You're The Problem, It's You

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin General UK - Fig Tree, Hamish Hamilton, Viking, Penguin Life, Penguin Business for approving my request to read an arc of this book

First off I’ll admit that I haven’t read the first book in this duoligy, but I still followed it easily and enjoyed the story immensely! Enemies to lovers is one of my favourite tropes, especially when they both already have feelings for each other. It was paced well and their relationship grew in a very natural way, without feeling rushed or forced.

While I’m not usually as into historical settings, I did really enjoy this one. And without going into any spoilers, I throughly enjoyed the ending and it was exactly what I’d hoped for!

I’d highly recommend this book and I’d give it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

After reading the first book in this series, I couldn't wait to get hold of this! We saw a little of James and Bobby in the previous book, one perhaps in a kinder light than the other. Here we pick up with Gwen and Beth being adorable in the background, with much more subtle matchmaking this time, and Bobby and James at the front, clashing over and over again.

The title gives you an idea of what their initial relationship is like, "You're The Problem, It's You". Watching them move from antagonists, to friends and lovers is utterly delightful. I just want to coddle James up and make sure only good things happen to him.

It's safe to say that this book lived up to all the expectations I had for it. And it gave me an oblivious bisexual secondary character who can't understand monosexuals. Honestly, Prince was the best. Actually, so was Meredith's mother. And Meredith and Albie, and you know, just everyone was the best.

I can't wait to buy a copy when this comes out and pop it on my shelf!

There are stories that we read that never truly leave us and I have no doubt that, this series will stay with me forever. I’m not sure I precisely have the words to explain how entirely amazing this series is or just how much it has captivated me. All I know is that I want to read it over and over again.

After loving Beth and Gwen’s story I was eager to return to 1858 for James and Bobby’s story, which did not disappoint. There is so much longing and angst throughout their story that I just couldn’t put it down. Just like the first book I don’t think I have ever wanted two people to find their way to one another as much as I did for these two couples.

It’s marked as an enemies to lovers but I would say they are never truly ‘enemies’ , there’s a clear dislike of one another which comes after a disastrous first encounter (James being unable to communicate after many years of crushing on Bobby and Booby conveying James’ actions as stand-offish.)

Just like the first book there’s meddling and mischief from Ben and Gwen and all our favourite characters return as well as Albie, who is just the sweetest, having a bigger part in James and Bobby’s story.

Emma, thank you for writing these beautiful stories and creating these characters to give a voice to so many. I have said it before and will say it again, please someone turn these books in a TV series.

✨ Queer Historical Romance
✨ Found Family
✨ Enemies to Lovers (kind of)

Favourite Quotes:

𝑰 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒈𝒐, 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓. 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆.

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆? 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒇 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒂 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆, 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒖𝒔?

𝑩𝒐𝒃𝒃𝒚 𝒐𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒕, 𝒔𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝑱𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔. 𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔, 𝒏𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔. 𝑯𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆-𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚'𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆- 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒋𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒅.

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕, 𝒊𝒇 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝑩𝒐𝒃𝒃𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒕- 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒔𝒌 𝑱𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒔𝒌 𝑱𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏, 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒇𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚- 𝒊𝒇 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆, 𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏, 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆, 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒏 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍𝒃𝒐𝒚.

𝑰 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍, 𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒓... 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎.

𝑩𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin General UK for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.