I thought the astrology concept in this book was super fun. Unfortunately the main character gray was just so unlikable the way she treated her best friend almost had me DNF the book.

𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 4 ⭐️
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: contemporary romance 📚

𝙼𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜:
A fun and unique sapphic romance

𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
Astrology
Sapphic romance
Mid life crisis
Friends to lovers
NOLA setting
Found family
Online dating

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚍:
The side characters were great

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛:
It was a little too astrology based for me- I don’t love that they were characterizing people by their signs but it was fun

I had to double-check how Looking for a Sign was being promoted, because the tag I received is that it is a romance. When I went looking for the tag on purchase sites, I noticed it wasn’t getting high ratings and I think I know why. It could technically be called a romance, but it is more of a fiction book. The main character sleeps with multiple people in the story and in romances, unless they are poly are kink related, readers have a tendency to like one person for one person.

The other major issue, for me at least, is that on Location 84, Susie Dumond has the character think of herself as a “lesbian.” During the dating challenge, Gray goes out with Niko. When Cherry, Gray’s best friend, notices that Gray uses the pronoun “he” to refer to Niko, she questions Gray about going out with a “him.” Gray replies, “Niko. Trans man.” Is this supposed to imply that because Niko is AFAB that Niko is a lesbian too? Or does Gray not really see Niko as a man? This is a huge faux pas on the author’s part. If Gray recognized that Niko is a man, then Gray would either be bisexual or pansexual. I think if you are going to write about something you may not know all of the nuances of, you might want to get a sensitivity reader to ensure that no missteps occur.
I agree with Gray’s final thoughts in regards to herself and her maturity level. This was an issue I struggled with throughout the story because it is beyond obvious.

I think I had just seen this as LGBTQ+ fiction versus a romance, I would have enjoyed it more. I confess to wanting my romance to be fantasy and not like real-life.

Such a fun book! I love astrology and this was definitely heavily influenced by star signs. Since Gray who is about to turn 29 and just got in a huge breakup visits a famous astrologer and learns she needs to possibly date each sign to find her match.
This imo isn't a bad idea. I really feel there is something to signs since by time and location there are so many other details besides just the sign to read from. All I know is my husband and I are compatible lol..a cancer and a Aquarius, poor guy.
I was happy when Gray met her Aquarius match but that was when the drama happened. Loved her bestie and her besties family. Her besties son River sounded adorable.

Looking for a Sign feels like you are immersed into a romcom! I love how the story incorporates the popular culture of New Orleans including references to well known places !

Gray is a character that is facing her quarter life crisis and is in search of finding true love ..
She sets out on a dating challenge that involves dating every sign ! I love how every sign you can connect to someone in your life ! There are happy surprises and things that are definitely imaginable in the queer community.

Definitely a quirky summer read ! It is not too heavy on the heart , and it makes you laugh at the mishaps of dating ☀️

Final rating /3.75
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

<i>Thank you for the ARC</i>

After getting out of a 10 year relationship back in Tulsa, Gray moves into her best friend's garage apartment in New Orleans where she hopes that dating through all the astrological signs will help her find the right person before her 29th birthday.

The premise seemed fun enough. I'm not super into astrology, but I am queer enough to have co-star on my phone. It seemed cool enough of a rom-com, to essentially create characters off of some of the assumptions of astrological sign characteristics. Unfortunately, this book fails every step of the way to actively engage with creating good queer content.

First, the dialogue. When it's not overly schmaltzy, it's down right unbelievable. It doesn't flow and often serves as a vehicle for the author to make pop culture statements about liking this show over that. The conversations about sexuality and gender did not at all feel nuanced, while at the same time being preachy in a Lesbian on the Internet™️ kind of way. One line was (paraphrased) as "I'm a lesbian, I can date any gender" and I don't know a lot of the intricacies or nuances of this, however it seems insanely problematic, especially when the example used is trans men?

Next, the pacing. The dates happen suddenly, in a blink. There's not much build up to the main love interest appearing. The dates are literally often "hey thanks for the drink, want to have sex in that closet?" All of that premise really goes out the window when you have someone who just got out of a 10 year relationship dipping a toe back into dating who is looking for their person. Between dates, you get long diatribes about feelings and how they're interpreting these dates and their life, however Gray shows almost no growth or development other than an astrological sign partner power ranking list.

Third, the characters-- no one here is especially relevant or important or even multidimensional despite the fact that the author spends pages and pages describing them. They are either blank pages or incredibly dull.

Overall, I think this book is too long, in need of massive editing, and to be reworked to really figure out what it's trying to stay.

Looking For a Sign was fun and light and refreshing! I was rooting for the FMC the whole time and couldn’t have chosen a better HEA. The friendships and found family and dating adventures and misadventures kept me interested until the end. I loved the astrology storyline and it felt relatable. I would definitely read this again as a light palate cleanser between heavy books. I finished it feeling happier 😊

This book was perfect. I was crying by page 26 and rooting for Grey all the way! I loved the strong friendships and the development of found family throughout. And although I'm not really into astrology, it didn't even matter. The story itself is good enough to make you want to keep reading all in one sitting!

5/5

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me an e-arc of this book.

Did Not Finish at 11% (34 pages)

This book just, honestly, wasn’t for me.

While I was excited to read a story of a girl going through the zodiac to find her perfect partner, I found myself unable to get into this story. Looking For A Sign starts out with a lot of information about astrology and horoscopes, detailing what such-and-such event means and why being born at this specific time means that this certain thing is going to happen to you. Paired with our main character–who we’ve just met and barely know anything about–crying over a past breakup within the first few opening pages of the book, and I was feeling overwhelmed!

As well, I wasn’t really sure what I should have been expecting from this book overall. With the opening, it seemed like our main character was really into astrology and all this she was talking about, but soon after, she reveals in the narration that she’s a skeptic. Why are we going through all this trouble if we don’t even believe in it???

I tried to skim through some of the later parts of this book to see if I could find any interest in the spoilers, but I ultimately decided this book just wasn’t for me and it was better for me to dnf it.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the e-arc!
And this sapphic romantic comedy a woman uses astrology to find her match after moving to New Orleans for a new job. The premise of this sounds like the perfect setup for a queer romance, and the execution made it such a good summer read. I am a casual fan of astrology, meaning I know a little bit but not a ton, and I found the story easy to follow, regardless of how little knowledge I have. The combination of romantic comedy book with all of the different astrology facts and plots in this makes it unique, There were some issues I had staying engrossed with the plot as well as with some of the characters but overall I did enjoy the story.

Ok, so I had so much fun devouring Looking for a Sign by Susie Dumond.
It was so entertaining and very creative.
The characters were so well-developed and believable. The romance is perfect and the banter is hilarious. Fun, heartwarming, romantic, sweet, and everything a novel needs to be great?

Thank You NetGalley and Dial Press for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

📚: Looking for a Sign by Susie Dumond
⭐️: 4/5

The gist: Gray is newly single after leaving her long-term girlfriend, and finds herself nearing 29, staying at her best friends’ house in NOLA, and having a case of imposter syndrome at her new job. Her best friend enlists the help of renowned astrologist Madame Nouvelle Lune, setting off a plan to date each star sign before her Saturn Return on her upcoming birthday.

The good: This book was an ideal palette cleanser. It was feel good cute. It was fun. It has characters to cheer for and lots of fun NOLA scenic references. (I’d love a beignet right now.) A solid pace as well that kept me reading past my bedtime, making this a surprising #inonesitting read for me!

The eh: I mean, predictable. So predictable. I don’t even consider this a downside though because that predictability was exactly what I look for in a feel good book like this. A 4 star rating because it didn’t five star wow me — but I so enjoyed it!

Thank you to @randomhouse via @netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. Looking for a Sign just released this week and is available everywhere books are sold!

3.5 stars. I love the setting and all the dates were really fun, and LOVED the representation we saw in the books, bringing out the LGBTQIa and perfect for pride month. Being bi sexual I also loved the bi rep, and talking about bi phobia. I enjoyed the first 2/3, the parts it lost me on were that I didn’t really think Veronica was very nice to our girl, and the conflict made me upset. I wish it would’ve been resolved sooner, and I also wish we would’ve had more Veronica time together than all the dates, it felt more about finding yourself than a romance story.

I'm not sure if Looking for a Sign is supposed to be a Princess and the Frog retelling, but that's <i> sort of </i> the takeaway I ended up with. Let me explain. Recently divorced Gray lives with her best friend Cherry, and on her friend's advice, visits a bayou astrologer to find out what direction her life should take. Gray and Cherry (mistakenly) misinterpret the astrologer's advice to mean that Gray should date, and sleep with, someone with every astrological sign before her birthday in a few weeks. Thus begins the dating challenge. There's lots of chemistry and silliness and fun queer times. Along the way, Gray gets of on the wrong foot with coworker Veronica.

One of my favorite things about this is the setting in New Orleans and the surrounding area. I loved all the dates, good and bad, and it almost felt like I was with Gray on some of them!

I will say that I didn't immediately clock the love interest, which never happens, because she was truly awful in the beginning. We don't get an explanation for her rigidity, which I would have appreciated, because seriously, girl, damn. But other than a brief miscommunication/misleading trope, the communication between Gray and her friends and LI is healthy without drawn out drama. I really enjoyed this one!

I received an advanced copy for review. This is my own opinion. Thanks to Netgalley, Random House/Dial Press, and Susie Dumond for the ARC.

I wish this had been better, because one of the main reasons I requested this ARC was due to the astrology premise. It sounded so cute but fell so flat. Also you cannot be a lesbian and date people of all genders. That's not how it works. If you date all genders, that's Bi/Pan.

after the dissolution of a ten year relationship, gray is newly single at 29 and looking for love. her best friend suggests she see an astrologer, madame nouvelle lune, who advises gray that the stars might hold answers. the plan fully formulates: gray will go on a date with a person from every single star sign in an effort to find the one she's meant to settle down with.

set in new orleans, i get what the spirit this book was trying to invoke - campy, esoteric fun in the form of tourist-trappy palm readers, silliness like the pisces that gray finds that turns out to be a disney adult lugging her sister along with her on dates, etc. for whatever reason, i was checked out of this. it could be that i don't like romance. it could be that i don't like stories that include motherhood/kids/etc. of which this book had a bit (seriously, there's nothing that gives me secondhand embarrassment the way adults trying to write dialogue for toddlers does with the exception of audiobook narrators pitching a screech to try to SPEAK that dialogue).

i also fear i checked out pretty early in at gray's proclamation that she could be a lesbian and date people of all genders. j'excuse? especially mentioning trans men as part of this proclamation, it's giving transphobia. the ickiness being followed by her friend saying, "yeah, fuck gender essentialism," felt weird and judgey too.

anyway, not for me.

This was such a well written and enjoyable book. Gray and Cherry were enviable friends and their relationship felt real and pleasant. The whole astrology dating thing was hilarious. Gray was a very lovable character and easy to root for. Personally I could have done without the weird fashion descriptions or ode to la croix.

Like this author’s earlier book, I think this one is better enjoyed if thought of as women’s fiction and not romance. The focus of the story is really on Gray’s growth and story and the romantic element is only a focus of the last 25% of the book or so. That said, I loved the set up for the story of going on a date with someone of every astrological sign! Some of the dates had me laughing out loud, others cringing with secondhand embarrassment. But Gray was a very likely character and I loved seeing her relationship with Veronica blossom from colleagues to friends to lovers.

Content flags: some discussion of being forced to attend conversion therapy and being rejected by parents upon coming out; some discussion of time spent in conservative religious settings

I voluntarily read a gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Newly single Gray is determined that her move to New Orleans after breaking up with her first (and only) girlfriend means that she has to step it up in the dating department if she wants to have the family she's always dreamed of. In her quest to do this, she goes to Madame Nouvelle Lune, an astrologer who tells her she needs to experience the signs to find her happiness. Gray interprets this as needing to date one person from each zodiac sign and sets off on a series of dates that will open up her mind and world. But is dating all the signs really what she needs, or does she just need to be open to what the universe is putting in front of her?

It's a fun story full of interesting characters altogether with Gray as a great person to experience it with. She's a very positive person despite the bad times she's had and some of the obstacles she's facing, so the worse the date, the more fun it is to read about. It's obvious who she's going to end up with as soon as you meet them, but getting there is so enjoyable that I didn't mind it one bit.

Overall, a fun and quick romantic story that's all about the positives. I highly recommend checking it out if you need a pick-me-up.

Very happy thanks to NetGalley and Dial Press Trade Paperback for the fun read!

I loved the representation here! I promise not to ruin the ending, but I called it from a mile away. And the idea of dating through all of the zodiac signs is interesting. Anyone looking for a dating challenge needs to look no further! Review (no spoilers): I loved the representation here! I promise not to ruin the ending, but I called it from a mile away. And the idea of dating through all of the zodiac signs is interesting. Anyone looking for a dating challenge needs to look no further!