I had high hopes for Les Be Honest (Pub. Date February 13, 2024) by Sarah Robinson, a multicultural queer lesbian romance by the author of Baby Bank, which I really enjoyed.

The story is told from the perspective of Yasmeen, a queer black millennial trust fund young adult with ADHD, who has just had to move to suburban Virginia because of her roommate's marriage, While scoping out her new neighborhood, she gets the idea to open up a lesbian bar with a free hair salon in the back, in an empty storefront. The property manager, Tyler, is a white woman who lives in the penthouse suite because her father owns the building, and also has a true-crime podcast. They hit it off immediately.

But Tyler's father is a hard-right lobbyist who funnels his money into anti-LGBTQ causes. So Yas's idea of a lesbian bar and salon is not likely to get much traction with him unless Tyler is in on the idea. So Tyler becomes a partner in the business, and they "pretend" to be girlfriends as well. That's not too difficult because of the chemistry they have, but Tyler isn't really out to the public, and Yas has long since stopped dating women who aren't yet out.

Yasmeen doesn't understand how Tyler remains in contact with her father--how can she, when he doesn't accept her queerness? Yas's family has always accepted the fact that she's a lesbian, and her father, a security consultant, believes in her lesbian bar business plan and approves using her trust fund to finance it.

Will they convince Tyler's father to rent Yas the space? If not, what will they do? Will Yas be able to fulfill her latest project--the lesbian bar--that might be the one project that will keep her ADHD brain humming? And will Tyler ever be publicly out?

Maybe I expected too much. There's nothing wrong with Les Be Honest, it's a perfectly nice romance, but I had hoped that Robinson would more realistically portray the discussions that are likely to occur between two people in a multicultural (mixed-race) relationship. While Les Be Honest deals with Tyler's complicated relationship with her father, Robinson failed to include any conflicts that might have arisen between the characters because of their different races. While Tyler takes Yas to primarily white spaces, there's no discussion or acknowledgement of the anxiety Yasmeen might feel in those same spaces. So I felt it was a little superficial and wasn't sure that the author was the best person to write from the perspective of Yasmeen.

But it was weight-neutral. There was little discussion of fatness or weight.

Podcaster Tyler is out, but she hides her sexuality from her audience. She falls for Yasmeen, who wants to lease Tyler’s father’s property to open a lesbian bar. Facing neighborhood resistance, determined Yasmeen sees setbacks as the start of the fight. But will the battle cost Tyler’s heart—or is love worth fighting for?

I loved this! The voice pulled me in right from the start. It’s smart and funny with relatable characters and strong chemistry between Yasmeen and Tyler. I need to read more from this author!

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Yasmeen gets her story!!!!!!! I loved Baby Bank and I knew I would love anything else from this author. I loved how easy and smooth Was and Taylors relationship developed, the "fake dating" trope didn't last long with these two, and I was here for it. Yas wants to open up a lesbian bar, there are very few in the region and she wanted to create a sanctuary for all, but then she had met her match meeting Taylor who is the property manager of the place she wanted to lease. But there is a twist, Taylor's dad is a conservative and the LGBTQ Community is not a community he supports, but Taylor feels that since her dad loves her he will back them up.

That doesn't work out all the way, but I loved how Isa was in full force in this book being the supportive friend and of course she is my favorite character, she brings the humor. This book was so inspirational, from Yasmeens family supporting her in everything and being there for her, from Taylor standing up to her dad and doing her own thing. I also loved how Yasmeen opened up her heart to true genuine love, and it was just plain awesome.

I appreciated the little surprise Sarah gave to use in the end of this ARC, it was the best 2 for 1 deal ever, I can't wait for Isa's story, because I KNOW we getting her story soon. I am so excited!

Loved the story and meeting the different characters. I felt like I was completely in the story myself. I couldn't stop reading it.

While Les Be Honest is a standalone story I recommend reading Baby Bank first. I really enjoyed Les Be Honest and there is a splash of spice. Cute story!

A sassy and spicy Sapphic romance surrounding the opening of a queer bar. This is the second book in the Queerly Devoted series.

Yasmeen stumbles upon a new business venture when she meets Tyler, a part time property manager and true crime podcaster. The two immediately have chemistry while latching onto the idea of opening a queer bar. Navigating complicated family dynamics, these women might find love.

This was a quick, fun read that tackled some complex issues like homophobic family and starting a queer Black-owned business. I loved Yas's supportive family and friends. I adore fake dating, so that was neat, but they moved pretty quickly into not faking it. Which kind of makes me wonder why they faked it at all. Definitely recommend to those who love quirky main characters and spicy rom coms.

This book was a quick read, but it was lacking substance for me. A lot of the plot felt forced, which was difficult to stick with at times. I really did enjoy the cast of diverse, queer characters, though!

Les Be Honest by Sarah Robinson

4.5⭐

Thank you to Netgalley, Sarah Robinson, and Author Collective 20 for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Yasmeen Kiani, an optimistic individual despite past business failures, wants to open a lesbian bar in her Arlington, VA community. However, she faces opposition from the neighborhood. Tyler Adams is a successful and prominent figure, assisting her father in the real estate industry and dedicating herself to hosting a highly popular true crime podcast that enjoys a substantial following, though her personal life and sexuality remain a mystery to her fans.

Yasmeen meets Tyler while applying for a lease to a property owned by Tyler's father, and they join forces to establish the bar.

Trigger Warning~ Mention of past self-harm, homophobic characters, and ideals.

It was a very hilarious, lovely, and inspiring novel! I loved that the protagonists and the supporting characters were very optimistic and amazing. I especially loved Isa. The plot was engaging and quite unique - with the queer bar and a podcast celebrity.

The story is written in the first-person point of view and from Yasmeen's perspective. It was almost as though Yasmeen was speaking to the readers. Though this didn't accentuate Tyler's thoughts and feelings most of the time, it followed a typical romantic comedy structure.

Most of the time, I was unable to follow Yasmeen's friends, except Isa. Their backstories and relationship with Yas were a bit confusing. I felt there were a lot of characters that weren't introduced properly, which led to this confusion. Also, I found a few spelling mistakes that I found distracting. I hope they will be fixed before the release.

Overall, Yasmeen was very fun, and I loved the exchanges between her and Tyler.

Additionally, I enjoyed the short story about Yasmeen's brother and his best friend. It was funny, cute, and lovely!

4.5 stars

Les Be Honest is the second book in the Queerly Devoted series. Yasmeen Kiana is full of business ideas, but nothing she’s thought of has ever taken off until she comes up with the idea to open a lesbian bar/hair salon in Arlington, VA. This idea quickly takes shape and Yasmeen starts to go the distance to make her dream a reality. Unfortunately for her, the neighborhood where she finds a space isn’t accepting of this idea. Yasmeen teams up with Tyler Adams, the property manager who also happens to be the building owners daughter, to try and make the bar happen. Tyler hosts one of the world’s biggest true crime podcasts, but her sexuality is still a mystery to her fans. As Yasmeen and Tyler work together to make their lesbian bar a reality, sparks fly between them.

I really enjoyed Baby Bank, the first book in this series and was excited to see what other avenues Sarah Robinson was going to explore with this latest book. I found Yasmeen and Tyler’s story and really like how everything was tied together in the end. This story started off a little slow for me, but once it got going, I didn’t want to put it down. I like what is being done with this series and how it is exploring different issues than I am used to reading about in books. This series is very much needed right now and I like how Sarah Robinson portrays the LGBTQ+ society and pulls up different issues in each book, like the lack of lesbian bars around the country. Overall this was a good, entertaining read and I look forward to seeing what comes next in this series!

I feel like this story had a lot of potential, but just didn’t work for me. The plot itself is interesting enough, and I loved how the author wanted to bring attention to how few lesbian bars there are in the U.S. However, the writing just felt very…amateur. The characters didn’t seem fleshed out enough, the MC’s inner monologue felt overly explanatory (and almost preachy?) at times to the point where it took me out of the story. I also felt, especially at the beginning, that the dialogue just didn’t flow well at times. All in all, I’m glad I gave it a chance, but I won’t be reading any other books in this series.

Thanks to the publisher for the e-ARC via NetGalley! All opinions are my own.

TW: homophobia, familial homophobia, parental abandonment, parental death many years prior

I loved this story so much and all the characters! Id recommend it to anyone. I can’t wait to read more from the author in the future. Thank you Netgallery for this copy!

while "les be honest" started off very promising, especially because i wholeheartedly agree with the fact that lesbian bars are few and hard to find and it shows the effects of a patriarchal society even within the more open-minded LGBTQ+ community, i lost interest in this book very quickly and had to DNF at 21%. the concept was intriguing and i enjoyed yasmeen's inner monologue, but from the very beginning, everything about the book felt very forced. it felt very much like an ally trying so hard but landing on performative allyship. i'm not sure about the identity of the author so i don't want to judge based on that, but it was just the impression i got based on the bit that i read. along with that, the pacing for yas and tyler's relationship felt so rushed. they went from a business lunch that ended awkwardly, to agreeing to pretend to date, to hooking up the second time they met, to tyler getting jealous that yas was on a dating app. there was no emotional connection between them to make their extremely fast-paced relationship feel believable. thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book,

I can’t say I was a massive fan. The writing felt very flat for me, and I think a large reason for this is because the MC’s got together so early on in the book and we didn’t really get to see them much together, or even as individual people, outside of the bar. I didn’t feel any connection to their relationship as a result (& I did not like the comment about chihuahuas, they are adorable & lovely).

I did appreciate that this book raised awareness on lesbian bars, though, as I did not know there were so few of them within the US. I also enjoyed that we got to see discussions on how family dynamics are complicated and the solution isn’t a “one fits all” type of deal.

I’ll be reading more from this author in future, I just don’t think this particular book was for me.

An absolutely delightful follow up to The Baby Bank. This was a great way to start the new year. The characters and the story are fun and interesting and I enjoyed reading it.

I found this book to be just ok! There was definitely humor and funny moments and I liked seeing the characters introduced in this author’s first book making a reappearance and being expanded upon! There was just something missing for me, the chemistry was slightly off. I still enjoyed the book and did laugh while reading!

I'm unsure if the author is mixed race/biracial (the ending short story was part of an anthology about interracial romance too, so I'm very curious about this), but SR wrote a Black FMC, which felt like an interesting choice. I like to know if a work is ownvoices or not, so as an informed reader, I would appreciate if that was clarified - I looked at her IG, TikTok, website, and tried to Google it but could not find anything about her ethnicity.

This is the second book in the Queerly Devoted series (standalone but interconnected).

Anyway, this book is set in the DMV area and told in first-person POV by Yasmeen, who is trying her best to begin a business venture that *sticks*. She runs into Tyler, who is selling the space below her lavish apartment, and Yasmeen pitches a lesbian bar and hair salon to her.

Tyler asks Yasmeen if she would consider fake dating her so that her conservative politician father will agree to open the lesbian bar. Tyler believes that her dad Walter will do it out of the love he has for Tyler, because even though he doesn't approve of her "choice" (he calls her sexuality this multiple times), he loves her and wants her to be happy.

Their romance and sexual tension develops quickly, and though the smut was fun, I would have loved a bit more of a connection build up to the actual steam. Yasmeen and Tyler delve into the others' past heartaches, but this really comes later and I still have complicated feelings about Tyler and her father's relationship. I'm absolutely projecting my own familial and boundary issues onto her, but it's exhausting to always be the person educating the intolerant, bigoted person. Like, can't Tyler's dad just do his own homework? I do believe people are inherently redeemable but he uses such antiquated language when discussing his "acceptance" of Tyler - he says "love the sinner, hate the sin," which isn't as loving or empathetic as he thinks it sounds.. Anyway, to each their own!

I appreciated the plot of the troubles they ran into getting the bar to open (felt realistic to me, because one thing about cities - they will send provisional notices for closures and delays for anything and everything) and the commentary on the lack of lesbian bars in general.

The side characters are diverse: Isa Reyes is Filipino, Kai is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, and the other characters from the first book make appearances, like Mila and Rachel.

Probably Niche Side Note: I hate that Yasmeen called chihuahuas an "absolutely useless species". All beings on earth are allowed to just *be*, and I find that verbiage to feel capitalistic and tired.

Overall, I enjoyed Baby Bank a lot more than Les Be Honest.

steam rating: 3.5/5

One thing I will say about this book is that we have a likable enough MC

I just couldn't really connect with Yasmeen the way I wanted to

Infact, I connected more with Isa and Rachel that the actual MC

I think the smut was a little early and the whole ''enemies'' thing didn't really work for me, Like decide Yas do you want to fight with her or be in her pants

Turns out she chose both and does well enough in the fake dating aspect

The bar was an amazing concept explored and I would definitely recommend to anyone who likes this genre

I was looking forward to this book because i liked the first in this series more than i had expected to. This one, though, fell flat for me. I didn't really believe the characters, which is the most essential element for me in enjoying a romance. It was, overall, okay, just nothing to write home about.

I enjoyed this lesbian romance novel. I found the main characters and story line to be compelling. The drama with Tyler's father seemed realistic for DC. I read this faster than expected because I wanted to see what happened next. Good chemistry and level of spice between the main characters. Thanks to Netgalley do the e-ARC.

Thank you to netgalley and Author Collective 20 for allowing me to read this book. I really enjoyed getting to know the characters and diving into the story.