📖BOOK REVIEW📖

Just As You Are - Camille Kellogg
Rating: 5/5 ⭐️

“Liz Baker and her three roommates work at the Nether Fields, a queer magazine in New York that’s on the verge of shutting down—until it’s bought at the last minute by two wealthy lesbians. Liz knows she’s lucky to still have a paycheck but it’s hard to feel grateful with minority investor Daria Fitzgerald slashing budgets, cancelling bagel Fridays, and password protecting the color printer to prevent “frivolous use.” When Liz overhears Daria scoffing at her listicles, she knows that it’s only a matter of time before her impulsive mouth gets herself fired.

But as Liz and Daria wind up having to spend more and more time together, Liz starts to see a softer side to Daria—she’s funny, thoughtful, and likes the way Liz’s gender presentation varies between butch and femme. Despite the evidence that Liz can’t trust her, it’s hard to keep hating Daria—and even harder to resist the chemistry between them.

This page-turning, sexy, and delightfully funny rom-com celebrates queer culture, chosen family, and falling in love against your better judgment.”

I absolutely loved this one - one of my favorite books this year. II loved getting to know Liz and her roommates then getting to know Daria and Bailey! Learning more about each character’s reasons for loving and not wanting to leave the queer magazine they worked for. I loved the character’s explorations or their gender and sexuality and especially loved this message that it’s ok to not have it all figured out.

Recommend if you like:
- Office romance
- Workplace drama
- Enemies to lovers
- Gender/sexuality exploration
- Sapphic romance
- Queer and non-binary characters

Publish date: April 25, 2023

Thanks to @netgalley, @randomhouse and @kellogg_camille for this ARC!

I loved this so much. I'm always down for a pride and prejudice retelling and this was no exception. Liz and Daria are so freaking cute and I loved seeing them get to know each other. My favorite parts of the book are when they are both making instagram stories just for the other person to watch, it was just so sweet.

I received an arc through netgalley.

Camille Kellogg is a debut author that I CANNOT wait ro read more from.

Liz Baker and her three queer roommates work at Nether Fields, a queer magazine in New York City about to be shut down. Until two ultra wealthy lesbians choose to buy it out. Daria comes in automatically talking about slashing budgets, bringing own silverware in for meals and cutting down on colored printouts.

Yet as Daria and Liz continue to hangout, she discovers there's more than meets the eye. Daria and her have honest conversations about Liz's gender outfits and what it means to be femme. Not everything can be as true as it seems though.

I adored Just as You Are and right away could pick up on the Pride and Prejudice undertones. The pacing had me flipping the pages and I liked the shorter chapters. While I wanted to see more of the roommates, I hope there is more of that to come. Readers who enjoy contemporary lgbtq+ novels will love Camille Kellogg's debut.

Thank you Random House Ballentine and Netgalley for my earc in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own!

I'm always up for a Pride and Prejudice retelling and as a lesbian romance, this one covers new ground. This book is a solid purchase for public libraries and I expect it will be popular.

I love Pride and Prejudice and will read any retelling I can find. Some retellings are just identical stories set in different locations or timelines. But some books, like this one, take the incredible Jane Austen characters and underlying story and then make it their own. This book was so fun! It was full of queer inside jokes, found family, and fun references to Jane Austen's original work (like working at the Nether Fields magazine). I also enjoyed that the end of the story took a turn away from the original story. Lydia running away and not getting married isn't quite the scandal it used to be, and I enjoyed the new scandal and how cute the end of this rom-com was! I loved the story and can't wait to see what Camille Kellogg writes next!

Thank you to Netgalley and Dial Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Just as You Are follows Liz and her three roommates, who are devastated when the queer magazine where they work together, The Nether Fields, is about to be shut down. However, what Liz is telling no one is that she might actually be glad that the magazine is shutting down because it would finally force her to pursue her dream. But then, just as everything seems lost, the magazine is saved by two wealthy lesbians, Bailey and Daria. Liz and Daria immediately get off on the wrong foot when Daria mocks the listicles Liz writes for the magazine. But the more often the two incompatible women are thrown together, the more they can’t help but soften towards each other. When Liz finally sees beyond Daria’s tough, prickly exterior, feelings run wild.

Just as You Are has a lot going for it. For one, it feels like an even queerer The Bold Type (a show I highly recommend watching) that is filled with intriguing characters, relatable gender and identity representation and has, as its core, strong friendship bonds between distinct, engaging queer characters.

To me, however, the highlight was the fact that Liz and her friends work at a queer magazine and what it means to every single one of them to reach and support queer readers.

Just as You Are does primarily focus on the workplace situation and while I can see why some might be a tad confused since this is marketed heavily as a romance, I actually loved that shift in focus all the more. While we do have a bit of a Pride and Prejudice-inspired romance between Liz and Daria, we also get so many insights in the inner-workings of a queer magazine.

Kellogg expertly delineates why queer media (and especially being represented accurately in it) is so important. With jokes and nods at popular queer media out there, the book also highlights how much it can mean to someone to find themselves in a story or to be able to read about queer topics in a fun magazine.

Highlighting the importance of queer representation in the media, featuring a Pride-and-Prejudice-esque retelling and delivering the beloved queer found family trope, Just as You Are is perfect for fans of The Bold Type!

Pub date: 4/25/23
Genre: contemporary fiction (queer romance, workplace setting, found family)
Quick summary: Liz and her roommates write for a queer magazine in NYC - but when their new managers Daria and Bailey show up, sparks will fly - in more ways than one.

This was such a fun read! I loved following the quartet of roommates and their drama - spoiler, one roommate causes a lot of drama, there's always one roommate that causes drama!! Liz made for an interesting, multi=layered protagonist, and I appreciated the attention the author paid to her queerness. Liz had trouble figuring out her identity, feeling both too butch and too femme depending on the day, and I liked how Daria helped her explore her feelings and feel comfortable in her own skin. I was feeling all the feels by the end.

I'd classify this book as contemporary fiction rather than traditional romance, but I enjoyed the romantic elements. If you liked books like ONE LAST STOP and WRITTEN IN THE STARS, give this one a try!

Thank you to Random House/Dial Press for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

NetGalley Review - my rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
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Just As You Are by Camille Kellogg
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Liz lives in NYC with her three roommates & works at a queer magazine writing “fluff” pieces. But the magazine is getting shut down. Until two new women buy it to save the day! The problem? Liz hates Daria, one of her new bosses. And it seems Daria hates her too.
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The premise of this book is a lesbian romcom & I was interested. However, this book was more of a “how to find myself and accept who I am” kind of book with a dash of romance as an afterthought.
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I do not like it as a romance. However, I didn’t hate the storyline. It had an important message and that I can appreciate.
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Big thanks to @penguinrandomhouse for this ARC! You can snag your own copy when it publishes on April 25th!
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#netgalley #penguinrandomhouse #justasyouare #camillekellogg

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

There are some who may that Pride and Prejudice retellings are overdone, but I am decidedly not one of those people. as long as the retelling adds a fresh viewpoint or twist to the story. So a sapphic Pride and Prejudice retelling set at a queer magazine (called the Nether Fields! Amazing reference 10/10), seemed like something I needed to check out. And let me tell you, this book delivers. It is so wonderfully fluffy and romantic and funny and heartbreaking and speaks to real queer experiences that are so important to feature, especially in these scary days. Liz's struggle with her gender presentation was something I haven't seen a lot in media, and is so important to see .

All the classic P&P story beats and characters were there, just twisted to fit into a contemporary queer setting, and what a fun ride that was. I just... I loved this book.

oh my god, this book immersed me in the drama, the tragedy of Nether Fields closing, but when the queer magazine is saved, I felt as much relief as the characters. I finished this book the same day I started it, it was just pure perfection. the way it covered serious topics while being seamlessly hilarious was fantastic, I had a few moments where I just stopped to laugh because the jokes were just THAT good. Also the tropes?!??!!! office romance with a heavy dose of enemies to lovers? I ate that up and as I love to say, my little gay heart was pleased with this incredible read thank you so much random house and NetGalley for the e-arc!

There are some really funny moments in Just As You Are. I will say that the final kiss scene is one of the most hilarious scenes I have read in awhile and I don’t think I have ever read an ending quite like this one. Freaking hysterical.

Camille Kellogg gives us a diverse office romance that involves the ladies who live and work together at Nether Fields. Jane falls for new boss number one. Liz lusts after new boss number two. Katie is in love with Lydia; and Lydia loves themselves. Drama. There is also plenty of laughter.

I don’t think I have a favorite secondary character. It might be the runners from the Pride group because anyone who can wake up that early to go running…Bless them!

Kellogg tackles gender representation in this story and I love it. When Liz asks how do you dress androgynously with large breasts, my immediate thought is that they need to follow Rain Dove.

I like Liz and Daria’s love story. I have to admit that I don’t see the comparison between Pride and Prejudice and Just As You Are, but I am admittedly a fluff reader and just not that deep. And you know what? I’m okay with that.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
Just As You Are is a beautiful queer take on Pride and Prejudice, taking the basic romantic arc, and transforming the family aspects into a queer-affirming found-family story. While largely faithful to the broad plot beats of P&P, and with some other fun modern references, I love how it also had a lot of its own to say about queerness, especially in terms of identity. The main cast is almost entirely queer women and enby people, and I love the general message that you don’t have to have your identity and presentation entirely figured out, with both Liz and Daria exploring this concept of gender presentation directly in the narrative.
If you’re familiar at all with any iteration of the story, you’ll know what to expect with the general arc of Liz and Daria’s characters, and their romance, but I like how Kellogg made them her own. I love how Liz’s judgmental and impulsive nature comes through, and how it’s stressed throughout (including by Jane) as something that she has to work on. Daria definitely leans more toward being misunderstood , as while she comes off as prickly and asshole-ish at first, it comes from an understandable place, and ultimately I felt Liz was the one who had more growing to do. While OG-Datcy definitely has a lot more privilege to unlearn, Daria’s queer experience has made things more complicated with much of her family, with the exception of her aunt Katherine.
The plotline with Weston (this book’s version of Wickham) was interesting, and I like how a streamlined cast made the connection between Daria and Weston’s history, and Daria’s current skepticism of Bailey’s budding romance with Jane, much more prominent. A change in Weston’s corrupt behavior emphasizes the evolution away from demonizing sexuality in modern society. I have somewhat mixed feelings about the choices regarding Lydia’s fate, but it does fit more with how the character ended up in the original novel, as opposed to some of the other modern retellings.
This is a fabulous read, and I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a fun, inclusive queer romance.

This book was marketed as a Rom Com and a retelling of Pride and Prejudice. Interestingly there really weren’t any romantic comedy storylines. Felt a little let down at this. The main character Liz is a queer writer for an online queer magazine. The magazine is set to close until 2 friends buy it then call it quits. The drama of this takes all of the main characters a while to come to terms with. And in between there are a number of missteps in Liz’s romantic life. Although there are some rough spots in the book, overall I enjoyed it. Liz’s internal musings really gave the book authenticity. As for the P&P aspect, I have no idea having never read the book. Gasp!
I was given this book by NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for my honest feedback.

3.5 ⭐️

This was an easy and lighthearted read! A band of diverse characters, and our MC Liz allows us to look into queer identity and finding yourself.

The concept of the story was great, but a lot of the characters were insufferable. I couldn’t stand some of the dramatics, and Liz just literally running away during points of conflict. It was lacking some much needed maturity at points. A lot of the character development was also told instead of shown, and it was hard to believe some of the transitions.

Liz writes for a magazine, and at one point does a more “serious” piece about a queer photographer. I would have actually loved a book about the photographer, and not about Liz. That also added to the rating — adding a more interesting side character than MC.

Still, a good queer love story!!

This was an amazing queer Pride & Prejudice reimaging and I was here for ALL of it!!! Amazing on audio narrated by one of my favs, Bailey Carr and perfect for fans of anyone who enjoys Jane Austen retellings. Many thanks to NetGalley and @prhaudio for complimentary digital copies in exchange for my honest review!

A modern sapphic retelling of Pride and Prejudice? Color me interested. I was so pumped for this book but was left disappointed in end. P&P is one of my all time favorite tales, so I probably set the bar too high going in.

Liz Baker is a staff writer at the Nether Fields, a struggling queer publication that’s just been bought by Daria Fitzgerald in an attempt to turn things around. While Liz is unsure of what to with her professional future, she is sure of one thing: Daria is an asshole. But the more time they spend together, the more it seems she may have gotten it all wrong.

CW/TW: lesbophobia, toxic relationships, gaslighting, abandonment, emotional abuse, infidelity, theft

If it’s a queer retelling of Pride and Prejudice I’m going to want to read it! This retelling touched on some really important topics and really celebrated queer culture.

In Just As You Are we meet Liz, Jane, Lydia, and Katie live together and work together at
a struggling Queer magazine in New York City. Liz has been feeling stalled in her life. She has no love prospects, a job where she’s not feeling fully challenged, and struggling with gender identity. Liz and her friends all find out the magazine has been saved by two lesbian businesswomen Bailey and Daria who know very little about journalism. Liz and Daria get off on the wrong foot but eventually realize they may have just gotten wrong first impressions of each other.

My absolute favorite parts of this book were Liz and her inner monologue with her gender identity. I felt like those moments where Liz was struggling with how to present herself during different aspects of life was extremely relatable and emotional. The first half of this book really worked for me I was hooked but I do think the pacing started to wear off in the 2nd half and than at the end rushed to finish. Some of the writing felt stilted especially when describing a character. The way Jane was described was literally "Jane was a Black trans woman".

I wasn’t completely sold on Liz and Daria’s relationship. They didn’t have enough conversations to convince me that these two who despise each other actually love each other.

The synopsis says this is a steamy romcom. For me this wasn’t a romcom and it wasn’t steamy. It had one spicy scene and I didn’t feel any spicy built up tension. In my opinion this should have been marketed more towards romance/lit fic than steamy romance comedy.

If it weren’t for the incredible insight on gender identity I probably would have given this two stars. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A queer modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice. Instead of being sisters Liz and Jane are roommates along with Katie and Lydia. They all work for an online queer magazine that has never made a profit in its almost twenty years. The conglomerate that owns them is going to shut them down when at the last minute two buyers appear, Daria and Bailey. Bailey is the primary investor and hopeful they can turn the magazine around. Daria is more pessimistic but is bringing her financial sector knowledge. Of course Bailey and Jane hit it off quickly. Liz finds it harder to trust Daria because new friend Weston bad mouths her.

It is clever how the author makes so much of Pride and Prejudice fit into the storyline. But it doesn’t necessarily make for great reading. When Daria, like Mr. Darcy says you had to know how I feel I’m as surprised as Liz. There has been nothing to show connections. Even their brief lapse into intimacy doesn’t lead me to think it was anymore than an awkward hook-up. Kudos to the author for creating a P&P storyline that reasonably works. But for me that is as entertaining as it gets. I wasn’t invested in either relationships personally.
Thank you to Random House Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC and I’m leaving a voluntary review.

🏳️‍🌈eARC Book Review🏳️‍🌈

“What if you regret not trying for the rest of your life? What if you are good enough?”

Just as You Are by Camille Kellogg
Pub Date: April 25th, 2023
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟(3/5)
Spice: 🌶 🌶(2/5)

Review:

Liz, Jane, Lydia, and Katie live together and work together at a struggling Queer magazine in New York City. We join the crew when they find out the magazine has been saved by two lesbian businesswomen who know very little about journalism. This story is the ups and downs of a struggling magazine and the drama that ensues.

This story is a great representation of the diversity of queer life and the struggle of self exploration. We have Liz struggling her femininity and masculinity. We have trans representation, Asian rep, black and latine rep. This lesbian leaning take on Pride and Prejudice is quite comforting.

I enjoyed this read but it wouldn’t be my first recommendation. I loved all the drama but for some people I know it would be so hard to follow. The mix of tag names from Pride and Prejudice mixed with new characters was sometimes hard to keep up with. Overall, it was a fun tale that is sure to resonate with the queer community.

If you like:
- Pride and Prejudice
- The L Word meets SATC
- New York City
- Slow Burn


Thank you to Net Galley and Random House for proving me with an eARC of this novel.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.☺️

This took me a while to finish. Maybe it's because I'm not used to reading on my iPad, but also I'm not sure I actually enjoyed the story.

Let's start with the good stuff!

- I enjoyed the whole story about saving the magazine! I love stories when something important needs to be saved, and the characters do everything to save it.

- New York. I love stories that take place in NY!

Now with what I didn't like...

- I was expecting a romance. The romance in question is hardly there. And when it's there, it feels forced. There was no chemistry between the two love interest, and they went from hate to love within a chapter.

- Wayyyyy too faced paced for me. The book is relatively short, but I feel like the story could've been developed more.


I'm on the fence about this one because I was expecting a cute romance/rom-com. But this was definitely more of a contemporary romance. The central plot is about saving the magazine, not the romance. So from a rom-com point of view, this is like a 2 star read. From a contemporary fiction view, this is like a 3 star read. Do with that what you will!