I LOVED this book so much! I am normally not a second chance person but this one just hit in all the right ways. Loved that there was no third act break up.

I think second chance romance is one of the hardest tropes to nail but in her debut adult romance Rebekah Faubion does just that. I loved the desert setting that brought together a wedding planner and a tarot reader who were each other's first loves. I am sure this book is going to be a hit this fall!

I wanted to love this so so badly. Tarot! Sapphic romance! Later in life coming out! Grappling with internalized biphobia! All things I thought would make a delightful exploration of queerness and sexuality. But I was so annoyed with the amount of influencer culture in this. I don’t like reading influencer romances and thought this would maybe be different since it’s tarot influencing. But it was over the top and wildly annoying. I saw other reviewers talking about how white rich woman this book is and….yes. Yes it is. And I couldn’t enjoy it.

This was a heartfelt, personal Sapphic second chance, dual POV romance debut that has two former best friends and almost more reunited as they both work to help pull off a Bride's wedding events to satisfaction.

Kit is a tarot reader and mystic influencer who recently broke up with yet another boyfriend and just learned that her parents are getting a divorce too. No one is more surprised than her when the wedding she was hired to perform for is being planned by her former bestie, Julia and the only girl she's ever kissed.

What follows is a Joshua Tree wedding weekend where the two women have to confront their pasts and face their fates as destined mates as foretold by the cards. Can Kit fully embrace her bisexual identity and is Julia willing to give her the chance to try to be out and open about their love? Both women will have to search their souls for the answers before the weekend ends.

Good on audio, this was a solid debut that had family drama, emotional depth, humor and even a bit of heat. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and @prhaudio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review!

Gorgeous beautiful emotional and sexy. I loveeeeed this so much I’m telling everyone and their mom to buy it and read it. This book has become my bible. Woof it was a beautiful read.

Hm, I don't know how to say this, but this book wasn't it for me. Like it's nothing personal. I just wasn't vibing with it. I just couldn't get the two characters chemistry. Something was off about it. I don't know what, but something was. And this isn't personal; I just didn't vibe with it. But if you love reading about queer romance with hints of second chance trope, then give it a try.

The Lovers is one of the most joyful and delightful books I've read in a long time. Rebekah Faubion has a spectacularly grounded and witty voice, and is one to watch in romance. I loved Kit and Julia's love story and seeing the ways that the hands of fate kept pushing them together, but what I loved even more is the messages about love and bravery that were woven at the heart of it. I also adored how lush and descriptive the setting was. As someone who lives in SoCal, it was so authentic and real and made me desperately want to take a trip to the desert. Also shoutout to Healer Arynne and her squad of booty-short clad men for always stealing the show.

3 ⭐️
It was a good read but definitely not one of my favs! One thing I related to was the feeling of being anxious of coming out and not being ready..but other than that, I could not for the life of me, connect with the characters. I feel like a lot of it was repetitive, and I’ve come to realize that social media mentions (and I mean extremely) are not my thing! Also, I did not see any character development from them either :(
It definitely felt like I knew about their surroundings than the characters! I’m definitely a fan of sapphic romance, but this one was just not for me! Although I will say to give it a try if you want to read it! ☺️

Thank you Berkley and NetGalley for the ARC! 🩷

Give me all the coming-out-later-in-life stories!

I liked this and it was an interesting concept- I’ve been getting interested in tarot kind of casually but this made me want to go buy a deck. Anyway, I liked it. It’s a cute, fun read with a GORGEOUS cover.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC in exchange for an honeset review

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-f/f contemporary romance
-second chance
-messy
-forced proximity
-opposites attract

Gosh I love a messy read and this was so much mess. Julia is working her highest profile wedding and she has not one but two exes present that she has to contend with. The one who was never right, but the safe option, and the one who got away. While I know nothing about tarot, I really enoyed how tarot fit into the greater story. Two driven women, who didn't get it right hte first time and taking a risk and trying again. Sexy times at someone else's wedding with undeniable chemistry and a bit of sneaking around. I can't wait to read whatever Rebekah writes next.

I hate to be the one to tell you this but the only really good thing about this book is the cover. I hope I never have to hear the phrase "manic pixie dream girl" ever again. so many "yikes how did this get published" moments

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
At one point a few years ago, I dabbled in tarot, and while the interest didn’t stick, I still love the idea of it, so my interest was immediately piqued by a tarot-inspired romcom, not to mention a sapphic one. I didn’t entirely know what to expect with The Lovers, but it surprised me in a good way.
Kit was particularly intriguing for me, because I had no idea that “mystic influencers” were a thing, but given how many varieties of influencer there are, I probably shouldn’t be shocked. I loved becoming reacquainted with tarot through her, and I found it interesting how this is something she orients her life around, although this means the unexpected sometimes throws her for a loop. Julia is kind of similar in being very type-A, but in a more “down-to-earth” way…she’s very dedicated to her work, and she doesn’t like not being in control.
The romance was quite sweet, and I liked how their journeys of coming into their own paralleled their romantic journey. Their insecurities due to their respective issues come into play in realistic ways, but it makes the happy ending and their romance as “twin flames” feel more rewarding.
There were a few minor issues with structure and pacing, particularly toward the ending, where it skips around a bit. It’s effective for the narrative, but it doesn’t make it less jarring.
This is a solid debut, and I’m interested in reading more from Rebekah Faubion in the future. I’d recommend it to readers interested in a sapphic contemporary with “New Age” aspects.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Rep: Bi MCs (one with anxiety), Black side character, multiple queer SCs

Content warnings: Emotional abuse, forced outing, panic attacks, divorce due to cheating, internalized homophobia/biphobia, brief mentions of a past parent death and an SC losing a brother to a car crash

This was so cute! The friends-to-lovers trope is special to me since that's how my own wife and I got together; it's always a delight to encounter. And as an amateur tarot reader, I love how many new books have been incorporating the cards. Rebekah Faubion clearly knows her stuff, and I appreciate how she doesn't lean into the "tarot cards actually do predict the future" stereotype (which is very much not true). While most of the rom-com references went over my head since those movies aren't my personal jam, I nonetheless found the parallels very cute. This book would make a fantastic movie and I desperately hope that happens so we can diversify the genre!

I only really have two gripes with "The Lovers," but I feel that they can be easily fixed.

First is a sentence from about two-thirds of the way through the book. A character's chest is described as "g[etting] her all kinds of gross attention from guys— men, teachers, literally anyone with a Y chromosome." This feels dangerously close to TERF territory, though I doubt Faubion meant it that way. Not all men have Y chromosomes, not all women have X chromosomes, and that doesn't leave any room for non-binary people. Scientists make more and more discoveries every year about how most of our DNA is extremely varied! Gender isn't sex, and gender is so much bigger than heavily-simplified theories we learned in high school. On top of that, this sentence erases gay men from the narrative. A major theme from beginning to end is that no one should make assumptions about others' sexualities. While it's likely unintentional, this sentence seems to imply that everyone assigned male at birth likes women. Maybe I'm overthinking it, but personally I would feel a lot better if an editor deleted that portion of the sentence.

I also really, really hate the "cartoonishly evil ex" and "women being awful to other women" tropes, especially when they're combined. It is 2024, surely we are past pitting women against each other!! Similarly, I straight-up loathe the cultural phenomenon (especially in the queer community) of only using the word "lesbian" when it's for someone awful. For example: I've seen multiple posts on every social media platform that I'm on about how Renee Rapp and Chappell Roan can't be lesbians, despite labeling themselves as such, because their music is so good and so relatable. People will just call them queer or sapphic instead. On the flip side, when fellow lesbian artist Jojo Siwa releases a mediocre song or does something cringe, the same people have no problem at all referring to her as a lesbian. I mention that because in "The Lovers," the only time the word "lesbian" is used is to describe an abuser. Around half the entire cast is sapphic, yet all of *them* are described as bi, "sexually fluid," or just generally queer. While I can grasp that it probably isn't actually that deep, I really am sick of my sexuality being seen as a dirty word. Either have the villain match the other side characters in being unlabelled, or include other lesbians in the cast. We aren't a scapegoat.

And dear god, I am begging authors to stop cramming Taylor Swift references into all their books. Yes she's a brilliant lyricist. No, there's nothing wrong with being inspired by her music. I like it too! But the exponential increase in romances that mention her over and over, or have an allusion to her in their titles, or are retellings of her songs, have become such cliches that it immediately bores me. I know that that's purely a personal preference, but it makes me considerably less likely to buy or even read the book.

Despite that, I truly did enjoy "The Lovers"! It was sweet, it was sexy, and I saw so much of my own coming-out narrative mirrored. I anticipate this being a massive hit and hope that Faubion continues queering the rom-com genre.

**HUGE thank you to Berkley for granting me an eARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!**

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book. I was also a part of the traveling ARC of this thanks to Rebekah Faubion. All thoughts are my own!

A dreamy second chance sapphic romance set amongst the Joshua trees. Kit and Julia were high school sweethearts who recieved a tarot reading when they were teens warning them they were twin flames that would be bound to be apart that will eventually find each other again. It's now ten years later and after falling out after high school, the two are reunited after Kit is hired to be a tarot reader at the boho chic wedding Julia has been tasked with planning. They can't help but feel like this is fate drawing them back to each other, but there was road blocks along the way.

I loved the mystical vibes this book had with the New Age school of thought being heavily involved in the overaching plot. My tarot deck is a close advisor of mine in times of need and I enjoyed that being a big part of Kit's journey and place in the world. The Joshua Tree wedding setting added an extra dose of hippie dippie fun and I enjoyed the cast of side characters these two had to deal with.

In the end, there was just something missing for me to really connect and root for these two characters. I also did not enjoy the subplot with Kit's parents and found that it took away from the love story between Kit and Julia. I think others will really enjoy this one though and my goodness, is this cover gorgeous or what?

The Lovers starts off with our main character: Kit, finding out that her parents with a picture-perfect marriage are getting divorced. Coupled with the fact that she’s had some recent bad luck, things can’t seem to get any worse. We also find out pretty quickly that Kit’s mother has a girlfriend and is bisexual while Kit hasn’t even opened up her about sexuality to anyone, let alone her parents.

Since she’s already dealing with a rough time, she agrees to be a tarot reader at an influencer’s wedding. Once there, she is reunited with Julia, the wedding planner, and her former best friend/childhood sweetheart. Kit ghosted Julia after high school and the two haven’t spoken since, making for some delicious tension.

There’s also the fact that Julia’s ex is now at the wedding party and is desperate to get back with her. Even though it seems like a lot to keep up with, you’ll eventually get everything straightened out and it’s the ride of a lifetime. Julia and Kit are trying to be professional but the attraction between them is scorching.

While the third-act conflict was downright cruel on one character’s part, it was a great catalyst for the story. Since the two meet up at an influencer’s wedding, a lot of time is spent, doing wedding activities but once that is over, the story feels more rooted in reality. Honestly, I adored how things worked out in the end, and considering that I haven’t read many books featuring tarot in them, it was a cool addition.

No matter if you’re on the hunt for sapphic romance or just love a good soapy story, then The Lovers has your name all over it.

I liked the pop culture references and had fun but I wasn't a fan of the characters that I found a bit spoiled.
Not my cup of tea
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The Lovers is a heartwarming Sapphic second-chance romance that explores the complexities of teenage relationships and the power of destiny. Kit, a tarot influencer, and Julia, a wedding planner, reunite after years apart, destined to navigate their feelings and confront their past challenges.

While the premise of tarot and twin flames is intriguing, the execution falls short of expectations. The forced outing of a character is a significant flaw, though the support they receive is commendable. The characters feel younger than their intended age, making it difficult to connect with their experiences fully.

Despite these shortcomings, The Lovers offers a light and enjoyable read. The romance is believable and sweet, and the occasional dash of spice adds depth to the story. If you're looking for a quick and easy romance with a touch of magic, this book might be worth checking out.

This is a sweet Sapphic second chance romance about two teenage sweethearts finding their way back to each other.

Kit is a tarot influencer whose Rom Com parents have just announced their separation. To escape, Kit takes on a job doing tarot at a wedding. Julia is the wedding planner who has to contend with her toxic ex as part of the bridal party. Kit and Julia, predicted to be twin flames as teens before Kit ghosted, may just find their way back to each other.

This was a solidly okay read. I love the premise of tarot and Twin Flames, but it didn't make as much of an impact as I thought it would. I despise someone being outed, so be warned that it's a thing here. (But the one who is outed is very much supported.) The characters read a bit younger than I think they're supposed to be, which made it a bit hard to get through, but the romance was mostly believable and sweet.

If you want a light, airy romance with a small dash of spice, this is the book for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

I'm really struggling with my review for this book. There were some things I liked and there were some things that I really did not.

The writing, while not terrible, was pretty repetitive with certain phrases. If I never hear the phrase "manic pixie dream girl" again it will be too soon. This book used that phrase (mostly unironically?) 9 times. There was also a repeated phrase quite a bit about "the perfect rom com relationship".

The other major part of this book that I struggled with was Kit's internalized biphobia. It was actually quite hard for me to read at times. I went back and forth on if it felt realistic and why I was having such a hard time reading it. And I think ultimately 2 things stuck out for me personally. 1 - These characters live in California which is incredibly liberal and queer. That's not to say that people could and do choose not to be out, because of course they could. But I just didn't get it for Kit - her parents seemed pretty supportive or at least didn't give any indications that they wouldn't be. We don't get a super good look at Kit's life but her best friend is queer so it's not like she doesn't have access to queer culture. IDK I struggled with writing this part of the review because I recognize that internalized biphobia is absolutely a thing but it was just really hard for me to reconcile it with the character I was reading about. 2 - I think generally this internalized biphobia just reads younger to me. Again, I recognize that people of any age can experience these feelings but the level to which she was experiencing them and not unpacking them just...felt so young to me despite this being an adult book.

I also struggled with the reality of this book which is not something I'm typically worried about when reading. It's probably because I was thinking so much about the above that I just really got into my head so take this with a grain of salt. But Kit ghosts Julia in high school, they don't talk for years, and then meet back up at this wedding, spend 3-4 (ish?) days together, and are ready to seemingly spend the rest of their lives with each other? That just seems...wild.

Thank you to Berkley for the eARC. All thoughts are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Give me more coming out when you're in your 20s or 30s stories. Give me more bisexual chaos. I liked this book because it was messy and really felt multifaceted in how it explores queerness. The main character, Kit, really struggles with her sexuality not necessarily because she's afraid the people in her life won't love and accept her. Her fear is more based on letting go of what she always envisioned as her perfect Rom Com happily ever after. Being queer never fit in that imaginary future so she forced herself into a box of heteronormativity. Julia is more comfortable with her sexuality, but she got out of a toxic relationship where her partner Piper was firmly in the closet and was happy to shove Julia into whatever box best suited Piper.

Kit and Julia were best friends in high school and their friendship ended when Kit broke Julia's heart. Now they're forced to work together on a wedding. Julia is the no-nonsense wedding planner and Kit is Mystic Maven, a tarot card reader. And of course, to add an extra wrench into the mix, Piper (Julia's closeted ex) is a bridesmaid. The evolution of Kit and Julia mending their friendship is so lovely and it felt natural. The romantic nature is a little sped up to me, but to be fair they are sequestered in the desert for a weekend. Forced proximity does tend to make things work out.

The reason this wasn't a 5-star read for me is that a lot of the inner dialogue, especially for Kit, was so immature to me. It just felt like we were supposed to watch Kit grow in comfortability in her sexuality, but she felt so juvenile it was hard for me to relate or really like her as a character. Julia really stood out more as a fleshed-out character. She had actually overcome obstacles and grown, where Kit felt still stuck in high school.

Overall, this is a cute sapphic friends to lover's story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.