Thank you to NetGalley and Zando Young Readers for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest thoughts <3

We love a messy, fat, book obsessed, gay boy getting his love story. Adorable, cute, wholesome, and so much more. I can't wait to see what comes next for Paul Coccia.

This was my first book by Canadian author Paul Coccia and I LOVED it!! A loose Jane Austen Emma retelling that features a fat soon to be college freshman who makes a grand romantic gesture that goes horribly wrong and ends up spending his summer at a run-down used bookstore run by a family friend. I loved the diverse cast of quirky queer characters, the indie bookstore setting and that there was so much focus on romance and matchmaking even though the main character was a bit clueless when it came to his own love life. Highly recommended for fans of books like Meet me on Love Street by Farah Heron or Emmett by LC Rosen. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

I couldn't put down this cute YA MM romance. It's the kind of book that lifts your spirits with every page you turn. Bobby's inspiring confidence in his body truly captivated me. I wholeheartedly recommend it; it's a read that will leave you feeling uplifted!

Adorable queer young adult rom-com! Lovely characters, such a cute read! The perfect read for bookworms

Isnt this the cutest romance. And its not even just romance, i really really enjoyed experiencing bobbys summer with him. I love his character, and i think we should all strive to be a little bit more like him. I absolutely rooted for him throughout this entire story and i was not disappointed.

Thank you to netgalley and the author for sending me the book in exchange for an honest review

Recommended Reading is a really cute queer rom-com that had me laughing out loud. I loved the campy vibe of this one. 17 year-old Bobby is our main character, and he makes all sorts of astoundingly bad and embarrassing decisions in the name of romance. Somehow I was still rooting for him the whole time though. Overall, just a delightful read with a real love of books and bookstores baked into it.

Thanks to NetGalley, Paul Coccia, and Zando Young Readers for the chance to read and review! My opinions are my own

Paul's stories are always lovely, and his characters have such heart. This romance story's MC was so awkward but loveable, and by the end you feel real hope for his HEA.

I won’t give a star rating for this one. I DNF at 10% which is something I usually do not do. I think the characters voice felt like it was too much for me. And the over complication of the grand gesture just felt weird. I couldn’t really get into the book after that. I think I stopped after the mom started talking about coaxing the principal to let her son stay after breaking the window during the grand gesture and I was like nah I’m not the right reader for this

This was super cute! It straddles the line of YA/NA, and while I don't love YA typically, I knew what I was getting into here, so it was fine. It took me a bit to get into it, but once I did, I absolutely adored it. I especially love and appreciate the plus size rep here. I'm a 43 year old cis het woman, but I felt "seen" reading this book.

This was a fantastic retelling of Emma with a gay twist! I will be recommending this to my YA romance readers.

With Recommended Reading we follow the story of Bobby and Luke. Bobby is a young man, a great book lover. He enjoys recommending books and getting involved in his classmates' romantic lives, but he struggles more with his own love life.
Luke has just moved to the city for his studies and by chance meets Bobby.

I really liked the character development, especially Bobby, whom we follow in particular. He learns to take a step back, to choose his battles and his loves. His relationship with those close to him also evolves in interesting ways.
The book is sweet and fresh. The love story is sweet. I would have liked to see more of the Bobby-Luke couple.

This was an adorable, queer, rom-com style book about books -- everything I love. I really liked Bobby and his best friend Wanda. This was a retelling of Emma, so if retellings are your thing, I'd definitely recommend. It felt like a bookish Heartstopper. It would have been a 5 star, but I felt like the relationship happened too fast to be realistic so that took me out of a bit. Overall I had a lot of fun with this!

CW: body shaming, toxic friendship, vomit, fatphobia, panic attacks, death of a spouse (mentioned)

I would like to thank NetGalley and Zando Young Readers for providing me with a free e-ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I wanted to like this book so much and it seem like it had all the things I would love in a YA romance. However, while the writing wasn't totally bad (although not something super remarkable), the cringe in this book was too much and I legit suffered secondhand embarrassment from some of the things that happens in this book.

I gave this 36% and then gave up. It's a cute premise but Bobby was just kind of annoying and nothing was drawing me in.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Recommened Reading was an aboslutely adorable book about Bobby, a plus size gay young man about to start college and his big goals for the summer. Instead a romantic grand gesture goes arwy and Bobby is humilaited. He loses out on several things on his goal list. This book details Bobby pivoting from his self imposed list of expectations for himself and lead to him discovering things that he really has a passion and talent for. I loved the grumpy/sunshine trope between Bobby and Luke, a guy that just kind of turns up around Bobby now and again, until they form an unlikely friendship. I loved their banter and how the reader can see right away what kind of guy Luke is. I also enjoyed a secondary plotline about Bobby working in his uncle's tiny bookstore and his banter with his crankly colleague who may be more than she seems. While it doens't break free of many other books of this type, I still found it very adorable and enjoyabl eto read and hope that others will as well.

The way I almost DNFed this only for it to then become one of my favorite reads of the year should be studied 🧐

First things first, I have not read the novel by Austen this is inspired by so I can absolutely not tell you whether fans of that book will enjoy this take. What I will say is that it's over the top, hilarious, ridiculous, heartbreaking and downright tear-inducing in the best of ways.
I nearly DNFed it in the beginning because I couldn't quite get over the MC's actions but once we get to know him and the reason for why he is so insistent on romance and love persevering, you can't help but root for his own happily ever after.

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience with this book and while I'm docking off one star (third-act conflicts that were unnecessary in my opinion and only made me angry), I would highly recommend this to fans of TJ Klune's humor and Alison Cochrun's story flow.

This was a did not finish as I simply could not get into this book. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

Thank you Paul Coccia, Zando Young Readers, and NetGalley for the ARC!

Such a cute, cozy little story with some of my favorite things: Jane Austen re-tellings, small towns, bookstores, and gays. It's YA, so there's a coming of age aspect that sometimes overpowered the romance but I didn't mind. It's a true modern adaptation of Emma in that Bobby's relationship with others and how he views himself gets called into question. Centering the story during the summer before freshman year of college, a time when everyone is sort of finding themselves, was a clever way to freshen up the story. I also really loved the slow-burn relationship between Bobby and Luke and appreciated that the queer representation wasn't too tropey or over the top. In a time where book bans and stupid shit like that is on the rise, it reminds me that cozy little books for teens with great queer representation like this are SO important.

4.25 stars

This story was so camp which definitely grew on me as the story went on. At first, I will admit, Bobby's blunders felt like a lot and were a bit of a cringe factor but Coccia let the rest of the story unfold in such a way that it totally made up for it and made for a surprisingly well-rounded character.

Seeing an unapologetically gay and plus-sized MC was refreshing. I hope this openness and pride continue throughout more releases this year. It can make many queer people feel more seen in literature.

My favorite character by far in this story was Gladys (the OG, read the story and you will know what I mean). Her wit and quips towards Bobby were the best. Seeing her slowly warm up was the best. Characters like her are one of my favorite microtropes.

Please see my blog for a more in-depth review: https://readintowonderland.blogspot.com/2025/01/recommended-reading-by-paul-coccia.html

I received this book as an arc from Hear Our Voices. My review is honest and voluntary.

This was a fun very low angst, feel-good m/m romance! I also very much loved the love of books included! It was a fun read for sure!