Dnf at 25 percent. I will say I thought I would really enjoy this story but it just wasn’t for me. This book follows to young girls as they meet in college. Overall this book was strange the writing felt hard to follow and the descriptions were over the top and pulled me out of the story.

What a beautiful and heart wrenching story. I finished this book in just a couple of sittings and could not put it down. The angst and longing was superb. The author’s prose was lovely. I loved how she described Scotland. I felt everything these two characters were going through and it made my heart wrench. Well done and I can’t wait to read what Clementine Taylor writes next. I would definitely recommend this book if you are a fan of Normal People by Sally Rooney. Five stars!!!

Something About Her is a sapphic coming of age novel following two young women at the University of Edinburgh. I really enjoyed Aisling's traumatic past and how it didn't have linear healing and instead she needed to constantly work on herself. Maya coming to grasp with being gay was also fascinating to read and I loved the dynamic she had with her parents. The ending was an interesting choice, I've seen a lot reviews being upset about it but honestly it's realistic and sometimes we walk away and truly don't know what happens!!

Thank you to Netgalley and Clementine Taylor for an eARC of this book.

Didn't enjoy, sadly had to DNF early on. Got genuinely boring after they got together. The build-up was interesting, but it just didn't grip me or make me love any of the characters.

Absolutely loved the characters and absolutely devastated with the ending. Such beautiful people throughout this whole book.

From the very start of this book I was captivated by the writing. This book felt comforting while also realistically dealing with hardships. The descriptions of anxiety were some that stood out to me. I won't like I don't quite know how to feel about the ending, that being said I can't stop thinking about it.

it’s been a while since the ending of a book sent me into a slight ✨rage✨ but this one did just that.

Something About Her follows two girls at university in Edinburgh who are struggling to find themselves independent of family and expectations. I actually loved this book up until the ending, and was fully prepared for this to be a 5⭐️ read. But those last few chapters?? The ending?? Nothing was resolved. The entire book was building up to this ending that could have been done so well and it just wasn’t. Some spoilers ahead so if you’re planning on reading this then maybe skip the next paragraph!

Both main characters are writers, and I was a bit disappointed in how little their writing was shared throughout the book as well. The ending I would have loved to see was one of them reading something they’d written about the other after the relationship fell apart, and THEN letting the ending be ambiguous as to whether or not their relationship survived. Instead, this ending was overly ambiguous and left us not knowing if they would even see each other ever again after a disastrous breakup.

I didn’t even sleep after finishing this book because I was so angry 😂. Anyways, I’m curious to know what others who read this thought of it.

Thanks NetGalley and G.P. Putnams for this arc 🍊

This book was an exploration of young love and highlighted characters from very different backgrounds. The two try to come to terms with their upbringing while exploring a new connection. For me this book had many themes that I wish were explored in more depth, and ultimately felt slightly unfinished in the end.

I have mixed feelings on this book, I loved the setting and the characters. I haven't seen many lit fic books with a sapphic love story as the center plot line so that was really cool to see. Both MCs were well developed and you got to see their growth together and individually. The primary location was Edinburgh and I loved the detail of the city and now it tied into the story.

I didn't like the ending of this book, it may be a bias as a romance lover who wants a HEA but the ending of this book was confusing and very abrupt. It wasn't clear whose POV the last two chapters were in (which the author said is intentional) but I think that made me confused and was a disservice to the story. I had accepted that the characters would likely break-up but I would have liked to see more of a resolution for each of them individually and to know that they each have moved forward and bettered themselves.

SOMETHING ABOUT HER is the debut novel from Clementine Taylor, a story about two young women and their unexpected and complicated connection.

I was really excited to receive this ARC from NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons in exchange for my honest review.

Taylor's writing is wonderful - I found myself eager to keep reading and discover what would happen to our main characters Aisling and Maya next. Ultimately, I didn't love the plot of this book but I loved the character development and writing so much that I will definitely look for any future work by Taylor! This reminded me of Nina Lacour and Sally Rooney - would recommend to fans of either of those authors!

sapphic normal people what is not to love. I loved this book and finished it in one sitting. my first from clementine taylor but not my last. i am obsessed

This book is both classic and creative. The sad and difficult coming out story mixed with a surprising ending that I'm still processing. I felt for these characters very deeply. I hope there's more from Taylor.

I don't really know where to start when it comes to this book, it was heartbreaking, soulful, and eye-opening, IT HURT, my heart was shattering into a million pieces while reading this book.

Aisling and Maya's story is one of family, friends, learning, exploring, and figuring out yourself, warning though, this book does not end the way you think it will. The ending is beautiful in a soul-shattering way and the reference to the title that Gabe makes is very perfect.

Something About Her was a solid debut novel and a quick read. The characters were ones you could root for and I really appreciated the themes of young love, sexual discovery, and anxiety and how it manifests itself differently in folks. Aisling and Maya's relationship was one that I think a lot of people can relate to in terms of that questioning and the all-consumability of love.

There are some tougher themes throughout as well that readers should be aware of and tread carefully if they are triggers for them. An authors note on these themes would have been appreciated.

TW/CW - Child abuse, homophobia, alcoholism, gaslighting, physical and emotional abuse

My only real issue was the end felt so stark and abrupt. I don't mind what happened per se I think situations like this are real and I don't mind reading about them, but it felt like a chop of the story. I would have appreciated a bit more development into the ending for the direction it went in.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the eARC.

I saw someone compare this debut to a Sally Rooney novel and that hit the nail on the head for me. Much like Rooney, this one just didn't work for me. I wish it did, the premise was stellar. Just wasn't the right read for me.

While I never got to read this, it is something I would consider picking up at a library in the future

I thought this was a beautifully written, poignant and quiet tale of first love. Maya and Aisling were both incredibly relatable and their relationship felt very, very real. It reminded me very much of a queer Normal People, and I really loved it. I think it would be perfect for Sally Rooney readers, and I’m looking forward to selling it in our store.

this was a stunning book about first love, discovering who you are, and healing from trauma. maya and aisling's stories were so touching and the prose was absolutely beautiful. their connection was so deep and i was really rooting for them and i enjoyed the way the ending was up for interpretation. who left? who is the last chapter about? i would have rated this book higher but i did feel like a lot of it wasn't properly handled, and that might have been purposeful, but it did leave me wishing for some closure. i received an ARC of this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

While I love the premise of the story and seeing a queer take on the Irish coming of age/university novel that's so captured the literary world in the last few years, I had a really hard time getting into this novel. Just on a simple word by word, sentence by sentence level, it felt awkward to me and a bit underdeveloped. The prose is a bit clunky with so many extra details like describing the color of everything in the room to not great effect while leaving gaps in other places that made it hard to feel immersed in the world. I kept waiting to feel fully engaged with the novel, even though I was interested in the plot itself. The prose here just really got in my way, and I never fully got into this book and didn't get all the way to the end because of it. I'm glad it's generally getting such positive review, though. What it sets out to do and the themes it covers are incredibly important. I'm just not sure if the writing was quite there to support it.

This is a story about the promise and limits of self-discovery.  Both students at the University of Edinburgh, Maya and Aisling are otherwise quite different.  Maya, now in her second year, comes from a well-off London family and has a long-distance boyfriend, Ethan, who she started dating after being best friends since childhood.  Maya seems utterly at home at university.  By contrast, Aisling, a first year, is unsure of her place.  Away from home for the first time, Aisling is happy to be apart from her domineering mother and distant father, but she is not sure she fits in and is still reeling from having been dumped by her first girlfriend, who struggled with the need to keep their relationship a secret from Aisling's parents.

Then, Aisling joins the university's poetry club and meets Maya.  From their very first meeting, there is undeniably a spark between the two of them.  With this newfound connection, Aisling feels both that she has finally found her place and unsettled, given that she cannot tell how Maya feels about her.  As they spend more time together, Aisling and Maya find a connection unlike either has even known, even as they face the limits of that connection in the face of their pasts and the long shadow it continues to cast across their lives.

This was a powerful and frequently surprising story.  Alternating between Aisling and Maya's perspectives, the author deftly explores issues around identity -- juxtaposing Aisling's situation, sure of herself but convinced that she can never share her true identity with her family, and that of Maya, less sure and feeling a different kind of pressure from her family and friends, who are so taken with the fact that she and Ethan are finally together.  We see how Aisling and Maya's respective grappling with their identities shapes their relationship with each other -- perhaps even coming to dominate the other forces, most notably love, that drives their relationship. With sensitivity and insight, the book also examines the impacts of trauma -- and how powerful and long-lasting its reach can be and the way it can impact all aspects of one's lives, in both conscious and subconscious respects.  Finally, I thought the end of the book, with a mixture of finality and ambiguity, was quite powerful.

Strongly recommended!