A super cute hate-to-love romance!

This is such a sweet and cute YA romance. Everything about this book feels YA and I mean that in the best way! The characters are teenagers...and shockingly, they read like they are teenagers too! *fake gasp*

I love how imperfect each of the characters are and how they are all trying to figure out who they are and what they want in life. Sophia and Emma are two characters that are really trying to figure out life and I enjoyed being in both of their POV's and see them learn to look at life in different ways. The romance was very cute, though a bit insta-lovey but it was so cute that I almost didn't care. I also really enjoyed the secondary characters especially Kate and Tom's side plot.

Definitely recommend to readers looking for a cute YA contemporary romance with a great friend group!

This book was a bit superficial and lacking in depth. It moved quickly, but mostly because there didn't seem to be much happening. I was hoping for a more energetic story that would make me feel something and this was not it.

Wow, frankly I'm impressed at just how awful this was. Not only was it a bad book, but it was a terrible retelling of Much Ado About Nothing. The author didn't make a single decision I agreed with, and I was just incredibly angry this whole book.
First, both main characters were so unlikeable and annoying. The character that was based on Beatrice was totally one dimensional.
Second, their banter was atrocious. One of the more important parts of Much Ado About Nothing, in my opinion, is the banter between Beatrice and Benedick, but this book sucked all the fun out of it. It was cringy and immature.
The cheating plot line was just so stupid and the fact that they didn't immediately figure it out was so annoying. I hate Claudio, but at least in Much Ado About Nothing, it made more sense for him to immediately believe it.
All in all, this book was superficial and annoying, and I don't recommend it at all.

3.5

I Think I Love You is a sweet, funny YA romance novel between two rivals who have two very different ideas on love. I liked the characters, despite being unable to really identify with them. They were a bit childish at times, and they argued pretty much constantly in the beginning - which, to be fair, what's a YA romance without some teenage angst drama? - but as soon as we hit a certain point I was into the story. I guessed the antagonist pretty much right away, so I wasn't too surprised when I was right. The one thing I will say though, is that I felt like the romance between the two was a little rushed. Being tricked into seeing someone differently, even if it's with your rival, won't suddenly change your feelings for them, in my opinion. As least not as quickly as they did. It had its sweet moments though, which warmed me.

A solid read for a YA romance, and for a debut.

When it comes to romance, there are two types of people. You have your Emmas, your diehard romantics who believe in happily ever after and have fallen head-over-heels in love with love. And then you have your Sophias, who roll their eyes at rom-coms and take a more jaded approach to the whole concept of love and relationships.

I am a Sophia. I don’t hate all romance, but it does take a lot more for a fictional romance to impress me, and this one didn’t quite hit the mark. It was fun and light and entertaining, and I think the Emmas of the world will truly enjoy this one, and that’s great. The world needs more lighthearted gay romance. But I have to be honest and say that I was hoping for more: more maturity, more complexity, more depth.

Maybe I’m just too old and cynical for teenage love stories. And this one was very teenager-y. Emma isn’t just a diehard romantic; she’s so preoccupied with love that it’s practically her only personality trait. She’s melodramatic and her actions are selfish and juvenile. Everything is about her: her feelings, her ideas, what she wants to do. I should have been able to relate to her subplot of not being out to her parents, having gone through exactly the same thing, but it didn’t get enough attention and development.

I liked Sophia more than I liked Emma, first, because I related to her a lot more. Her story combined many different threads, all of which I found interesting: the aftermath of her parents’ recent divorce, the failed relationship she left behind in Paris, her struggle to reintegrate with her friend group. But even Sophia had moments when she annoyed the heck out of me. It’s no wonder she has trouble fitting back in with her friends; she won’t shut up about Paris around them. And while I, too, have a cynical view of romance, Sophia took it to an extreme.

Also, this book had way too much heterosexuality for a book about two girls falling in love. I couldn’t have cared less about Kate and Tom or Myrah and Peter. Come to think of it, this book had way too much going on in general: friend drama, family drama, side relationships. I like complex and multilayered plots, but only if each subplot gets enough development to keep you invested, and there isn’t so much going on that it distracts from what should be the main focus of the story: in this case, Emma and Sophia falling in love and making movies.

As a result, the development of their relationship felt rushed and sloppy. The foundations of Emma and Sophia’s dislike for each other were about as petty as they could get. Their constant bickering wasn’t flirtatious, it wasn’t cute, it was immature and irritating. And the different schemes in this book to get people together by lying to them? Also not cute, completely cliché, and definitely not a solid foundation for a healthy relationship.

This book wasn’t all bad. Emma and Sophia had a few romantic scenes together that warmed even my cold heart. But the good moments were bogged down by all the unnecessary teenage drama and immaturity. I wish I could give this book a higher rating, but given how much time I spent rolling my eyes and skimming through subplots I didn’t care about, I just don’t think I can.