Dayana always dreamed of going to London. After her father leaves, Dayana is angry. Then when her mother tragically dies, she's whisked from her Brazilian home to live with her estranged father and his new family. The London dream of her childhood is anything but that. While walking by Buckingham Palace a chance encounter with a mysterious redhead Diana catches her attention and later her heart. But it seems there is much more to Diana than she lets on. Add to that rumors that Diana might be connected to British royalty.

What worked: Cute, fun LGBT romance set in London. Add a possible Royalty to the mix. When Dayana comes to London, she struggles with a ton of emotions including guilt that she might have had something to do with her mother's death. The anger she has toward her father is very realistic. To Dayana, he deserted her when she was a child. Then she finds out he has a different family, including a stepsister Georgia who suffers from a mysterious illness. That's a lot to put on a teen's plate!

I liked the romance build-up between Dayana and Diana. It was sweet and fun. The secret Diana has about her ties to Buckingham Palace are kind of obvious. I wasn't surprised at the reveal. I did think Dayana's impulsive reaction was kind of over the top. I wanted more on their new relationship besides the Royal tabloid accounts.

The strained relationship between Dayana and her father Roberto could have been deepened. I like how her stepmother tries with Dayana. Georgia's health issues were interesting and believable.

I did love the Nottinghill shout-out. Very cute and adorable!

RED, WHITE, AND ROYAL BLUE fans will enjoy this LGBT romance set in London.

Original post: https://www.yabookscentral.com/london-on-my-mind/

cute royalty romance and fun ideas in this gorgeous YA sapphic romance with all the coolest ideas. tysm for the arc.

To be honest, this one was a DNF at about 30%. I didn't connect with the main character at all. There were several times where Portuguese words were used and there was no translation so I had no idea what was being said.

The whole idea was so far-fetched. The dad was unlikeable. The step-mom was pushy.

And basically I realized that I didn't care what happened to the main character. So I stopped reading.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
It was a cute, sapphic YA romcom and I think we need so many more queer YA books in general so I appreciate that we have this one. That being said, it was more of a light fluff read for me.

a dnf for now, might revisit someday. just not keeping my interest. thank you netgalley for the arc/

I can definitely see how this book had some elements of Red, White, and Royal Blue. I thought this was a super sweet sapphic love story plus I love when books are set in London because I feel like it just makes the story more adventure and fun to explore.

Thank you for the e-ARC to read and review. DNF - This book is so very much not up my alley and I have had such trouble getting into the voice. I will not leave a public review of this book as I have not read enough to fairly rate it. But for internal notes, I love that this work was translated, I was excited to read the rep featured here (Brazilian, bilingual, Sapphic) - but it did not come together well at all for me. It is reading very irritating and judgemental, and like it was written by a teen or child instead of for them, or with that audience in mind.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately this book did not work for me. I was excited to read a book translated from Brazilian Portuguese, especially a sapphic book, but I'm not sure whether it was the translation or the writing itself, but it was extremely hard to get through. Very cringey and juvenile, I just could not finish it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Scholastic for providing me with an eARC of London on My Mind in exchange for my honest review!

This sapphic YA rom-com provides the right sort of cozy and fluffy London-set time that I'm looking for while knowing how to infuse it with just enough weight during the heavier parts. Sure, there are points where it gets a tad too heavy for me, where Dayana acts a little too much like a teenager who's got a ton of maturing to do. But they don't bother me too much—certainly a lot less compared to other books that have clumsily handled similar material. The charming chemistry between Dayana and Diana and the whole trope of a romance with a royal keep me invested, even if I'm slightly irritated by the two MCs sharing the same name, but with different spellings. Also, I'm not certain I would have been so quick to forgive a specific character in the third act for their traitorous actions, but oh well, I don't have to agree with all the choices that people make in this story.

Overall, I'm officially rating London on My Mind 3.75 out of 5 stars. It's a fairly comfy old ride that I'm glad I checked out.

*2.5 Stars*

This one didn't work for me. The obsession for the English royals, the choices of names, the "twist." I wasn't a fan of the main character either but also not of the way she was treated by her new family. Basically, it didn't really work for me. A lot of things made me question the choices made throughout the book and others just made me roll my eyes a lot. It wasn't for me I think... I wanted to love it but I didn't even feel the connection between the main character and her love interest. It all happened quite fast, the whole thing read like a fever dream honestly. I was pretty disappointed... I was expecting a lot from this one.

London On My Mind is a teen rom com that focuses on so much more than just two teens falling in love. The story was lovely and the writing was fantastic! I felt like I was right there with Dayana every step of the way! It is filled with so much amazing representation that I wish it was a real life story! Dayana is a fat, bisexual, bilingual Brazilian teen who travels from her home in Rio to live with her dad in London. There we meet her Pansexual love interest Diana as well as Diana's stepsister with fibromyalgia! Seriously, this range of reps was my favorite part about this translated novel. I'm so happy that it was published in the US because there are not enough books from other countries published here. We need to see other countries on page!

The premise of London on My Mind was an interesting one: Brazilian teen Dayana moves to London with her father after her mother’s death and meets the girl of her dreams, Diana, who just happened to be escaping Buckingham Palace at the time. I don’t know if something was lost in translation (it was originally published in Brazilian Portuguese), but this book just fell flat for me. The story really drags at some points. Diana’s connection to the royal family was so obvious that I don’t know why the “mystery” was drawn out for so long. Dayana’s father, stepmother, and stepsister are all terrible, which I don’t think the reader is meant to feel by the end of the book, but I certainly did. As someone who lost my mom when I was a teen, I would have liked to see more exploration of Dayana’s grief. Ultimately, I’d probably still recommend this one to teen readers, but as an adult reader who occasionally enjoys YA, London on My Mind wasn’t for me. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

Carla Alves wrote an extremely cute YA royal romance. Like all YAs, it hits you in the feels when addressing topics such as grief and abandonment. I was thoroughly entertained.

Thank you to Scholastic | PUSH and NetGalley for providing an eARC for an honest review.

I always love books set in London, but while this one has an entertaining premise, I was a little underwhelmed. It's very insta-lovey, and since everything moves so fast, I didn't feel invested in any of the characters. I also found the story pretty flat, and I was a little confused by the alternate universe (?) royal family lore. However, while this one wasn't my favourite, I still enjoyed it enough to finish reading, and I'm sure fans of cute contemporaries with a fun setting and a theme of family will enjoy.

This was a cute YA book with great representation. I was surprised it was translated. I enjoyed the setting and the character growth. It wasn’t necessarily a stand out book to me but it was a satisfying read.

I wanted to like this one, I just…didn't. I'm not sure if it was something getting lost in the translation, or the story, or my struggle to like Dayana as a person. It's YA, which I knew going in (I typically like YA), but it felt more like middle grade. I do think the grief and typical teenage behavior was handled in a realistic way, but a lot of the plot made me roll my eyes.

On a technical note, I really didn't like how the ebook was formatted. It may be due to me having an ARC, but there weren't any real breaks between chapters and everything felt super compressed.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley, but my review is unbiased.

I did not care for this book at all. Dyana felt very one dimensional while Diana (don’t get me started on how stupid that is) I barely knew at all. I also had a problem with the Queen being named Diana and her son being Prince Andrew, both names bring up such emotions I don’t understand why the author wouldn’t choose other names.

I really enjoyed the romance and family aspects of this book. The themes of grief as well as forgiveness made me tear up multiple times and I loved the way it was done. The romance was cute and had me giggling and rooting for them the entire time! I also absolutely loved the plus-size, pansexual, bisexual and chronic illness representation in the characters! The only aspect of this book that fell short for me was the constant mention of One Direction. At first I loved it because I’m a huge One Direction fan, however, I could have done with less mention of the band. Other than that, I really enjoyed the book and would recommend it if you want a quick LGBTQ+ YA read!

Thank you to netgalley and Scholastic | PUSH for allowing me to read this book. This was such a fun read that i read in one sitting. The characters and the story were so cute and relatable.

I loved everything about this story; the diversity and representation, the cute teenage love story, and the family dynamics. I love how queer identity played a big role in the story but it wasn’t THE story. The characters had so many layers and being bisexual & pansexual was just another part of them. I also loved that it took place mostly in London because I will be visiting there this fall and am so excited!