For anyone who loved the movie, "While You Were Sleeping", this is just that but sapphic and more fun. The plot is messy, the romance is sweet, and the characters are likeable (except Nolan). I loved meeting the Altmans, they were such a fun bunch and it's easy to understand why Alice is so drawn to them.

As far as the romance, Van is such a sweetheart, I was rooting for her from their very first meeting. The complicated situation Alice is involved in, coupled with another complication leaves her pushing Van away, which I wasn't super a fan of. However, all ends well for the couple in the end, and their relationship is adorable.

Overall, this book is emotional and chaotic in the best way, and I'd reccomend giving it a try. 4.8/5 rounded up.

i absolutely adore while you were sleeping. this past holiday season, i watched it for the millionth time with my girlfriend, and i vividly remember discussing with her that the only way to make that movie more perfect would be to make jack a butch lesbian instead (this is true about almost anything). i’d like to personally shout out emily zipps for hearing my prayers and making this dream come true!!

something that’s so important to me about the movie is the quiet depth and emotion it contains — lucy’s quiet grief, her loneliness, the community and long-lost family ties she finds in the callaghans. sandra bullock is lightning in a bottle, and she’s hard to live up to. but this book does it! i felt that same quiet anguish in alice’s life, the utter isolation of having very few words to describe what you’re feeling — and no one to say it to, even if you could. being adrift by yourself for so long, feeling like you’re lost in the middle of the sea, only to stumble across salvation and dry land when you least expect it. the reasons for her accidental ruse are convincing and sympathetic, which isn’t an easy task. but zipps achieves it, nevertheless!

i only had one small problem with this book — i cringed a little every time alice described herself as overweight, because every time, she listed it out as something bad and undesirable alongside other negative impressions she had of herself (such as dowdy, frumpy, etc). i understand that alice does not have a very good self image here, and it’s definitely a larger problem in our society that contributes to this perception. it still bums me out when something that is a neutral descriptor — fat — is treated as something negative. i hope we can all collectively move away from that mindset.

overall, i had a great time reading this! i’m so pleased that it ended up as both a wonderful homage and a fresh spin on the movie. i’m so excited to see more butch representation these days, too — i’m always looking for more! i can’t recommend this one enough, especially as the holidays roll around later this year.

This was a fun romcom read that was just like the movie. It's a little unbelievable in today's time with social media and everything but if you just embrace the soap opera energy it's a good time. I liked the chemistry with Van and the queer relationship seemed believable. I also liked the quirky family and it reminded me of my big fat Greek wedding. So if you like 90s/2000s rom coms but make it more gay then this one is for you.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'll be honest, I've only gotten 23% through this book and I don't know if I'll finish it. I absolutely love the movie and was very excited to read a sapphic version but I'm really disappointed. I feel like the author missed a big part of the romantic relationship in the movie which is that they weren't instantly attracted to each other. The best part of the movie was seeing the characters learn about each other and start falling for each other. The book doesn't show that. Alice is just immediately attracted to Van. Also, in the movie, the main character doesn't know anything negative about the sibling in the coma until very late in the movie. In the book, Alice learns something that ends hetr attraction to Nolan in the first 10% of the book. I don't think the book has to be exactly like the movie but I feel like those were the things that I was really hoping stuck. I won't rate this book lower than a 3 because I don't think that would be fair but I wouldn't recommend it if you were hoping for a sapphic version of While You Were Sleeping.

Have you ever been so touch-starved you allow yourself to be quasi-adopted by a large, loving family of people who are convinced you’re the girlfriend of their comatose son/brother/nephew? No? Well, Alice Rue has.

When her work crush, Nolan Altman, collapses in front of her, Alice jumps into action, attempting to pump life back into the man she may or may not be in love with despite only occasionally exchanging hellos. When the paramedics arrive, though, the story gets twisted. Alice, in her panicked 911 call, may have accidentally led the operator to believe that Nolan was her boyfriend, and that’s the memo that gets passed on to his family. The Altman family gives Alice no chance to correct the story, immediately ensconcing her as one of their own.

Alice, who has been on her own since she lost her father at 19 (and her mother at 8) finds the pull of this family hard to resist. She decides to see how far she can stretch this lie-by-omission, convincing herself that it is the kindest choice. She’ll go along with the family’s presumption until Nolan either wakes up…or doesn’t and then she’ll come clean. Her plan goes awry when she finds herself falling for his sister, Van.

For a romance novel, “Alice Rue Evades it All” is surprisingly weighty. Much of the book revolves around Alice’s grief and loneliness, her inability to participate fully in any kind of real life. She’s been operating in a survival state since she was 19-years-old and despite being forced to grow up too soon, she hasn’t really learned how to function as an adult. The connections she fosters with the Altmans and her own family are just as meaningful as the relationship that develops between her and Van.

People who are willing to stretch the bounds of believability will find this a charming story centering a character who is flawed, but working on it.

Overall I felt this was a cute funny read. The characters kept me reading more than the plot. I loved Van and kept wanting to read because of her. I felt the chemistry between she and Alice was great and I was rooting for them the whole time. Great romance for those who don’t like books that are too spicy but there is a bit of profanity (which doesn’t bother me). I would recommend this for those wanting a sweet cute sapphic romance.