shout "woke" things at every moment. Additionally, for a book that focuses on a queer community, there was a startling lack of queer people who were in healthy, loving relationships and weren't just sleeping around. This is technically fine, but generalisations about all lesbians being in open relationships are troubling.

There was also a women when Georgina and Doug were discussing opening their relationship where, for some reason, they felt the need to clarify that they would NOT be polyamorous, like other weird polyamorous people they knew. This plays into harmful and hurtful preconceptions about the poly/non-monogamous community, as does the way the open relationship was depicted as making every element of Georgina's life fall apart.

Ultimately, I really could not recommend this book. It was fun to read and the writing was good! But I expect my queer romance novels to do a better job of accurately and compassionately representing the community they're depicting.

4.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for proving me with a copy of this book for review.

This book really took me on a rollercoaster of emotions.

At first, I couldn’t stand Georgina as a main character. She was neurotic and indecisive and terrified of life. She blamed herself for so much that was outside of her control and overthought every aspect of herself and how she presented to other people.

And then I realised that maybe Georgina frustrated me so much because it was like reading a book about myself. Our situation and circumstances might be different, but her anxiety and the stupid, godawful situations that arose from that were painfully relatable. If I were in her shoes, I could see myself making those exact same mistakes.

Watching Georgina really come into herself and work out who she is and what she wants was really great, and I was so happy for her in the end.

I cried, I laughed, I had to put the book down multiple times to cringe, and I nearly threw my Kobo across the room in frustration. I felt all the things and honestly, that’s all I could really ask for in a book.

The only downside for me is the way infidelity and feelings outside of a relationship were approached. I understand complicated feelings were in play, but all the half-truths and sneaking around made me incredibly uncomfortable. It’s not something I look for in a romance book at all.

This book was humorous in places and serious in others but for me sadly it didn’t hold my attention for very long and I just wanted to finish it which I did…

This is quite a good story but Gina/George is so feeble. We know she had a breakdown and is depressed, but her actions are don't always fit. It is like two different people. Her relationship with Doug is so sickly and unrealistic. The teaching, music/band and lesbian scenes are so much more interesting than the parts with Doug. The friendship with Sophie is great too.

Double Booked follows Georgina who is in the her mid twenties when she realises that her lovely life is about to get a serious shake up when she discovers that she is bisexual. Georgina soon splits her life in to two, Gina the happily loved up straight side and George the bisexual/queer side that is learning all about what life could be.

This was a delightfully fast paced read and had some genuine laugh out loud moments. Double Booked is brimming with all manner of representation and I am so glad it exists for everyone who needs some light relief but also to feel understood and accepted in this life.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this book.

I love the premise of this book and couldn’t wait to read it. Sadly I struggled to warm to the characters and found while the story was written well at times it felt a little slow/lagged and didn’t hold my attention.

Cute, funny story with a refreshing mix of laugh-out-loud moments and more serious issues (still handled relatively light-heartedly) such as bi-erasure and bereavement. Some aspects of the characters seemed rather far-fetched, and yet... some of the craziest things were actually so close to my own experiences that I wondered whether they might be based on people I know. So perhaps these characters are simply an amalgamation of various extremely colourful personalities. Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed this, read it in one sitting and chuckled loudly on several occasions.

I was immediately drawn into the main characters life, as I found it really fascinating how they had certain routines and reminders accounting for everyday (and multiple times throughout the day). It made me want to find out more about them.

Once I was immersed into the story, I found it really relatable and modern, delicately handling the mix between humour and serious topics. There were several laugh out loud moments, as well as other that you physically felt uncomfortable.

Overall, this was a joyous book about coming to terms with your sexuality and being your truest self. It is a light and relatively easy read, and has great LGBT+ representation.

💕 Things I loved 💕
* The range and diversity of characters
* All the discussions of queerness and identity
* Georgina’s character development
* How it focused on a mid-20s woman having this identity struggle, rather than a younger teen

🤷‍♀️ Things that weren’t for me 🤷‍♀️
* Some of the miscommunication between the MC and her bf at times
* At times, it did feel like it was written for younger readers (not necessarily a bad thing!)

Thank you to Netgalley, Head of Zeus and Lily London for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The cover of this book is really what drew me in to it, especially the cute little sausage dog! Unfortunately I didn't love the story as much as I loved the cover. This was very close to being a 2 star read, but the ending pulled it back a bit.

So, the things I liked. I really enjoyed quite a few of the side characters, and I especially liked her mum. Their relationship was not perfect but she was there when she needed her and I thought she was a lovely woman. Maybe I also just liked her pet sausage dog. I also really enjoyed meeting a variety of LGBTQ+ characters, although there were a few who were mentioned in the beginning and then never again. Overall I loved the diversity and the important topics handled in this book, although as a straight person I'm not going to say the representation was good or bad because that's not up to me to decide. This book had an interesting plot, I don't think I've read many books where the main plot is the main character questioning their identity.

However, I think my main problem with this book was the main character, Georgina. She was not a good girlfriend, she was not a good friend, and she also wasn't a very good daughter for most of the book. Reading about her decisions and relationships really annoyed me because she really messed up, and I don't think she ended up acknowledging this very much. She was obsessed with her calendar and constantly chose to go home alone rather than go out with any of her friends because she thought they didn't want her there. I understand this to a certain extent but it happened SO many times, and it was all a bit too full of self-pity for me. On the bright side, by the end of the book, she was no longer like this so she did have some character development, but it was hard to get through the first part. I also think most of the book was quite slow, we didn't find out any big plot twists or secrets throughout. I would say that this is more of a 'coming of age' story with an older character than a romance, it was nice but not what I expected.

Overall this was an okay story with a variety of characters, but it wasn't for me. The ending was good and I was happy with it, but the main story was a bit slow.

Reviewing this book it's a bit like being Gina/George and trying to live a double life. So many bittersweet feelings that contradict each other. But I'll try my best.

The main reason why I was interested in reading this book was seeing how the idea of a bisexual woman finally embracing her sexuality while being in a serious relationship with a man was going to be explored. I feel like I often end up not liking stories with gay/lesbian characters that use their partners or other people to find out the "real them". But here there was the option to do things differently, so I was intrigued.

It's complicated to explain some things without spoiling the ending because we get an exposition of Gina as a character right at the end of the book that explains a lot of things. Why does she act the way she does, why does she feel comfortable in her life but still craves something new, ...and I found that a very important conversation to start. But it was gone the second it was brought up because of who the character of Gina/George becomes at the end of the book. A very selfish person, capable of hurting those who love her, on purpose, just because she only thinks about herself. That was very disappointing.

When it comes to other characters, despite their flaws, I liked Soph and Doug. Soph allows us to have a lot of social commentary without it feeling too preachy since her job is literally being a lesbian guru on social media. Some of the comments she made were really nice to read, such as the comments on bi-erasure.

"Bisexual people are the largest group within the LGBT community! But they're routinely erased. They get boxed into one side or the other and stereotyped ad like "indicisive", or "confused"."

It's a shame that her character ends up using some of those stereotypes against her best friend just to hurt her. But given the circumstances, it can be understood in a way.
And then there is Doug. It would be so easy to try and make him the shitty boyfriend who doesn't accept his girlfriend's sexuality. But no, he's no villain. He's understanding and gets himself in situations he is clearly not comfortable in just because he wants to help Gina. Is Gina grateful for it? No. She treats him badly the whole book and the way she reacts to finally being spoken to like an adult by her boyfriend is incredibly childish.
George, more than Gina, is a walking stereotype. I'm not sure if it was done on purpose but some of her actions drove me insane. Some of the things she went through were so relatable but then she always took the selfish and easy route and that was disappointing.
Also, the fact that everyone forgives her so easily is hard to believe and pretty disappointing as well. No consequences for some of her actions? Come on!

All in all, this was a book that had a lot of potential but lost its way at around 70%. I still think a lot of people could enjoy it, though.

This was a fun story of self-discovery, celebrating queerness, and negotiating a changing sense of self. Gina's happy with her settled life and shared calendar until an impromptu trip to queer indie band Phase's show turns everything she's known upside down. It's a modern and funny take on a coming out story and I found it really refreshing to see an older twenty-something character go through this, especially when these tend to skew younger.

A fun Summer read with tonnes of heart, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what Lindon does next!

This book was just the sweetest thing. George/Gina/Georgina is in a long-term relationship with musician Doug (another alias for them: Dougina). Her gorgeous best friend Sophie is a proud lesbian influencer, despite having lost her traditional Caribbean family as a result of coming out. George loves Sophie platonically but has never thought about herself that way until a particularly transformative night at The Glory, where she falls in love with music (again) and a woman (for the first time).

Despite its emphasis on sexuality and dating this is really a book about coming of age and creative self-fulfillment - if she is not making music, George is not fully herself, whether she has a sexy lesbian undercut in her hair or a sexy (slightly lesbian) bob. Full of laugh-out-loud lines (I loved her mum and the sausage dog Bunny - they sound far too much like my mother and her dachshund)! and touching moments, this is a really great addition to the new wave in queer commercial fiction. Hooray for Head of Zeus for getting involved and to Lily Lindon for writing a book which is actually deeper and more satisfying than the blurb suggests!

I cannot praise this book enough!

I initially thought this book was going to be about gender fluidity when I saw Gina would become George but it’s actually about George being the bi side of Gina. This book captures the very real attitudes bisexual people get from others. George feels the strain of not being gay enough but not straight enough either. She has hidden her true self so deeply that she dressed and styles herself how she thinks she should look. This is indeed a journey through coming out and learning how to be bi 100% of the time, which many of us still can’t/won’t for various reasons.

I would love a sequel to this book and I may buy the audiobook version just to make the characters come to life even more.

Cannot wait to read more by Lily Lindon.

Many thanks to Netgalley for this ARC

I absolutely loved this book! It follows musician Georgina on her journey to accepting her bi-sexuality, it shows the good, the and and the ugly. Whilst dealing with these big feelings she’s dealing with complicated emotions and mourning her father. The book truly had me gripped from the beginning, and that ending?! I need another book!

I think it must be my fault for requesting this book. I thought it might be interesting to read, but I found it to be silly, and I didn't take to the main character. Just made me feel old reading it, and bored. Sorry not for me.

This was so immersive, and very hard to put down. It had such warmth, wit and heart. I miss it already.

This was a joyous story of self-discovery and coming out as your truest self. Gina has been living an ordered, straightforward life, with no surprises and lots of routine with her long-term boyfriend, when a random trip to hear a queer indie band triggers a self-awakening of all the parts of herself she's been repressing out of guilt and confusion.

I really enjoyed this story, and the way it explored bisexuality especially. I'm bisexual/demisexual so I identified with lots of the conflicts about being enough of anything to fit into either side.

It's brilliant to have more queer stories to read, and this was a funny, touching, charming story.

Thanks to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book. I loved the bisexual representation, although I didn't love the message that you couldn't be bisexual if you are having a relationship with a member of the other gender. I know Georgia has to live and unlearn that message, but I could not get in her life because she got on my nerves a lot. I liked the writing but I'm sorry, I didn't like the main character nor her best friend.

Thank you to the author, Publisher & Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book.

Lily Lindon tells us the story of Gina/George on her journey of self discovery. Not only with her professional career but with her sexual identity. She embarks on a double lifestyle to try to re-discover her true self, but can you really be two different people without someone getting hurt along the way??

This book is relatable and modern, also moving and funny whilst covering a serious topic. I love reading LGBTQIA books as I truly believe there is still so much hate in the world and people questioning their sexuality need to know its okay to be... all of the above! This book.does just that!

I'm a queer woman who came out in my young adult life and I definitely needed more books like this way back when!
This isn't available in the shops until June 22 but you all need to definitely go pre-order it!

A good attempt at uncovering the dichotomy felt when coming out as bisexual which , even though promising, falls flat. This is definitely a light read which would have benefited from more humour. It offers only a superficial glimpse into the struggle of being bi in a world where it still is regarded as just greediness or indecision. I really wanted to love it but “bi Bridget jones” it is not unfortunately.