Jenn is the queen of "hot mess express" characters. While it is a romance, people's reactions aren't perfectly scripted. Each character is messy just like real life.

Thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

Lizzy works at a gym but would rather own it. Her best friend’s parents own the gym she works for and Lizzie keeps hoping they will promote her but they seem to hate her. She goes to a wedding as a plus one with her best friend James and in the bathroom helps a hot crying woman decide to leave her partner. Turns out it was the bride and her best friend’s sister, Cara. They eventually fall for each other but Lizzie doesn’t want to get to close because she knows she’s not the kind of girl Cara should be dating, they are too different. Plus would she ever get that promotion or even keep her job if she was dating the boss’ daughter and she really needs her job to help pay her deadbeat mom’s bills.

I had been excited for this book but I didn’t connect with the characters as much as I’d have liked. I also don’t think Cara and James are all that nice to Lizzie. I haven’t read many books about gyms though so that aspect was interesting.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins for an ARC of Jennifer Dugan's LOVE AT FIRST SET!

This one is teetering between 3 and 3.5 stars for me. There were parts I absolutely adored and others that made me feel so impatient.

I love Dugan's work in YA and I think she sometimes forgot she was writing an adult novel. Lizzie is frustrating. She's hard headed, skittish, and not very confident in herself. She was a bit hard to root for.

I enjoyed Lizzie and James' friendship. While their banter could have been edited down to take out some fluff, I thought they vibed really well.

For as much as I enjoyed Cara as a character... I honestly didn't feel the chemistry between these two girls. I wanted to, I really did. But it always felt awkward, their arguments were a lot of circling back to the same points over and over, and the LIES.

Gosh the lies and manipulation stressed me out.

I love Dugan's writing. I love her sapphic romances. But this one just isn't my fave from her.

I love Jenn Dugan's books and her adult debut is not different. Her trademark disaster main character with a close best friend are here in Lizzie and James. We have a fair and so many shenanigans. I loved the progression of Lizzie and Cara's relationship and how James being Lizzie's best friend (and Cara's brother) caused all kinds of complications and mishaps.
Loved it. If you've been reading Dugan's YA, you're going to love this too.

This was a meeess! I had so much fun with this book, but oh my God, it was so messy. If you like plots with lots of drama and secrets, this is for you.

Is there anything gayer than a girl meeting another pretty girl and instantly losing the ability of speech? I don’t think so. Lizzie was the blueprint of sapphic girls. She was a mess around Cara because of how attracted she was to her. It was so adorable! I really loved the romance in this book. Cara starts being a runaway bride, so meeting and falling for Lizzie was totally out of her plans, but they were so good together. Lizzie’s friendship with James was also great, though I kind of resent him for the things he said to Lizzie towards the end.

Messy plots always promise an explosion at some point, and this book isn’t different. There is a big explosion of secrets, rebukes and bad blood. Cara and James’s mother is the absolute worst, and so is Lizzie’s mom, tbh. I’m very glad they all moved on from their toxic families and focused on each other, aka the family the chose.

Rating: 4/5
Steam level: Open door, 1-2 scenes, low level of detail, fade to black

ARC provided by Avon and NetGalley. Opinions are my own!

This was a very easy and enjoyable read. I loved Lizzie’s character! Her friendship with James was one of the best parts of this book. I also thought the romance with Cara was sweet and well done.

There was quite a bit of lying and messiness happening throughout this book, so I can see how it might not be for everyone. However I thought things came together well and this was written with Jennifer Dugan’s typical charm and humor so I was still able to enjoy it.

I would definitely recommend this to others, especially if you have been a fan of Dugan’s YA books in the past.

Okay, this book was delightful. It had everything I was looking for. I love Jennifer's first person writing style; it's very similar to how I write. This story really got better with every chapter, even if a main component of the story was predictable (maybe it was supposed to be?). I am picky about romance novels and need more depth than simply sexual chemistry and spice, and this one has it. I would recommend this to anyone who likes the genre, especially if they're looking for a good queer romance. Thank you so much for my copy!

I usually love everything about Jennifer Dugan's books and writing style, but something about this one didn't do it for me. This book had the miscommunication trope, which I don't like, and it went for it. There were a lot of secrets that were messing around with the relationships throughout the book and not just between the love interests, but also between friends and family. It was a lot. That being said there were some cute and some funny moments and I still enjoyed the book, just not as much as others I've read by this author. I still love Jennifer Dugan and she will continue to be one of my favorite authors, but I think I prefer her YA books over her adult ones. But if you want a sapphic adult romcom with miscommunications then this one might be your kind of book.

I really wanted to love this book but it just didn't do it for me. Characters we're cute but I'm not a fan of miscommunication tropes and I found it to be over the top for this book and I just killed the story for me.

This was so fun and an absolute joy to read! The overall pacing of the story was great and lent itself to be a super fast read for me. I will say that the biggest turn-off was all the miscommunication - but miscommunication is also my sworn enemy so I have beef whenever it shows up on the page. I don't necessarily think it was useful or really affected the story in the way it was used. It only caused more frustration. But overall this was fun and I enjoyed it for what it was for.

I really enjoyed this one! I loved Lizzie's character - her inner thoughts were hilarious, and her witty banter with both James and Cara was just the best. Lizzie and Cara's chemistry was off the charts! More adult titles from Dugan please!

this was fun! A bit of a suspension of belief for elements of the plot but overall, I enjoyed the on-page chemistry and pacing.
It is a little hard to have a double whammy of bad parenting and there was a lot of miscommunication leaning into outright deception that I was not a fan of and it weighed down the story.

I really wanted to love this one, and I came into it super pumped about the premise — but the characters that were wrapped up in this story were, for the most part, largely unsympathetic and a lot of scenes that were clearly intended to be humorously dramatic fell flat for me in execution. Most significantly, the third-act breakup/conflict moment (at James and Cora's parents' house) was REALLY difficult for me to get past in terms of how the main couple would be able to make up and move on, especially after the FMC, her love interest, and her best friend all screamed some pretty terrible things at each other. I'd had mixed feelings about the book leading up until this point, but this tipped it over the edge from being readable to nearly a DNF. The fact that it happens toward the end of the book was the deciding factor in terms of my being able to finish it, but it soured me on even the possibility of a believable HEA.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to Avon for this ARC copy and congratulations to the HCUnion on your successful strike. A romance based in the realm of a gym is admittedly a little different for me but this was an interesting read! I could tell that this was a first step into New Adult from a Young Adult author, the spice level may not be as high as expected but it was still very fun. I had a little trouble believing the two main characters really wanted to be around each other for a while but in the end their chemistry was there to hold it all together.

This book was sort of cringe from the start. There was some great romance if you squinted and ignored the awkward storyline and writing. The conflict was just so over written that I couldn’t enjoy it as much. The main characters Cara and Lizzie were cute for each other despite all this!

Love at First Set by Jennifer Dugan is starts off strong with the chemistry between Lizzie and her best friend's sister, Cara. Although this book is marketed as Dugan's adult debut, this book still very much feels like YA. I recommend this book for libraries looking to grow its LGBTQIA+ collection.

So cute. The ending felt a little rushed and dramatic but still incredibly cute. Definitely a good entrance into the adult romance genre

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Well this was DELIGHTFUL! I think this is my favorite Jennifer Dugan book that I’ve read. It’s witty and funny and banter-filled but also super gut-wrenching at the same time.

We have Lizzie, who dreams of owning a gym and is just trying to make rent with an alcoholic mother who is constantly breaking the bank. When she joins her best friend for his sister, Cara’s wedding, she doesn’t MEAN to break up the wedding. But girl code for a crying girl in the bathroom must be followed, right?

Cara and Lizzie’s story is adorable, steamy, and sweet. While this book follows a typical RomCom plot, it also leans into the more serious barriers of their relationship like class differences and lack of trust on both sides. This story is an emotional rollercoaster that I couldn’t put down!

I was so excited to receive an ARC of this book! It came at a really good time for me as I started a whole new workout program and the way Dugan describes Lizzie's passion for fitness really lit a fire in my motivation. I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I've read a hand full of books from this author but I'm not a big YA reader so when I saw she was releasing a new adult novel, I was stoked! While it had some very serious moments that made me tear up a bit, it was a really fun read. I loved Lizzie's drive and tenacity, watching her relationship grow with Cara, and the playful banter sprinkled throughout this book had me giggling. I would have liked to have seen a little bit more steam between Lizzie and Cara, but that's a personal preference and didn't have a negative impact on the story for me. I hope to see more adult romances from this author. I do enjoy her writing style and her plot lines. This one was unique and I do so enjoy being surprised.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for an honest review,

Unfortunately I couldn't connect with the book. Not the story or anything in particular, we just didn't match. I wasn't a big fan of the writing which was a bummer.