I really wanted to like this and loved the first book. This didn’t keep my interest and there’s too much just talking or inner monologue. Nothing really happens. I had to stop reading. The characters are not interesting.

Thank you so much to Forever and NetGalley for the advance reader copy of Kiss Me Maybe by Gabriella Gamez!

We open the story after Angela Gutierrez has posted a video opening up about her ace identity and that she’s never been kissed. She comes up with an idea to put on a scavenger hunt, with the idea that the person who wins will be most compatible with her and Angela will have her first kiss. However, Angela has had a crush on bartender, Krystal Ramirez, for the last five years. Krystal isn’t in a place right now where she wants to pursue a relationship, but wants to help Angela make her scavenger hunt possible.

I loved The Next Best Fling last year and am so excited to return to the Librarians in Love universe! I really enjoyed the premise for Kiss Me Maybe. The opening had me drawn in immediately and I really enjoyed the scavenger hunt element of the plot. You’ll adore Angela and Krystal. These two have INCREDIBLE chemistry throughout each phase of their friends to lovers romance.

Similar to what I thought with The Next Best Fling, I think Gabriella Gamez is exceptional at balancing a lot of plot elements at once and executing the story beautifully. It was also really fun to see Marcela and Theo again! As the story went on I had high hopes for how it all might conclude and the ending was everything I had hoped for but better!

The books in this series also have the most stunning covers!!

4/5

Librarian Angela Gutierrez has a penchant for going viral, something her superiors are none too happy about. When she openly admits online that she’s never been kissed, while also sharing her asexual identity, the video goes viral and Angela becomes determined to achieve her first kiss at all costs. Her bold idea: a scavenger hunt across the city where the winner gets her first kiss, but she’ll have to enlist the help of Krystal Ramirez, a gorgeous out of her league bartender to pull it off. Now that I have read two romances from Gabriella Gamez the overarching vision for this series is clear, but this second novel could not be more different from her first. Kiss Me, Maybe is a romance intimately intertwined with sexuality, identity, and the societal pressures to perform against an arbitrary list of experiences. Main character Angela, has found comfort in her identity but her lack of romantic experience has led her to feel behind and out of touch in her own life. Gamez calls attention to this desire to know oneself but also the pitfalls in putting too much pressure on these goals. As she develops the romance, Gamez further explores the ace spectrum and Angela’s developing sense of identity. I appreciated the attention paid to the diverse experiences under the ace spectrum through Angela’s desire to find a label that best fits herself. That and the relationship between growing up queer and these “all important” experiences really served to ground the story. Kiss Me, Maybe is a layered romance that achieves much within the friends to lovers narrative, and I loved every second of it.

Thank you Netgalley and forever hbg Canada for the free arc. My opinions are being left voluntarily. Whewwwww their was sweet, spicy and a goood time. I liked watching the characters develop into their true selves and changing identities they more they learned about themselves. It is a slow burn but it all makes se se... but when we get THERE whewwww you'll be sweating.

This is the second book I've read by the author and excited for what she does next.

5/5☆

3.75 ⭐️
Kiss Me, Maybe was very cute. I enjoyed reading the interactions between Angela and Krystal and found Angela to be a very relatable main character in certain ways. I loved reading about her exploring her sexuality, especially since I don’t know much about the ace spectrum, so it was very interesting to learn about that perspective.

I will say the love story, while cute and filled with chemistry, did have some frustrations for me. It felt like Krystal was leading on Angela the whole book, only to flip suddenly at the end, and Angela had an opposite journey. I feel like maybe if I had Krystal’s perspective I would understand and appreciate her more.

Overall though this was a good read and I would be interested in a book 3!!

my goodness it’s hard to breathe after reading this.

Gabriella Gamez writes some of the BEST tension. I was sweating reading that almost kiss, and don’t even get me started on Ch. 18 🥵

I’m calling it now, Gabriella Gamez is only going to continue to get better with each book. Her debut, The Next Best Fling was one of my top romances of 2024, an absolutely phenomenal debut novel - Kiss Me, Maybe is even better, and I’m confident it’s going to be one of my top romances for 2025.

She’s officially an auto-buy author and I cannot wait to read more by her!

I absolutely loved watching the FMC explore her identity and sexuality - the author does a fantastic job handling a sensitive topic. She presents information on ace spec and queer identity in such a fluid and careful way. One of the best things about reading books with characters of different identities than your own (imo) its getting to experience a bit of what it’s like in someone else’s shoes - I loved learning more about the ace spectrum. For me, a mark of a good fiction book, is that it has me wanting to learn more about the information presented within and this book did exactly that! I leave this book with a better understanding of the ace spectrum identity and with the motivation to learn and explore that topic even more!

What’s to love…
- ACE spec representation
- identity and sexual exploration
- lesbian and bi FMCs
- Grade A++ tension
- medium to slow burn
- friends-to-lovers
- found family AND family forward story
- Mexican-American FMCs
- set in San Antonio Texas
- spectacular pacing
- bookish book (FMC is a librarian!)
- panty burning spice

What’s not to love…
- honestly, not much… this is nearly perfect but I do wish we got a bit more of the relationship with Angela and Marcela/Julian - the focus was strongly on the online presence and Krystal and while that was fine I did feel like I wanted to see more from the non-romantic relationships.

🌶️ - super freaking hot in terms of tension but mild enough for a mature teen imo. Also fairly easy to skip if needed. Ch. 18, 32, 44.

Thank you NetGalley and Forever for sending this book (eARC) for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I liked parts of this book- mainly the ace/bi representation. I enjoyed the characters a lot. I didn't love the pacing or the romance- I wish we knew more of how Krystal was feeling in her relationship and I tend to prefer slower burns whereas the romance hit the ground running

Gabriella Gamez, you get me every time with these relatable characters. First it was Marcela with her body and the world perceives her body. And now Angela with all her insecurities surrounding her being a late bloomer. These women are so relatable and I hope you never stop doing that.

While I didn't love this quite as much as <i>the Next Best Thing</i>, there was so much to love. Angela's family -- with the exception of that one cousin -- is wonderful and so supportive; I especially adored Julian and would love to see more of him in future books. Though I'm not ace myself, I feel this is good representation of the identity, particularly for those who don't discover that about themselves until a little later in life.

I do wish I liked Krystal a bit more. Angela is accused throughout the book for being a tease and leading other people on, but I felt like Krystal was doing all the leading here. To the point that I did start to lose my enthusiasm for Angela and Krystal's relationship and root instead for Leti.

But I did like that Gamez reversed the expected gender stereotypes within sapphic couples. So often in the romances I read, the MC is very femme, a pastel princess basically, while her love interest is more butch-leaning. Gamez reversed that here, making Angela identify as more butch while her love interest was feminine. I appreciate that because now I know I need more butch lesbians in my romance books.

How do I review a book that had me cycling rapidly between tears, laughter, gasps, and kicking my little feelies and squealing???

I haven't read a ton of romances that focused on the ace spec, but damn if this isn't needed in the genre more! I loved reading the development of Angela's identity and how she figured out just what she wanted out of life and relationships, as well as being honest and true to herself.

I'm also a sucker for two dummies in love who can't see it even though everyone else around them can, so watching Angela and Krystal basically "AND THEY WERE ROOMMATES" themselves while also getting inconceivably hot and bothered from a brush of hands was the romance catnip we all deserve.

10/10 no notes -- a MUST READ.

I was not the target audience for this book but I found it enjoyable nonetheless. Krystal’s journey of self discovery is one to be admired as she figures out how to handle her newfound fame

This was a really cute read I think Gabriella Gamez's books are just getting better and better. One thing I think they do well is infusing diverse romance into real-life characters and plots and that's enjoyable. The characters are real and have dimensions and growth, and I could relate to some of them. We have one of the fmcs Angela an ace librarian who is a virgin and has never been kissed. she becomes an influencer after relating videos online. The other fmc Krystal is a bartender who is hired by the other fmc to help her plan a scavenger hunt and find love and attraction. I loved how different the fmcs were and how Angela was navigating her sexuality, identity, queerness, and lack of sexual experience. I loved how it wrote her sexuality as ever-evolving and growing. This is a slow burn with steam and while Krystal is helping Angela with love they have this rule that they can't kiss which makes the moment when they its more special. The found family aspect was good and I liked the glimpses of Theo and Marcella. Overall a good read. Thanks to Forever for this arc.

Read for:
- Queer romance
- Latina rep
- Ace x bisexual fmc
- Librarian fmc

Gabriella Gamez can do no wrong in my eyes. I absolutely adore their writing style. I adore The Next Best Fling so naturally I jumped at the chance to read this, it is phenomenal. Sapphic plus ace representation is such a win for me and this was done so well. 100/10 PERFECTION

Gabriella does it again! This book is so sweet and cozy and gave me all the feels. I loved these characters from the start and was so ready to see where she would take their story. The representation in this book is both amazing and handled so well. I love how Gabriella can craft characters that feel both instantly-relatable and also completely on their own journey where you root for them the entire way. I loved every second of this one.

I devoured this story! Gabriella has a way of crafting romances with just the right amount of drama and messy antics to keep you hoooooked! It felt like watching a great romcom where you can feel the tension and buildup between Angela and Krystal.

As a Latina from San Antonio who has struggled with my queerness and identity since middle school, Angela’s journey hit me hard. This book beautifully explores how queerness isn’t always static it evolves as we grow and learn about ourselves. Krystal’s story also highlights how people change, and how expectations (both self-imposed and from others) can hold us back.

This book had it all family dynamics (both good and bad), found family and community, the chaos of social media fame, personal growth, and the fluidity of sexual identity. With Ace-spec, bi, and lesbian representation, it was truly something special. And seeing my city represented? Loved it! San Antonio doesn’t get enough love in books, and the scavenger hunt throughout the story was the perfect way to showcase its beauty and, of course, the madness that is Fiesta! Highly recommend this one, along with Gabriella’s Librarians in Love series!