This is my first sapphic romance it was so cute, funny and flirty! I loved watching Angela find herself I just wish it was dual pov I would have loved to see Krystal yearn for Angela.
Really enjoy Gabriella Gamez writing I love how she makes her characters real and relatable she’s definitely an author to watch

I was so excited for this new romance between an ace lesbian and a bisexual woman, especially after really enjoying Gabriella Gamez's previous book. Unfortunately, despite being a bi woman, I didn't really feel a connection to either of the main characters. I also didn't really like the TikTok scavenger hunt plot line.

2 stars

Unfortunately, this one didn’t work for me. I liked the representation and the premise, an asexual influencer trying to find love, intimacy, and romance. I also liked the dynamic between the main character and her friends, both online and in person.

What didn’t work for me was all the pieces of the story didn’t quite fit together and made the story a bit disjointed. I liked each piece: the family tension about sexuality, the scavenger hunt to meet someone new and have a first kiss, the crush on a friendly face who turns into a friend and potentially more, the internet presence and finding community, but there was so much going on that it was hard for me to focus on how they all came together.

An ARC copy was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This sapphic romance was a fun read. I loved the representation and Angela’s journey of understanding her sexuality. The book was the right mix of sweet and steamy. The miscommunication was a bit tiresome but necessary for the story! I recommend this feel good read!

Such a great time reading this book. I loved getting such a dynamic character. An asexual who is a part of the lgbt community is such a refreshing change from a lot of sapphic romances I've read. So many cute and funny moments and so relatable and current with the times. Cute, cozy and delightful read.

I enjoyed it this novel but somehow found it forgettable. As this is my second lack luster read from this author, I'm inclined to think that Gabriella Gamez's stories just aren't for me. Something just doesn't click and I can't seem to pinpoint what exactly. Her novels are sold as high stakes and I do not find them to be the case. Perhaps this is the crux to my issue.

I was excited to see that author Gabriella Gamez was releasing another book in her librarians series so soon after the first. Her ability to wrap the characters journey and romance in a not annoying social media plot was a breath of fresh air. Thoroughly enjoyed.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) | Forever and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

Loved the first book in the series (The next best fling) and will continue to support books with librarians/library worker MCs. I enjoyed the MC's journey to understand her identity further and finding a safe and supportive community through her journey. I found the incorporation of social media as part of the plot, and reflecting on parasocial relationships to be interesting and an insightful commentary.
Overall, I thought it was an excellent story with compelling characters.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher.

This was such a cute, fun, enjoyable read! I really appreciate the diverse representation, the way Gabriella writes and really captivates the reader, and just to have had a lovely reading experience.

Queer stories are already top tier, but this was extra fantastic.

Also let's just spend some praise on this cover!!! It's, chefs kiss.

What to expect:
•Sapphic Yearning
•No Kissing Allowed
•Watch Me
•Scavenger Hunt
•Mexican American FMCs
•Unrequited Crushes to Friends-to-Lovers

This sapphic romance with ace spec, bi, and lesbian rep is one I found I couldn’t put down. Angela finds herself as a 27-year-old who has never been kissed, and she sets up a scavenger hunt to have her first kiss, but the plan reroutes a bit from what she expected.

From the “watch me”/follow my instructions scenes (whewww, the steam gets STEAMY), and slow burn chemistry between Angela and Krystal.

The family dynamics, from family members you may have to protect your peace to the family who accepts you, the descriptions of Angela’s explorations of her identity and how the identities, for example, ace spec, were broken down were excellent!

I also absolutely loved Marcela and Theo’s return to the pages of book one and Marcela’s overprotectiveness as Angela’s best friend.

Thank you to Gabriella Gamez, NetGalley, and Forever Pub for the opportunity to have read this as an ARC!

I knew I was going to love this book. Gabriella is such an amazing romance author! Her last book left me thinking I needed more stories and she once again nails it! Not only is this a beautiful romance, but it also delves into queer self identity and labeling. It was so interesting to read about asexual, demisexual, and all the other terms used to explain the LGBTQA+ spectrum. I found it such a moving story as we followed the main character Angela on her self discovery journey. It definitely made me think about my own identity and I honestly feel like this book changed the way I understood my own views. Also, I love that not everything is wrapped up in a pretty bow, because sometimes the only thing we can do is control who has access to our lives.

OMG! This was so cute! The idea of a scavenger hunt to get your first kiss was adorable already but falling for your forever crush as their falling for you? Wonderful! Queer latinas forever!!!

Thank you, Net Galley, for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. This was my first read by this author, and I loved it! I am planning to read her other book soon. I hadn't read one with some of these tropes, and truly enjoyed the representation! I loved the chemistry and love story as well as the characters. I loved this one!

Kiss Me, Maybe... Kiss Me, Please!!! Idk how Gabriella created such delicious tension but I felt it leaping off my kindle screen at me. I loved the way asexuality was portrayed in this book, it meant a lot to me as a fellow ace queer girly/late bloomer. Gabriella has become an auto-buy author for me and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley for the e-ARC of this title to read and review. I absolutely loved The Next Best Fling, so I was looking forward to this new release being the next best read! At the beginning of this book, I really was invested: I loved the asexual spectrum rep and how our lead character, Angela, was working through her feelings about her identity (and what she owes other people about it) right there on the page. I thought it was fun that she was going to put together a fun scavenger hunt style game on social media to take some of the pressure off having her first kiss, and just find some joy in the discovery.

But eventually Angela's insistence on ignoring budding romance right in front of her IRL to focus on the social media game began to grate on me. It didn't feel like pining, or the right person at the wrong time, it just felt juvenile. While Angela is supposed to be 27 years old in the story, she felt VERY young (and her story was therefore very YA) and not at all because she was a "late bloomer" or hadn't been kissed yet, or any of the worries she had about comparing herself to other people. She seemed to have a young storyline because she was still wrapped up in things like, what her cousins, and random folks, thought about a kid she went on one bad date with in high school. Since they weren't presented as really close-knit, caring cousins in a tight family, I didn't see why their opinions had to be relevant or considered in adulthood. The only thing that kept this story decidedly *NOT* YA was a handful of steamy scenes but <spoiler> they were never acknowledged as the characters entering into a sexual relationship of some kind together. It felt very off to me that Angela felt like her first kiss deserved a big moment but fully having sex with another person was brushed off as practice and mutual exploration because it was casual. It felt like a very limited view of what sex is? And a major leap for the characters to take together in the grand scheme of the plot.</spoiler>

Also, one of the things I loved most about The Next Best Fling, and was expecting here as it's part of the "Librarians in Love" series, was how many great scenes took place in the library/featuring the teen patrons who visited and joined in the programming. The library was barely a setting/character in this story, and I kept thinking it would have been SO much fun (and squash a few of the overly juvenile vibes) if Angela's teen library-going regulars would have been super invested in the social media elements of her story, or specifically the TikTok scavenger hunt, or were really rooting for her in this space. It would have tied together how obsessed she was with "getting it right" online, and would relate to a younger audience in a more authentic way!

This took me pleasantly by surprise! I was already feeling burnt out on romance when I picked this up—I’d read a few unimpressive ones recently—but I was determined to give it a try, and I’m very glad I did. Gamez crafts a well thought-out and realistic story that managed to avoid the tropes of this genre that I find most onerous to read. There were no cheesy misunderstandings, no meaningless sex scenes that go on for pages and pages, and no third act conflict that comes out of nowhere because we must have a third act conflict. Instead, we have two complex characters who are messily and imperfectly attracted to each other and keep bumping into obstacles about it—but communicate clearly throughout, which was honestly so refreshing that it bumped the book up a star rating for me.

This book engages heavily with questions of asexual identity. Angela, our POV character, is a confident asexual lesbian who over the course of the book sees her identity shift in ways that surprise her, but at the end of it, she’s still ace and a lesbian, and incredibly proud of both of these facts. I don’t claim an asexual identity and so cannot comment on the authenticity of the representation here, but I will say that Gamez does a very thorough and respectful job parsing what that identity means to Angela, as well as the fact that there are many, many ways to be asexual—this fact not just mentioned in passing, but explored, as well, with mentions of microlabels under the ace umbrella and terms like “sex favorable/sex neutral” used casually and naturally.

If I had a SINGLE quibble with this book, it’s that we learn from the very beginning that Angela is an “influencer” who recently accidentally went viral with a thirst trap she never meant to be a thirst trap. And yet we never really learn why she had a following in the first place, or what kind of influencer she is (or was, prior to opening up about her sexual identity—I suppose you could argue she’s an LGBTQIA+ influencer after that?). Maybe this is something that comes up in the previous book in this series—I didn’t realize it was a series (and about librarians, at that!) when I cracked into this one! But also it’s not super important. (Okay, maybe two quibbles: if Angela and her bestie Marcela are librarians, their borderline-inappropriate-for-work yap sessions wouldn’t be happening at anything so orderly as their own personal desks in the back. They’d be fully working a checkout desk, speaking in code and in eyebrow language to each other, and don’t ask me how I know.)

This book surprised me in all the right ways. What started off as a slightly quirky premise—a librarian launching a public scavenger hunt to find someone to share her first kiss—turned into a heartfelt exploration of identity, vulnerability, and love.

Angela and Krystal are both layered, complex characters. I loved watching Angela discover more about her identity and navigate what it means to be a late bloomer, especially in the face of societal pressure and family prejudice. Krystal, with her own hesitations around love, added real emotional tension to their dynamic. Their chemistry felt authentic, and the slow build between them was incredibly satisfying.

The found family aspect was another highlight—supportive, warm, and often funny. While the scavenger hunt plot sometimes bordered on silly, the emotional core of the story stayed strong, grounding the light-hearted moments with deeper themes.

ARC provided by Forever Publishing via NetGalley.

Dnf at 10%

While I liked the overall concept and synopsis, this one failed to grab my attention and make me want to keep reading

Thank you Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the ARC and Hachette Audio for the ALC, and NetGalley.

✨ Five stars isn’t enough for this beautiful, affirming, swoony sapphic romance! Kiss Me, Maybe by Gabriella Gamez completely stole my heart. I absolutely loved this story.

Angela Gutierrez, a 27-year-old librarian and late bloomer who’s never been kissed, is figuring out life, identity, and desire on her own terms. After going viral for sharing her story and ace identity, she sets off on a kiss-themed scavenger hunt—and who better to help than her longtime crush, bartender Krystal Ramirez, who insists she’s “not built for love”? (We all know how that goes 😏)

What stood out the most to me was how beautifully and thoughtfully Gamez explored Angela’s gray-asexual identity. As someone who isn’t part of the ace community, I learned so much—about what gray-ace can mean, how intersectional identities exist on a spectrum, and how important it is to hold space for nuance in stories about intimacy and desire. I walked away feeling like I understand a little more about a community I’m not directly part of, and that’s such a gift. Gamez writes with so much care and clarity—it never felt like a lesson, just real, human storytelling.

Angela’s journey is layered and relatable, and the chemistry between her and Krystal? Tender, awkward in the best way, and worth every single page of build-up. Add in queer community vibes, one very chaotic viral moment, and a genuinely satisfying slow burn, and I was all in.

I listened to the audiobook and loved the narration—easy to follow and full of warmth. Gabriella Gamez is a real talent, and I’ll absolutely be picking up anything she puts out next.

I listened to the audiobook, in addition to reading the ebook, and the narration was excellent—clear, engaging, and full of warmth. It really brought Angela’s voice to life in a way that made the whole story even more immersive.

5/5 stars
5/5 narration
3.5/5 spice

Tropes
-Friends to lovers
-Slow burn
-Late bloomer / never been kissed
-Queer joy & community
-One bed
-Mutual pining
-“I’m not built for love”
-Viral fame

My goodness this story was absolutely delightful, and a captivating page turner!
Gabriella Gamez‘s writing is a perfect mix of character, setting, love and laughter. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know these characters.
I just found the whole book really interesting and charming. 
A wonderfully written friends-to-lovers romantic comedy.