This book was a little different from what I expected. The courtship was a little slow and repetitive at times. I think I was probably not the target audience. I wish I had enjoyed this a little more so that I could have provided a more full-length review for the book.
There are peacocks that start a conversation and it becomes the way for a new relationship to be forged between two reasonably lonely women.

Peacocks Everywhere
Librarian Adrianne stays with her grandfather, Pops, on weekends to help him out with whatever he needs done. The houses around his have a bunch of peacocks that the poor woman hates and does her best to drive them off. Casey is a transplant from Mississippi, lives on the south side of the neighbourhood with the same house number as Pops so she often drops off mail that has been misdelivered. Their first meeting isn’t at all smooth but eventually they get the hang of things. Along the way dogs are adopted, friends are made, relationships healed, and of course there are the peacocks and more peacock drama!

This is a sweet and engaging romance between Adrianne and Casey. Watching them fall for each other was the highlight of my week! They are adorable and fun. I liked watching Casey and Adrianne learn to communicate as they work around her autism. She wasn’t shy in letting Casey know what she needed but at the same time it was a struggle for her to express herself without accidentally hurting Casey’s feelings. It was a balance that was interesting to see. Casey had a lot going on with her schoolwork and career aspirations versus what her parents had planned for her. Shes finally far enough away from them to be able to live out even though they insisted she go to a school where that is taboo. Learning about how disruptive peacocks can be was something I never put ant thought into but I can see how they would drive a person batty and made me really grateful there are none here! I really enjoyed this book and will be looking into other books from this author!

thank you to the publisher and net galley for an eARC of this book!

2.75, rounded up to 3

unfortunately, this book fell flat for me. the characters fell flat to me and the book struggled to hold my attention. I only made it halfway through and decided to DNF. I was really sad because I did love the plot line and the exploration of neurodiverse characters. this wasn't for me, but I hope others enjoy it!

A really lovely book that futures a sapphic romance and a neurodivergent character. Casey and Adrienne's first meeting is not getting them off to a great start, but with peacocks running amok, a meddling grandfather and a few more chance encounters they do slowly start to form a bond. Apart from the romance there's no real other plot but I have enjoyed myself reading about their journey and I liked the amusing situations they found themselves in. It was a light, fluffy, romantic read which is great for when you want to pick up a low angst book.

***Thank you Netgalley and BellaBooks for giving me the chance to read and review this book ***

This book was a hoot and a half. Adrienne Stecher grew up with her father and grandfather. Also, with many peacocks who roam freely in the neighbourhood. They are Adrienne's bane of existence. After college Adrienne moved to the city. She visits her grandfather regularly and tries to get the peacocks to leave their house and garden alone.
The fact that Adrienne has autism makes that she is not always aware of how her actions affect others.

Casey lives close by and works as a pet groomer while half-heartedly attending college to please her homophobic parents and to be able to live rent-free.

Adrienne and Casey meet during one of Adrienne's ill-fated attempts to shoo the peacocks, They bond over their like and like of the peacocks. Throw in Adrienne's stubborn but lovable grandfather and one over-excited dog and the chaos is complete.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

A wonderful tale of opposites attracting. Through in a lovely grandfather and neuro divergence and we have a winner. I so enjoyed the time taken to develop each character as well as the romance. I recommend this one sitting read to all.

It took me a long time to read this book (not because it is not well-written) but the characters weren't people I found myself investing in. I appreciate reading something unique and anyone neurodivergent will always make you look at your life through a different filter. So many moments I related with the leading lady, how they processed an event, how navigating social norms is a hardship at times, how miscommunications are inevitable, how moments can become overwhelming if approached in the wrong mindset, but neither leading ladies jumped off the page to pull me in. Maybe it was my mood, not sure. It is a cute read and I wonder about Floridian peacocks and their noise pollution, but maybe this book is not my cup of tea.

What a light and fun read. The peacocks and how the situation was handled was entertaining. Adrienne Stecher, lives with ADHD and autism. She works at a library after graduating from college. On weekends Adrienne goes "home" to visit and spend time with her grandfather. She also seems to have a good relationship with her father. Those are the two men that raised her after her mother left the family. Casey Knight, college student not happy with going to school because she wants a career as a groomer and that is her current job. One weekend when Adrienne is home, she meets Casey and the first interaction does not go well.

Casey is a very caring and a likeable person with a good heart. Casey along with Pops are so awesome with Adrienne. Pops has interacted with Adrienne for years and Casey is learning more and more with each time they are together. There is not much drama. The main focus is on each of their families. Casey, Southern Christians and pretty small minded. On the other hand, Adrienne's family is right there being supportive as well as encouraging. I really appreciated that Casey and Adrienne communicated well although at times it made either woman cringe.

Do I want to be happy or do I want to please my family? My response is, why can I not do both.

Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, I think that was fun. I had a few issues but not enough to detract from the book as a whole. I think this would a good addition to a collection that had similar titles.

Adrianne meets Casey in a beautiful love story. The plpo0tm involves how two people overcome their inhibitions about relationships and l0ve to0 find each other, I found the characters very well written and the use of Peacocks very good. I re4commend this book for all romance readers

Casey Knight moved to California to study, actually her strongest motivation was leaving behind her family who just never accepted the fact that the beautiful daughter they raised was a lesbian. So her family believing she was happy to be attending religious university where they hoped she’d find her way back to them,, leaving her lesbian ways behind. But Casey was determined to stay right where she was. Here she’d found the career that made her happy, grooming dogs.
Adrienne Stecher was doing her best keeping herself in the moment. Having autism had placed on the spectrum she was happy with. She had gone to university, which was a huge accomplishment . Dealing with the noise, smell and actions of others was work for her. Having a GF just wasn’t something she envisioned for herself. Not many could deal with her, or so she thought. Raised by her father and grandfather, living in her Grandfather’s home brought her some peace.
Working at the library and having her own apartment meant so much for Adrienne. She visited her GF often and would actually enjoy staying with him more if it weren't for the number of peacocks that made the community their home. Noisy, dirty, stinking birds she couldn’t keep off her granddads property. Casey on the other hand loved everything about them, seeing as she only saw them when she dropped off mail for Marv. That was how she and Adrienne met.
Ms Laine Villeneuve has written some books that I really enjoyed but this book is by far the best book. Characters dealing with autism and relationships, while remaining a fun read is something I could never hope to do. A Very, very wonderful read.
ARC via NetGalley/ Bella Books

An interesting well thought out romance between Adrienne, a woman who is on the spectrum of neurodiversity and Casey, who has moved far away from her homophobic family. Set in a very small town in California, near to LA but quite old fashioned in its outlook, with a flock of Peacocks and Peahens that drive Adrienne mad. The other main character is Adrienne's grandfather, a lovely gentle but stubborn man. I really enjoyed the story of all the main characters and how they interact together, the connection between Adrienne and Casey builds slowly before really catching fire in a realistic way, with communication that can be rare. An engaging story, well told by an author who is also neurodivergent and therefore understands what she is writing about.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

*Thank you NetGalley and Bella Books for this ARC*

A sapphic romance with neurodiverse representation? I knew I had to read this and i’m very glad i did.
Was it the best romance book i’ve read? No. But it was a strong introduction to Villenueve’s writing. I also am really glad she didn’t shy away from saying lesbian or autism or ADHD, so many books skirt around the edges of being upfront with marginalised identities.
I really related to Adrienne a lot and found her romance with Casey to be really sweet. Casey also had such a hot attitude I loved her!
There wasn’t really a plot beyond the romance which is fine but it would be a more fun read if there was a bit more of a throughline: i think it was attempted in the peacock plot line but it just missed the mark.
I had some issues with the writing style: it felt quite juvenile and like it needed a couple more edits. The jumping from first to third person between POVs felt weird, i think sticking to one would have improved the flow. Probably third person, tho i appreciate it might have been easier to write adrienne’s sections in first. I did get used to this about half way through. Tense was sometimes inconsistent and information was sometimes given more than once unnecessarily.
There were also a couple of weird sentences describing poc characters? I’m unsure about them and i’m not qualified to dissect them: maybe a sensitivity reader could help.
Overall it was a decent read.

Adrienne does not like peacocks and in her efforts to keep them away from her grandfathers garden manages instead to attract a brightly colored human called Casey instead. 👀

This is the first time I’ve read a romance with a neurodivergent MC and I really liked how the entire romance unfolded. I think the “first person” narrative switch for Adrienne was a really smart decision. It gave readers the ability to proxy-experience the torrent of feelings that someone who is neurodivergent faces on a daily basis and it really gave insight into Adrienne’s thoughts and emotions.
I also loved Casey’s character’s generosity of spirit and patience. Casey and Adrienne’s back and forth with all of her “unfiltered” moments was both funny and incredibly sweet.

The peacocks feature prominently in this narrative which brings out loads of funnies, but separately, I think they serve as an excellent metaphor for how quickly we can be affronted when someone does not align to a certain PoV rather than take the time to understand them deeper.

This was a really cute and quirky low angst romance that kept me highly entertained.

Thank you NetGalley and Bella Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Really good book. I loved the relationship between Casey and Adrienne it was very sweet and eye opening at the same time. Adrienne who's a librarian meets Casey one day while trying to discourage the peacocks in her grandfathers yard to stay away by setting up a sprinkler system that inevitably doesn't work on the birds, but gets Casey instead and this is where their relationship begins. This story was equal parts funny and sweet in all the right places. There are some drama filled moments, especially, because of the ADHD and autism that Adrienne deals with every day. Casey to me was really well written, because you could tell that she really paid attention to Adrienne from the beginning and picked up on her unique character traits by paying attention to all the emotional, and unemotional moments that brought them together. The supporting characters were great as well and made this an even more enjoyable read. I would definitely recommend this book to my friends and family and I look forward to what's next from this author.

I found it very refreshing and interesting to read a book where one of the main characters is autistic. I have no idea how accurate the depiction was from a POV standpoint, but I felt like Adrienne was realistic enough. I also have to say, I agree with her on the peacocks. I don't care how cute they are - if they kept me from sleeping for 6 months, no way would I not be trying everything to keep them away from my house!

I loved Casey especially. Rainbow hair and all. She just seemed so calm and willing to listen and figure Adrienne out. She never got overly emotional with how difficult she could be. It was just her, in Casey's eyes, and she loved it all. Very sweet. Way to stand in line!

Overall this book is really just about Adrienne letting her guard down and Casey waiting for her in the kindest way. Not overly dramatic or angsty (except with the peacocks) so it's what I would call a sweet read.

This was mellow and easy. I loved how I was able to pace myself. And though it was not an all-consuming love affair where the characters go crazy, where there’s some massive upheaval and grand gestures, this was just as interesting and sweet in its simplicity. The funny moments were a bonus, and it was entertaining to learn a bit about peafowls because where I’m from, we only see these birds in a zoo.

That’s not to say that the plot was plain and there weren’t any serious societal matters relevant in today’s world. There were. But Laina tackled it as you would in the real world and it made reading this feel effortless and shall I say, organic. I loved it. And I loved Casey and Adrienne and their dedication to each other, especially Casey’s at the beginning. I loved Adrienne’s honesty and directness. They’re a great match and they have a story worth reading.

Thank you Bella Books for providing me with an ARC for an honest review.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
💦🦚🦮🍪👭

Want to read a book about a lesbian who has autism and ADHD, who, despite everything her brain is telling her, gets the girl, who is amazing, caring, understanding, non-judgmental and just wonderful? Then read this book RIGHT NOW!

This book was everything. It was cute, it was funny, and it made you want to cry, in all the best ways. I loved the relationship between Adrienne and Casey. I loved the relationship between Adrienne and her pops. The relationship between Casey and Adrienne's pops. I loved the found family, the supportive friends, and the dogs. I loved everything.

Thank you Laina Villeneuve for this heartwarming story.
Thank you Netgalley and Bella Books for a copy of the ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I could not put this book down! As a person who is neurodivergent, this book was spot on! Thank you for creating a piece of art that speaks for a lot of us. I also work in a library so I loved that addition! Great character development and story!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I don't know that I've ever read a novel where one of the main characters was autistic, and I really appreciated the sensitivity with which it was portrayed and the glimpse into a mind that works very differently than my own. The peacock thing got a little over the top, but the love story was top notch.