First, the title is perfect since it references one of Taylor Swift’s best songs. Second, who doesn’t want to read a sapphic, Victorian, friends-to-lovers romance? Gwen and Beth are best friends that do not want to be married off to some man. Ladies, I’m with you on that. To try and delay the inevitable, they hatch a plan to get their parents together. And of course in the middle of their scheming, they fall for each other. This was a cute read and though some parts of the book were a bit slow for me, I did enjoy it. Gwen and Beth are very sweet together, though messy, but in the best way. I adored Gwen’s dad and how supportive of Gwen he was. If you’re a fan of historic romance, The Parent Trap, and friends-to-lovers, then definitely check this book out.

I received an ARC from Avon and Harper Voyager through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

First time reading a novel by Emma R. Alban and have been looking forward to this book all year! Kept seeing her name pop up on reading lists and libraries. Based on the cover and the obviously referenced Taylor Swift lyric in the title, lead me to wanting to read this book. A sapphic regency romance novel!? SIGN ME UP!!! This book was such a delight to read and the characters with glowing. I never wanted this book to end! Also, the Taylor references were *CHEFS KISS*

Everyone go read this book!!!!

4.5 stars rounded up.

This was an absolutely delightful queer romance that delivered on its selling point. It absolutely is a queer Bridgerton parent trap, filling a large hole in the romance section I didn’t realize was there until now.

It’s sweet and funny and a little bit steamy. A true gem.

This is a delightful sapphic debut and I’m so glad I was given early access!

Gwen and Beth are both so easy to root for. I am absolutely enamored by the parent trap portions of this friends to lovers plot. (The setup of the single parents with a history made for such a fun and different story!)

In addition to the difficulties presented for queer couples in this setting and time, there were other political elements of the era that made the story believable and interesting.

I would have loved more of a look inside of the Lord and Lady’s heads because this really did feel like a double love story to me. I wouldn’t mind another book to flesh out their past in a prequel or something! ♥️

i really really loved this book. i feel like all the little tropes were exactly what i wanted out of this book and the budding relationship between the main couple was so realistic. i feel like every queer girl has been in their shoes (or some modernized version of them at least) at some point in their lives. emma alban has made such a fun, juicy, emotional story and the set up for the next book has me soooo excited for the next one.

4.5 stars and i will absolutely be longing for the next one

Immediately I was drawn to this book by the Taylor Swift reference in the title, and the beautiful illustrated cover. This book was everything I wanted and more! A lesbian romance set loosely around regency era England, with friends-to-lovers and mutual pining between the love interests, as well as their parents. I adored Beth and Gwen’s romance so very much, in addition to the way their parents past relationship paralleled it throughout. The writing was engaging and witty, and thoroughly enjoyable! I will be thinking about this book for weeks, and certainly will be recommending it in the future!

ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE! This is the kind of book that squeezes your heart in the best way. What a fantastic debut novel!

This book did a good job of bringing a sapphic vibe to a heavily-written-about time period. A light read with likable characters.

Don’t Want You Like A Best Friend is the historical romance that wlw people have yearned for since the hype of Bridgerton. It is young women being who they are without the notions of men getting in the way. Just a genuinely fantastic story for anyone who wants to dip their toes into a historical romance.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

This was such a fun book. I was instantly hooked by the parent trap/bridgerton comparison to then top it off with a sapphic romance - icing on the cake. I will say i was stressed the ENTIRE time reading this book because I just wanted everyone to be happy and I couldn’t see how it would end up that way. I definitely enjoyed the ending and cackled at the last part as well. Very fun characters, love the MCs and probably loved the side characters even more. It was a very sweet read that I would love to add to my schools library.

Listen, if a book title is a lyric to a Taylor Swift song, I am going to read it.

After the death of her father, something she isn't particular upset about, Beth finds herself in her debutante season walking on a tightrope. Her father only left them so much money, and it is up to her to find a husband that will keep herself and her mother out of poverty, Only problem? Beth really doesn't want to be forced into a loveless, horrid relationship like her mother before her.

Enter Gwen, a bright, charming young lady whom Beth immediately takes a liking to, with Gwen feeling quite the same. Gwen is in her forth season, and is lucky to have a widowed father who is find with her not getting married. Once learning of Beth's situation, Gwen devises a plan so crazy it just has to work: set up their parents so the two don't ever have to get married. Things start to get complicated, however, when it is discovered that their parents seem to not like each other due to a history neither one wishes to explain. What's more? Gwen and Beth start falling in love hard, but it's not for the viscounts--it's with each other.

Don't Want You Like a Best Friend is a charming romance that takes many of the most entertaining elements of a victorian story and makes it sapphic. Pair that with the Parent Trap, romcom style plot line and you have a super fun story. Gwen and Beth are likable characters with vastly different personalities, something that I think alternating POV books should take note from. They are both incredibly fun to follow and both have different ways of going about their devious plan to get their parents together. It was a very entertaining romance to follow!

I will say that the story felt a little slow at times; some events felt like they were there to have more banter than really push the story along. I also went into this story expecting it to be a YA romance and OH, it was not that. That's on me though, and I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the more adult themes and scenes.

Overall, this was an impressive debut from this author, and if this book is the first in a series, which the ending implies, I am looking forward to what's to come!

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review!

I'm a sucker for a good sapphic historical fiction. The Taylor Swift title reference makes it feel fresh and modern despite being a historical. Fans of romances will swoon over this book and the dynamic between Beth and Gwen.

"Don't Want You Like a Best Friend" is the first in what will be a series of romances set in... 1857-ish. I write 'ish' because while the date is specific, as is the fashion and the society rules, the history itself is very muddy and unclear, likely due to the social upheaval, war, slavery, and other subjects less simpatico with what's trying to be a charming, fluffy romance. And it is charming and fluffy! "Sapphic parent trap" is pretty accurate in terms of comps; "Don't Want You Like a Best Friend" focuses on two young women in their seasons. One is trying to find a husband due to her family's flagging wealth. The other is trying to put off marriage for as long as possible. Well, they meet, hit it off, and discover that their parents - both single - used to be an item way back when. Matchmaking is in order, and of course as they spend more time together, they start seeing each other in a new light...

"Don't Want You Like a Best Friend" wants the glitz and social rules and misogyny and homophobia of the time period to generate the angst it needs for the romance without really delving into the racism, which is an ODD choice. I'm probably overthinking it. The romance itself was cute, the side characters were lovely, I was probably more invested in the parents than the main couple, but all in all it was a great vacation read. I just had trouble turning my brain off for some of the worldbuilding.

3.5 out of 5 stars!

Don't Want You Like a Best Friend is dual-POV and follows two young women who are thrust into the debutante season. This is Gwen's fourth season and she is unbothered. This is Beth's first season and she needs to make a good match by the end of the season for the security it will provide for herself and her mother following the death of her father. The girls meet and quickly become the best of friends. And then, maybe more than friends...
The girls decide to play matchmaker between Gwen's father and Beth's mother who knew each other from their own debutante season.

I loved this book! I fell in love with the characters and the setting was the best! I especially loved the dual-POV.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to read this book early! I really enjoyed it. I thought the writing was very well done, and the story kept me interested. I believe my students/patrons would also love this book and will be acquiring it for the library!

This book was SO good! First off, it’s a friends to lovers, sapphic Parent Trap from the regency?? Yes to ALL of it. The scheming, the love, the SPICE! This book had so much yearning and excitement. Even though this is a romance so I knew it would have an HEA, it does SUCH a great job of making you think it won’t! Beth needs to marry or her mother and her will be destitute. Enter Gwen and her father, Beth’s mother’s ex and his daughter. They become fast friends, even as their parents are avoiding their own attraction and Beth is slated to marry one of the most boring men alive (?) with a tyrant of a father! What will happen next!! Like seriously the title ALONE had me wanting to read it but then the gorgeous cover too?? A plus to everyone involved.

Look, you put two women in petticoats and let them fall in love, I’m gonna read it. Which is how I’ve ended up gobbling down a couple of good sapphic period romances (one true original, honestly) and also a whole bunch of not-so-great ones. The thing that gets me most of all is when publishers go for the Austen comparison when the book itself is neither Austen-esque spiritually or Austen-esque plot-wise — but here! Finally! In a book titled with a Taylor Swift Reputation era lyric and endless comps to Parent Trap is the truly modern Austen lesbian love story I’ve been waiting for. A comedy of manners where everyone had their own distinct voice, and the heroines are full of wit and good humor, and everyone learns more about themselves and grows and gets braver and stronger. The decimation of patriarchal tradition. And hells bells, the longing! The pining! The desperation of knowing the love of your life is one letter away from disappearing from your world forever! The choice between a purgatory of sadness between moments of stolen incandescent happiness and a life of security. The housekeeper goading tomboy lesbian Gwen into making men cry! I’d give this ten billion stars if I could.

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager + NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC and provide an honest review.

I'm not usually a fan of historical romances but dang this one was pretty damn good! I really loved the characters and the dynamic they shared. I also loved how their schemes ending with them falling for eachother! hehe sooo cutee!! This book was fun, witty, and soo romantic!!! Also the cover is so beautiful!

What a truly delightful regency romance! I often do not find regency romance to be as enjoyable because it's just so straight so it was wonderful to read a book that is set in the time period tat was unabashedly queer! Gwen and Beth are a lovely, amusing, adorable couple fighting against the confines of their time and stations to eke out a way to be together.

Their parents and the supporting cast of characters (cousins, friends, household staffs we all funny and supportive and helpful schemers. I loved every bit of it!

✨Our secret moments in a crowded room. They got no idea about me and you.✨

AHHHH (ah, ha, ha, ha) this book was The Parent Trap x Historical Romance love child I never knew I need in my life!! I actually need like ten more Parent Trap-esque romances because the concept is just so dramatic and fun. Two relationships for the price of one (and there’s a bonus relationship plus another teaser)…so really FOUR relationships and I love and adore them all.

Gwen and Beth were lovely, a bit messy, and majorly obsessed with each other (which made me obsessed with them. While the title is Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend, I really enjoyed the friends to lovers aspect of their relationship. We saw their relationship/start on the page (not in the past) so I really connected to them both and how perfectly suited for each other they were. I’m also obsessed with their Hot™️ parents and could use a novella of their romance alone (I just know their bedroom chemistry was insane)!

My only major issue has nothing at all to do with the characters or the plot—both of which were perfection—but instead everything to do with <I>how</I> the book was written. I’m a major hater of third person present tense as it feels clunky, unnatural, and way too removed from the characters. It always feels like events and emotions are being told not shown. I basically spent the whole book mentally switching every other word to past tense. It worked better than I’d have thought possible, but I really wish it wouldn’t have been written in that style.

A minor issue I had was just some of the drama in the second half considering Beth was engaged for a good chunk of it…but it did hurt so good and I can’t really complain. Gwen (and her father) were both a mess in the way that I just love to see…I was just also a mess. It did make the grovel and reconciliation at the end all the sweeter though.

To sum it up, I don’t know if I should go watch The Parent Trap or listen to Taylor Swift to cure my book hangover. Seriously, what do I read next?? Seeing as this was such a sparkling debut, I absolutely cannot wait for book two. The teaser we got in the epilogue was delicious and just what I was hoping for!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 🌶️🌶️*/5

*There was one major scene plus a little extra here and there. Moderate level of detail was given and it was open door.


Thanks so much to the publisher for an eARC via NetGalley. All opinions are honest and my own.