I love Jasmine and all... but her attempt at writing queer romance is..... stale. This just isn't her lane. I appreciate the effort. The book felt like Black Queer Dacing with the Stars and I was left wanting more from both characters. It's a good effort though.

This is the first queer romance novel by Jasmine Guillory, and she absolutely nailed it! The overall vibe of the story was fun. I especially loved the flirting lessons dates especially the queer author signing and the burlesque show. I enjoy watching Taylor and Avery slowly develop feelings for each other as Taylor helped Avery flirt and become more confident about approaching women. The friends to lovers worked very well in this relationship. Their chemistry was undeniably hot. The story was a little slow at times, but I loved every minute and I hope to see more queer love stories from Guillory in the future.

Thank you to NetGallery and to Berkley Publishing Group for giving me a copy.

First of all, can we all just appreciate this gorgeous cover 😍?! It's giving queer Shall We Dance or Dirty Dancing vibes 💃

If I'm being honest though, the cover of this book is far sexier than the story itself.

Told in 3rd person, in dual POVs, the story follows Avery and Taylor. Avery just got out of a relationship and is interested in dating women but doesn't know where to start because she doesn't have a lot of dating experience and has never been with a woman. Meanwhile, Taylor (who never backs down from a bet) bets that she can totally make it through the summer without sleeping with anyone. To keep herself distracted, she offers to give Avery "flirting lessons" and tries to keep their relationship platonic despite the growing attraction between the two.

As much as I loved the cover of the book and the premise of the story, I was really close to DNF'ing this book on multiple occasions because of the writing style and bland characters.

My primary issue is with the writing style. Perhaps it's the formatting of the eARC, which will hopefully be resolved at final publishing, but I found the sudden mid-page POV switch (with no advance warning) jarring and confusing. I spent the first few chapters constantly getting Avery and Taylor mixed up. Not only that but despite the profanity and sex scenes, the writing style was very stilted and felt very juvenile.

Take the following as an example:
"Taylor was weirdly distracted by watching Avery and her partner. Why did that distract her so much? She had to focus."

and
"Taylor didn't say anything for a minute. She could tell it had been hard for Avery to tell her that. It felt good that Avery could be honest with her."

This writing style lacks subtlety and reminds me of many middle-school books that I've read, in which everything is written in short stilted sentences, where every character interaction includes a lengthy monologue, and the entire book is written as if the readers are too dumb to read between the lines and figure out the characters' feelings and intentions. I think these issues would be easily resolved if the book was written in first person instead.

As for the romance, aside from the fact that they're both physically attracted to each other, there's very little to indicate that Avery and Taylor's attraction goes beyond thinking that the other person is hot. There are constant reminders of how sexy or pretty they think of each other but nothing more.

Finally, the characters were underdeveloped and their character development was rather underwhelming. Avery's entire personality is that she's introverted and likely has anxiety while Taylor's entire personality is that she's a flirt who has probably slept with every lesbian in Napa Valley and has the power to flirt the pants off any woman. Also, every single character is overly chatty, tends to ramble a lot, and all talk the same way/have the same personalities. It also seems like everyone's personality (both main characters and secondary characters) is based on whether or not they're in a relationship. It's weird.

This book would have been a 1.5- or 2-star read but I'm giving this book an extra star because it provided pretty solid advice (especially for introverts like me) on how to meet new people, make new friends, and flirt with people you're attracted to.

I think I would've loved this book if it were a rom-com told in alternating first-person POVs. There was so much potential to inject humour in the flirting lessons or in the interactions between the two FMCs. Overall, I feel like this book needs a complete rewrite and heavy editing. The story is there and the characters have some potential, but they need to be fleshed out more, and the dialogue and writing flow need to be reworked.

Did I stay up till 5am to finish this book? You bet I did!

There are a few current romance authors I like because there's a simple elegance to their work, and Jasmine Guillory is one of them. It feels like you spend so much time with her characters and experience what they do.

Also, this book is hot, a thing that I'm usually not into but I guess when it's women ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This was slow to get going and probably longer than it needed to be, but the payoff was worth it! Guillory is a romance superstar for a reason. This is a strong contender for a future book club pick, and I hope to see more queer love stories from Guillory in the future! Many thanks for the opportunity to read and review.

I love Jasmine Guillroy and I love queer romances but I could not get into this. I found the characters dull and I could not get into the romance at all.

Flirting Lessons is a standalone title written by Jasmine Guillory.

Format: NetGalley ebook
Genre: Contemporary fiction, Romance
Overall score:⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice level:🌶️🌶️🌶️
Characters: Avery (FMC1) & Taylor (FMC2)
Publication date: April 8, 2025

This is a cute romance story that tells how hard it is for women to not only find romance, but to also just find friends. It was so sweet to watch the FMC’s build as friends before exploring their relationship.

The “flirting lessons” were very cute and I loved reading about Taylor and Avery when they were participating in their date-type excursions!

This is the second book I have read from this author and she is very entertaining and writes very well! No cheating, other person drama, or third act breakup.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title!