Thank you to Amy, Kensington Books, and NetGalley for an early copy of For Her Consideration in exchange for an honest review!

3 Stars // Overall, I liked this book. However, I'm not sure it'll ever be on my "Top Queer Books to Read" list. For me, the secondary characters carried this book entirely. I LOVED THEM and honestly, still think about them. THEY made this book amazing. On the other hand, I really struggled with the main character and the storyline lacked any real punch for me.

Things I Loved:
-Ari, Lorna, and Nina's entire chosen family. They were all so joyful, inspiring, supportive, funny, and just overall incredible. I'm honestly sad I'll never get to meet any of them in real life.
-Steve, the cat. 😊
-The representation. (Race, gender, body type, mental illness)
-The body positivity.
-The celebrity trope!

Things I Struggled With:
-The main character, Nina Rice. I just found her to be incredibly lack luster, immature, uninspiring, and I couldn't relate to her tactics for dealing (or not dealing) with things at all. When she ceases communication with the amazing people in her life not once, but TWICE I wanted to scream.
-I wish we had an Ari POV. I think I'd believe the romance and feel the chemistry more. I was never quite sure what Ari saw in Nina. 😬
-Ari calling Nina "Nina Rice" the ENTIRE BOOK. Do people actually do that? Call loved ones by their first and last name always?

I wish I could rate this higher, but it just lacked a bit for me. That said, that was MY personal experience. There were so many incredible aspects of this book and if it intrigues you, I recommend you read it!

I want to preface this review by saying that I completely misinterpreted the first sentence of the blurb about the book. I thought that Nina was literally going to write a script and cast Ari and herself as the leads in her pilot. Cut to me being incredibly confused for the first third of the book. Once I got over my own, self-imposed, confusion, I thought the premise of the story was cute. I liked the characters. I loved how the 12-point list was always looming over Nina and the readers’ shoulders until we finally read all 12 points at the brunch in suburbia. A few things of note that I wish were a little different. I did not pick up on Nina really wanting to be a screen writer, like at all until maybe a third of the way through the book. Then, I felt like it was talked about constantly until the dreaded email and then not really that much throughout the rest of the book- it just seemed like an afterthought. I wish her desire to be a screenwriter was threaded through the story a little more, as opposed to the peaks and valleys. Additionally, I thought the story dragged between the dreaded email and when Nina has her life altering conversation with Lorna. This slow-paced portion of the book made the last bit feel incredibly fast, and almost rushed. I just felt that the pacing of the book was a little inconsistent which made the specifics of the narrative hard(er) to follow. All of this to say that at the end of the day, this was a good, entertaining, and representative sapphic rom com. I would love to see how people from LA and the surrounding area feel about Joyce’s hilarious jokes about how the suburbs of LA are like years and years away from society and North Hollywood is much much too far.

This was such a great story! I love a book that takes place in Hollywood and this was so fun. It gave me Casey McQuiston vibes while I was reading, in the best way. I found this was an easy, feel good story that also talked about tough topics. This author was new to me and I can't wait to read her other work!

A romance where a Kristen Stewart-ish stand-in falls in love with a screenwriter might as well be made for me. I'm happy to report that Amy Spadling's first adult romance deserves an Oscar...if they gave Oscars to books.

This was a very charming, very cute queer romance, with beautifully fleshed-out characters (including a fantastic plus-size lead!!), excellent subplots, and a really strong character voice, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

This hit basically everything I like in a romance: great character development, leads with good chemistry and a compelling relationship, a lovely supporting cast, and a well-done, realistic and reasonable conflict. This is the only "celebrity romance" I've ever read, but I thought that that aspect of the plot was handled really well; our POV lead is neither completely unaffected nor completely overwhelmed by her love interest's very public job, which felt like an excellent middle ground, on what I can only imagine is a difficult line to walk. And this is, I think, the first F/F romance I've read with a plus-size lead, which was amazing. 10/10, no notes.

My one complaint is that the platonic friend-group/found-family subplot felt a little unrealistic and too easily-resolved; no spoilers, but I think there should have been a little more conflict before that worked out, given the circumstances, and it took me out of the story a little bit (since I found myself thinking about it).

Definitely recommended, and I really hope we get more romance from Amy Spalding in the future!

Thanks to Netgalley and Kensington books for an ARC of this title!

i was so excited to read this one but i’m so disappointed. This story felt very repetitive to me. I felt it was dragging on and it didn’t keep my attention. The relationship between Ari and Nina, I didn’t feel a connection at all. 1.5 ⭐️

Nina's last relationship ended with a list of ways she was toxic and would drive everyone away from her. Three years later Nina has sequestered herself away from almost everyone. Suddenly her friends push their way back into her life and she starts building a relationship with a client. Nina believes she shouldn't date or be friends with people, and she knows she shouldn't date a client, but it feels so good to be social again, even if Nina always has one foot out the door. Can Nina overcome her past in order to embrace a future?
This book was so much fun and also so deep. I really enjoyed the writing and the characters and will be looking for more work from this author.

Loved this!! It was like an episode of The L Word, but less dramatic, lol. Nina’s friends were lovely, and her relationship with Ari was perfection. Oh, and don’t even get me started on Lorna and her ladies!! ❤️ Nina herself was a great character as well, although it’s always frustrating when a character believes so little in themselves. Taylor really broke down her self esteem to the point where she was sabotaging everything around her, so it was great to see her friends, family and Ari help to show her how to value herself. I thought this was really well written, and I highly recommend it!

This was a cute premise and I really liked the characters but the level of quality of the writing just didn’t do it justice.

It wasn’t explicitly bad or anything, it just kind of had that “it’s hard to put my finger on why this is only okay and not great, but I know the difference when I see it” feeling. There were a couple places where I had to re-read a sentence a couple of times because I wasn’t sure if there was a typo or word missing or it was just a weird sentence. So a bit more slow-moving than I usually like my books.

The best part of this story is the MC’s vibrant group of friends. They’re loud and demanding but loving and fiercely loyal. Nina has a fabulous blood relative too- Aunt Lorna, an aunt everyone will wish they had. Another character I enjoyed- the elusive Steve, the cat- very creative. There were a few things though that didn’t work for me. First, I thought it was way too long. The end picks up a lot though with self revelations. This book is definitely a giant ad for therapy and I felt sad for Nina coming out of her break up at the beginning of the book- in some ways what happened to her and how she processed it was realistic, but at times it got very frustrating- especially in her new relationship. The third act break was especially frustrating and the resolution was too swift. Another thing that I found challenging was that a lot of scenes dropped off as they climaxed. The book was mostly body positive but at times I wasn’t entirely sure it was. The chapter headings are foreshadowing which is kind of fun and kept me reading. And I did believe the romance, though the focus of the story is Nina’s journey and her wonderful friendships.

Thanks to Netgalley and Kensington Books. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

Short summary: 3 years after a devastating break up that leaves Nina isolated and insecure, she meets and starts falling for her celebrity crush- quirky, lovable, Ari. Can she overcome her feelings of inadequacy and worse, being cursed, and let Ari in?

Nina works with an agency providing media services to celebrities- like responding to their emails. Ari Fox is one of those celebrities but she believes Nina’s responses are not ‘real’ enough so she asks for a meeting.

It’s a good story, with a slow start, an excellent middle and great finish. It’s not just rom com-y but it deals with self worth, body positivity and how toxic relationships can affect a person.

And a special mention to Steve and his appearance.

Free ARC via NetGalley.

Thank you to Kensington and Netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very fun romance, with realistic well written characters, and a pretty fun premise. I liked it a lot, but I think that it started slightly too slowly and ended slightly too abruptly.

This is such a beautiful story about a heart broken women who has to learn that she isn’t a ticking time-bomb like she feels she is. At first I wasn’t sure how I felt about the heartbreak and her response but it slowly started to come together and I understood why she reacted the way she did.
I think this is just such a cute lesbian romance and had such a good time falling in love with the characters and their friends and family too. I absolutely love Nina’s friend group and her aunt. The part where bianca express’s her anger at nina for disappearing, Nina finally realizing she is deserving of love and the life that she wants. It’s so beautiful.

What this story did best was overall positivity is subtle woven throughout without ever making it part of the plot. Body positivity for all is a key element but there is also a lot of respect show towards different orientations, wile still keeping it grounded in a realistic world setting.

For Her Consideration gets off to a pretty slow start that definitely is a friend ship first relationship ; not too slow but definitely not the speedy highlight reel that is most rom coms. As a story filling the gap in the market it works pretty well, but it just wasn't my favourite romance. Everything about it was enjoyable but not memorable.

For Her Consideration is a fun, easy read. The plot was cute, and I enjoyed reading about Nina and Ari. I do wish that the romantic connection between them would have been a little more developed in the beginning because their relationship does change abruptly. However, I enjoyed the romance, and their banter was fun. I do have some concerns about the conflict and the quick forgiveness/resolution towards the end of the book, but ultimately I do love a happy ending. The secondary characters like Nina’s aunt, Lorna, and her friends, who all really continued to love and support her when she was going through it, were great additions to the story.
3.5 stars

Pub Date: 02/28/23
CW: anxiety, alcohol

My absolute biggest thanks to NetGalley and Amy's publisher for approving me for an eARC.

Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh myyyyyy goshhhh. I have no words for the excitement I had when this title hit my inbox. It was such an easy read I flew through the pages without even realizing it. I loved this book and Nina was such a relatable character. I loved Ari and how the girls didn't play around with the whole "I like you, you like me" thing. Ari wasn't some kind of bitchy superstar and Nina wasn't one of those annoying fangirls. They were just two humans who liked each other and had some issues they had to work through.

It was such a relatable story and while I usually don't read romances, I totally, obviously, made an exception for For Her Consideration and I am so glad I did. LGBTQA+ romances are some of the best to ever be written and I am forever thankful to have been able to read an ARC of this book.

4/5 stars

I really really liked this one! Reading Nina and Ari's love story by the pool was so so lovely. I loved the hints of midwest humor and the commentary on suburbia. Overall, I loved watching Nina return back to her relationships with her friend group post-breakup, it made my heart feel so warm. I do wish that we would've gotten Ari's POV, but this book was so good without it!

This missed the mark for me. A lot of it was due to the awkwardness of the writing. This story absolutely would have been better if it wasn't first person because it made the awkward writing so much more visible.

The sheer ridiculous number of times that the word "scent" was used or thought about bypassed anything resembling cute. We get it , she smells nice. Nina didn't read like a 30 year old and if the ages had been reversed it would have made more sense to me.

The plot hinging on Nina just ceasing to communicate with everyone after a comment from ex felt a bit hard to believe when you have to wrap your head around everything else in the story.

I think with a bit more editing and evaluation this book stands to be incredible but as it is now, the characters are lovable and the plot was cute but didn't hold up next to the repetitive and sometimes immature and sloppy writing.

THIS. WAS. SO GOOD. My favorite sapphic novel since Delilah Green, and very different. Snappy and well thought out and excellent.

I got stuck at the airport for almost 10 hours… but this book really made it not so bad. I’m sure I was blushing and making funny faces but I couldn’t help it! For Her Consideration is the perfect romcom. Sweet, spicy, relatable, and cozy. I love the plus-size and mental illness rep. I will definitely add this to my bookshelf and look forward to recommending it to many friends!