🤍🖤 I Love You S’More ARC Review 🖤🤍

Thank you so much to Auriane Desombre and Delacorte Romance for the opportunity to read and review this book!

I Love You S’More is a standalone contemporary YA sapphic romance. 15 year old camp counselor Ivy has just gone through a very public breakup. Thinking that theater camp is her perfect escape, she’s excited to get away for a few weeks. But when she runs into her childhood rival, can they both adapt to the growing feelings between them?

This was a cute YA read. Ivy was an interesting character and went through a lot of growth in this story. Rynn was a good match for her and I enjoyed the development of their relationship from ex-childhood friends to dating. I did feel like Ivy had her moments of immaturity but she did make progress in this book

Overall this was a cute three star read. This was a fun story with all the summer camp vibes. This book does have some potential triggers, so please check if you’re sensitive. This book did have a romantic story, but YA levels of on page spice, so one flame for spice

If you’re a fan of rivals to lovers, Hollywood gossip and summertime romance, then absolutely pick this one up!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this cute summer camp rom-com!

A lot of celebrity romances focus on the whirlwind of being in a relationship with a celebrity, so it was an interesting perspective to see the book told from the aftermath of the relationship. Breaking up is hard, but breaking up when the whole world is watching and hashtagging it has to be impossible, especially if you’re a teenager.

I really enjoyed Ivy being forced to work with Rynn and confront why they had the big friend breakup, and I liked the parallel to the campers. This was such a fun and quick read!

First and foremost, thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's for providing me with an eARC for an honest review!

As expected, my main takeaway from reading this book is how cute it is. Reading it as an adult took me back to the days of the intensity of high school relationships, of summer camps, and of feeling like you need to care what people think of you. Not all of those are cute and fun emotions, mind you, but this book embraces the wholesome nature of these things in a way that makes it a lovely summer read. I think that the pacing is a bit wonky at times, and the end feels a bit rushed, but on the whole I was fully engrossed in what managed to both be a coming of age story and a lovely bit of sapphic romance melded together. For anyone looking for a quick summer read, this is a great option!

First and foremost, thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's | Delacorte Romance for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Review:
3.25 ⭐ out of 5

I have mixed feelings about I Love You S'More. This story follows the journey of grief faced by young teen, Ivy as she foregoes her normal yearly family vacation to spend the summer at a camp where she spent most of her childhood in an effort to escape the reality that she has been dumped by her long term girlfriend and Child TV Star. Except her ideal summer is thwarted by the arrival of her childhood best friend who the last time they saw each other, informed Ivy she didn't want to be friends anymore and never wanted to see her again.

What I enjoyed: Wonderful queer representation among the camp councilors. The descriptions of grief felt when experiencing your first heartbreak was definitely relatable and I believe handled very well (not necessarily by Ivy, but she is understandably inexperienced in the area of being dumped and having a romantic relationship come abruptly to an end). With that being said, I did very much like Ivy's character. She didn't always make the best decisions, but let's be real here: teenagers, especially teenagers experiencing extreme emotions for the first time, are often reckless in their decision making. The story flowed well enough (right up until the end) and it didn't feel like there was a lot of unnecessary fluff.

Middle ground: I was more invested in the relationship of two side characters that I was in the relationship between the main characters. Fitz and Ben need their own story. They were cute and funny and carried the story as much as they carried the camp.

What I struggled with: Rynn. Even after figuring out what Ivy had just gone through (a very public breakup and having her private life blown up on the internet), she seemed to go out of her way to make Ivy's camp experience a bad one. <spoiler>The magical hike where nothing was really said but everything was magically fixed. </spoiler> Even when Rynn was being more sincere towards Ivy, I couldn't really get behind the idea of them actually being a couple. Along those lines, this didn't FEEL like a romance, more like a YA Contemporary Fiction/Coming of Age with a romantic subplot. A cute title that I didn't feel matched the vibe (even if they did eat a lot of s'mores). And finally, the ending. The ending itself felt so incredibly rushed, I didn't even fully realize I hit the end until the page wouldn't turn on the Kindle anymore.

All that to say, I slammed through this in less than a day, and while I enjoyed the story, was ultimately left a bit unsatisfied with the end.

My monthly reading breakdown will be posted to TikTok and IG during the first week of April.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was cute! It's on the more juvenile side of YA, but the aspect wasn't as bad/annoying as others I have read. I found both character's behavior pretty realistic given their age; Teenager emotions were portrayed very well without being TOO overdramatic. I really loved the queer rep, and I appreciated the character development that all of the characters went through. Although, I didn't appreciate how EASY the "bad" person was forgiven, but that could just be a me issue. All in all a really cute YA LGBTQ+ read; it didn't SHOCK me or snag me emotionally, but it was fun!

THOUGHTS

It was cute. It was fun. It was short and sweet. In other words, this book was everything is promised to be.


PROS
Beach Read: This book is the quintessential beach read. It's low stakes, a soft summer romance full of late nights and twinkling stars and stolen moments. It's a summer camp romance without the need for adult supervision (since they are, you know, the supervision). It's all the fun of being away from home and learning who else you could be for the summer. It's the ultimate escapist romance, cutesy and soft and just fun to sink into for a little while.

Short & Sweet: There's been a trend toward longer books in YA, and so it is always refreshing to find something short. This book didn't need to be dragged out to capture that warm and fuzzy, sunshine romance feeling. It's a soft and easy read, and I think it finds the perfect sweet spot for YA: excellent for the younger end of the market while not being too immature for older teens to appreciate as well. That's quite a feat!

Celiac Rep: Any time there's chronic illness representation, I appreciate it, and the inclusion of Ivy's Celiac disease is so wonderfully casual. This isn't a book about sickness. This book isn't about Celiac. Celiac is just something that's a part of Ivy's life, and so it does come up in the book. But it's not a burden, just a footnote, a part of her everyday life that bears mentioning but not belaboring the story. And I love that. This is a love story, after all, not a piece of sick lit.


CONS
Unfortunate Dramatics: Though the main romance in this book strikes a nice balance between appropriate-for-younger-readers and fun-for-older-audiences, I absolutely had a hard time reading the middle school drama that's happening in the background. These campers are middle schoolers. I get it. And they're theatre kids, too. And I know this drama between them was meant to push Ivy as a character, struggling to be a camp counsellor and in charge of kids. But the melodrama was too much for me. This isn't the main plot, but it sure is a plot. A big oof of a plot, too.

Wallowing: Ivy spends a lot of this book wallowing in the post-breakup blues. I understand why. She's fresh off her breakup. She's being constantly reminded of her ex. And the breakup wasn't exactly her idea. But boy was it annoying to listen to her wallow, in a personal-pet-peeve way. This wallowing of hers combines with a prolonged vehemence toward the story's love interest to make the we're-not-friends tension drag out longer than it needs to, at least in my opinion. But not everyone has so much against, you know, general romance plot angst. So this one might just be me.

Vocab Words: Every once in a while, I'd stumble across a word in this book that felt like, well, a vocab word. Not necessarily difficult words but words that didn't fit the writing style otherwise. There's nothing wrong with using more advanced vocabulary, but sometimes the word choice felt out of place. It would throw me off, and I think that's worth mentioning.


Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
7/10
Fans of Katrina Emmel's Near Misses & Cowboy Kisses will like escaping into this new summer romance. Those who liked Karen Bischer's The Secret Recipe For Moving On will like this story of finding new love after first heartbreak.

This review has been posted to Goodreads and Storygraph on March 24th, 2025. Links provided.

Ivy Raines, reeling from a public breakup with her teen TV star ex-girlfriend, seeks refuge at a summer camp as a counselor, hoping for some much-needed peace and fun in this teen romance novel. However, her plans take an unexpected turn when she becomes co-director of the camp’s musical production and clashes with Rynn, a confident and experienced counselor with whom Ivy shares a complicated history. As the history between them causes resentment and their rivalry grows, so does an unexpected chemistry, forcing Ivy to confront not only her past but also her true feelings. With the backdrop of camp activities, friendship, and personal growth, this story explores the journey of rediscovery and the possibility of unexpected love.

The concept of this book definitely intrigued me, with Ivy heading to a summer camp to escape the aftermath of her public breakup, but I found it hard to connect with her character. I didn’t realize going into it that the main characters were only fifteen to sixteen years old so that could definitely play a big part in my disconnect. Instead of processing her emotions, Ivy spends most of the story wallowing in them and hiding them from others, and her growth toward the end feels rushed. By the end, it seems like she has suddenly worked through everything, but it doesn’t feel realistic given how stuck she was throughout the book. The resolution of her issues with other characters, especially Rynn, doesn’t have a lot of depth nor the emotional buildup I was expecting. I also feel like some moments could have been explored more thoughtfully, like Rynn and Ivy’s past and why they weren’t friends anymore at the start. Also, a duel perspective from Rynn would probably have added balance and depth to the story, breaking up Ivy’s one-sided introspection. While the camp setting and light romance are enjoyable, the book didn’t quite hit the emotional depth I was hoping for. It might resonate more with a younger audience and I would still recommend it for anyone who enjoys a quick and cute sapphic read.

Thank you to Random House Children’s, Delacorte Romance, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read to an ARC of I Love You S'more in return for my honest review.

Ivy Raines is going to summer camp. To escape her life, just like she did when she was a kid. This time she’s going as Counselor Ivy. She she signs up to run the camp’s musical production, she finds herself in a rivalry she didn’t see coming. Co-director Rynn is bossy and thinks she knows everything, and she’s got a past with Ivy. Ivy doesn’t need this tension, especially after her recent breakup with her famous girlfriend. Can Ivy figure herself out while mentoring a bunch of gossip hungry tweens?

This book is a sapphic rival-to-lovers story that hits all the right buttons for a good story. I wanted to love it more, because we need more queer representation in our stories. But the inner dialogue of Ivy the narrator was too repetitive and too predictable for me to sink into it. It felt like I was reading a stereotypical outline of what a messed up teenager would think. There was no depth to her inner world. The biggest part I disliked was how the ending was rushed. I get that summer has to end and the campers have to go home, but the way Rynn just accepts that Ivy has drastically changed in a few pages was bad pacing. The same with how fast Ivy forgave her ex.

The bickering of the tweens and teens, the struggle to feel seen and be their true selves… those parts were well written and believable. I loved many of the other counselors and wished some of them would have had more page time. It is a slow simmer type romance, with all the innocence of first crushes. An overall generally good read for middle grade to older youth.

Thank you to NetGally and Random House for the opportunity to read this eGalley.

I Love You S'more by Auriane Desombre is the perfect pick for anyone in the mood for a sweet, swoon-worthy summer romance with a dash of rivalry. This sapphic rivals-to-lovers story had me hooked from the start, and I couldn’t help but get caught up in the camp setting, full of s'mores, campfires, and late-night chats. It’s a nostalgic, heartwarming tale that had me smiling through every page.

Ivy Raines is a relatable protagonist, dealing with the aftermath of a very public breakup and looking for an escape at summer camp. But, of course, things don’t go quite as planned when she finds herself at odds with Rynn, the camp’s most experienced counselor and the co-director of their musical. The tension between them is electric, and I loved how the rivalry slowly blossomed into something more. The slow-burn romance between Ivy and Rynn was one of my favorite parts of the book—nothing beats the chemistry between two characters who can’t stand each other, only to realize they’ve been in love all along.

What I really appreciated was how real the characters felt. Ivy and Rynn act their age, navigating heartbreak and first love with all the awkwardness and emotion you'd expect from teens. Ivy’s journey of healing after her breakup is relatable and raw, and the way the book portrays those first-love feelings is spot-on. The supporting characters were also a treat—especially the other counselors and the campers, who felt genuinely like kids.

That being said, the book isn’t perfect. The ending, for example, left me feeling a bit frustrated. Ivy’s quick forgiveness of her ex, Ally, felt a bit rushed, and I was hoping for more closure there. Similarly, the camp’s musical production—which was supposed to be a big part of the plot—felt more like an afterthought. But despite these little hiccups, the book is still a solid four stars for me. Overall, it’s a fun, light read that I’d recommend to my friends.

If you’re looking for a heartwarming, rivals-to-lovers sapphic romance with a nostalgic summer camp setting, I Love You S'more is a perfect choice. It’s cute, it’s fun, and it will definitely give you all the feels!

Thank you to Random House/Delacorte Romance and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book wasn’t quite what I expected. It was a little cheesy and wasn’t as much of a straight up romance as I thought it would be. It was a quick and cute fun read though!

This is a very well written book; good for ages 14 thru adult (those that enjoy YA). The main character, Ivy Raines, has recently been dumped by her long-time girlfriend. She is wallowing in her misery and internalizing all her anguish. She decides to return to the one place that gave her joy through the sixth grade; a mountainous summer theater camp in California. There, her heartache increases when faced with her best friend from childhood; who broke off their friendship before the start of 7th grade. Oh, the anguish and angst of the teen years.

This is a good book highlighting how communication is a great skill to learn/use. Trying to open yourself to new experiences and possible heartache is difficult. Ivy tends to keep all her heartache/problems bottled up instead; causing herself to have her anger always on a "low simmer". What's the saying about a burden shared is a burden lessened, or something like that. If only Ivy had tried to talk about her problems sooner; she may not have had "insult added to injury" during her time at the camp.

This is a good story about self-help/healing insights and about trying to figure out who we are as individuals and not be defined by our family, friends, or circumstances.

15 year old Ivy is working as a counselor at the theater camp she attended some years ago. She's trying to heal from a recent breakup with Ally, who has become the lead in a popular TV show, which means their relationship and breakup is all over the internet. Also at camp is Rynn, an ex-best friend who hasn't spoken with Ivy since 6th grade. Bad feelings remain and become difficult when they are assigned to co-direct the camp musical.

I love the setup of this book. So much of it reminded me of teen stars like Jo Jo Siwa and their very public relationships and breakups. But what ended up being disappointing was Ivy herself, or maybe her arc of change that the author gave her. Ivy remains closed emotionally and grieving her breakup through almost all of the book, even after she and Rynn begin a romantic connection. But then suddenly, too suddenly, she gets it and deals constructively with her campers, with her older sister, with Ally, and finally with Rynn. It just didn't feel believable.

Also, at one point Ivy decides to post something about the breakup on social media. It's pretty tame and only a little resentful, especially since she's found out that Ally had been cheating on her. Yet, her post is seen as too mean and something she has to apologize for, when actually she could have said something much worse.

YA books like this one are set up to teach us something about growing up, but they have to be believable. This one didn't always feel like it was.

I was provided an ARC by the publisher via NetGalley.

This might have worked better if Ivy was 18 instead of 15 (are counselors allowed to be that young?), because her immaturity definitely shows. This is certainly on the younger end of the YA spectrum. Her narration is a bit juvenile, which is to be expected, but she's also exhaustingly repetitive, which slows the pacing. A cute, fast read ideal for fans of Wish You Weren't Here (the premise is nearly the same).

Young Adult
Friends to Enemies
Summer Camp
Second Chance
First POV

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I always enjoy reading a cute second chance romance. This was such a great younger YA novel with the characters being high school age. I think the author did a really great job of showing the pitfalls of dating in your teens and having internet access but also the good things. The book also dealt with lots of different family dynamics and how much change kids go through in their tween to teen years. It was a super cute novel and definitely something to read in the summer with some s’mores.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

I love queer summer camp books and this one was so cute. I really enjoyed the romance even though it wasn’t a huge part of the story. There was some conflict in the middle and there was a happy ending and that’s all I can ask for in these books.

This summer story was absolutely adorable. I love a summer camp romance. On top of that I really enjoyed Ivys growth

I think I might have been a little too old to fully connect with Ivy, the main character. She’s only 15, but the way she talked about time made it feel like she should have been in college, which threw me off a bit. It was a little unclear at times how old she was supposed to feel versus how old she actually was.

I also found myself wanting more backstory, especially when it came to her relationship with Ally and her friendship with Rynn. I kept feeling like I was missing pieces that would have made the emotional moments hit harder. There were definitely sweet moments, and I liked the overall concept, but I just wished for a little more depth to fully connect.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

This book is a YA Sapphic Romance that I would consider on the younger side of YA. This book focuses on a new romance between former friends but also focuses on a break up and getting over a breakup even more.

Our main character Ivy is really lost after a break up and still dealing with her parents divorce so she decides to go be a counselor at her favorite childhood summer camp. Here, she bumps into her ex-best friend who may just be her next love ❤️

This books is single POV from Ivy and focuses a LOT on her character flaws and growth.

While I enjoyed seeing Ivy grow and develop and her story, I felt that certain elements of the story were underdeveloped and took away from the things that were developed well - such as Ivy’s relationship with her sisters and her parent’s divorce.

*Received as a free ARC*
I think this was another case of o was too old for this book. I get it. Breakups suck. Especially in high school it can feel like the end of the world. But it was SO melodramatic and she just kept reading the comments. That being said, I very much enjoyed the setting and liked the vibes of the counselor friend group. Would have rather seen more of that.

This was really cute. Ivy has been through a lot and I can only imagine a public breakup when your ex is famous. Ivy and Rynn are adorable and young love is so cute. I do however think that no one took Ivy's feelings about her ex publicly cheating on her for months seriously. She was allowed to be upset and I don't think anyone allowed her that space.

I received an arc through netgalley.