There’s no easy to way to say this: I didn’t enjoy I Kissed a Girl. I finished it but I think I had some sort of hope that maybe, just maybe, it would get better. Alas, I just wasn’t a fan of Jennet Alexander’s debut novel.

Here’s the book’s description:
Lilah Silver’s a young actress who dreams of climbing out of B-list stardom. She’s been cast as the lead in what could be her breakout performance…but if she wants to prove herself to everyone who ever doubted her, she’s going to need major help along the way.
Noa Birnbaum may be a brilliant makeup artist and special effects whiz-kid, but cracking into the union is more difficult than she imagined. Keeping everyone happy is a full-time job, and she’s already run ragged. And yet when the beautiful star she’s been secretly crushing on admits to fears of her own, Noa vows to do everything in her power to help Lilah shine like never before.
Long hours? Exhausting work? No problem. Together they can take the world by storm…but can the connection forged over long hours in the makeup chair ever hope to survive the glare of the spotlight?
Over the last couple of years I have gotten way better at not finishing books I’m not enjoying. Life’s too short and there are far too many books out there to keep reading books that you don't like. I had received an egalley of this one but I ended up listening to it and that’s probably the only reason I kept reading – I didn’t have another audiobook lined up. Plus, nothing was really, completely, totally wrong with the book. It just wasn’t…great.

The romance was super insta-love and I really couldn’t see what the women saw in each other. Well, that’s not strictly true. On their own, both Lilah and Noa were pretty OK. They just so completely did not suit each other, in my opinion (you know, from the peanut gallery). Even though Noa had a celebrity crush on Lilah, she was really judgemental of everything Lilah liked and did. How is that ok? And I never felt like we got a decent enough apology for how much of a dick Noa had been. There are other women out there, Lilah. Your first bisexual relationship doesn’t have to be with someone super attractive who’s treated you like you’re from Legally Blonde.

And the whole stalker thing? Which, by the way, was not mentioned at all in that description but was a massive plot point. It was…cringey. Lilah was being gaslit. The people (cough men cough) in charge were pretty dismissive of her worries. Jokes on them, the guy who was stalking her was completely unhinged and it was Noa who had to swoop in and save the day (sort of…I had really stopped caring by this point so the nuances of how Lilah was saved might have been a bit lost). Just not an enjoyable plot point for me.

This novel did have a lot of diverse rep which is always nice to see. Noa’s gay, Lilah’s bi (a massive part of the story was her coming to terms with that and her pretending to be someone she wasn’t because that’s what she thought gay girls needed to be like) and they’re both Jewish.

I’d suggest giving I Kissed a Girl a miss but some people might enjoy Jennet Alexander’s novel. I might check out what she writes next – we’ll have to see if the description catches my interest!
*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Sourcebooks Casablanca, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

I truly tried to get into this one but unfortunately I just couldn't connect to the characters and the story. I loved the premise for the story so I was super excited to dive in but it disappointed me and I found it boring at times. i found I was forcing myself to pick it up again to read instead of going into it excited to continue.

i did enjoy the writing style of the author and some aspects of the story for sure but as a whole it just fell short for me.

I picked this book up under the mistaken impression that it was Written by the Stars (what can I say, they are both sapphic releases in the same year with similar blue book covers!)

And I am so so glad I did pick it up. It had all the sapphic back stage of movie making vibes from Everything Leads to You along with the horror genre feels from The Monster of Her Age.

Both women in this novel are Jewish. There's this wonderful line from Noa's dad about how it's better to bring home a Jewish woman than a non-Jewish man. Her parents both seem very acceptive of her sexuality, if not her line of work - which is a make-up artist in movies. Well, she's starting out that career in a B-grade movie as a way to start up her career after dropping out of her degree.

And then she's assigned to Lilah Silver, who she's only had a crush on from afar in all her other B-grade horror films thus far. She has to really work not to let that crush form into something more real as she gets to know the soft hearted actress.

Lilah isn't really out as bisexual when the novel begins. And her feelings for Noa take her suddenly and by surprise. There is an insta-love element to this story, but it's so completely well done that it's not difficult at all to suspend disbelief.

The only two difficulties that are faced in this novel are Noa's boss Denise, who frowns on fraternisation between the stars and crew, and the fact that Lilah has a stalker. There are a handful of pages at the climax of that particular part of the plot that I skimmed through, but it's not at all gruesome enough to spoil the rest of this fluffy book.

I'm thoroughly disappointed only that this is not the first book in a new series.

This book was paced a bit slow, and took some time to get into and start to enjoy. But the plot, the characters, and the overall atmosphere that this book created was well worth it. If pacing isn’t an issue, I recommend this cute sapphic romance to your list.

Lilah Silver has been cast as the final girl actress in an upcoming horror film. Noa is the make-up artist that has been assigned to Lilah. It just so happens that Noa has had a crush on Lilah since her first movie. Will the love blossom in this high-stress environment?

Three words to describe this book: Messy. Confusing. Underwhelming.

Cover: I love this cover and the Hollywood lights in the background. It definitely sets the stage for the book.

Tropes: Shared bed, long-time crush, secret love

Character Development: While we spend a lot of time with the characters, I never got a sense of who they were outside of their roles as an actor and make-up artist. I know they are both a bit confused as they are young and figuring things out. Due to the lack of character development, I was not invested in their relationship.

World-Building: Going into this book, I was super excited for the world of a horror movie. I just don’t feel like the setting was explored much beyond a couple of parts such as kissing the co-lead and shooting on location. I wanted so much more from this world. Listening to audio, I had a tough time differentiating between the two characters' point-of-view at times because of the lack of character development.

Plot & Pacing: I thought the pacing in the first part of the book was great and got me invested. But then it lagged from about 30% to 70% or so. The book could not settle what romance trope it was going to be – secret love? Long-time crush? Shared bed? It toys with all of them. There is also a subplot about a stalker that was underdeveloped.

Narrator: The narration of this audiobook was fantastic! I love Natalie Naudus and her voice fits perfectly here.

Verdict: I am not a fan of this book. It pains me not to rave about a queer romance especially one as promising as this one.

ARC was provided to me by Sourcebooks Casablanca (e-book) & Dreamscape Media (audio). in exchange for an honest review.

I Kissed A Girl was nothing particulary new but the story offers an enjoyable experience of cute fluffiness and fun.

I stopped myself from DNFing this book like 3 times.
Honestly I found it kind of boring and I didn’t love the characters.

I did enjoy the horror movie set plot and I wish we had gotten more story on that.

Overall I found this to be lacking a lot of everything.

it was a cute read, and it being set on a horror movie's set was definitely new but unfortunately i wasn't too fond of noa and it just lacked something that the other books that keep me hooked usually have.

*Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book for review, all opinions are my own*

I think because I didn't like my last two readings this one was much easier to like.
I loved our main characters, I liked the romance between the two I thought it was very well developed.
The horror film set was the thing I was least interested in but I think the author knew how to work it well, it brought about conflicts that only the setting of a film and having an actress character would bring to the story.
I liked that there was a kind of mystery in this story besides the romance and the movie, this mystery in my opinion was very well constructed and worked in the story, it also made me nervous at various times about the safety of our main characters.
The only thing I didn't like was the final fight in the story, I thought it could have been avoided, I understand why it happened and it just didn't bother me so much because it didn't last long and in the end, everything was resolved.
I liked the story was quick to read and I recommend it if you want to read about two girls falling in love!

I feel like I can't give this a proper rating because I ended up DNFing this book unfortunately. Every time I tried to get into it I just couldn't. Doesn't mean it won't work for someone else, just didn't work for me sadly.

I tried to get into this one, but it may be the case of wrong reader at the wrong time. Super cute premise & thank you for the opportunity to be an early reader.

I loved the representation in this book. I wasn’t too fond of Noa’s character , the had a crush on Lilah yet she criticized her intelligence because of the romance books she read and also that she was to girly because she was an ex beauty queen . I enjoyed this book mostly , especially their point of views

This was a great read! It was quick and hard to put down. The relationship in the book was so sweet and pure! Highly recommend this sweet romance!

⭐️⭐️

I was really looking forward to reading this book as it is very rare to come across a WLW romance novel, but honestly I ended up disappointed in it and kinda bored. I don’t know if my expectations were too high, or if it was just the book, but something was not clicking with me.

Overall I found the romance pretty vanilla and hard to read and I kept waiting for it to pick up, but it never did. Even though I can love an instant romance, to me, there just didn’t feel like there was much chemistry which made it feel unrealistic, and the ending also felt really rushed and that nothing was actually resolved.

Both characters seemed really flat. This just made me unable to really care about what happened to them. While we knew what the sexuality of the characters were and their surface level interests were, there was nothing really deep and meaningful about them which made it hard for me to root for them.

I feel like the sub plot could have been used a little more as well, that really interested me and felt like often times it felt like an after thought in the book when it was the strongest part in my opinion. I did think that the pacing was good too, while I didn’t care much for the characters, at least everything was moving along, and didn’t feel like it was dragging.

I’m very sad to say I did not like this book. I was looking forward to reading it but it let me down. I didn’t like the writing and I wasn’t interested in the story at all. Waste of time.

A fun sapphic love story that demonstrates how love can come from unexpected places. This novel will take you on a fun and satisfying roller coaster of emotions.

This was a gift from Sourcebooks Casablanca.
I plan to read in the future, but the synopsis sounds amazing and definitely up my alley!

Noa is a make up artist and a fan of horror movies, and she finds herself working in one next to her favorite scream queen actress and crush, Lilah. They start with the wrong foot, but the hours spent in the make up chair create a relationship that maybe goes beyond friendship.
Not gonna lie, the first part of the book was a little... Boring. Too much details about their work that didn't catch my interest, really. But then, when the main characters relationship started to develop, I was really into the novel. Until around 70% I suddenly found myself rooting against a happy ending. Because I didn't like the couple the main characters made, I didn't like how they behaved when they were together. They were good, complex characters most of the time, but when they got together they turned into assholes just for the sake of creating ridiculous conflict. I hated that. I mean, Noa was an asshole from the very beginning, but she was a likeable asshole. And yeah, Lilah was insecure all the time, but that's okay, I'm insecure too, I can understand all her baggage. But the "negative" aspects of their personalities just multiplied when they got together, and that's very unhealthy and I just can't root for a couple like that.
What I think this book really nailed was all the LGBT+ representation, beyond the main characters (a bi and a lesbian cis women), and the Jewish representation, which I'm not really used to read in this kind of stories.
Overall, this book was a miss for me, but I appreciate it nonetheless.

I was very excited by the premise of this book, with both the f/f romance and the movie set setting. However, the story really fell short for me. I was excited reading Noa and Lilah’s scenes together, but they always left me wanting more. Noa’s attraction to Lilah started out as purely physical while she looked down on her as a person. That’s a great way to start, but I felt like she never moved beyond that. The pair eventually develop feelings for each other and start dating, but I didn’t really buy it. Lilah seems to genuinely get to know Noa, but Noa remained pretty shallow it seemed.

While the setting of the movie set was fun, it also set the stage for the subplot of Lilah’s stalker. But here’s where I had another issue with the story. The mystery/thriller elements were there, but they almost felt like they were added as an afterthought. By making this story a romance and a mystery, I felt like neither element was actually developed enough. The mystery plot line felt rushed and unrealistic at the end. Ultimately, I wanted so much more from this book.

Disclaimer: I received a free digital ARC (Advanced Reading Copy) of this book from NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.




I really wanted to like this book, but in the end, I found it dull and monotonous and almost DNF.

Lilah Silver is a young rising actress starring in the movie that could help her become an A-lister. Her dreams seem more achievable than ever and after meeting Noa Birnbaum, a talented makeup artist who dreams of becoming a special effect artist in Hollywood, Lilah believes she can have it all in her personal life too. After getting hired as an assistant in the Makeup department in the movie that Lilah is starring in, Noa finds herself falling hard for the beautiful young actress. Noa is scared of her feelings for Lilah and doesn't know if they are reciprocated. Their friendship keeps growing, and both Noa and Lilah develop strong feelings for the other. Everything points out to a great love story between the two young women until someone who has been watching Lilah obsessively gets in the way. Lilah has a stalker and her life is in danger... and now Noa's life and her dreams are in jeopardy too.


This book sounded like such a wonderful LGBTQI friendly read that I couldn't wait to start it. I'd say that this book is a great example of accurate and diverse representation, and I truly enjoyed how the characters are portrayed. I loved that Lilah was bi and proud, while Noa identified herself as a Jewish Lesbian who was out to her accepting family. Crissy, Noa's trans best friend, is in a poly relationship, and there are other examples of secondary characters belonging to a minority. Overall, representation and diversity were great in the story, and their identities were not used as tokens like in other books I've read, so I truly enjoyed the way the writer portrayed these characters.
My issues with the book were mostly related to the plot. The story focuses on two main plots: Noa and Lilah's developing relationship and Lilah's issues with her stalker. My main issue was that there seemed to be a disconnect with both plots. They didn't flow together, and at times, it seemed that the stalker storyline was an afterthought. Towards the end of the book, the plots shift, and the stalking becomes the main point of contention in the story. Unfortunately, I feel that the writer failed to build up the story in a way that this subplot was incorporated into the love story in a complementary way. In addition, the person who turns out to be the stalker was both predictable but also not developed enough to be believable. I wish the revelation would have been handled differently because I knew who it was but was also underwhelmed when it was revealed.


Another thing I didn't like is that I couldn't believe the love story between Noa and Lilah. Lilah was written beautifully. She is likable and sweet, and she is self-aware and willing to stand up for herself. Noa, on the other hand, comes up as a brat, unpleasant, and deeply insecure. She sees Lilah as a beautiful girl, but she also thinks that she is shallow and too focused on her career. She says and does too many things that make me disbelieve her strong feelings for Lilah, and I was uncomfortable about Noa's fixation on Lilah's looks. The story starts with Noa's crush on Lilah but her feelings do not seem to evolve past it while Lilah truly gets to know Noa and falls for her as a complex person and not just based on the initial attraction. They are not compatible with each other so the story wasn't moving for me personally, and I was hoping that Lilah would notice the disconsonant in their relationship.


I ended up finishing the book because it takes more than something like this for me to completely giving up on a story. I did like many things about the book, so I will give the author another chance. The writer does a beautiful job writing diverse characters and seems committed to portraying them in a real light, so I truly liked that about this book.