I really liked that this book had so many stories with diverse characters. The stories themselves were a little bit hit or miss for me though. Some stories did not provide enough background information while others provided too much.

My favorite stories were: Five Stars; Edges; The Passover Date; Boys Noise

Many of these others have other releases that are on my radar so it was nice to get a little sneak peek into their writing styles.

I am a romance girlie through and through and am happy to say that this is another win for the books.

Fools in Love is a YA anthology of stories based on romantic tropes with fresh twists celebrating how love always finds a way. This anthology is truly YA and I really appreciate that. The authors allowed their characters to be teens and exist without the pressure to age up the content or conversations for the sake of older readers. This book is for, anyone really, but mainly for the teen/young adults in your life and I think it will mean so much to them.

Overall the romances in the stories were so cute, I swooned and laughed but of course in an anthology you cannot always love every story. My favourites, the ones that made me smile and kick my feet the most were: Teed Up by Gloria Chao, The Passover Date by Laura Silverman, and What Makes Us Heroes by Julian Winters. These stories were all fairly different in content ranging from fake dating, to moral greyness of heroes to the weight of providing for your family. All these stories had me engaged throughout and the authors managed to achieve so much depth in their stories that I was craving 300 page novels from then just to spend time with these characters.

There were some stories that used tropes that I traditionally love in adult romance but just didn’t enjoy in YA as I feel they start to miss certain elements that make them so enjoyable to me. An example of this was the “one bed trope” that I go feral for in adult romance, that just fell flat in YA. I did unfortunately dnf some stories as they just weren't doing it for me, but those were tropes that historically don't work for me anyways.

I love that we got to see teens of all different backgrounds, sexuality, and genders being loved and loving others. This is one of those books that give you that ”i wish I'd had this when i was young” moments.


Fools in Love is definitely an anthology I’d recommend to any YA and romance readers that will give you a cute, heart warming time.

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC for review purposes.

I loved how Fools in Love had multiple authors. It have readers a new sense of adventure! An amazing novel and I loved the adventure that I went on

This one just wasn’t for me. I was kinda bummed, but I think I’m just not a huge fan of short stories. They’re just not fleshed out enough for me.

Thank you for approving me for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. I'm going ot keep this oen short. Overall, did not enjoy this one. I really wanted to, but I for some reason really struggled to like a variety of the short stories. This oen was not for me.

This book was fine. I really enjoyed some stories, and skimmed through others. Overall, it was enjoyable and a good easy read. I felt like the overall themes were repetitive.

I really enjoyed some stories more than others and figured they averaged to be about 3 stars. Some of my favorites were Mistaken Identity, Love Triangle, Fake Dating, Secret Royalty, and Second Chance Romance. Overall, I typically love anthologies and this was a fun collection with queer takes on typical romance tropes. Unfortunately, some of the story's plot lines weren't super interesting to me, but I'm glad I enjoyed at least some of the stories and wish they could be made into their own books!

Anthologies are tricky for me when it comes to romance because I feel the need to be courted through the relationship. I find that short stories can sometimes jump the gun and rush the romance.

Fools In Love was not this type of anthology!

I was wooed, I was romanced, I was thrilled to see a lot of my favourite tropes, and I was BLOWN AWAY by the representation in this book.

This book has something for everyone, and you will not be disappointed.

I didn't love this and I didn't hate it. It was your typical cute, fluffy story full of romance. I'd recommend it to anyone who was looking for a romance novel, but wasn't sure exactly what they wanted. I love the short story element.

I loved the different authors and getting to see the different writing styles throughout this book. It was a cute romantic read, touched on a lot of the popular tropes, and had a mix of fun stories that could fit every type of romance reader. It's a great way to try different authors and different kinds of romance you maybe haven't read before!

A star lineup of authors. I liked that the tropes were presented in fantasy and contemporary settings. I think some authors could have gone more heavy-handed on the tropy-ness. I'd definitely read a second book with this premise.

A beautiful, sweet, and widely ranged anthology that went from contemporary to fantasy and so much more. I loved how it had so many different representations it had, and while not every story was to my liking, the overall feel of the book was fantastic.

4.5 Stars ( I received an e-arc from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review)

This collection has so many good stories, full of familiar names and some I have read from and some I have not. There wasn’t really one that was not to my taste in this collection and had quite a bit of Jewish representation. My favourite standout’s are the ones by Natasha Ngan, Mason Deaver (you cannot convince me that this not a Stray Kids inspired story), Gloria Chao and the Jewish ones. Never mind they are freaking fantastic, go pick it up

I used to inhale anthologies especially when some of my favorite authors are included. But I seem to struggle with them more and more these days. I struggled to get through this one and skimmed quite a bit. It's hard to get invested or attached to the characters in such short pages. Regardless of my personal reading challenges, I think this anthology was a fun diverse perspective on some classic tropes. I love tropes. Give me all the tropes. Fools in Love is perfect for newer teen readers or any reader looking for more from their favorite author or to maybe even find a new author to read.

Thank you for this ARC! Each story, though short, captured my heart is so many different ways. I love the rep. here and the different tropes, like strangers to lovers, royalty, etc! There's so much adventure to be had here that there is definitely something for everyone, so basically you should go buy it :)

2.5 stars rounded up. I love short story compilations. They make it easy to read a quick story here and there and not have to follow a storyline or think too deeply about it all. But many of these stories felt too short. They would barely introduce the main characters before it was over. The few longer stories just didn't hold my attention. A few of the scenes started truly horrific - like the opening to a horror story - and I just couldn't find them romantic or sweet. This set just didn't work for me - but I did love the diversity in the characters and I think the stories will work for others as cute, quick reads.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Fake relationships. Enemies to lovers. Love triangles and best friends, mistaken identities and missed connections. This collection of genre-bending and original stories celebrates how love always finds a way, featuring powerful flora, a superhero and his nemesis, a fantastical sled race through snow-capped mountains, a golf tournament, the wrong ride-share, and even the end of the world. With stories written by Rebecca Barrow, Ashley Herring Blake, Gloria Chao, Mason Deaver, Sara Farizan, Claire Kann, Malinda Lo, Hannah Moskowitz

This was a perfect read for Valentine’s day! I especially loved Malinda Lo, Natasha Ngan, and Lilliam Riverea’s segments.

I love a good short story anthology, and having these identified by trope will definitely be of interest to both readers and budding writers who'd like to emulate or twist those on their own. I'd also agree with those who chimed in noting the representation in this collection, which definitely makes this book a great fit for any classroom bookshelf.

A bit of a forewarning: this review is fully biased and, to tell the truth, I mostly skimmed the stories that weren't gay (of which there was more than one, in case that's a turn-off for anyone). Also, of the m/f stories I did enjoy, I automatically deducted points for lack of lgbt, something I tend to do on sort of a subconscious level. No hate to the authors, I'm sure their stories were good, I just physically can't enjoy a piece of media where the love interest is a cishet man, knowing that they are truly abominable creatures.

Anyway, all that being said, Fools in Love is a lovely collection of romantic stories which, on the whole, I found myself quite enjoying. Each one follows a specific trope which, if you're a fan of romance (or fanfiction), you'll already see that as a massive plus. Reading this anthology gave me the opportunity to dip my toe into genres I might not have otherwise encountered, or ones that I wouldn't usually be pressed to pick up a full novel of. Being able to taste a sweet snapshot of how these authors write made me want to read more of their work, and I loved some of the stories so much that I wish they had been fleshed out into full-length novels, although I understand why they weren't.

I'll have a list of my ratings of each individual story at the end of this review, but my 3 favourites that I am still thinking about a couple weeks after reading them are: story number 5, "What Makes Us Heroes" by Julian Winters, which is a gay superhero/villain romance that made me realise I need way more lgbtq superhero novels in YA; story 14, "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" by Malindo Lo, a sapphic sci-fi princess/mechanic(?) romance that made me realise I actually like sci-fi sometimes; and story 15, "Disaster" by Rebecca Podos, a sapphic last-day-on-Earth second chance romance that did what Don't Look Up tried to do but 1000 times better (bc sapphic).

I don't usually read anthologies, but I'm so glad I read this one because it introduced me to so many new authors at once, and honest to God, some of these short stories are better than the full-length novels I've read recently. Perfect for a Valentine's Day read!

My ratings for each story:

1. "Silver and Gold" by Natasha Ngan - 3.75/5
2. "Five Stars" by Amy Spalding - 4.5/5
3. "Unfortunately, Blobs Do Not Eat Snacks" by Rebecca Kim Wells - 5/5
4. "Edges" by Ashley Herring-Blake - 4/5
5. "What Makes Us Heroes" by Julian Winters - 5/5
6. "And" by Hannah Moskowitz - 4/5
7. "My Best Friend's Girl" by Sara Farizan - 4.5/5
8. "(Fairy)Like Attracts Like" by Claire Kann - 4/5
9. "These Strings" by Lilliam Rivera - 2/5
10. "The Passover Date" by Laura Silverman - 4/5
11. "Bloom" by Rebecca Barrow - 5/5
12. "Teed Up" by Gloria Chao - 3/5
13. "Boys Noise" by Mason Deaver - 4.5/5
14. "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" - 5/5
15. "Disaster" by Rebecca Podos - 5/5