Best friends Ivy and Andre are always there for each other but what happens when Andie just wants to be with Ivy?

Ivy never what’s to be tied down until Dot enters the picture. Unconventional and wholly independent Ivy lives her life out loud and exactly as she wants..

Also, super refreshing are Angie’s parents acceptance and relationship with each other.

Thank you #netgalley and #entangled for an arc in exchange for an honest review

Andie has been in love with her best friend for as long as she can remember. Ivy is perfect, the most beautiful person everywhere and just so good to be around. According to Andie. And the one person Ivy has ever really been close to, ever confided in is Andie. So she's just biding her time, waiting for Ivy to realize that she's right there and not only just as her cab driver (yeah Ivy loves to go out and has Andie driving her and her one night stands around.) but Andie just loves to be in Ivy's orbit.
Things start changing though, when at a club, Ivy meets Dot.
High schooler Dot looks young and vulnerable and that catches Ivy's attention right away. And Dot is too captivated. After learning that Dot is 17 and making sure that Dot actually wants to spend the night with Ivy, Andie brings them home to Ivy's.
While the two make out in the back, (yeah she really is a cab driver), Andie notices that Ivy's house is on fire.
Problem? LOL no, Ivy just moves in to Andie's and now brings Dot and all her future hookups there, in the room next to Andie's. Cosy, no?
Anyway, Dot keeps showing up after this, and suddenly Andie isn't the only person Ivy can count on anymore, and she doesn't love it.

Not gonna lie, this isn't a review, this is a rant. I haven't been this angry reading a book in a very long time. (not the good kind of anger either)

• I'm going to start with the obvious. Look I have absolutely no issues with age gaps. When both people are over 18. The thing is, not only is Dot under 18, she's also still in high school. And say what you will but you don't have the same life, the same hobbies, the same everything in high school vs in college. Everything changes... That's just a fact. And so yes, this 2 year age gap bothers me. Especially since Ivy keeps talking about Dot like she only sees a kid, all throughout the book she talks about her calling her a kid and I'm just not okay with that. Also, if you have to google if something is legal, (like Andie did) maybe it means you just shouldn't?

• Another part that greatly bothered me is about Dot. Dot never takes no for an answer, she just keeps showing up unannounced over and over and over. And yeah, she's a kid but still.
The fact is, at some point, Andie has a conversation with Dot asking her (basically) how she got the girl. And Dot says that she kept showing up until she was part of the scenery. (I'm barely paraphrasing) So what are we learning here? That no doesn't mean no? That insisting over and over until you get what you want is the way to romance? Where are the talks of consent, of respecting each other's boundaries, and what about actually fucking off when told to… I am fucking tired.

• And Ivy. Dear fucking Ivy. Hung the moon Ivy. I have never hated a character so much in a long long time. She was constantly seen as perfect by dear old Andie but Ivy K. Harlowe is a toxic, obnoxious, insufferable piece of garbage. She legit gets away with everything. From beginning to end, everyone just shrug it off and go like 'it's just Ivy.' WELL FUCK THAT. She never listens to anyone and only cares about herself. Period.
(view spoiler)
Look there's a lot more that I hated about Ivy but I don't have time to list it all.

• Last, but not least, our MC, Andie. Goddammit girl. You need a new brain or something. Or maybe just a fucking backbone and glasses or some shit. The girl gets trampled by her best friend and yet she loves everything about her. She gets treated like staff and she just rolls with it. She gets a gf, change her entire personality. Girl, it was exhausting being in your head. Never again.

Okay, I don't have anything to add except that this was excruciating to read. It dragged one for fucking ever and the other characters were bland as fuck. And I also fucking hated Andie's parents. Traitors. Truly.
Now I'm really done and hopefully never think about this ever again.
Bye

Despite the title, this is not a love story

It's sad, it's painful, it's heart-breaking beautiful. I finished this a couple of days ago, but I'm still thinking about it.

This is the story about Andie. Andie is Ivy's best friend since childhood and she's had a crush on Ivy for years. Andie has been waiting for her shot to be with Ivy, but she feels like Ivy "is never ready." Until Ivy brings Dot home.

This is a love story from a side character's perspective. You watch Ivy and Dot's relationship from Andie's eyes. This is a story of unrequited love in its purest form.

Now, Andie is a tough character to love. She's not perfect, she's selfish and incredibly self-absorbed but her development throughout the novel is wonderful.

This book tugged at my heartstrings and there is no doubt in my mind that I'll read more of Moskowitz's work in the future

I begin reading with an open mind and a few pages in there’s a comment about people knowing the narrator is gay because of piercings and colorful tattoos. I don’t believe that everyone that fits in that category is gay; that's just stereotypical annoyance. The book has more new adult than young adult content since the characters are college age, and content contains sexual innuendos and swearing. I actually grew to enjoy the variety of characters and appreciate the topics that the author approached tastefully. Mental and physical health, drugs, overdoses and the universal question of what to do with your life are brought up and dealt with well. I do worry about STDs and the nonchalant sex life of Ivy. I wish something about protection during sexual activity was mentioned, especially since the main character’s mother is a nurse. I enjoyed the story and couldn’t put it down after a while. Interesting with food for thought, 4 stars!

Quick Stats
Age Rating: 15/16+
Overall: 4 stars
Characters: 4/5
Plot: 3/5
Setting: 4/5
Writing: 5/5
Chronic Illness Rep: 5/5

TW: drinking, drugs, over dose, grief, trauma, mentions of parent loss, brief mentions of bipolar disorder, mentions of chronic illness

Thank you so much Entangled Teen and NetGalley for an eARC of this book! All opinions are my honest thoughts and feelings.

Sick Kids in Love, Hannah Moskowitz’s first book with Entangled Teen, is my favorite book of all time. I have never felt so strongly for a book in my life—and that’s saying something. I actually screamed when I heard back from Entangled that I was approved for the ARC. So, suffice to say, I had high expectations for The Love Song of Ivy K Harlowe.

I found this book hard to get into at first. That might have something to do with the fact that I was expecting YA, and this book fell more into the NA category. A lot of the first half of this book revolved around clubbing, and that’s not something I have any interest in. I found the characters interesting, I liked them all, but I didn’t think Andie and Ivy would be good together, so I got pretty sick of the plot during that first half since it was just Andie pining over Ivy and their group going clubbing. When the book hit about the halfway mark, and Andie started to have some realizations, I finally started to feel more invested.
And then the incident happened. That, for me, was where the book really turned around. Hannah Moskowitz is an incredible writer, and what she does best, is chronic illness and disability rep, and abut 70% of the way through the book, she dives into that. And she does it just as well as she did in Sick Kids in Love. It was an incredibly hard hitting twist of events, and the following chapters had me on the verge of tears many times. In this book, we see chronic illness from the POV of the one who cares for the disabled person, and Hannah Moskowitz writes that just as well as she did Isobel in SKiL.
I’d love to see more of Ivy and Dot in the future!
In the end, I am still obsessed with Hannah Moskowitz and you need to check this book out.

Whew, where to begin with Ivy? Well. I definitely had some mixed feelings about it, especially at the start. But I'll also say that I'm very glad that I followed it until the end, because I enjoyed the second half a lot. So, I'll break down what worked for me versus what did not. But first, a word from the author!
"Author’s Note: The Love Song of Ivy K. Harlowe includes themes, imagery, and content that might be triggering for some readers. Scenes depicting alcohol consumption, drunkenness, drug use, and drug overdose appear in the novel. American Addiction Centers offers free and confidential guidance to those suffering from addiction."

What I Liked:

►Sure, Andie was an actual disaster, but who among us hasn't been there? I fully admit to wanting to throttle Andie a time or twenty, before realizing... I have one million percent been Andie. Oh, pining tirelessly for someone who didn't reciprocate? Check. Doing things for them because they're your "great friend"? Double check. No idea what to do with her life? Still checking! Sigh, I realized fairly early on that pretty much everyone I have ever known has been Andie at one point in their lives, in some capacity. She was realistic in her messiness, is what I am saying.

►There is definitely a lot of growth for many characters. I admit, I was a wee bit worried about these young women. Not just for their seemingly laissez-faire attitude toward drugs (which prompted a whole discussion from me heh), drinking, sneaking into places illegally, random sexual encounters, etc., but because of some of their life choices in general. Andie, sad over Ivy's apparent lack of interest in her, grabs the first woman who does show interest, even though she ends up being a toxic shitshow. And look, again, these choices are messy, but they're real. Goodness, they're real, and honest, and I was just exceedingly thrilled that the author used all of it as an opportunity for growth.

►I really did become invested in the characters, especially in the second half. The story took a turn after A Big Thing™ happens, and I think at that point was when I really started to connect with the book, and when my enjoyment spiked. The characters became more empathetic, and frankly, more honest with themselves, which is hugely appealing.

►The age range of the characters is refreshing, and their struggles mirrored that. There're not enough new adult books. There just are not. And this is kind of what I am hoping to see from that age range- the whole "okay we're adults but... now what?" situation. And that is so huge here. The main characters are all in such fluctuating stages of life, and are trying to navigate that mess. Whether they want to go to college, the workforce, join the family business, etc., these are things they're all dealing with. I had a very rough time navigating that personally (I mean, I still do) so I think it's so great to read about others who may not have it all figured out yet.

►There is a ton of amazing rep here. Lots of positivity surrounding both sex and being gay, mental health, and disability. I think the author handles all of these phenomenally and realistically.

What I Didn't:

►I didn't get a sense of who Andie is outside of Ivy. To be completely fair, I don't think Andie knows who Andie is outside of Ivy, but I would have liked her to find out more, perhaps? Like I said before, I do understand Andie's infatuation (fine, obsession, perhaps) with Ivy, but I just wanted her to have more of her own personality, too. I just felt it harder to connect with her, not feeling like I "knew" her. She just seemed very bland as a person, I guess.

►The way Andie treated Dot bugged me. Look, I know she's jealous. I get it! But like... Dot didn't do anything to you, girl! (Frankly, I was also a little concerned with Dot, who was 17, hanging out with them anyway. I know they were only two years apart, but their levels of experience were... well, wildly different.) And I guess it is part of how it was shown to the reader that Andie is fairly obsessed with Ivy, but I think because of Dot's situations, Andie could have been kinder just on a human level.

►Why Ivy? I mean, she's pretty, cool. Plenty of women are pretty, I guess I never got the allure of Ivy? It sounds like every woman in the tri-state area was trying to take her home, and maybe she's just one of those people who others are drawn to. And I understood Andie's love for her, because they'd been close for ages, to a point. And frankly, I wish we'd gotten to know some of the other group members a little better!

Bottom Line: Loved the character development and excellent rep, even if Andie and I didn't completely connect.

THIS WAS HARD FOR ME TO LIKE

I was such a fan of Moskowitz's first novel Sick Kids in Love, and I was expecting a similar reading experience with this book. Maybe that was where it went wrong for me? Because this was something completely different. First of, it's written for a more mature audience. Secondly, none of the things I liked in Sick Kids in Love was present in this book...

👍 What I Liked 👍

Ending: It's a bad sign when all you really like is the ending of a book. Still, at least I made it all the way to the ending... What I liked about the ending was, in particular, Ivy's growth as a person. She came far without losing herself along the way. I liked that. The ending felt real and heavy, which this book really needed.

👎 What I Disliked 👎

First half: The first half of this book was a drag. It just went on and on in the same vein over and over. The same thing happened again and again. The same conversations were had again and again. The same internal dialogue played out over and over. It was really annoying.

Ivy and Andie: I honestly do not know what Andie sees in Ivy. Andie doesn't tell us at any point. The only thing we know about Ivy is that she's popular and pretty. That seems to be the entire basis for Andie's attraction. Honestly, sometimes Ivy was downright mean to Andie. At best, she was inconsiderate. I can't get behind a toxic attraction like that.

Characters: I had a hard time liking any of the characters. They felt one-dimensional and slightly like caricatures and not real people.

Andie: I struggled the most with Andie, our MC. I wanted this book to be about her journey to self-discovery and self-worth. I wanted her to realise that she deserved better than a woman, who didn't really care about her. But Andie didn't evolve. Andie didn't grow. Andie stagnated and stayed in the same place all the way till the end.

"Love Song should be dedicated to all those who've idolized their first crush, taken a drunken leap of faith, and admitted their feelings only to have them brutally shred your imaginary love story because they've known about your feelings all along and do not reciprocate"

Ever feel like a book should come with a warning label because it hits right in the feels? Love Song touches such an intimate part of life, that awkward phase where you're stuck in a rut with no clear direction and you begin to question your life decisions while fighting the overwhelming feeling of being lost and empty.

"What are you supposed to do when it turns out nothing is what you thought it was and everything you'd been planning is totally for nothing."

Andie was such a hot relateable mess as she self sabotages all her potential relationships. It was equal parts painful and insightful watching her try to move on but being unable to because of her unrequited love for Ivy.

Ivy was such an interesting character to me because I feel like everyone has someone like her in their life. They are too cool almost to the point of untouchable, incredibly selfish, and self-centered but you love them anyway and couldn't picture your life without them.

Love Song features:
Behind the scenes of a strip club
Lesbian/ polyamory relationships
An emotionally bereft main character
Dynamic and comedic girl squad

Love Song at its core is about powering through rejection, despite how hurtful it may be and not being afraid to take chances. It forces readers to digest an uncomfortable truth- as much as you may have your heart set on someone, love is a two-way street.

Another powerful takeaway from Love Song is the reality that not everyone finds a grand love story like the ones written in books, sometimes life deals you some pretty shitty cards and you realize, maybe it’s ok not to fall in love?

Thank you to the author, Entangled Publishing, and NetGalley for providing me with an arc.

Trigger Warning: There are scenes depicting alcohol consumption, drug use, and overdose.

I’ll start with the fact that I did enjoyed this book. I really connected with the main character being in love with someone we all know won’t love her or see her the way she sees them. I also loved that Andie and Ivy had strong loving female friends like Melody, Alyssa, and Diana to count on. That being said I did have a few problems with this book. A lot of this book felt disjointed, especially when Andie was interacting or conversing with other characters. More than once I had to go back and re-read a section because conversations or descriptions changed abruptly. I also found it hard to be invested in the relationships. Most of the characters felt like they never really belong together, like they were almost toxic to each other. I didn’t get truly invested in the book until something unrelated to the love stories happened which was not really the main theme of the book. That being said this was a great book about young people finding themselves and growing into themselves.
Overall I enjoyed this book but I won’t count as one of my favorites.

I don't know how to feel about this story. I didn't hate it, I didn't love it. It was a bit confusing and disjointed for me until I realized that this wasn't necessarily Andie's story but Ivy's. Once I recognized that, I was able to delve more into the story. But it was hard for me to do so. I didn't really like any of the characters. There were all a little messed up, which made them seem real to me. The author did a great job in presenting a raw and edgy picture of what a lot of 19 yr are faced with--unrequited love, drugs, alcohol, sex, broken dreams, uncertainty--all while trying to get a grasp on who they are and who they want to be.

Andie's obsession with Ivy was a little disconcerting. Her pining for her best friend's love and refusing to accept that Ivy might have found something real with Dot when she has never let her feelings known and had just started exploring a new relationship herself was a little messed up, IMHO. And hello, they're 19, this is their time to hook-up, mess up and be a little wild before real life and the 20's come along.

Maybe I'm too old to be reading about 19 yr olds. Maybe being a mother of three daughters makes this story a little scary. Or maybe the story is just not for me. IDK.

a bingeable new adult book, with queer women trying to find themselves and their place, and navigating life and new adulthood
i thought it was going to be a low rating for the first half. however, i enjoyed the directions it took and the conversations it has at the end deeply resonated with me.
I really enjoyed the cast of only queer women (with the exception of parents). The characters are not loveable and their relationships are unhealthy at first, but their arcs do get them there (at least for the main characters).
The representation of disability and the discussions of monogamy/non-monogamy was well-done and felt refreshing to read a different type of love story.
The story slowly delves into conversations on finding your path, both in life and love, and how that is different for different people or happens at different times, which i think will resonate with many people!

trigger warnings: implied emotional abuse, parental abandonment, fire, alcohol, heavy drug use, panic attacks, hospitals

thank you to netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book!

Before I begin this review, I want to clarify for anyone who was interested in this book, that it is NOT a lighthearted rom-com, instead, it's an angsty YA-contemporary.
This isn't the first Hannah Moskowitz book that I read and I believe that this is relevant information. If you don't like the kind of unlikeable, messy characters that Moskowitz likes to write or their more crass and edgy style, or their very sex-positive themes, or their more dramatic plots, then this book probably isn't for you. If you, however, like me, enjoy a lot of what they have to offer, The Love Song of Ivy K. Harlowe will not disappoint you.
Moskowitz is an absolute master when it comes to character voice and character development, not only with the protagonists but with the side characters as well and it is, I believe, the point where their craft shines the brightest. They're not afraid to show people as they truly are, a little messy, a little lost, a little broken, but still good. It's also where their penchant for edginess actually also does them a service - it gives them a blunt edge to discuss them honestly without pulling any punches.
Andie, the main character, will frustrate a lot of readers. For most of the book she's nursing a very hopeless crush on her completely unavailable best friend, Ivy. She angsts about that a lot, is completely obsessed with Ivy, and gets jealous even as she herself is in a relationship with another girl (which is a whole other mess).
I loved Andie. She was written in a way where even in places where I couldn't relate to her (and don'T get me wrong, I did relate to her a lot of the time!), I could still understand her. Also, she's a lesbian who identifies as such explicitly in the text - and so does Ivy.
Speaking of which - Ivy is the person who the book almost focuses on more than Andie which I thought was really interesting. We see her develop and grow and have a really cute and believable romance - not through her own perspective but filtered through the eyes of her best friend, which added a whole other thematic dimension to this book and made it even better.
I also really liked Ivys love interest, Dot, who was absolutely adorable. In the first half, I thought she seemed a bit of a manic pixie dream girl character, but slowly, throughout the book, she very much comes into her own and gets developed as her own person, gaining a lot of depth and dimension.
My only complaint about the book comes in relatively late. There's an event in the third act that I won't spoil here, and it's followed by a timeskip, where I could've actually liked to see the immediate repercussions of it, especially from an emotional perspective.
On the whole, I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

I don’t know what to think of this book. It’s well-written. There are feelings. Teenage angst. So much teenage angst.

Andie has been in love with Ivy since forever. Ivy doesn’t do relationships and goes from girl to girl, which isn’t that surprising at nineteen. Andie is okay with it because she’s convinced that, someday, Ivy will settle down with her. Then Dot comes into the picture. Andie doesn’t take her seriously, in part because she’s only seventeen, but when Ivy keeps taking her home and Dot suddenly seems always there, Andie begins to worry.

This story made me feel very uneasy at times, which is actually a good thing. It rang true and makes me wonder whether this book wasn’t for me because I’m too old or because I really don’t want to relive these years.

I didn’t like any of the characters, which, for the character-driven reader I am, is a problem. I might have liked Elizabeth at first but she turned out to be way too closed-minded. I grew to respect Dot after a while and almost wish the story had been told from her point of view instead of Andie’s.

Telling the story from the point of view of a character who isn’t one of the mains involved in the romance is an interesting and bold choice. I can see how it might unsettle some readers but I rather liked it. At some point in the book, Andie, who is the least driven character in the whole story, wonders if she’s a secondary character in her own story, and is there anything more teenager-y than that? Some people, like Ivy or Dot, are lucky enough to know who they are and what they want from a pretty young age, but many others, especially queer kids, spend years finding themselves.

When I say I didn’t like any character, it’s not entirely true, I rather liked Andie’s parents, their strip club and the way they deal with the dad’s mental health issues. And I did like the three main characters a little more by the end.

That said, in all this rather depressing story (it’s not just the characters, there are pretty terrible things happening to them), there are some really good scenes, including a couple of epic ones. And it’s all very sex-positive, which is always a huge bonus. Except from Elizabeth, there is no judgement, no shame.

I was very tempted to give this book 3 stars because of how uncomfortable it made me feel but it wouldn’t be fair. It’s too well-written for that, and I’m also sure it will stay in my mind for a while.

I received a copy from the publisher and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

I received an advanced copy of The Love Song of Ivy K Harlow through NetGalley so I could share my review with you!

Content Warning: The Love Song of Ivy K Harlow contains scenes of drug use, alcohol consumption, overdose, and hospitalization.

Ivy K Harlow doesn’t fall in love. She never sleeps with the same girl more than once, and she has never been in a committed relationship, much to the relief of Andie, her best friend. Andie has pined over Ivy endlessly but hasn’t been able to let Ivy know. It would ruin everything if Andie told her one-in-a-million best friend how she really feels. But, when Ivy begins seeing the same girl on more than one occasion, Andie’s world begins to crumble. Ivy K Harlow was never supposed to fall in love unless it was with Andie.

You can get your copy of The Love Song of Ivy K Harlow on June 1st from Entangled: Teen!

The Love Song of Ivy K Harlow had a wonderfully queer cast of characters, which was one of my favorite elements of this story! Andie is trapped in an endless state of pining over her best friend, Ivy, which made for a very compelling narrative. Though over-dramatic at times, Andie's was an interesting perspective to read from, given that the story seemed to primarily focus around Ivy. I think this speaks to the ways that Andie’s life revolves around Ivy, in that Ivy is the main focus of Andie’s energy. Hannah Moskowitz absolutely nailed the extroverted-friend/introverted-friend dynamic, making this book an enjoyable read for me!

My Recommendation-
If you love high-school stories with plenty of queer representation, you need to pick up a copy of The Love Song of Ivy K Harlow! This book would be a great pick for fans of Kelly Quindlen or Becky Albertalli!

Thank you to netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

The love song of Ivy K. Harlowe was entertaining to say the least. This story is told through the lens of Andie who has a crush/obsession with her best friend Ivy. Ivy is a complicated character who many have troubles connecting with and I think thats what I loved about her. Complex and hard to understand are always a favorite. I do wish I could have gotten to know Andie’s character a bit more since she mostly only talked about Ivy and her girlfriend Dot!!

The storytelling of this book is super unique. This story is told from the perspective of Ivy K. Harlowe's best friend, but the story is more about Ivy than our narrator. The narrator is basically Ivy's stalker; she's obsessed with her best friend because she's in love with her, but Ivy is in love with somebody else.

I think this unique storytelling really raised my interest in the book at first, but as I kept reading it got really tired. The pacing was a bit weird, some parts moved a lot quicker while other stretches would be SUPER boring. Overall I really like this experimental fiction in theory, but in execution I think it could've went. a lot better. This was interesting to read in places, but dreadfully dull in others. However, this story will definitely stay with me for a long time, which is why I'm rating this book 3 stars.

CW: alcohol consumption, drunkenness, drug use, drug overdose, serious illness/hospitalization

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing LLC for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Ivy Harlowe does not date. She takes girls home and moves on, living her best sexual non-manogamous life. Until, of course, that seems to start changing. Ivy is in denial, but not nearly as much as Andie, her best friend who has been pining over her for as long as she can remember. Andie is convinced that this isn't how it's meant to go - if Ivy is going to choose someone, shouldn't it be her?

This book is pure hormones and chaos and I love it. There is some darkness to it, so take note of the content warnings, but if those are things you can read about, this book is worth picking up. All of the characters are working to figure themselves out, and it's a journey you want to be there for.

'The Love Song of Ivy K. Harlowe' features an all-queer cast and incredibly tasteful disability and mental illness rep, and is the perfect New Adult read for every introvert (or somewhat quiet extrovert) with a loud and flashy extrovert best friend. This story is all about Ivy, beautiful and desirable Ivy, with her one-night stands and her new maybe-relationship with Dot, and the family issues she hides from almost everyone - narrated by Andie. Best friends since childhood, Andie loves that she is the only person allowed to see the real Ivy, to know the family drama and all the complicated things that make up Ivy, rather than the fake show Ivy puts on for everyone else. She's even in love with Ivy and firmly believes that once Ivy gets certain things out of her system and is ready to settle down, it'll be Ivy + Andie forever. Reader, if you've had a loud and flashy extrovert best friend, you may see where this is headed. You may very well know how Andie feels at certain parts throughout this book. This is well-written, relatable content (even if you did not have a crush on that extravert bestie.)

This was interesting and different, but not always in a good way. I had read some of the mixed early reviews so I went into this with my expectations lowered but still very open. It’s my own fault, but I requested this because I believed it was YA, but in fact it’s very much New Adult. I love YA, but I just don’t click with NA all that often. In some ways I actually liked this more than expected, but there were too many issues I could not get passed. In the end this is strictly in the just okay/average territory.

I could easily see why this would be a very polarizing book. There are multiple reasons why –I’ll go into more later- but it took me about half the book to figure out that the main issue –for me at least- came down to a stylistic choice. I want to be clear that Moskowitz can definitely write, her writing is quite smooth and very readable, which kept me reading the whole book, but her choices were what I had issues with. This story is written in first person, which I love, but the character who’s POV we are in the whole time, is not really a main character. Once I realized this, I figured out that is where the disconnect came in for me. I was watching this messy “love” story, but experiencing it from an outsider perspective instead of from the characters themselves. It’s funny but towards the end of the book, the character whose headspace we are in says this:

“It’s not that I’m the secondary character in my own story. It’s just that this one was never my story.”

While she is right that we are not really reading her story, she is wrong because she really did become a secondary character. I don’t know if I have ever read a contemporary “romance” like this before. While I applaud that it is something different, I don’t want to read a romance from the outside. We did see some more intimate moments and some fights and stuff since that character who’s POV we are in eavesdrops and watches a lot –more than made me comfortable- but still I was too much on the outside and could not connect with the main romance because of it.

Besides that large problem, we are dealing with a lot of unlikable characters. I don’t know if I really liked any of them. Ivy who the book is such a big part of especially… well I guess I just didn’t get why? There was just a lot of toxicity, bad choices, and unlikable people. The character who’s POV we are in is pretty bland. She is just sort of there as a vessel to help us experience other people from the book. She did have some growth, but it was pretty tiny and I hated how much of a pushover she was and that never really changed.

I did like that there was a lot of sex positivity in the book for the most part. I liked that one of the characters helps to run her family’s strip club. And I also liked that there was a poly couple, although they are not big characters in the story. I did find it off putting that one of the characters all of a sudden is biphobic. I don’t know if it was done to make us not like her, but it just came out of the blue and was never really addressed so I didn’t like how it was used.

Finally, back on the good side, is the last one third or quarter of the book. Something pretty major happens and the book seems to finally get a bit deeper and has more heart. I wish more of the book was like that and I found I even had to grab a few tissues. I had a lot of ups and downs with this book but that last part made up for some of the downs. If only I could have liked the characters and connected with the romance, things would be different. There was some good stuff here but there was a lot to get over too. I can’t really recommend this one, but I would not say stay away either. If you are a big NA fan and are looking for something different, this could be for you.

The relationship with Andie and Ivy is super superficial and awkward to me. Ivy is a perfect 10 and could get anyone she wants, and uses this to play with people's feelings. Andie, who's POV you are reading, is obsessed with Ivy and her love for her makes her world revolve around Ivy. This is super destructive behaviour and not something that interested me. She also tends to be destructive when intervening within Ivy's own relationships.

The writing itself was good, however the stalker theme was very off putting.