DNF very early on

The book was very well written, but religious and parental elements made it a no for me.

An ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Something About Her by Clementine Taylor was a surprising read for me. It started slow, I took multiple tries reading the first chapter to get into it. Over the course of a few weeks, I tried reading it and it never seemed to gel. I think, personally, it was my own issues with Aisling’s mother and the abuse, Getting past the first chapter, however, I read the book within a day. Jumping from Aisling to Maya from chapter to chapter (but sometimes sticking to one’s point of view for a few chapters) was so interesting to me. I have read books before that switched POV while keeping the timeline going, but in Something About Her, Taylor retraces the steps of the characters so you see how each character felt about each point of action. I felt this was so interesting. This, along with large gaps of time shifting and only reading about the most action packed times in the character’s year or, sometimes, a simple and boring day. I really like this book and I’m so, so pleased I pushed through that first chapter!

This book started out strong but then started to fizzle and honestly I had to skip a large chunk just to make it to the end. I felt the character-building lacked depth and the chemistry between the two mc’s was lacking as well.

While this book tried to deal with hard subjects like domestic abuse and homophobia it ultimately was not very successful and it felt very surface level. The ending was also frustrating and didn’t really make sense.

Wow, this did not end the way I wanted it to, but it is the author's story, not mine. And I appreciate that there are deep hurts that just cannot be wrapped up in a conventional romance arc. Even though I know they are fictional, I'm hoping for more healing for these women.

The writing is very sensory, focused on sight, sound, taste, and physical feelings. Yes, the characters think, but they do that in a richly detailed world. I kept stopping to look up places around Edinburgh and see what the characters were seeing: Cramond Island, Cardrona Forest, The Meadows, Arthur's Seat. And is that bookstore a real place?

This deals with difficult things, abuse, alcoholism, and their impacts, so beware going in.

I do wish it had a title as specific as the experience of reading the book. The title sounds like some 1970s rom-com that I never got around to watching, but the book is so much more than that.

I really wanted to like this novel, but the entire thing fell flat for me. I am really honestly confused at the ending, if you can call it that???

Over all the description of the novel caught my eye. Two women who are navigating coming out to their friends and family as lesbian. Aslings abusive family was difficult to read about. I did not feel a deep connection to her, so reading something so heavy felt weird. Then there is Maya, and i also felt no connection to her. I didnt feel any character development happen at all.

Its honestly hard for me to write a review on this because there isnt really a story to talk about. Everything felt half explained and there is no resolutions or answers???

Also I am not sure if this is because its an arc, but the format of this book is very odd. There were a lot of words spelled wrong and the chapters were just off???

Thank you Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Something About Her is a book that so genuinely pulls on your heartstrings.

Following two European young women, Ash and Maya-as they experience their “coming of age” and head into college. These women come from two very different lives and experiences- and this ultimately plays a huge role in the relationship these women have together.

A LGBTQIA+ novel with hands down one of the most accurate tales of “young love” I have come across. You very much take on the emotions of these characters and how they visualize the world around them.

Through the giddy romance, to the fear of abuse, and ultimately, loss of love- Clementine has written an expertly crafted novel of two young women whom individuals of any age, and any sexuality can understand and relate to.

High praise to Clementine and this literary fiction novel.

thank you to the publisher and netgalley for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

2/5 stars

this book was just okay. I was really excited for a young adult sapphic story, but it fell so flat for me unfortunately :( I think it tried really hard to be deep and have this complex relationship around the characters but it fell really short. I felt like there was no connection between the characters in a way that made me believe they were really truly falling in love the way they were, I wish there had been more of their interactions with one another. I didn't feel connected to the characters or their stories and it all felt like it was just skimming the surface and wasn't properly fleshed out. this had a lot of potential but sadly did not work for me :(

Thank you to Penguin Putnam and NetGalley for the ARC! I wanted to love this one so much, I adore literary fiction and an LGBT sexual awakening novel seemed right up my alley. Unfortunately the story lacked depth and at times the writing felt sparse. The characters were fine but the story needed more, imo.

Lesbian books will just always be so good!! One of my top books for twenty twenty three. The characters are so complex and do not feel flat.

I loved the writing and the characters. Religious trauma is evil and can mess you up. While I am happy that is part of Aisling’s journey, I wish it could’ve been fleshed out more. The ending seemed so rush and blindsided me. I’m excited for more stories by Clementine especially ones with religious and queer intersections.

I really enjoyed this book! It was giving me Sally Rooney vibes (but in a good way). I loved the characters and I thought the writing was beautiful. The ending was a tad abrupt, but I got over it very quickly! Overall I would recommend this book.

I was perplexed as to how I should rate this novel. I immediately fell in love with the characters and their journeys. Each were finding themselves and learning to navigate through new uncharted territories and their newly evolved selves. I believe it was a good buildup, however the ending felt a little flat, as if I had missed something in the chapter before.

This was just middle of the road for me. While I felt it was well written and even poetic in parts Not much happened and I couldn't connect with the characters. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC .

i’m in a bit of a tough spot because i really wanted to love this book and i didn’t, and that upsets me. it has an incredible, almost sally rooney-esque premise - two girls coming of age & exploring their sexuality through a tender yet tumultuous relationship with one another, with their families’ influence & coping mechanisms looming in the background. i didn’t even mind the writing, which though often flat and sometimes stylised in the form of bad tumblr poetry, lends itself to some incredibly beautiful moments.

ultimately, what disappointed me was the superficiality of the characters and the plot more generally. we never really get to sit with the characters - their thoughts, relationships, and background stories. this is in part an issue of length because the book itself seems too short to accommodate both deeper investigations into the characters’ psyches and the plot it has going for it. it’s quite sad, really, because i think this narrative had incredible potential to become something like a queer ‘normal people.’ as is, this lack of depth completely erases the emotional power that this narrative could have had.

Thank you Penguin Group Putnum and NetGallery for allowing me to read the eARC of Something About Her in exchange for my honest review.

I wanted to like Something About Her. I related to Aisling, and having a horrible homophobic mother so much so I wanted to see her process of moving out and overcoming the abuse she was dealt by her own mother's hand. But her mom didn't feel real. She didn't feel authentic, it was very clear she was a character in a novel and just seemed a bit over the top/out of place with the tone of the novel.

I found the writing a bit clunky and the characterization left me feeling half baked. I ended up skimming the last 100 pages as I never found myself really connecting with the characters or the plot. Their relationship ended in a way that wasn't satisfying at all.

I think Clementine Taylor has a lot of potential and wished that the book contained about 50 more pages so I could feel like the plot and characters were really flushed out and well rounded.

While this story was different from others in it's genre, it was an interesting read. The characters, both main and supporting, had a lot of depth. The reality of the characters' situations were ones that many people can relate to.

However, I felt some characters needed more exploring. There were stories untold there and I'd love to know more about them.
While I enjoyed it, it ended weird for me.

Wow, I inhaled this book in less than 10 hours.

Something About Her is the love story of Maya and Aisling during their college years set between Edinburgh, Ireland and London. It's probably like a lot of books out there but I was captivated by the writing and the vibes. I was rooting so hard for them and although there wasn't a happy ending, I felt it was the right one.

Definitely check for trigger warnings before picking up this book, there were some scenes that were particularly hard to go through. Nevertheless, it's very worth the read.

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publishers for the e-arc.

Generously giving three stars. Pretty underwhelmed by this story and the characters.

Thank you Netgalley and publishers for the chance to review this book.

This is a powerful book about coming to terms with an abusive parent and one's sexuality. The book is not always an easy read for the topics mentioned above but it was a fast read. I found myself not wanting to put it down and at the same time just having a slight sense of dread as to what would happen to Aisling and Maya. There were several times I wanted to shout at the characters to get their shit together and go to therapy but I had to remember the age of these characters and their assumed life experiences. The chapters alternating between Aisling and Maya's point of view work very well for this story. Sometimes the story felt a little too shallow and I wished some of the feelings would have been flushed out. All in all this book has all the feels and I found myself rooting for the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Something About Her is a strong debut for a promising new novelist—a sort of sapphic Sally Rooney-esque coming of age novel. Our two main characters, Aisling and Maya, are students at the University of Edinburgh exploring their sexualities and their love of poetry. Aisling comes from a deeply dysfunctional family in County Clare, Ireland, and the scars—both physical and emotional—she hears from the years of abuse she has suffered at the hands of her mother have come with her to university. Maya comes from a loving, supportive family in London, but is experiencing an increasing degree of anxiety and discomfort after starting a relationship with her childhood friend, Ethan.

I flew through this book and generally really enjoyed the writing style and the character-driven story. I loved the way that Taylor depicted the experience of falling in love, and the almost magical experience of discovering the strength of attraction for the first time. Underbaked character development weighed the book down somewhat, as did the extended metaphor of Maya’s anxiety as an insect. I would rate Taylor’s debut at about 3.5 stars, but l’m excited to read what she writes next!