Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for allowing me to read an ARC of Looking for A Sign,

Looking for a Sign by Susie Dumond follows Gray as she heals from heartbreak and dives head first into the astrological world, with the help of her best friend and an iconic local astrologer. What follows is Gray jumping into the world of dating as she dates her way through the zodiac, all before her Saturn return.

This book was a fun, lighthearted story of one woman's journey to finding her "perfect" queer family and learning along the way that perfect may not be what she imagines. Chock full of astrology and endless zodiac tropes, Looking for the Sign is a fun read!

This was super cute!! The concept of finding your match based off zodiac sign compatibility is absolutely brilliant. Gray’s character was fun to read during the process of her dates!

I do feel like some of the other signs that she went on dates with had more chemistry then who she ended up with but I still loved the end result! I just wish that had been really flushed out better, sort of like Gray’s character in general. There was so much opportunity for growth and development that wasn’t included that I feel like could have been.

Overall I really enjoyed this!!
Thank you NetGalley for the arc!!

What a ride. When Gray decides to date based on their astrological sign after visiting an iconic astrologer, interesting things happen with each date. Her best friend, Cherry, is there to cheer her on as Gray just has moved to New Orleans to start over after a breakup with a girlfriend of 10 years. The events that unfold are absolutely a joy to read about. Dating each of the signs leads Gray down an interesting path. And she's doing this while working PR at a new job. I loved the realistic approach the author took on each date. Being a fish out of water after the move, it's wonderful to see Gray's arc happen and see the character growth. I highly recommend as this sapphic love story is engaging and fun and it just gets better and better as you go. Very glad I read this and I hope it gives you the same type of smile it gave me! (Posted on Goodreads)

This was a super cute, lighthearted romance! The premise of dating through all the astrology signs was so fun. I don’t know a ton about astrology, but I feel like I learned a lot.

The Nola setting was also perfect for this book, and the author did a great job taking us through different parts of the city, mentioning landmarks, and making the city come to life on the page.

I would have liked a longer conclusion or an epilogue, but overall really enjoyed reading this.

Looking for a sign is a dreamy pivotal romance that brings alllll the goodness, angst, big thoughts and big hopes you could ask for.
It’s a brilliant out-of-the-box concept on dating with perfect spice and beautiful conversations and connection.
Told from one POV, it includes two passionate people from different family backgrounds who both approach life from different perspectives and arrive together.
I loved the backstory, the awesome friends made along the way (of course Cherry takes the cake!), the hilarious disaster dates and the sweet ones too. The conversation, joking and banter was all so natural and funny, and felt like I was right there with them.
I loved how Gray, a big-hearted and caring person, wants to build a different family culture than the one she grew up with.
I appreciated that the book talked about the complexities and draw of black-and-white thinking when leaving a religious belief system. The lure of continuing in similar rigid patterns of beliefs is something I know all too well and the religious trauma that so many queer people live with is something not often written about in romance novels.
Ultimately, a tender and beautiful and real/raw book that hooked me from the start and helped me realize I might not hate Aries so much ;)

This was a fun flirty book about finding your footing after leaving a long term relationship and opening yourself up to something new. I loved Gray's challenge of dating across the horoscopes, and it was fun to see the quirks of each of the signs and the chaos that went along with it! It's also incredibly comforting to see stories about characters in their late twenties/early thirties who are still figuring things out. It feels so real and relatable and I love to see it!

I found this book hard to start, and then I got invested, but it was a slow start for me. I was really intrigued when I read the description of this, but I found the book itself a bit lacking. It was a relatively quick read once I got into it, but I found the ending to be quite predictable. I did overall enjoy reading it though.

Looking for a Sign is a queer romance novel by author Susie Dumond.

I really enjoyed this story! Gray is a fun and charming lead, and I enjoy her full commitment to dating every astrology sign!

I didn't enjoy the third act conflict, but otherwise this was a fun, queer romance!

As someone who is not especially into astrology I did not expect to be as charmed by this book as I was. The premise of someone ending a long term relationship and embarking on a challenge to date someone from each Zodiac sign honestly seemed like it would be really silly but I was thought it was handled so well. I especially loved the different versions of ice breaker questions. This was a cute, queer story that kept me engaged. I didn’t love the third act conflict went. I will avoid spoilers and just say I wouldn’t be so quick to forgive.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was really cute!! I enjoyed the plot of dating every zodiac sign, I think a lot of times speed dating like this is often done incorrectly in books, but this author did a fantastic job! I truly loved the main character and her found family in her friend, and I enjoyed seeing her come out of her shell! I will say that the "twist" became a bit predictable to me, but I thought it was a great addition to the story and really made everything work out perfectly! This book made me giddy and nervous for her dates, and I laughed out loud many times! I would definitely recommend!!

[arc review]
Thank you to Random House Publishing Group for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Looking for a Sign releases June 11, 2024

2.5

This is an extremely fast-paced romance novel that is heavy-handed on astrology and star signs — if you’re naturally into that type of thing, then I think you’d probably love this one! I, however, don’t really care for it so I found the premise to be a bit silly and hard to take seriously.

Gray is based in Louisiana and is looking for her soulmate. After a highly sought out consultation from an astrologer, it’s advised that in order for her to “understand life and the signs of the universe” she must spend time with someone from every sign.
With just 6 weeks until Gray’s birthday, this extremely short timeline to go on 12 dates made everything feel rushed and forced. To me, treating the experience of finding your soulmate like a math equation takes a lot of the enjoyment out of it.

I saw the ending coming from a mile away because why else would there have been so much detail about Gray’s work in PR with Principal Taylor in addition to the dating challenge?

It was clear that the narrative aimed to be inclusive with gender-fluid characters, they/them pronouns, etc., however, something about revealing the love interest as bisexual where a plot twist would normally be placed, after having the character present as straight for most of the book, felt condescending in a way.
The delivery of Gray’s reaction and the fact that she was completely gobsmacked that Veronica could be bisexual when she has a kid from a previous relationship with a man, just didn’t sit right with me.

There were also countless instances where Gray would refer to herself and others as “obviously” queer just based on certain pieces of clothing they wore…
<i>“No longer in her business suit, Stephanie instead had her blond hair in a tight topknot and was wearing baggy, trendy clothes more suited to a skater than a corporate event planner. In this look, Gray would have clocked Stephanie as queer much more easily.”</I>
Is that not feeding into stereotypes? I’ve always believed that there’s not one definitive “look” for being queer, and trying to clock somebody’s sexual identity based on one item of clothing (i.e. a “gay leather jacket”), comes with its own set of problems.

This was so cute, but also so deep!

I went in with little expectations and this was truly such a good time. Grays character development was so thoughtful and very lovely to read.

3.75, rounded to 4

A Sapphic astrology based rom com? Don’t mind if i do.

Meet Gray:
She’s just broken up with her long term girlfriend and moved to a new state for a fresh start. Determined to find love she embarks on an astrological mission to date every single sign before her birthday.

While the synopsis of this book is great I truly found myself having a hard time completing it. At times I felt like we could use a little more information on certain things and other times I found myself going “I just read 2 straight pages on narration and for what?”
That being said I did really love Gray! Her journey into discovering herself with each of these dates make for a really interesting read!

I loved the author's first book, "Queerly Beloved," so I was pretty confident that I would love this one too--and I was right! This was a really fun, light-hearted read.

A novel themed around astrology? Sign me up!!
Rating : 4/5 Stars
As a fellow Aries, Gray’s (the main character) decisions, sometimes very impulsive, felt very similar to my own decision making. I loved how self reflective she was as she navigated through her self-made assignment. I absolutely related to her emotions as she had some great moments, and some really not great moments too. Her ability to stay positive and focused really made me love her character!
There were so many fun little tidbits about the different astrology signs. I love reading about different people’s takes on the astrology signs and the author did such an awesome job with incorporating them flawlessly into conversations.
The setting in New Orleans was so immersive, with a lot of different locations that Gray went to on her dates. I have wanted to visit New Orleans for a long time, but this book has pushed it high up on my list of places I want to visit!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC of this book!

This was a very fun and light read and perfect for a quick "in-between" book!! I enjoyed the descriptions in the book, especially of the city itself. I recommend to those looking for a sapphic light/romcom read!

Looking for a Sign is a fun romcom where our main character, Gray, is looking for love after having broken up with her girlfriend of ten years. She goes to an astrologist for help, and based on some advice from the astrologist, she and her best friend come up with an idea: she’ll date someone from every sign in the zodiac to see how compatible she is with each one and hopefully find her soulmate in the process.
I really liked Gray as a character! (Side note, it’s a bit weird to read a book where the main character has the same name as you 🤣.) Gray comes from a traumatic religious background and is no contact with her family, and unfortunately that’s also my background. There’s this scene towards the end where Gray mentions that maybe the reason why she put so much emphasis on the cosmos fixing her love life was because as a kid she was taught that God would fix all her problems if she believed hard enough, and boy that hit way to close to home. Gray goes through a ton of character development, and by the end it felt like she was getting somewhere. I also appreciated that she was almost 30, so many queer books and just books in general feature much younger women and it’s nice to read a book about older characters.
I found the concept of the 12 different dates really interesting and fun, although it was hard to root for any of the dates even when they went well because it was obvious from the start that none of these dates were going to be the love interests.
My only gripe is that Gray calls herself a lesbian, and yet went on a date with a trans man. Here’s the thing, it’s weird and disrespectful to call yourself a lesbian and then date a trans man. It feels like you’re saying that you don’t actually see them as a man, you know? Now of course trans men and trans masc people have a long history with the lesbian community and there are absolutely trans men who are comfortable dating lesbians as they still identify with the lesbian label, but it’s a very personalized thing. A lot of trans men feel very invalidated by a lesbian hitting on them. I feel like a lighthearted romcom that didn’t address any of these things was the wrong place to bring in the complexities of lesbianism and gender identity in, especially if none of those things are going to be addressed. It also felt invalidating to me as a lesbian reading about a lesbian mc who just goes on a date with a man? So casually? And on top of that, the whole book all Gray talks about wanting is a wife and kids. A *wife*.If she wants a wife so badly why is she going on a date with a man? Idk I’m very conflicted about that part.
Anyways I really enjoyed the romance, although the third act break up had to rear its head ☹️ luckily it was resolved pretty quickly. Also I felt as though the spice was oddly written? It felt like the author wasn’t fully comfortable writing spice. Many of the scenes felt rushed, like they were put there because the author felt like spice is expected so it has to be there.
3.5/5, a fun and lighthearted romcom.

Looking For a Sign follows newly single Grey as she dives headfirst into the queer dating scene of New Orleans. Grey isn’t just dating though, she has a challenge: date each of the zodiacs in hope of finding her perfect match before her Saturn return (29th birthday). Through ups and down of this journey she also discovers love is closer and more unpredictable than anyone could imagine, and you can always build your own family with the friends who truly love you.

This book was so original. The emphasis on meaning in the zodiac, not just making a joke, was refreshing. So often that turns into a character flaw that the MC follows their horoscope, but not here! Here we have a fleshing out of the zodiac into beautiful, vibrant characters for our MC to date and have some dynamic chemistry with. I truly enjoyed meeting each of Gray’s dates and seeing how they did (or didn’t) mesh.

I especially loved the focus on chosen family. In our society today so many people choose, or are forced to choose a chosen family as their primary support system. This is especially demonstrated with Gray’s biological family being so against her being gay that Gray is pushed to go no contact for her own safety and mental health. There is a growing trend culturally for younger generations to have a friend group that spends holidays together, celebrates life’s milestones, and acts as aunts and uncles to their children, after their bio families cross boundaries or don’t accept them for who they are. Seeing this start to trickle into books more and more is reflective of this growing reality in our world, and this book does it beautifully!

What a unique concept. I love that the MC went on 12 dates and there was spice so soon. There’s still one main romance but the book’s astrology concept allowed for breaking some “rules” of the romance genre.

I thought it wrapped it up well too. At the end the MC is reminded not to put too much faith in anything except yourself. It’s a great message said by the best friend that I highlighted.

A huge improvement from the debut novel, this story had significantly stronger characters and plot. I was way more invested in every page from cover to cover. I love queer stories and Susie Dumond’s books might just become some of my favourites.