thank you to netgalley for the eARC.
**2.5 stars on storygraph**

i read the first two books of this series sometime last year and really enjoyed them. i was really looking forward to this book when i learned there was another one coming since i adored the characters and their relationships with each other, but this one was a let down.

it read like the author didn't know where they were going with the book. when it came to the event that created the fake dating situation to begin with which was just past the 50% mark(!), it lasted for one or two chapters and nothing significant happened despite them mentioning how important it was.

fake dating is such a gold mine for some intense yearning yet there was close to none of it. i wasn't convinced these two liked each other that much as friends, let alone as lovers. when something finally happened, i was surprised the love interest felt anything at all. there was a few lustful looks here and there, but i didn't really think too much of it. considering the love interest's supposed feelings and its duration, i would've thought there would be a clue somewhere, but there was none. i really wish they had hung out alone rather than every time they saw each other being with either one's friends.

as for the writing itself, a lot of the dialogue felt so unnatural and most comparisons didn't make much sense within the context. there were a lot of scenes where either one of the characters or several of them were laughing really hard despite nothing being remotely funny. it often read like the author was just trying to fill the space. i really wanted to like this book, but there were a lot of things obviously lacking this time around.

4.5 stars

I've read the first two of this series, first was ok, second was a bit forgettable, but this one I liked best. Maybe its because it was fake dating or maybe it was because it was in audio and the narrator was fantastic but this was significantly better in my opinion. I really enjoyed both characters and the whole "baby gay" aspect. We got fake dating, friends wedding, and of course only one bed so a sapphic romance full of the best tropes. I felt the 3rd act conflict was a bit unnecessary but worked well in the story and with the characters so I didn't hate it. Overall I had a good time.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC!

Continuing the Out in Hollywood Series, Spalding gives us two new, flawed queer characters to fall in love with. Although this book was a slow start, I enjoyed this book just like the other two. I've really enjoyed seeing the characters develop over time and show up in later books, it's so fun seeing the relationships develop and continue in the "real world." While I could have done without how heavily it leaned into the tragedy of Clementine losing her ex-boyfriend, I do understand how core to her character that major life event was. I think this is a realistic look at a the struggles that accompany coming out later in life. As Spalding often does, this book showcased the difficulties of going against the grain of your family's expectations.

I’m a sucker for a fake dating troupe. Make it sapphic and you can’t go wrong!

Clem is recently single after finally coming to terms with the fact that her hetero relationship wasn’t making her happy anymore. She quickly throws herself into the queer scene and meets Chloe at her first time at a queer bar in town.
Chloe has a friend getting married so she needs a date for all the upcoming events that come along with a destination wedding.
After fighting with herself, Clem pushes herself out of her comfort zone and agrees to fake date Chloe, Training wheels into the queer world? what could go wrong right?

When Chloe and Clem show up at brunch Clem suddenly realizes that she knows quite a few members as this friend group; including her boss! Can they make it through their agreement? Or are Clem and Chloe just another fake dating book troupe?

I liked the exploration of Clem’s family dynamic as well as chosen family. Chosen family is so important in the queer community and Clem really needed that.

I loved this next addition to Amy Spalding's LA East Side queer girl romances. As an avid romance reader, I appreciated the self-conscious nod to the fake girlfriend trope by the protagonist. Kudos to again writing about curvy girls and the women who love them. I thought the characters really enjoyed each other's company and I could feel them being more drawn to each other even as they were confused or worried about their feelings.

Book Review: On Her Terms by Amy Spalding

On Her Terms is a solid, well-written book. The writing is smooth, the story flows well, and it gives a really realistic look at the struggles of building a career. I can see how a lot of people would really connect with it, especially if they enjoy stories about ambition and self-discovery. That said, it just wasn’t for me. I didn’t dislike it, but I also wasn’t totally hooked.

Overall, it’s a good book with a clear message and a well-developed world. If you like contemporary fiction that focuses on career growth and personal reinvention, it’s definitely worth checking out!

I really enjoyed the last instalment in this series, Clementine as a MC was one of my favorite things about the book. I love her personality, i understood her worries & insecurities and i related to her anxieties and her tendency to overthinking.

Coming out is usually a hard thing to do, and coming out in a age were you should have figured it at all sooner doubly so.

I really liked seeing Clementine and Chloe learn to open up themselves and that many things were different than they thought.
There were some moments that i just wanted to yell at them to communicate. I really liked Clementine and Chloe together, I wish we had seen a little more of them and the end.
The friendship were a big highlight of the book & I hate Greg a lot.

I really enjoyed this book and seeing all the characters from the other books.

Definitely recommend checking On her terms (out February 26th) & the Out in Hollywood series if you feel inclined to do so

Clementine was with the same man for twenty years. She has always been bisexual but has never tried queer dating. She meets dog groomer Chloe who offers to show her the ropes. They set up a fake dating arrangement where they can be each other's dates for Chloe’s friends wedding or for Clem’s parents wedding anniversary party. I like how coming out later in life is handled. This story covers other things including found family and a truly obnoxious real brother relationship. The main relationship is non conventional from the beginning. And I like that the characters don’t change who they fundamentally are for the HEA. This is the third in the Out in Hollywood series but the books can easily be read as stand alone novels. The wedding in this book is for the MC’s in “For Her Consideration” (Feb 2023), so if you want to see their beginning start there.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the ARC and I am leaving an honest review.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this free ARC in exchange for an honest review. Pub date: February 25, 2025

A sapphic love letter to found family, true friendship, and coming out later in life. A fun fake dating trope, with good banter and the requisite 3rd act conflict—the friend group really shines in this one. I enjoyed that in the end, they did things on their own terms.

This was a pretty quick read and I’m always partial to a sapphic romance, but I found some of the characters (in particular Chloe) really didn’t do it for me, I hate to be negative in a review but her treatment if clementine ruined the whole book for me. I know some people enjoy reading about dysfunctional/unhealthy relationships but this just wasn’t it for me ! I can see why some people really enjoyed it though !

This is my first Amy Spalding book I didn’t finish. It didn’t took me into the story like al her previous books.
Gregg’s behaviour is so bad and I literally can’t stand it that the FMC don’t call him out. I know this will happen at the end of the book (I read other reviews) but I don’t want to wait for that moment.
I will definitely read Spalding’s next books because I really liked her previous books.

Rating: ⭐⭐½ (rounded to ⭐⭐⭐)

On Her Terms had all the right ingredients—fake dating, sapphic awakening, found family—but somehow, the final dish was a little... undercooked.

Clementine dumps her long-term boyfriend, decides she’s finally ready to explore dating women, and her friends react like she’s announced she’s moving to the woods to marry a tree. The sheer audacity of them treating her like a cautionary tale for singlehood was honestly more unhinged than any fake dating scheme. Speaking of which, Chloe—tiny, charismatic, emotionally unavailable—had all the makings of a swoon-worthy love interest, but her hot-and-cold routine got old fast.

There’s great rep (plus-size MC, ADHD, late-bloomer queer journey), and Spalding’s writing is sharp and funny. But the romance? Less of a slow burn, more of a whoops, we’re suddenly sleeping together. The chemistry needed more build-up, and Chloe herself remained frustratingly opaque. Also, why did so many key moments happen off-page? Let me see the emotional beats, not just hear about them in a recap!

All in all, this had potential, but between the insufferable friend reactions, a romance that lacked real depth, and the relentless Diet Coke worship, I just wasn’t fully on board.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

This is a very authentic reflection on the queer LA life brought to us by a wonderful up-and-coming YA author. Just the first chapters alone will immediately immerse you into Spalding’s world, the character’s day-to-day emotions, why she likes hanging out in some of LA’s eclectic gay pubs, and what kind of future she is aiming for.

I promise you, this book will definitely make you fall in love with Spalding’s dynamic and diverse world.

This was a fun, coming of middle age, bisexual awakening Sapphic fake dating romance featuring a recently single plus sized woman with ADHD who is exploring her sexual identity. It was cute, relatable and honest had some good spicy moments and lots of honest conversation between the leads. It was also good on audio narrated by Lori Prince and perfect for fans of authors like Meryl Wilsner. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review.

After ending a long-term relationship with her boyfriend, Clementine decides to try to date women. She's identified as bi for a long time but hasn't had the opportunity, until she meets Chloe who needs a date to her friends' wedding events. The two agree to a fake relationship so that Clem has some experience with a woman before she looks for a real girlfriend. Thus begins a round of meeting friends and family with Clem beginning to realize how much she actually likes Chloe.

So here we have another fake dating romance with the added "only one bed" trope. The book's best quality is the cute and funny dialogue. Otherwise, as a mainstream published Sapphic romance, it doesn't differ in overall quality from similar books that are self-published or published by Sapphic presses (see The Love Lie by Monica McCallan for a good example). I also thought Clem's periodic references to the very romance novel tropes she was experiencing felt a bit too meta.

On the whole I would recommend this well written book.

I was provided an ARC by the publisher via NetGalley.

On Her Terms (publication date February 25, 2025) by Amy Spalding is the third book in her Out in Hollywood series, but could easily be read as a standalone. I found it to be a cute sapphic romance between the “baby gay” bisexual, plus-sized Clementine and experienced queer Chloe.

Clementine meets Chloe on her first trip walking to a gay bar near her work, when Chloe confronts some men who are catcalling her. Clem has known she was bisexual since college, but shortly thereafter met Will, and they stayed in a relationship for nearly twenty years. When Clem finally breaks up with him, her primary reason was that they didn’t want the same things–she never saw herself as getting married and having kids, and he clearly was wanting to go that direction.

Clem forgets that she has met Chloe at a work party, when she was with Will, and Chloe helps make her first trip to a gay bar not terrible. Chloe is a dog groomer with her own business, and Clem works for a Hollywood marketing firm in a mid-level position. She loves her job and has maintained strict work-life boundaries up to this point. But Chloe suggests that they try fake-dating to get Chloe through a friend’s wedding, as it would benefit both of them! Chloe gets an automatic plus one, and Clem gets an ex-girlfriend she can talk about so her first real girlfriend isn’t scared off by being the first girl she’s dated.

Clem thinks it a crazy idea, but her parents’ milestone wedding anniversary is coming up, and no one seems to understand why she broke up with Will. Bringing a girlfriend along certainly will solve that issue, so she agrees against her better judgment.

There goes her work-life boundaries, as Clem’s boss and owner of the company is part of Chloe’s friend group, who have weekly Sunday brunches and a very active group chat. And she can’t read Chloe very well–she says she isn’t good at relationships which is why they’re fake dating, but sometimes it feels real.

Chloe did not always treat Clem very well, but Clem stood up for herself and what she wanted, and I really loved how they worked things out. Clem’s feelings about coming out later in life hit home for me, as I had a similar experience. Spalding also wrote the novel to be clearly fat-positive, as Clem acknowledges some of the experiences fat women have, especially in L.A., and Clem is not the only fat character.

I was given this ARC by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

It is so good to be back in the Out in Hollywood world created by the amazing Amy Spalding. I stumbled upon ‘For Her Consideration’ a couple years back and fell in love with Spalding’s characters and the way she treats queer and plus size characters. I was finally seeing myself in literature and seeing how to love myself through other characters.

I loved At Her Service as well, and this was a fantastic way to loop all three books together with a new couple (and pets!) to love while reuniting with old favorites. There are so many good lines, lessons, and advice woven throughout and multiple passages had me underlining with a happy vengeance and smiling at the page in real time. I also cannot get enough of a book where two characters do a fake dating plot while talking about how only characters in books partake in fake dating and that it always ends the same way. Very meta. Very queer. Very fabulous. And absolutely recommended.

I went to order a physical copy to complete my set mid-read and was delighted to find that I’d already pre ordered it months ago. You should absolutely as well!

I absolutely loved this book!! While I didn’t love that the love interest was introduced on what felt like page one, I loved Chloe and Clem’s journey and the slow burn was very gratifying. It was so fun to read about somebody coming out later into adulthood, and I LOVED the friendship storylines. Clem’s struggles with changing friendship dynamics hit very close to home - are you in my brain, Amy Spalding?? I couldn’t put the book down and I could not wait to see how it resolved. The ending was perfect for these characters!

Amy Spalding does it yet again! I really enjoyed “On Her Terms”. I cannot get enough of this interconnected series that gets better and better with each book. It isn't a requirement to have read the first two books, but it does provide more context because a lot of the characters in "For Her Consideration" and "At Her Service" are in this book. If you want that familiarity, I would read the first two books before this one. Chloe is a part of Ari's friend group in "For Her Consideration", and Sadie from "At Her Service" is also in this book. I was so happy that we were back with the whole friend group and got to spend a significant amount of time with them. The storyline is engaging and the characters have such a fleshed-out feeling, making each character feel like their own. The one thing I can always count on in Amy Spalding's books is the effortlessly funny dialogue. Her cultural references and love of pop culture shines through but not in an annoying way. This book had me laughing out loud on multiple occasions. I loved Clementine’s dynamic and chemistry with the relationship-phobic but clearly smitten Chloe. The strength here is Clem and Chloe's slowly growing chemistry and their witty banter. It's a wonderfully realistic exploration of not just queer relationships, but queer friendships as well. And the found family group of queer friends was fantastic, and I desperately wish I could join their weekly brunch. The pets were so cute! I want to adopt both Small Jessie Pinkman (the cat) and Fernando (the dog). Thanks to Netgalley, Amy Spalding and Kensington Publishing for an e-arc in exchange for my thoughts. I can'twait for Amy's next book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Five stars

Thank you to NetGalley, Kensington Publishing, and Amy Spalding for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Amy Spalding is back, and as brilliant as ever with On Her Terms, the third instalment in the Out in Hollywood series. When I heard that the next book would feature Chloe Lee as the love interest I was over the moon. I love the original brunch group from For Her Consideration, and Chloe and Fernando were two of my favourite side characters, so getting to read more about them sounded like a dream come true to me. While we don't get Chloe's POV in On Her Terms we still see her at her best—and, let's be honest, at her worst—and I wouldn't change a thing about it.

On Her Terms follows thirty-six year old Clementine, who has just broken up with her boyfriend of more than a decade after realising that they don't want the same things in life anymore. Will wanted marriage and kids. Clementine wants a cat and a girlfriend—or at least she doesn't want to die alone. She has a great job, and a profitable side-hustle, but her brother doesn't take her seriously, and she feels like she's growing apart from her best friends who have more conventional life goals.

On her way to Johnny's—yes, that Johnny's from At Her Service, and yes Sadie makes multiple appearances—as part of her 'new gay plan', Clementine is harassed by some creeps on the street, only to be saved by none other than Chloe Lee, lesbian extraordinaire. After realising that this isn't their first time meeting the two women talk about their lives and Chloe proposes a scheme: Chloe needs a date to her friends' wedding and weekend brunches, and Clementine needs a practice girlfriend so she's no longer a 'baby gay' when she meets someone she actually wants to spend her life with and a date to her parents' surprise wedding anniversary, so Clementine and Chloe should fake date each other. While Clementine is hesistant at first after a catch-up with her friends she leans into the shenanigan and drama ensues!

We all know how fake dating schemes play out in romcoms, but this one has a lot of heart, and is delightfully queer. From kitten Small Jesse Pinkman, to red alerts, a celebrity wedding, and cameos from all your favourite Out in Hollywood characters, On Her Terms has everything you could want in a contemporary romance. Friends to lovers, only one bed, forced proximity, plenty of references to The L Word—it's an Amy Spalding book, after all—and a whole lot of ABBA too.

Like the previous Out in Hollywood books, On Her Terms will have you laughing along with the characters from start to end, and its capacity for emotional growth is fantastic too.
Overall, this book is a great expansion on the series, and I can't wait for the next book.