What can I say but I am sucker for angsty teen love stories and love stories that take place at summer camp. Maybe it was all the Nick shows I watched Salut your shorts, Hey Dude when I was a kid, but I love the backdrop of summer camps for books. I really didn't know what the book was about when I grabbed it but I loved the name, and I am so glad I did. This was one of those teen novels just makes you glad you aren't a teen anymore. Everything in live seems so life or death at that age and the author portrayed those feeling so perfectly.
I think being a teen is scary enough, but this character actual was having her life splashed out in tabloids and then critiqued by twelve-year-olds, which just makes ever event hyped to the 9th degree.
I love the story line of getting over your first love, re-finding yourself and making sure you know what you want. Reconnecting with those that you thought you had lost, finding out that just because you're older doesn't mean you don't' need to ask for help. I loved the story line of not only Iby and Rynn I loved the little campers' stories too. It is so hard to be those ages.
I loved the campfire scenes where all the counselors are getting to know each other, and spending time together. I love that Rynn and Ivy could work through their past and move forward together.
From a diversity perspective this is a sapphic love story but it isn't the coming out story which I really liked. Both girls were secure in their decisions to like other girls and that just wasn't the focus of the story. ( so many teen novels include the entire plot line of coming out or dealing with coming out and this book had some many other storylines that wasn't really a thing which I liked. l) . We were dealing with family drama, friend drama, tween drama, Hollywood drama and life drama all with the backdrop of pine woods, camp fire smoke and roasted marshmallows.
I recommend this book to those that love teen drama romances, and this would be a perfect read by a campfire.

I fear my feelings for this one are the same as I had for this author's other book, I think I love you, and that's ambivalence.

What I thought was going to be a cute summer camp romance was more of a camp counselor dealing with a friendship breakup turned romance and middle school drama, which is fine I guess but none of it was interesting.

The biggest drawback for me with this one is believability and the age group. This would've been immensely more success as a new adult book. Our MC is going through a breakup from her relationship of 4 years and when she gets to her job as a camp counselor, she runs into her ex best friend from middle school who she had a falling out with. Age these characters up 4 years and I could get there.

I mean our MC is 16 so she was in a relationship since she was 12 with a famous actress and I just don't buy it. I want to but I don't.

I also think this would've been better as a friendship story, especially for this age range. Give me these two figuring out their friendship and finding ways to stay friends instead of throwing a romance in that just didn't connect and felt rushed.

Overall, this is fine but not memorable.

lesbian MC with Celiac disease

Thank you so much to Delacorte Romance and to Netgalley for providing me this book to review! I really enjoyed I Love You S'more. Anyone who knows me knows I love a good summer camp YA romance, and when you add theatre into the mix, that's even better. I also love a good second chance and so it was really fun to watch Ivy and Rynn's story unfold, as Ivy also learns to step out from the shadow of her famous ex, reclaim her own story, and be a leader and mentor to the campers she is responsible for during the summer. I thought the cast of side characters was a lot of fun too and of course, the descriptions of camp (and of s'mores!) were excellent. I'm excited to recommend this in the future!

I Love You S'more is a cute, summery read that follows Ivy Raines as she heads off to the summer camp she's been attending for years, but this time she is going as a camp counsellor. She's just been through a very public breakup and all she wants is to escape and have a drama-free summer, but unfortunately, her ex-best friend Rynn is there as a counsellor too and is Ivy's competition for the camp play director's spot.

Oh to be fifteen again! While I am over double Ivy's age, I made sure that I actively remembered she was so young as I was reading otherwise I know that she would have irritated me a lot. The characters here are very true to their ages and their reactions to the situations they find themselves in are what you would expect from young teenagers. So many times I wanted to shake Ivy, to tell her that a breakup isn't the end of the world, especially at her age, but then I remember myself and my friends reacting pretty much exactly the same when we were young.

Ivy spent a lot of time worrying and obsessing over her ex and Rynn, so much so that initially I worried that that was all this book would be. However, we do thankfully get scenes where she is more present with her fellow counsellors, namely Fitz and Rynn, and we can see her work through her feelings and in turn give some apt advice to others. The same is said for how she deals with her young charges. Unsure to start with and letting the girls overwhelm her, but eventually Ivy learns how to manage tensions between others and be a guiding example.

The setting of a summer camp worked really well for the story and I am sure will be very nostalgic for a lot of readers. Stories and s'mores around an evening campfire anyone? The pacing was a little funky towards the end which did feel a bit rushed and we didn't spend really any time at the big play the whole camp was working towards.

While I don't think I will pick up any young ya romance in the future, overall this was a sweet, fun summery read that I think a younger audience will love. I don't usually star-rate, but I would put this at a 3.5, with the caveat that I am much older than the intended audience!

the ending made me up my rating a bit because it’s clear there was an attempt here. the problem was the amount of ridiculousness that shrouded the good intentions of a plot. first off, i just took major issue that they were 15. and maybe i wouldn’t if it was that alone, but they were fifteen and “friend broke up” when they were like 11 i think? they said five years so maybe im a little off on the numbers but the moral of the story is GET OVER IT - i literally remember nothing important about 11, it’s simply not that deep. i support true love (kinda), but true love found at 12 just does not have my enthusiastic backing whether it be with Ally or Rynn here.

other minor gnats that flitted around this book and made me want to slap my brain until i forgot it existed

1) the sentences often didn’t make sense. they probably would have verbally but they were very disjointed and hard to read
2) the author forgot details multiple times. ivy would be in one hairstyle and then two pages later in the same scene have a completely different one with no described action of changing it.
3) the only thing this book convinced me of is that social media is ruining children. for the love of god, GET OFF YOUR PHONE. the boundaries were non-existent and it made the plot repetitive and exhausting. like genuinely it felt like a government ad to ban TikTok. i also wrote that sometimes it felt like a scholarship essay, in that it was trying to hard to be cohesive and just wasn’t, but that’s unrelated here.
4) sometimes i just wanted them to stfu. that’s it. just let me have a break for a bit.
5) fitz my love. even though we were rudely deprived of a finale to your plot, thank you for always bringing the snacks and stomping on the crunchy leaves. you made 179 pages bearable.

3 stars because there were clearly wholesome good intentions here. maybe i’m too old to be the target audience but if this is meant to be a middle-grade queer novel in a genre where there are close to none, that saddens me. protesting for better quality in our attempts to make representation available to sixth-graders

***Thank you to Netgalley and Delcorte Romance for an e-arc of I Love You S'more by Auriane Desombre! All thoughts are my own!***

Ivy Raines needs camp for an escape like she did as a child. After going through a very public breakup with her first girlfriend and teen TV show mega star, she wants nothing more than a summer of sunshine, friends and s'mores as newest counselor.

But when she signs up to run the camp's musical production she soon finds herself in a rivalry she didn't see coming with the co-director, Rynn. She's bossy and thinks she knows everything because she's been most experienced counselor. Worse, it's a girl Ivy had a falling out with when she was younger. It's the last thing Ivy needs while going through a breakup but as tension between them builds, sparks begin to fly brighter than a campfire. Will Ivy discover she can still have the summer escape she needed after all...in the way her heart has always wanted?

This book is such a feel good summer YA romance. The romance is definitely more of a background element and is more about the summer camp in general. Ivy spends the majority of the book healing from her prior relationship and makes for a great coming of age story. Ivy also struggles with being a leader to her campers of middle schoolers, having to deal with their respective dramas. There is definitely miscommunication throughout the book, especially when it comes to Ivy and Rynn. All in all, this a cute summer camp story, and if yoh like the making of plays and musicals, you will definitely enjoy that aspect of the book.

I Love You S'more by Auriane Desombre is out now!

I really enjoyed reading this book. I will definitely recommend it
Thank you NetGalley for letting me read it

This book did not live up to what I thought it would be. Chapters aren’t page turning, the main character is annoying constantly thinking about her breakup and the other characters aren’t interesting

Two more idiots in love. Friends to not friends to lovers to not lovers to lovers.
Two girls working at a summer camp used to be friends. One has been going thru a breakup and working on finding herself and healing after that experience. They have to coproduce the summer musical and they fall in loveeeee

I loved this. It was so cute and fun to read. And I love a summer camp romance

This was cute, but it was just that. Add on to the fact that y’all know enemies to lovers isn’t exactly my jam, so I was kind of going through it. But it did have its redeeming qualities, like the fact that it was sapphic and set during the summer. And that was enough for me lmao

Ok so this is really tough for me because y’all know I’m not a fan of enemies to lovers. But y’all know I AM a fan of summer and romances set in the summer and even moreso when it’s sapphic. And this book has all of those things. So I gave it a shot. Just in case. And lo and behold I actually liked them. There was so much more to this than what I was thinking. I’m actually glad I gave it a shot.

The plot was ok, but it did drag in some places. It was dragging because it was so repetitive. There’s only so many different ways you can say how much you’re trying to stay out of the limelight and don’t want anyone to recognize you. It was the same thing over and over and it got to be annoying. Especially with the fact that she wasn’t even saying what happened between the two of them. It was just weird.

The romance was cute, but some things were iffy. Like why in the world would the love interest ever make a move on that attraction when she was doing things like this? And there was really nothing that made me think, “you know what? She changed. I can see that she really loved her.” I hate this part of enemies to lovers romances because I never know if its me or them. I think there needs to be a more clear picture of them changing and the love interest needs to not be so immediately forgiving if that makes sense.

I did like the storyline tho. Again, I will read and love anything that has to do with summers and romance. And this should have been a slam dunk for me. The execution just didn’t work for me. But again, this could be a me thing, so give it a try!

This was super surface level. The romance felt rushed. The ex showing up felt shoved in and not natural. The side characters were more interesting. I may give the author another read. Would recommend to younger YA.

This was a cute book but I had trouble staying with the story at times and wish the characters were a bit more fleshed out. I look forward to seeing more from this author.

Today is my stop on TBR & Beyond's (@tbrbeyondtours) release tour for I Love You S'more by Auriane Desombre (@aurianedesombre). To celebrate, I'll share my five-star review of the book so you can hear my thoughts!

As the weather gets warmer here in the Northern Hemisphere, I find myself craving books with a light, summery feeling to them. Something about the changing of the season makes me want to read about new romances and young love, so I Love You S’more couldn’t have come at a better time! I enjoyed so many aspects of this book, and it ultimately was my first five-star read of April. I Love You S’more has a summer camp setting that had me reminiscing about my own days as a camp counselor. I only wish my camp years had held the level of romance that Ivy and Rynn found with each other. Their story was realistic, fun, and resonated with me as a queer woman. I had high hopes for I Love You S’More after enjoying Desombre’s debut novel, I Think I Love You, and I was not disappointed!

My Recommendation:
If you love summer camp stories, rivals to lovers, or sapphic romances, you need to grab a copy of I Love You S’More! This book would be perfect for fans of Jennifer Dugan’s Young Adult books, which have a similar summery feeling to them.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Children's | Delacorte Romance for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed this book and read it in one day. I loved the characters and their growth as well as the storyline. I would definitely recommend this book.

Such a cute read, loved the camp vibes. The added aspect of the ex being famous and how social media interacts with that was interesting and done well.

I read about 30% of I love you Smore in one sitting and then set it down and never picked it back up unfortunately. I thought it was ok, but I wasn't in love with the story and I didn't really have a lot of motivation to pick it back up and finish. However I think all of that is a personal issue rather than something actually wrong with the book. Auriane Desombre writes YA on the younger side of the genre in my opinion and though I previously read and enjoyed her debut, I think I love you, It was several years ago when I more fit the age demographic for it. I think that I personally have aged out of her stories but they would be wonderful reads to recommend to those just starting out in YA. And I intend to do just that if I ever come across someone looking for that! Please do still give this a chance if your interested in it, my DNF is completely for personal reasons rather than an issue with the book itself. From what I remember reading the camp setting was fun and I think it was getting ready to set up some really cool characters (like the other counselors) for the rest of the book. That and the cover is gorgeous and I remember the cover for I think I love you being super pretty too! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

An engaging summer camp story that explores breakups from a few different angles. Ivy is still smarting from her very public romantic breakup with Allyson--a teen TV star. But the more interesting "breakups" for me were the platonic tween separations. The last thing Ivy wants to face at camp is fellow counselor and blast from her past Rynn. The two were inseparable as young teens, had a dramatic falling out, and hadn't spoken or seen each other since. Two campers in Ivy's bunk are going through a similar falling out in real time, but Ivy's so in her head over what her ex (and her ex's fans) are saying on line and competing with Rynn that she doesn't recognize the parallels to her own experience (and hence a way to help her campers mend their rift) until it's almost too late. When romantic sparks fly between Ivy and Rynn things only get more complicated. Eventually, Ivy figures things out, mends the fences that can be mended --including her own self worth apart from Allyson and all the drama that comes with her.

This is a fun, breezy read, but I found Ivy--and the "Ivy/Allyson 'ship"--the least interesting character/relationship. Ivy's endless paranoia and competitiveness got a tad tiresome, though I was rooting for her and Rynn.

I Love You S'more by Auriane Desombre is the perfect summer read—fun, flirty, and full of heart. This sapphic rivals-to-lovers story had me hooked from the start, and the setting at summer camp made it all the more charming. Ivy Raines is a relatable character, navigating life after a very public breakup and trying to escape to camp for a fresh start. When she finds herself clashing with Rynn, the camp’s experienced and bossy co-director, the sparks fly in the best way. The author really nails the "rival" aspect of this trope with tension and banter that kept me turning pages, and I loved how the chemistry between Ivy and Rynn built slowly but surely.

I got this book for free, in exchange for my honest opinion via NetGalley.

I Love You S’more is the perfect summer read. It’s fun, flirty, and full of heart! It’s a rivals-to-lovers story that had me hooked from the very start.

Ivy Raines is a relatable character. She’s navigating a very public breakup and she tries to escape to her childhood camp for a fresh start. At camp however, she finds herself clashing with Rynn, the camp’s experienced and very bossy co-director. The sparks fly in the best possible way. The author tends to nail the rival aspect of this trope. There is so much tension and banter.

For me, the standout feature of this book are the characters. They feel real, despite Ivy being dumped by an actor that isn’t quite relatable to most of us. Ivy and Rynn act their age. The book is full of awkwardness and painful moments. The only thing that I didn’t like, was that Ivy just forgave Ally so quickly. I mean, Ally treated Ivy really bad.

This was a fun read, and would’ve read in a shorter time if I didn’t have other books waiting.

Thank you, NetGalley and Auriane Desombre for allowing me to review! As always, my review is my own opinion and thoughts. This review will be shared to my Instagram @what_emm_reads shortly.

Hello, Summer Camp romance #2 of 2025!
I love reading summer romances as summer camp season approaches to get myself in the mood. I Love You S'more is a fun middle/high school romance. Full of middle school drama, theater shenanigans, and internet/dating woes. It was a fun, quick summer read!
I have worked at camps for too long not to have been distracted by how wildly this camp is run. Why are all the counselors minors? Where is the adult supervision?
But despite the distraction I had fun. It was a lovely, quick summer read, full of drama, and it got me ready for summer.