Just as You Are is perfect!! I loved loved loved Liz and was thrilled to be along for the ride as she went through that best character development I've read in awhile. I also may be bias but reading about Liz, Jane, Lydia, and Katie, felt like I was reading about myself and my own roommates. Everything was so real for me, the only difference being the media me and friends create in and the coast we live on. I also can never get enough Pride and Prejudice retellings so I was sold from the very beginning.

Thank you soooooo much to Camille Kellogg, Dial Press, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of JUST AS YOU ARE!

I was able to read an advance reader copy of this. It was so lovely! I love Pride and Prejudice and loved seeing this new reimagining of it. The characters were all so great - even those that I didn't like. As I got further and further into it, it was hard to put it down. Everything I love about a good rom com! Highly recommend.

First book by Camille that I've read. I enjoyed the plot of the book and all the characters throughout the story. There was character development from the characters and showed the friendship bond created between co workers and how sometimes it's not always rainbows and butterflies. Seeing the characters go through ups and downs in their friendship was also relatable..

Thanks to Rondom House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the advanced readers copy.

Liz and her roommates, Jane, Katie and Lydia work for a queer magazine. They learn that the magazine has new owners, Daria and Bailey. Bailey is sweet and encouraging, Daria is quiet and standoffish. Liz finds herself pulled to Daria even though she thinks she hates her. She realizes that she had the wrong end of the stick all along and discovers Daria is actually wonderful, just shy.

I did not know going into this book that it was a Pride and Prejudice retelling. It became obvious at some point and then I found myself strangely disappointed. I really enjoyed the discussion about queer relationships and presentation towards the beginning. Still worth the read because of the great representation!

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Thank you to Dial Press and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!
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Just As You Are tells us the story of a group of queer journalists in New York City that are working for a failing magazine. Just as the magazine was about to close its doors, it got purchased by two investors, Bailey and Daria, who immediately join the team and turn their operations upside down to try to save it. Liz, the FMC, writes “fluff” pieces for the magazine - like listicles, quizzes, and sex toy reviews - and immediately butts heads with the angsty, quiet Daria. A wild ride entails of love, betrayal, and finding themselves, but can they save the magazine? Can they learn to all love themselves and find love elsewhere?
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The premise of this book is really, really good but the execution fell entirely flat. The writing is, honest to God, quite awful. It pains me to say it. Liz was the most one dimensional character I ever read, her friends were awful and emotionally abusive, Daria’s communication skills were worse than a kindergarteners and I found everyone extremely unlikeable because of how the author wrote the story. There was soooooo much telling as opposed to showing, and the dialogue was underdeveloped, weak, and exhausting to read. I ended up skimming the latter 40% of the book. I was super disappointed because I had really high hopes of a queer Pride & Prejudice retelling, but this does no justice to the premise itself.

This book was peak millennial dialogue and honestly even plot points. Overall, I'll be completely honest, I did not enjoy this book. I am a huge fan of Pride and Prejudice and all the retellings, but this adaptation felt as if they were forcing the various plot points to happen rather than them being the natural order of events. The Jane and Bingley characters getting together and as every Pride and Prejudice retelling goes, breaking up, and then getting back together again wasn't well-developed and felt rushed. I also think that as a 21 y/o this book was simply not meant for me. The characters were older and I think that the slightly older queer community might find more enjoyment from this book, but I was simply not a fan.

Liz Baker and her three roommates work at the "Nether Fields," a queer magazine in New York that’s on the verge of shutting down—until it’s bought at the last minute by two wealthy lesbians, Bailey Cox and Daria Fitzgerald (unfortunately neither are Kristen Stewart).

There are a lot of characters introduced in a short time and it took me a moment to be able to tell them apart without having to go back and reread the sentence to double check. But everyone is so well developed that it didn't take long to begin rooting for them all. I was quickly pulled in with the beautiful portrayal of everyday queer life and the spectrum of gender expression. I even found myself bawling at one point. The "Pride and Prejudice" retelling captures emotional moments, focuses on self-discovery and is an authentic experience.

The relationship between Liz and Daria is wonderfully crafted–with disdain, false assumptions, tension so thick one could cut it with a knife, stolen glances, desire and angst, so much angst. The main romance highlights how you are enough, even when you are too much. It was wonderful seeing them both grow into better versions of the themselves. I only wish the ending extended longer passed the resolution. I NEEDED MORE!!!

I will say the conflict was definitely blown out of proportion and I think everyone was too hard on our mc, considering the circumstances. Liz is definitely flawed, insecure and judgemental, but it's also what makes her so endearing. However, Lydia is trash. I have a really soft spot in my heart for Jane and wish her nothing but the best.

There is great discourse surrounding the queer struggle of not feeling butch enough while also not feeling femme enough–is the presentation of oneself still valid if neither? I think many readers will be able to connect with this question.

If you enjoy sapphic romances with a slow burn, messy office dynamics, found family, pining and enemies-to-lovers then look no further. "Just As You Are" is dedicated “to everyone whose doubted if there’s a happy ending out there for them” and it made me feel seen so I appreciate that too.

Just as You Are is the queer rom-com we deserve and need! As a journalist, I love when characters share their profession or work at a magazine so this entire story was an absolute treat for me. It was really refreshing to see two masc adjacent lesbians fall for each other when it's usually a masc-presenting and fem-presenting couple. Loved the friendship group as well and jane and bailey were adorable

DNF 28%
I couldn’t get into this book. There were too many characters introduced in the beginning of the story and not enough personality/background on them to become memorable. The amount of friends Liz had at the beginning served as distraction to my reading experience. I also couldn’t care about Liz. The only interesting thing about her was how her gender expression changed about masculine women.

Oh my god oh my god i was so on the fence at like the 40-60% mark but???? CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT,for once. God I've been reading mlm centric books for a while this was truly a needed break omg thank you netgalley for this beautiful arc. Liz? I don't know what to say about Liz except that? Putting myself in her shoes and feeling angry at myself like 70% of the time was enough to be sympathetic, she was in love your honor (i get her I DO), Daria Loml you deserve to be full of yourself my queen, Never beating the nora is a whore for Mr Darcy retellings i guess. Jane and Liz as a duo was fun to read about too, God i need to go to ny.
I NEED EVERYONE TO READ THIS LIKE the second it comes out. 5 stars and a kiss to the author (&team)

This was a fun read for me! I do think maybe the Pride and Prejudice retellings are getting to be too much, but what drew me to this book was 1) queer and 2) a fun little ensemble cast. I liked how fun and engaging everyone was right from the get go. It's very hard to be able to have multiple characters and do them all justice, but I think this was done particularly well!

It was cute . I love the cover . I like the characters and the plot was fine . The writing was okay too

A modern day queer retelling of Pride and Prejudice? Don’t mind if I do! The story follows Liz Baker and her three roommates who work at the Nether Fields, a queer magazine in New York is on the verge of shutting down... until it is bought by two wealthy lesbians: Bailey and Daria. Liz is has been in a rut: she isn’t really into any of the stuff she writes for her magazine while thinking her own queer blog writing isn’t good enough, she wants to do something more, write something real. But after a not so great meeting with Daria Fitzgerald in which Liz learns that Daria is slashing all the budgets, cancelling bagel fridays, and thinks that all Liz writes is useless fluff pieces that are asinine.... Liz loathes Daria. It doesn’t help that Liz meets Weston, someone who has a terrible past with Daria. While Liz’s roommate and best friend Jane is falling for Bailey... Liz and Daria are forced to spend more time together and soon discover that there might be more... but after a misunderstanding, mixed signals, and a series of unfortunate events, things get complicated and so does their relationship. Unfortunately for me this retelling and inspired story just didn’t really hit the mark for me, despite being a queer Pride and Prejudice retelling (something I am 100% on board) I just didn’t really enjoy Liz and Daria’s relationship all that much and all the toxic drama around them. I was hoping for something more and I guess it just didn’t meet my expectations. I adored the classic story, and I adore a good retelling, but unfortunately this one just didn’t hook me or ever made me actually want to invest in the characters or their relationship. While this one didn’t work out for me, definitely give it a go if you are a fan of Pride and Prejudice or queer romances!

*Thanks Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House, Dial Press Trade Paperback for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Giving this a 3.5/5! Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I think at times "Just As You Are" works as a "Pride & Prejudice" retelling, and at other times it doesn't. For the most part though, I was engaged. I thought Daria was by far the best part of the novel, and I guess as a huge fan of Mr. Darcy this makes sense. I felt like maybe some of the secondary characters lacked a certain depth, but the protagonists were done well. Bailey sometimes lacked a certain dimension for me past "sunshiny girl", and I wish I had gotten a lot more from Katie.

I commend Camille Kellogg because this was pretty good for a debut - and my god, writing a novel is difficult and time consuming. Our protagonist Liz sometimes had inner dialogues that made me roll my eyes, but hey, that's "Pride and Prejudice" for you! I would definitely recommend checking this out if anything at all about its description sparks your interest, because it is a pretty good time despite some minor flaws!

this was a sweet romance. so sweet and the LGBT representation was everything. I love how they influenced each other to be better together.

I thoroughly enjoyed this and read it quickly! I liked the emphasis on friendship and the relationship development. Full review to come!

OK, imagine that the bold type was set at curve magazine, but that curve actually started in like 2002 by a queer women of color, and also was sort of now like a lesser version of Autostraddle? Then let’s mix in several overly life enmeshed queer friendships, some she said/she said smith college drama from 10 years earlier, and absolutely no heterosexuals at all. It is like this book was a direct target aimed at me! But! Uh Oh! It is a romance novel about an employer/worker relationship, and don’t I hate that? Totally! Down with bosses! But turns out that my reasonable anticapitalist bias is absolutely no match for the complete eliz-nip this book is. I just loved it so much! This was a delightful ARC and I cannot wait until it comes out so that everyone else can read it too.

Liz and Jane work, worked at a queer magazine located in New York City, however after viewers decline the newspaper is finally closing. However, last minute a wealthy real estate agent and her friend come in saving the day and purchasing the magazine, but do they really save it?

It is very rare that I find a book that genuinely achieves all of what its description claims it will be. This book did not disappoint. It was absolutely everything I was hoping for to pull me out of a reading slump and then some.

It was witty, angsty, but also hilarious and heartwarming. Enemies to Lovers with heavy mix of Found Family. I found myself laughing and crying and every emotion in between as the author took me on this journey.
The cast of characters is wide and diverse and I found myself emotionally invested in all of them right from the start. Everyone is so well developed that even before their layers are pulled back you find yourself rooting for them all. I will admit there was a good chunk of the middle where I found myself absolutely despising the FMC and she came off as so unlikeable I didn't think there would be any chance for my opinion to change. (and truthfully I think my dislike was probably more so due to the fact I found way to many similarities between her and myself.)

In the end I sobbed happy tears as not only the FMC and our protagonist found their happy ending but also all of the other (worthy and notable characters) found their happy endings. This is such a strong 2023 debut and I can't wait to see how big this book gets!

This was one I thought I'd enjoy more than I actually did. At times, I felt connected to the plot and at other times, I felt disinterested. 3 stars- thank you netgalley & the publisher for the ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

I very much enjoyed this debut romcom! It cracked the door and let you inside the characters' lives, to live and learn and grow along with them. This book didn't shy away from the chaos of life, it put it all out there on the page, no matter the emotion or experience -- disagreements, attraction, confusion, affection, nerves, discovery, and disappointment all included. My favorite aspects of this book were:

* Liz's struggles -- in work, in identity, in life -- felt so familiar and relatable
* Enemies-to-lovers (my personal fave!)
* All the queer vibes my heart yearns for
* Found family!!
* Characters with their whole messy lives on the page -- and the growth that they all experience
* The Pride and Prejudice nods scattered throughout this retelling (some obvious, and some less so!)