FOR HER CONSIDERATION was everything I want in a contemporary romance. It was sweet, it was sexy, and though there were bumps along the way for our romantic leads, they really tried to communicate and understand each other rather than just letting the whole thing descend into the chaotic angst of a miscommunication trope. They both had growing to do, and watching Nina finally realize that the cruel lies her ex had made her believe about herself were just that, lies, was so satisfying. 10/10 would hop on that emotional rollarcoaster a second time.

I loved this book even more than I thought I would! As an anxious girly who could definitely benefit from therapy, I was able to really resonate with Nina and her insecurities. Watching this relationship unfold was really refreshing honestly, in a way I don’t always feel like we see. We get to see the silly and funny moments they share, the little commentary that doesn’t feel like it matters but overall is part of the reason they fall in love, the uncomfortable moments, and the spicy moments. The characters were all really lovable even when they were mildly frustrating (because of course it can get frustrating when you just want someone to accept how lovely they are even when they cannot see it!) We get to watch Ari come into Nina’s life and actually make a difference in helping her work through her past traumas, even if it does take time (just like it does in real life!) and we get to watch Nina open up and trust in both Ari and her friends that she rekindles relationships with - and lets talk about her AMAZING friend group?! I want to join these Sunday brunches, honestly.

Being a mostly Hollywood based romance, I really did not expect it to feel so incredibly normal and relatable. I was pleasantly surprised that it was and I would definitely recommend this one!

I enjoyed this book but it was a little bit of a struggle to come back to it. It took me a few chapters to warm up to Nina, but there was just something about Ari that I just didn’t love and I can’t figure out what. Maybe it was just her vibe?

I loved the found family aspect and enjoyed Nina’s relationships with her friend group.

Didn’t really love Lorna and all of that part of the story. Even though they made a point about visiting her not being a “chore”, that’s how it came across to me. Seeing your only family member, that lives so close by, only once a week seems like chore to me. Nina works from home. She could go see Lorna any day of the week. She literally had nothing else going on.
If I lived close to my family, I’d see them more. And not just on a day that had been planned out. I’d see them when I felt like it. Especially if they were older and maybe not going to be around much longer.

I went into this book almost completely blind and I was SO pleasantly surprised by just how wonderful it was. I am also just generally a sucker for a celebrity/normal person romance sooooo obviously i devoured this. FOR HER CONSIDERATION is about 2 queer women who are navigating life in LA. Nina is essentially an email ghost writer for a talent agency and Ari is an up and coming actress on the verge of her first Oscar nomination. I absolutely loved Nina and Ari and could not get enough. They really form a friendship and connection before their relationship which made the tension in the book SO GOOD. One thing that I really loved is that around half the book (ish?) is Nina and Ari in a relationship and navigating life, friends, and their careers together. It was so fun to read a romance novel where the characters don't wait to get together until the very end.

This was just one of those books that had me smiling and giddy almost the entire time I was reading. I haven't read any of Amy Spalding books prior to this one but I will now. I absolutely loved this book! Thank you to Kensington for the advanced copy - FOR HER CONSIDERATION is out now!

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington for providing me with an arc. What follows is my honest review.

Rating: 2.5/5, rounding up b/c it’s an arc and my problems with it are all personal taste.

This was cute, simple, and fun, and I’m always game for a sapphic rom-com. I’m sure a lot of people will really like this book, and overall it’s definitely well written. However, I personally had a really difficult time relating to Nina, and as a result ended up really frustrated with her at times. Since Nina is the main character, none of the other characters were fully fleshed out enough for me to relate to either. The story is a little too over the top for my specific takes, and the ending contains pretty much all of my pet peeves in romance books (overly public grand gesture, and everyone clapped, no groveling). To be completely clear, this book just really didn’t fit my specific taste in romance books, but it’s definitely not a bad book!

On paper, this book seemed to be everything I would enjoy. I love queer romance and I love books that deal with the idea of celebrity. However, I did not love this book at all or really enjoy it that much. Right from the beginning it felt as though the ex-girlfriend was depicted as a generic bad person with how she spoke to Nina and listed her flaws in such a hurtful way. I feel as though there was no nuance in how she spoke and then it was listed in such a clear way via the lists.

I also felt as though the main character totally cutting her friends and family out of her life over this felt very childish for a grown woman. If this was a teenager I could perhaps see it, but it did not feel realistic at all.

The flaws I mentioned above really distracted me from anything else that happened in the book and the resolution and ending simply did not do anything for me.

I want to consume every bit of queer content, so thank you for providing me with an arc of For Her Consideration. This book follows Nina, who ghostwrites emails for celebrities in Hollywood slowly bounce back from a toxic relationship. For the past three years, she has done her job and hung out with her great aunt’s retirement home friends, until she meets Hollywood star Ari.
I loved all the representation here from a fat main character to the queer friendships and found family. Nina’s group of friends was so interesting, I would look forward to reading more books from their perspectives. I also loved the Hollywood element and the discussion on representation in Hollywood. I’m not a big fan of third act break ups, but I appreciate that this one had the room for reconciliation. Especially loved the anticipation of meeting Ari’s elusive cat, Steve.

Holy crap! Nina is my absolute fave. The messy, fun bits of her remind me of a lot of my friends. Shes so relateable. Ari is such a dream! She treats Nina amazingly, even with the mishaps that happen. I absolutely LOVED Lorna, she's such a fun character plus with her age comed wisdom. I loved every bit about how this book played out. The author has such an amazing writing style, it just sucked me into the story with every word. I had to keep reading as I wanted to see how the book played out. And dang ol Steve, he's still a mystery. Lol

In this season of romance, finding a unique take is a rarity. Amy Spalding creates a slow build relationship that keeps the reader turning pages in For Her Consideration. Nina Rice meets her celebrity crush and client, Ari Fox, in order to learn how to respond to Fox's emails more authentically. Their friendship builds and leaves Nina questioning much about her self imposed isolation. Her journey towards Ari parallels her journey to healthy boundaries with friends and work. The speed bump in her romance is looming from the first pages and leads to the inevitable break up and ultimately a sweet reunion. Spalding has a robust back log that I will be investigating soon.

Thank you to the Netgalley and the publisher, Kensington Books, for the opportunity to read this advanced reader copy. This honest review was based off my experience reading this eARC, which in no way biased me. All opinions are my own.

I usually am all for celebrity romance, ESPECIALLY if you make it sapphic. Unfortunately this was a bit of a miss for me. This book has a lot of things going well for it, but for me there’s more things working against it.

Here’s the handful of things, as a personal opinion, needed a bit more attention:

- The pacing
- The repetition
- Not fully developed characters, they felt very flat and surface level
- Normally a single POV is fine, but I think doing a Dual POV with Ari’s character would have helped this book quite a bit.

Overall I’d rate this a 3 out of 5. Not my favorite cup of tea, but it could be someone else’s.

4.5 ⭐️I absolutely loved this book. I was nervous to read it because I have been in a romance book slump for a few months and this book cured that.
The characters are so lively and I want to be friends with them.
This book will make you feel all the emotions and if you love reading something that will make you warm and fuzzy, but also reflect upon your own life and experiences then this is the book for you.

Loved this book! It was uphearted, light, funny...everything you'd hope for for a women's novel. Looking forward to seeing what other's think and can't wait for it to come out officially! Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this ARC!

nina rice i would die for you any day!!! this book was so so good from the very beginning. nina is the kind of character that i just couldn't help but root for after everything she had been through in her previous relationship. getting to read her story of coming back to the world after shutting herself in for so long was so wonderful.

ari is THE book girlfriend because she would do anything for the people she cares for and is always ready to cover the bill if it means getting to spend time with somebody. plus, she just wants your dreams to come true.

the chemistry, y'all, the CHEMISTRY from their first meeting, ari was ready to be friends or maybe more with the lovely nina. <spoiler> i still have chills from ari saying "tell me you're an option." </spoiler>

amy spalding wrote an instant hit imo, so definitely pick this up for a cute, steamy, sapphic, celebrity romance!!!

For Her Consideration was a cute read about Nina, who was dumped by her clearly toxic ex-girlfriend, but puts all the blame on herself. After the breakup she exiles herself from her old life and social circle for three years, living in her aunt’s condo in the suburbs of LA. Nina works as an agent’s assistant and she manages the emails of several celebrities. This is how she ends up working with an up-and-coming queer celeb named Ari. Nina tries to deny the chemistry building between them, because “how could a celebrity love someone like her”. Nina couldn’t be more wrong, about that and a million other things she convinced herself of after her breakup, and eventually she and Ari fall for each other. We don’t get much POV from Ari’s side but I loved the themes of found family, and Nina’s quirky elderly aunt was possibly my favorite character of the whole story! Of course there are ups and downs in Nina and Ari’s relationship...no story is that simple, but you have to read it yourself! ARC supplied by @netgalley

I absolutely loved Nina and Ari's relationship in this one! I also felt like Nina was a very relatable character and I saw a lot of myself in her.

The progression of Nina and Ari's relationship from strangers to friends to lovers was very well done. Also, the spicy scenes were top notch!

My only real qualm in this one was the miscommunication that led to the third act break up and the amount of time after said break up. The way that was handled really didn't have me rooting for them as a couple anymore.

Overall, I still really enjoyed this book and would likely recommend.

I enjoyed this book through and through! It’s a sapphic romance that is truly delightful to read, with relatable and lovable characters! I loved seeing Nina and Ari’s romance blossom and the body positivity throughout it was wonderful to see. This was definitely a feel good romance that’s going on my list of favorites!

After Nina experiences a really harsh break up, where her ex basically gaslit her into thinking she was a TERRIBLE human being, she swears dating off as whole. She does the whole sha-bang and ghosts her friends and really just go into herself. Enter Ari, a joy in the world truly, who helps bring Nina back to her self.

I was admittedly frustrated with how much Nina was in denial about Ari worming her way into her life and heart. I understand that she was shelled off, but a lot of the signs were right in front of her. Have you ever wanted to shake someone so they could see? That was me with Nina. I think this book really could have thrived with the addition of Ari's POV, even if it was only a couple of chapters.

Overall, I'm always pleased with great character development and that was a Nina did so well at. It was refreshing to see that coming back wasn't easy for her, that her friends held her accountable and were able to show it. This was a great quick read and I'm so happy that I picked it up.

Overall at 3.5 stars, rounded up.
Thank you NetGalley, Amy Spalding, and Kensington Books for an arc in exchange for an yhohnest

Such a fun read! This book was sweet and sexy and immersive. I loved all of the characters, and it managed to be both escapist with the celebrity storyline and grounded with characters that felt really real. I loved this book, and I am recommending it to all of my friends!

For Her Consideration is a contemporary romance about a thirty-two year old talent agency employee who falls in love with one of her clients.

Nina Rice has been living in her great aunt’s condominium in the suburbs after fleeing Los Angeles on the heels of a bad breakup three years prior. She’s not a television script writer as she originally planned but she is content writing emails for the celebrity clients of Hollywood talent agency. When she moved out of Los Angeles she also left her large group of close friends behind so she also has very little social (or romantic) life. When her boss at the talent agency asks her to meet with Ari Fox, a young queer actress with a star on the rise (and a possible Oscar nomination) to discuss the way Nina has been answering her emails she is intimidated but intrigued by the confident and beautiful actress. Soon they are emailing back and forth, having drinks and falling for each other. But Nina isn’t supposed to be dating a client and the emotional baggage from her last relationship isn‘t completely behind her. Nina will have to decide if she’s really cursed in relationships or if she just needs to jump in with both feet and have a little faith.

This is a sweet and sexy queer romance with a lot of relatable content about bad breakups, found family, new love and going after your dreams.

3.75

I knew from the “Having you in my life is actively making it worse,” in the prologue of this book that I was going to be in for a ride and was I ever. Spalding wrote a Hollywood sapphic love story that had me hooked. I loved Nina and Ari, and appreciated the way Spalding wrote Nina’s experience with a bad ex and the impact that had on her life. I also appreciate that Nina’s problems weren’t magically fixed when she got a girlfriend and that Bianca ultimately called her out for abandoning her friends when things got hard. And speaking of Bianca, I loved the side characters! Nina’s found family was fantastic and I adored Lorna. Honestly everyone needs a Lorna in their life. I also actually liked the choice to have a single POV. Usually I prefer a dual POV romance but I think because we saw a lot of Ari’s thoughts through her texts to Nina it worked?

That being said, I didn’t understand the argument in the third act break up, like yes they both made mistakes and yes Nina has shit to work through because of her ex but they just stopped talking to each other for months? And Nina thinks several times during their separation that they both made mistakes and sees Ari’s interview about being heartbroken and goes on well it’s too late? It just doesn’t make sense. Granted, I’m generally not a fan of the third act breakup so maybe it’s just me.