My ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A love story and cautionary tale of the double-edged sword of the benefits and perils of social media.

I would have to say that the aero-ace spectrum is probably the part of the LGBTQIA community I know the least about. So I was very interested to read Angela’s story. I found myself googling a lot of new to me terminology. I can definitely say I learned a lot!

The book felt very slow paced, and I had a hard time getting into it. I’m glad I persisted though, since it was a such a different type of story than I usually read.

Angela is 27 and has never been kissed. she struggles with her identity and with trying to define her feelings. Is she ace? Does having a crush make her not ace? She decides to use TikTok to process her feelings and ends up starting a scavenger hunt with her first kiss as the prize. But what if she’d rather just kiss her friend Krystal?

I liked Angela. I think a lot of people can relate to feeling lost and not knowing where they fit. And her relationships with family and friends felt very authentic. I liked the total honesty between Angela and Krystal from the beginning, and how they each supported each other and they worked through their issues.

Overall I’d say it felt very raw and real, though very slow moving.

I read this one without reading book one, but I was able to follow it with no problems.

Thank you to @Netgalley and @readforeverpub for the chance to review this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley, Forever, Grand Central Publishing, and Hachette Audio for this advanced copy! You can pick up Kiss Me, Maybe on May 6, 2025.

This was such a cute queer romance! My first read from Gabriella Gamez, and I was really enchanted by her characters and their growth throughout the book. Angela, our recently out asexual lesbian, takes herself on a viral journey to find love (and her first kiss) with the help of her unrequited crush, Krystal. Together, they plan a scavenger hunt to help Angela meet the perfect "one" to share her first kiss with, but the two grow closer and closer as the planning continues.

What I love about this book is how much both Angela and Krystal leap off the page and FEEL like real people with real struggles. Angela discusses her struggles with her family (especially her cousins) growing up, while Krystal opens up about her failed engagement and subsequent icing from her family. Both women had to come to terms with their sexual identities over time, and within the book, we even see Angela's shift and change into graysexual as she explores her feelings and sexual attraction for Krystal more.

The only part of this book that could've been better executed was the scavenger hunt itself. It felt a bit all over the place plot-wise, especially since everyone KNEW Angela and Krystal would end up together, but they kept the scavenger hunt going for posterity's sake but then it was cancelled anyway then brought back? Then Angela ditched it anyway to confess her love to Krystal? At this point I was more invested in their relationship anyway and would've rather we ditched the scavenger hunt way earlier.

Also, having sex together but never having a first kiss is a WILD move LMAO.

All in all, this was a fun read, and I think you'll enjoy it if you love friends to lovers, great queer rep, and the song Casual by Chappel Roan!

I really enjoyed the representation in this book - I read a lot of LGBT books but very few contain a character in the process of discovering their identity, much less on the ace spectrum. I enjoyed watching Angela and Krystal go through their waves of will-they-won't-they. And the spice was definitely spicy. However, I had a hard time with some of the social media stuff - I wasn't totally convinced by it all and it made the book a little difficult to get through. And I wanted a little more from the scavenger hunt, which had such a build up throughout the book and honestly let me down a little.

Angela is a late bloomer in search of her first kiss, but she's not about to settle for a "get it over with" experience. She craves romance and connection. Putting her new found viral social media presence to work, Angela devises a scavenger hunt quest for potential suitors to win her favor. She just has to resist the growing feelings and attraction that draws her closer and closer to her long time crush before the game begins.

What I loved so much is the discovery of self happening on page. Often times we're reading a character with a definite sexuality. They know who and what and how they want an emotional and sexual relationship. Angela is at the start. In her late 20s. Knowing she is lesbian and ace. The details though are in progress. That desire to be known and to know one's self is the main character energy you can expect from Angela.

As in The Next Best Fling, Gabriella Gamez knows how to add Dra-Ma to a story. Toxic family, plans going wrong, secrets revealed! And because Angela's first kiss quest is playing out over social media there's ample discourse of navigating the horrors that is the internet.

I enjoyed KISS ME, MAYBE for Angela's pursuit of self discovery. And more so, I loved that she was given the time and space and a very willing partner to explore what she wanted.

Thank you Netgalley & Forever / Grand Central Publishing for the advance digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

The set up here was so fun. I truly can not believe how much I enjoyed even the love triangleish element. The exploration of identity on the asexual spectrum was super intriguing as well. I honestly am just obsessed with this one as I was the first book in this series. An absolute blast.

Kiss Me Maybe was an absolutely beautiful piece of work.

I enjoyed that even though it was the second book in the series, you could have read it without reading the first. The characters would still make sense even without having read The Next Best Fling (which was also such a great read).

I really appreciated that this book was the journey of Angela finding where her identity fell in the queer world. And even then it was the realization that identity can be just as fluid as the oceans waves.

I would have to say that Angela and Krystal were obviously paired for the start BUT their path to getting there was relatable.

The family dynamic of Julian and his dad was so horribly relatable, I was just happy to have him supported by some family. I was also thankful to see the reality of one cousin asking for forgiveness and another staying a bully. It made it real, not just tied up with a bow.

All of the side characters were so cutely inserted. I loved that Leti still got a nice ending.

All in all, Gabriella Gamez did a wonderful job with book 2. Keep them coming!!

*4.5

I loved this. Angela and Krystal are everything. I really enjoyed seeing Angela's growth throughout the book and really discovering what she wants. The scavenger hunt was a fun idea but she was clearly always going to end up with Krystal.

The only reason it's not five stars is because there are repeated mentions of Sophia Bush and she is a known horrible person and I don't think references to her should be made.

I received an arc through netgalley.

DNF at 34%. I really liked Gabriella Gamez’s first book, but this one fell flat for me. I did like the attempt to show compassionate ace rep and emphasize the desire for community. However, the social media aspect just made it all feel very juvenile, and I didn’t care.

Kiss Me, Maybe follows Angela, a librarian who gains fame on Tiktok for posting an accidental thirst trap, then coming out as asexual in response to all the newfound attention. She finds community online and comes up with a scavenger hunt, where the prize is being her first kiss. She enlists the help of her long time crush Krystal, a bartender, to work on the clues.

So first as always, the positives. I appreciated the exploration of Angela’s sexuality, showing how it’s a sliding scale, and sometimes the adjustments never stop. That was something I personally related to a lot as someone who’s tried on many different labels and still don’t know if one “fits” yet. Theres also a good conversation around the milestones society expects young women to hit as they grow. The handful of sex scenes are well done as well.

Now on to the unfortunate negatives. I have two big ones. First, the scavenger hunt idea. It just did not work. Half the time, it disappears from the story, and the other half I was just wishing it was over. The word scavenger hunt is said no less than 132 times. It was an odd idea in the first place and once Angela and Krystal begin to fall for each other, it feels really weird to continue with it. I was also not convinced at all that lots of people would want to follow her “dating the internet” journey, let alone her getting multiple sponsorships in a handful of weeks. My other big issue, our two main leads feel so hot and cold with each other. Either one of them will clam up once a serious romantic subject is broached. They actively ignore each other multiple times to avoid hard conversations. It just felt really frustrating and immature.

Overall, I would say this is a solid book, but just unfortunately not for me.

DNF at 30%

I’m sad I felt the need to DNF because so much of it I wanted to like. I love queer romances and diverse authors/characters. I was excited to read about the ace FMC. And I really was liking the MCs but the plot was very much not engaging me. The hint of a love triangle with the TikTok DMs was also throwing me off. Unfortunately I was just bored and trudging through reading to the point where it felt forced and unenjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC.

This book seems more identity-focused (women’s fiction) than relationship-focused (romance). It’s too introspective and slow-paced for me, but I’m sure others will enjoy it. DNF around 10%.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

Well this was just a freaking adorable ace-spec sapphic romance! Overall I really enjoyed how messy and real the relationship between Angela and Krystal was, and how well it represented ace-spec relationships.

Gabriella Gamez had me at sapphic romance with ace-spec representation!

27-year-old Angela has never been kissed. Having recently come out to her parents, Angela is ready to make her true debut into the dating scene. With the help of her friendly neighborhood bartender, Krystal, Angela plans a scavenger hunt where the winner wins her first kiss. While working together Angela and Krystal start to explore their once-thought unrequited feelings for one another.

I really enjoyed getting to see Angela discover her identity and appreciated the author’s take on the fluidity of sexuality. However, the TikTok aspect just didn’t do it for me. Maybe it’s because I teach middle school, but TikTok seems too “young” to me. (I know many people of all ages use and love TikTok, so I am well aware of my bias as a non-TikTok user.)

Gamez writes well-developed characters who you can’t help but fall in love with. She will definitely be an auto-buy author for me!

Thank you Forever and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I saw this beautiful book cover and immediately knew I wanted to read this novel! I especially love seeing a clinch cover that features two women. I also adore the way the colors of the lesbian and bi flags are incorporated. This cover is by Leni Kauffman, who is my favorite cover artist!

This book tells the story of Angela, a woman who goes unexpectedly viral after making a social media post about being ace. She decides to use her new fame to set up a scavenger hunt where someone can win her first kiss.

Overall, the scavenger hunt didn’t feature in the plot as much as I expected it would. I think that is reflective of how Angela’s priorities changed over time, but if you come into this looking for lots of scavenger hunt details, you may be disappointed.

Angela’s relationship with social media is explored quite heavily, with a focus on the harm/bullying that can happen via social media.

The story is also quite introspective as Angela explores her ace identity. I appreciated that Angela’s identity is evolving, and she is comfortable changing what labels she is using within the asexual spectrum. Angela also explores her gender presentation.

I would have liked to see more of the emotional connection between Angela and Krystal (the love interest). There was a lot happening in the book that sometimes I felt like Angela and Krystal’s relationship didn’t get as much focus.

The book is quite steamy with a few open-door scenes.

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book!

- lesbian x bi
- asexual spectrum
- scavenger hunt to win her first kiss
- set in Texas
- Latina heroines

🌸 KISS ME MAYBE by Gabriella Gamez 🌸

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Angela has never been kissed, but after a video about her ace identity goes viral, she wants to experience this first. She decides to do a scavenger hunt posted to social media, with the idea that whoever understands the clues would be a good fit for her, and could be her first kiss. But she needs help - and her favourite bartender, Krystal, steps in. But as they work together, their connection gets stronger, at the same time Krystal tells Angela she thinks she’s incapable of love. Angela has to make some decisions while she may be falling in love with someone who might not reciprocate it.

I enjoyed the premise of this book. I didn’t realize when requesting the ARC that it was a sequel in a standalone (whoops), but I think it did work as a standalone.
I did enjoy most of the writing, but at times, had a hard time understanding the characters chemistry. I feel like this was maybe because they felt underdeveloped (especially Krystal), making it hard to see why they were attracted to each other.
I also felt that the plot fell flat at times. There wasn’t a ton of follow through on the scavenger hunt, and it was hard to understand why Angela went viral and had people caring about the scavenger hunt in the first place.
Parts felt a little bit info dumpy, but Angela was learning, and I’m glad there was ace rep and she was able to get more comfortable with her identity.

Overall, I think I would read something else by this author as I enjoyed the writing and the premise.

Read this if you like:
friends to lovers
practice/lessons
ace rep
queer rep
slow burn

Vibes: 🌸🤳🍹🎨🚲🥵

Full review including content warnings on my StoryGraph.

🌸Kiss Me, Maybe is out May 6, 2025! Thank you NetGalley and Forever for the eARC.🌸

Thank you for the opportunity to read Kiss Me, Maybe! This book was so spot on with all the representation. I'm Mexican, plus size, I live 5hrs away from San Antonio and love books sooo counts for the Librarian part, hahaha. The slow burn killed me, that almost kiss!! I'm happy to see that Gabriella Gamez did a lot of research for this book as there was information about the queer community I didn't know. Thank you again for the chance!

I loved this so much!! I loved how dimensional all of the characters were and that they all grew and changed throughout the course of the book. I also loved the fluidity in which Angela had for herself. She was never rigid nor did she have moments of intense panic over not fitting neatly within one label. I enjoyed the fact that she took it more as a learning about herself than a moment of failure or dread.

KISS ME, MAYBE by Gabriella Gamez is all about identity.

Angela ends up going viral on Tiktok for a video where she tLks about her identity as an asexual lesbian, how she's never been in love or dated or even been kissed. So she decides to "date the internet" and do a scavamger hunt, with the prize being her first kiss.

She enlists her crush/friend Krystal to help her plan it. But all the time they spend together beings them closer together, and Angela starts to question her identity as she finds herself interested in a physical relationship with Krystal.

I am going to gently hold your hand while I say this: you are not a froufy coffee drink that you are asking a barista to recreate. You don't need a recipe for your sexuality. You don't need to know your microlabel, you don't need to be able to explain exactly how you experience attraction to anyone. That's great if it helps you understand yourself, but you don't need to stress about if you're graysexual or aegosexual or cupiosexual or some other microlabel I've never even heard of before. So much of this book was Angela stressing about exactly what kind of asexual she is. Sometimes you just gotta live your life. Try things, see how you feel! Communicate with your partner if you're with someone, but there's really no need to worry about labels as much as happens in this book.

There are books with ace characters and there are books about being ace, and this is definitely one of the latter. Which isn't a bad thing! It's definitely one of the more marginalized queer identities, which a lot of people don't even believe is real (looking at you, bish who shall not be named). But it does sometimes feel a little...educational, like there's a wikipedia article embedded in the text.

It's a cute story, and the second stand alone in an interconnected series about Librarians in Love, which is perfect for national library week.

This book was everything! So cute and fun and full of feelings! I love how the two women came together and worked through their personal situations to become something strong and beautiful together. I felt seen as a aspec person also figuring out what that means for me. And I Loved the whole cast of characters!