Thank you to Eleanor Pilcher, NetGalley, and Harper Collin’s for the ARC read of this book, all opinions are my own.

That’s What She Said follows two women as they flourish out of the early twenties lifestyle into a more adult life. Beth and Serena are two best friends who met in college and live together in London. I feel like their relationship is very true to a natural relationship progression and shows the good and the bad of adapting into a more people conscious way of living, I actually see a lot of the same growth and development between them that I saw between my best friend and I as we grew and that very much helped me connect with the book.

I will say this book has probably touched on relationships and their development more honestly and naturally than any other book I have read. You get to see the MCs struggle with conflict resolution, communication breakdowns, and selfish thoughts preventing them from being the best person they could be for their best friend. It felt natural and like a situation you would see in every day life.

The storyline was good. I enjoyed watching how two people who view intimacy differently grew and learned through the book. The authors touches on everything you could think would happen in this type of relationship, also showing the right way and wrong way to go about it.

As someone who identifies on the asexuality spectrum it is nice to feel seen and represented in a book. It felt thoroughly explained and was never used as the butt of a joke or given any negative connotation. This includes when some a fight happens and not nice things are said, but spoilers, darling.

All in all I loved the basics of the book, the four stars come in where it was just not the type of writing style I enjoy. I like a little more action and excitement but this was an absolutely lovely coming of age novel but with very little excitement.

“That’s What She Said,” by Eleanor Pilcher follows the friendship of Serena and Beth. Two friends who are total opposites, but you know what they say, opposites attract. Beth, a demisexual is taken on a wild ride by Serena who is looking for an article to write. Through a bunch of crazy antics, the reader falls in love with both characters. You grow to appreciate the difference in narratives, and I loved seeing the growth and change.

One thing I struggle with, and this is me as a reader, is when books make current day references. I think it forces the book to stay in a very constrictive category. The references made sense, and were funny however. Like we all understand, the Bridgerton references, and if you don’t… stop reading this review and get on Netflix!

I really appreciated Eleanor’s style it was very conversational and I appreciated how each character had their own voice.

I generally really enjoyed this—Pilcher does a great job capturing the complexities of female friendships, being in your 20s and just not knowing what tf is going on. Serena and Beth are really good, nuanced characters, who you love but also want to shake at times, I appreciated the way Beth’s sexuality was handled; I was nervous about where it was headed but I thought Pilcher took great care with it. The writing gets a little juvenile/messy at times but I sped through this read.

First, thank you to NetGalley, Eleanor Pilcher, and Avon and Harper Voyager | Avon for an ARC of this novel. Opinions are my own.

I don't usually do a description as I find the book synopsis are better than what I could offer, but this novel follows the lives of its two protagonists as they deal with sex, relationships, and friendship, all with a slightly queer twist on what you would expect. Beth is demisexual and Serena is a bisexual commitment phobe who has unresolved family issues that make relationships difficult for her. Throughout the novel we see both characters placed into situations to force them to grow and become comfortable with themselves.

This is one of the best books I've read in a long time - and absolutely the book that made me laugh the loudest and hardest. In fact, I rarely laugh out loud when reading books, i usually just acknowledge the humor in my head. For this novel, however, I laughed out loud multiple times and particularly during the "Guy" scene (no spoilers, but look forward to this scene).

Beyond that, I found both main characters to be really well drawn and I appreciated the juxtaposition of their character traits - against each other and with respect to the plot. I think the author did a fantastic job addressing demisexuality, asexuality generally, and queerness through the multiple lenses. I found the handling of the subject matter to be very thoughtful and respectful, while putting both Beth and Serena in uncomfortable situations. It never felt as though the situations were plotted in a way to make fun of the main characters, but to allow us to see the humor in the situation along with their feelings. I also felt that the relationships between Beth and Serena was "natural," for lack of a better word. The inevitable conflicts felt earned/did not feel contrived, which is not always the case in these types of novels.

In all, this is a very thoughtful, hilarious look at dating somewhat off the beaten path and with a queer lens and I felt as though it was exceptionally well done.

The premise seemed really interesting, and I was looking forward to reading about a Demi character. But, the execution fell short for me. I didn't particularly enjoy the writing style and felt kind of bored while reading. I didn't connect with the characters as much as I would have liked, and struggled just to finish this book. Was rooting for it, but just not for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for this ARC.

DNF. Made it about 10%.

I really didn't enjoy the style. I felt like the characters were a bit cartoonish and it just didn't read well for me. The entire hen party was obscure and didn't really make me want to spend anytime with the characters any further.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

4.25 ⭐️ thank you NetGallery for the eARC!!

“Lately, it wasn’t so much that I wanted to try sex, so much as I wondered if I would ever be able to have a relationship, or even date, if I wasn’t necessarily willing to have sex,” (56).

Serena and Beth were such lovely characters to get to know. I felt all of their frustrations, love, and care the pair felt for each other. Beth’s sexuality was such an interesting read, especially from my ace-spec lens. Their relationship was an excellent balance of love, but also stress that living with close friends can occasionally have. I quite enjoyed this read, and would definitely recommend picking it up.

What a super readable, relatable, and interesting read. The 'sexual odyssey' journey that we get to follow felt so real, I kept forgetting I was reading fiction! The journey that we follow through both povs felt like old friends. I can easily see this turned into a super entertaining and intriguing television show. Overall, an easy 4.25! The only slight miss for me was a couple Serena moments that made me cringe. Will definitely read more Pilcher in the future!

The cover got me! I needed to know what this novel was all about. It was sort of a sexual awakening and close look at friendship with self discovery mixed in. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I thought this book was pretty good. The premise was very interesting. A women in her 20s who is still a virgin and decides she wants to loose it and her friend who is very sex positive and tries to help her achieve this goal. I feel like the story overall was good but it did not wow me in any way. I still had an enjoyable time reading it though.

Beth is 28 years old, demisexual, and a virgin. When her curiosity in regards to sex starts to increase, her sex-positive best friend Serena sets a course for Beth's sexual odyssey. "That's What She Said" focuses heavily on Beth's sexual awakening, but perhaps even more importantly, it charts the complications of female friendships in your 20s. Beth and Serena are both complex and relatable characters with very real flaws. My three-star rating boils down to not being a fan of the writing style. I found that conversations and character feelings were often over-explained, where they could have been easily intuited.

That's What She Said offers an interesting premise but ultimately falls short in execution. The plot, while promising, feels overly familiar and lacks the depth needed to engage readers fully.

2000s chick lit is back! And this time, it's in LGBTQIA+ form!

I kid, I kid. This is a book about two best friends, Beth (demisexual virgin) and Serena (she puts the "sex" in bisexual). They're at a crossroads in their friendship.

I'm going to spoil a part of this for those who get their hopes up: no, this isn't the queer platonic love story of my dreams. I think without that expectation, it would be more enjoyable. Instead, it ends exactly the way you think.

I call it "chick lit" because it is so much more about their emotional journeys than their romances and, fortunately, it knows that, otherwise the book would be insufferable. Neither Beth, with her constant people-pleasing and avoidance, nor Serena, self-involved and selfish, are heroines I'd want to root for if their friendship wasn't so interesting–but chick lit rarely starts with anyone at their best.

I enjoyed this quick-paced book, I just had to accept it for what it is.