Leo Martino is desperate to fall in love. Every boy he has had a crush on has rejected him and left him heartbroken. Leo's scrapbook depicts his heartbreak in painstaking detail. After talking with his past crushes and getting feedback on their criticisms, Leo builds a checklist to turn himself into the best potential boyfriend. But will a dramatic makeover and personality change give Leo the love he desires?

I wanted to love this book but I just found Leo's character to be annoying. He felt very whiney, and I didn't like the messaging around having him change everything about himself, even if it improves by the end. I also felt like the ending wrapped up a little too nicely.

This book the cover was very deceptive for me, I was expecting more of a rom-com and it wasn’t.
Leo was dealing with so many different things throughout the book, and while sometimes the way he spoke had some humor to it, overall the book isn't meant to be funny.

The biggest issue I had with the book was how much time Leo spent trying to change himself, and all for the wrong reasons. There is nothing wrong with wanting to improve yourself, that's actually a wonderful thing if you look at yourself and feel like there are things you should change for the better or so you can have more confidence. However, when you start to change so others like you, if they do like you it's for fake reasons. I just think overall too much time was spent on him focusing on things that don't matter.

I understand we need conflict in books, but he had so many other things going on in his life I think....by the time we get to where he figures it out, it almost feels too late. I will give props to the friendship though, that was one of the more enjoyable aspect of the book.

Thanks to #netgalley for an e-copy of Leo Martino Steals Back His Heart by Eric Geron to read and review.

A little bit cringey, and Leo is mad desperate…and it’s a little painful, but if he’s got a good arch, it’ll be worth it.
-Me 4 chapters in

A coming of age in the midst of cringey high school romance cliches, Leo Martino Steals Back His Heart made me cringe and giggle and pulled on my heart strings. Leo makes so many mistakes and has all the wrong priorities. It’s hard to watch sometimes. And so relatable.
As someone who struggled my whole teenage existence with constantly trying to be who everyone around me wanted me to be, instead of just being who I was, I loved reading about Leo’s self-love journey.
The ending was so satisfying. I even teared up.
If you’ve ever lost yourself to an inauthentic version of who you really are-you’ll be feeling all the feels by the end of this book.
Leo’s friends are fantastic, and I love his relationship with them and how they evolve throughout the story.
His family dynamic adds a relatable element of going through tough changes at home while juggling the all-too-real struggle of figuring out who he wants to be.

Thank you Harlequin Audio for sending me this audiobook ARC. I Thoroughly enjoyed listening to it. The narrator’s voices fit the characters well, and I heard and felt the emotions of the MC. I definitely recommend listening to this one.

PS. If you haven’t figured it out by now-it was worth it.

I was so excited when I got an ALC for this book but from the moment I pressed play, I was sorely disappointed. I soldiered on, hoping it would get better but it didn't.


Leonardo Martino is a high school senior who's never had a boyfriend and is obsessed with getting one but every one of his crushes always ditch him for reasons unknown. The premise wasn't bad but the writing and the info dumping and the lack of character growth for Leo made this audiobook insufferable. Leo spends the entire book obsessed with falling in love that he neglects his friends, his family, his studies, his job and his dignity. You would think that means he suffered a great loss and had to figure out how to love by himself or make it up to his loved ones or something?

No, it means nothing. Because Leo spends mich of the book in love with a douche who is so obviously a douche he himself called it at the start of the book. So why did Leo fall in love with him? Simple, he's pathetic and has low self-esteem.

Instead of the book diving into that or giving us a reason why Leo's so laser focused on being in a relationship (they could have done that with his parents' divorce but no), the book just have him stop feeling in love with the guy at about 90%. Enough time to have him fall in love with his best friend who has always been in love and whose life we barely get to see. We weren't even told if this friend was gay or straight or bi or whatever. He was just there to reassure Leo that he's perfect or whatever. Their relationship was not developed whatsoever. He just confessed his love to Leo who reciprocated it after two pages and no indication of ever seeing him that way. Another win for the gays.

This was such a disappointment.

Leo Martino Steals Back His Heart is a true YA coming of age romance. In this novel that is truly appropriate for young adult readers, Leo is on a mission to get a boyfriend and decides to use a checklist for himself to be likeable. I enjoyed that Leo found himself in this process and learned about how he deserves to be treated in return. With just some kissing and no drug use, this is the kind of book that I would happily put in the hands of a teenage reader in my life.

Oh goodness this one was a little challenging for me. As much as I like an unlikable narrator, it's hard for me to have any sympathy for white cis gay men right now and I just struggled. I think the second half of this book is better than the first and genuinely feel like if the first half of the book had been the first quarter and then that energy was spent giving us more in that last quarter of the book I would have liked it a lot more. I needed less time of Leo being really self hating and pushing his friends away and more time of him accepting himself as he truly is and discovering what a romance can look like for him. I think Lincoln is given entirely too much page time on this book. Varsha and Dillon are not given enough.

That being said, I do appreciate when a book is able to incorporate multiple storylines and I like seeing some of that family dynamic as well. I do think it could have been explored more and better but it was a good element to give us some insight into why Leo is the way he is.

I also love when we have secondary aromantic characters. I think it's really important for obviously books to get aromantic main characters but for also a romantic characters to be secondary characters and be part of these queer friend groups. A lot of queer people have no idea about aromanticism and/or asexuality and so having some secondary characters who use the label on page and talk about it is really important for representation. People might not pick up a book if they know it has an aromantic main character but they will pick up a book if it has a gay main character and they don't know at the time it has an aro secondary character.

Overall, this one was mid for me. Not one I'd read again but I think it definitely has its audience, I just wasn't it.

We all have a little Leo Martino in us. I know I do. He falls in love way too fast with too many boys (boy crazy, if you will) and then obsesses over them until he himself scares them off. If that isn’t teen gay boy coded, I don’t know what is.

The best and most important part of this story was the friendships we kept along the way. While Leo was off galavanting and trying to find his first boyfriend, Varsha and Dillon were there for him… every step of the way. That is a great friendship. ***SPOILER*** Now half of them would eventually fall in love, so was there ulterior motives in the getting strung along? Or maybe it was just emotions. Keep your friends close and so on.

This was a really cute story about not seeing what (or who) is right in front of you all along until it’s almost too late. And I’m glad he would eventually realize that his bestie is the perfect guy. Because the fact that he couldn’t see it was killing me!!!!!

A charming and funny YA coming of age novel that has a young gay teen trying to mold himself into the perfect boyfriend so he can finally find love in his senior year of high school. Good on audio and perfect for fans of authors like Jason June! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was such a heartwarming and important story for YA readers! Leo’s journey is one we can all relate to at some point - his overthinking, the insecurities, the desire to be loved and seen, and the need to love yourself and never apologize for who you are.

There were many times my heart broke for Leo on his journey towards self love and I wanted to remind him to stop the pursuit of recognition from the “popular” crowd because it’s fleeting and they were only using him, and to instead not forget about his friends that continually had his back and loved Leo for being Leo.

The discussion of social media and living a filtered life is so relevant and necessary for all readers as too many times we only focus on the highlight reel or curating a certain image. Life is supposed to he messy and we don’t need to chance the core of who we are just for validation from those who don’t matter in the long run.

The audio was quite lovely, even if Leo’s story broke my heart at times, and I really appreciated how this is a true YA novel where so many teens will be able to see themselves and their lived experiences reflected on page.

Overall this was a really cute story. Making yourself over to get a boyfriend is a tale as old as time. For that reason it was a little clichéd, but I loved the queer retelling. Leo is a relatable character and his group of friends are the type you'd want to have for yourself. In this story Leo learns the meaning of love and discovers his sense of self.

Leo Anthony Martino loves love.
Unfortunately, love doesn’t love him back.

^from the publisher!

Honestly Leo, same. Hard same. This was a genuinely sweet YA love story that tugged at my heartstrings in all the right places. (Oh and @ericgeron snuck in a little reference to A Tale of Two Princes 😍). As someone who is also seen as “too much” and who still hasn’t found their first great love story, it was very relatable to me. Watching Leo try to mold himself into the person he thinks he needs to be only to realize he deserves to be able to be himself, fully, and someone out there will love him… it was lovely.

The audio was once again lovingly and endearingly narrated by @narrator_pete - who continues to shine. The genuine emotion, particularly toward the end, had me a little choked up.

A few fave quotes:
When it comes to my love life, I’m really starting to believe I’m the problem. Otherwise, the math just . . . isn’t mathing.

Sometimes, I wish I didn’t feel things so deeply.

“No. But my standards are different from the rest of the world’s,” I confess. “I just want someone to love me.” I realize how pathetic the words sound leaving my mouth.

I wonder if I’ll ever be truly happy or find peace. “No one finds me attractive,” I add feebly. “The real me, that is. You know that.”

At school, I’m all smiles and laughs with my friends, head in the clouds, daydreaming about boys and true love—and then there’s this secret of mine. A dark side to my life I don’t think anyone would really ever truly comprehend. It’s one of those things you have to live through—and survive—to understand.

All my life, I’ve been trying to find true love and have always gotten shot down. It always hurts. But I’m going to keep an open heart and be my authentic self—and treasure the value in myself. And in falling in love with myself, I’ll open the door for others to see, love, and accept me exactly as I am.

Being with him is easy and feels as cozy as cuddling up with hot chocolate on a chilly night.