Kiss Me, Maybe was so much messier than I thought it was going to be, in a good way. I should have expected it though because grappling with your identity is never clean-cut. But even beyond Angela’s questions about herself and what she truly wants out of life, the family drama was intense. I was gagged and shocked multiple times as family and friends clashed in the most unexpected of ways.

I really loved the premise being centered around a twenty-seven-year-old who’s never been kissed and the woman she’s been pining over for years being the one to help her try to fulfill her mission. This book was a great example of how chemistry should be done. Sometimes writing can harp on telling the reader how much chemistry two characters have without actually showing it, but Angela and Krystal’s every interaction showed the way two of them fit beyond just being friends.

While it’d be easy to paint Krystal as a sort of villain based on her past relationship, I understood her struggles of trying even when you know you shouldn’t and wishing things would click into place but not knowing how to voice it when they don’t. She and Angela really opened each other up to seeing things in a different light. Though the book was more about Angela’s journey than the scavenger hunt itself, the end felt a little anticlimactic for me as everything went by so quickly, and I wished we’d gotten to relish in the realizations for a bit longer.

This book was such a good dive into figuring out being ace, and I think it’s helpful for those who don’t know much about the identity or have a wrong opinion of it while also being relevant and relatable to those sure of themselves. I also never get tired of found family and loved the message surrounding the fact that some people will always be set on misunderstanding you, and there’s nothing you can do to change their mind.

Although I haven’t read the first book in this series, I thought it was a great standalone because I didn’t feel like I was missing anything vital not knowing about the makings of Marcela and Theo’s relationship, but the tidbits we did see in this book makes me want to go back and read their story. Overall, I had a good time with this one and think it’s a fitting read for those in their twenties and thirties still trying to find themselves and separate society’s expectations from their own desires.

KISS ME, MAYBE by Gabriella Gamez is an adult contemporary romance that follows Angela who has never been kissed before and she posts about her experience of being on the ace spectrum on TikTok, which leads her to creating a scavenger hunt to pick the perfect person to have a first kiss with. Enter Krystal, a hot bartender Angela's had a crush on, who offers Angela help with the scavenger hunt. As they start spending time together, lines begin to blur, and they both figure out that what they're looking for might be right in front of them.

I really enjoyed the combination of their feelings towards love - Angela wanted to explore and experience new things, and Krystal felt like she couldn't love again after a bad relationship. The way they worked together made sense and their connection was strong and meaningful. The book explores identity, character growth, and learning to embrace who you are as you go on through life. It's sweet, steamy, and romantic. And you should absolutely read it if you want to read an adult sapphic romance that balances the love story with individual character growth very well. It's a very quick read, and I can't wait for Gabriella Gamez's future releases.

I was really intrigued at the start but this ended up being a no-go for me. I thought Angela was using this social media scavenger hunt as a way to take the pressure off of the first kiss, get it over with and have some fun. But then it got serious and she was suddenly hoping this first kiss would be "the one" and that's where she lost me. I'm here for Gabriella's messy romances, but this felt more YA romance in a 27-year-old's body. It didn't work for me, but if you're feeling this vibes, it may be for you!

🌸Ace lesbian rep
🌸Self discovery with the Ace spectrum
🌸Brooke Davis/Sophia Bush obsession
🌸Experimentation or "practice"
🌸Flower crowns
🌸Ferris wheels
🌸Family drama
🌸3 open door spice scenes

Even though this wasn't for me, you better believe I'll still be reading the next book in this series to see what is happening with Letti and Julian!! 👀

Beyond a love story, this one is about loving yourself and truly taking the time to figure out who you are, how you see yourself and what you want in life. Angela is on a journey of self discovery --especially in terms of her sexuality-- and healing, finding love, and learning to let go of those who only aim to bring her down.

Kiss Me, Maybe is a soft and sweet story, but it doesn't shy away from the realities of how people treat anyone they don't understand, both online and in person. There are homophobic characters and awful comments --especially online since Angela has found a community and platform on TikTok-- as the story develops, but there are also so many supportive characters that are there for Angela throughout so it's a very realistic, authentic representation that highlights the joy of this love story without hiding/excusing the painful realities people face. There aren't too many ace-spec love stories out there so this book is helping to bridge a gap in fiction and it's a great addition with the reader learning more about ace-spec at the same time as the MC. Gabriella Gamez is a phenomenal writer and handles each topic with care, really developing all the characters so they feel complex and relatable. The tension and banter between Angela and Krystal are SO good; it's a bit of a slow burn for sure, but there's definitely spice! And I love that we see Marcela and Theo because I'm a sucker for any kind of connected stories.

There are a bunch of important secondary characters and I like that each of them is intriguing in their own right --whether because they're amazing or because they're villains you want to figure out. While Angela's experience shows the dark side of online communities, it also connects her with people who resonate with her experience and who go on to become some of her best friends. Pretty much everyone has some kind of social media at this point, so it's important to see it in stories and how it's changed the dating world and daily life in general. This one also really shows how broad the sexuality spectrum is with each character that's introduced. It opens the story up for so many people to feel seen and relate to one or more of the characters. I would have loved if it was dual POV rather than just Angela's because I found myself wanting to know more about Krystal and what was going on in her day to day life but we still see how she feels and learn about her past -- I just wanted more of that! Overall, it's a great romance that I'd highly recommend checking out.

I read and listened to this one and I really loved the audio! Ruby Corazon does a fantastic job narrating. I usually listen at around 2x speed so at that speed the pacing felt natural and each moment flowed well into the next. Her voice is clear and easy to listen to for hours.

Highlights:
*sapphic romance
*librarian x bartender fmcs
*LGBTQIA+ rep
*ace x bi fmcs
*latina rep
*found family
*slow burn
*scavenger hunt
*never been kissed

Thank you Forever & Hachette Audio for the digital ARC & ALC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Apparently I'm really in my learning through romance era and I love it.

This story is a single POV featuring Angela, a never been kissed 27 year old library assistant. Yessss to more librarians in love (I love this series!). This time she's falling for a bartender but first she needs to fall for herself.

Angela is newly out as a lesbian and an ace and trying to understand where she is on the ace spectrum. After a viral TikTok moment, she takes her self-discovery to the app to try to solve the story of herself and get her first kiss out of the way.

The phrase "dating the internet" is used many times in a truly delightful way and then a scavenger hunt, with a smooch from her lips as the prize.

This is where Krystal, her longtime bartender crush comes in. Krystal agrees to help Angela plan the scavenger hunt. And so much tension. And lust. And such spicy goodness. Angela goes from never having dated, never been kissed, to "it's complicated" with Krystal and the part of internet that she's dating.

Through her suddenly complicated status, Angela learns a lot about who she is, her romantic and sexual attractions AND standing up for herself against the expectations society has told her she's supposed to have for herself. Oh and they both have delightfully filthy mouths :-)

This is very much a love story but love stories don't happen in a vacuum. There's the joy of Latindad, supportive parents nurturing their only child (and her favorite cousin), an FMC discovering her queer identity, love after a broken heart, growing your friend group as an adult, and so many other pieces that allow you to relate and enjoy Angela and Krystal's story.

Kiss Me Maybe is a lovely queer romance with a lot of heart.

Books about other bookworms are always going to be like catnip for me. Librarians in Love? Yes, please! This is the second book in the series. I hadn't read the first one, and that seemed fine. The characters from the first book (Marcela and Theo) do appear in this one, so if you have read it, it's nice to see how those characters are doing after their book wraps up.
This book is told entirely from the perspective of Angela's character, and I like her. Angela is 27 and doesn't have a lot of experience in the love and romance department. She's only recently figured out her ace identity with the help of TikTok creators sharing their journeys. Inspired, she posts her own videos, and overnight, she becomes something of a sensation, which gives her the confidence to put herself out there a bit more and start experiencing some firsts, especially her first kiss. In a flirty conversation with her longtime crush, Krystal, the idea of a scavenger hunt comes up, the winner of which will earn the honour of her first kiss. Before long, Angela and Krystal are busily planning away and trying to ignore their growing feelings for each other.
I loved Angela and Krystal together. Their chemistry is immediately obvious to the reader, and I enjoyed their journey. They both have a lot to work through before they can be good together and get to their HEA. Lots of baggage to unpack. The will they-won't they tension is high here folks.
This is a great book for those who are questioning or feeling like they haven't figured things out just yet, especially those on the ace spectrum. There is a lot of discussion about the various ace identities and sub-identities, and I found myself actually learning a lot. It's a constantly evolving vocabulary, and I appreciated being brought up to speed while getting a deeper understanding through the characters' experiences. 
The scavenger hunt is where this book fell apart a bit for me. I just didn't understand why it was so important to Angela and why she held onto this idea so hard. It felt off as a motivating plot device for Angela's character to me.
Overall though, this is a sweet queer romance, perfect for those in the ace space or for those wanting to learn more about it.

I loved this book! There was great queer rep here and really well done discussions of identity and exploring how our labels might change as we learn more about ourselves over our lives. This book was also STEAMY and I was here for it! Highly recommend.

Okay, I loved this! The representation was AMAZZZZZING and I found the characters to be so lovable and so cute together! ( I was shipping them the entire time 🥰) Plus the scavenger hunt was a fun idea!

Thank you so much to Forever Publishing for my ARC!

4/5⭐️

This book was so special and sweet. I was giddy from the start. I loved all the representation and the way we got to get into Angela's mind. The self growth and learning to love yourself mindset was just so good! Seeing the emotional and mental struggles and how she worked them really tugged on my heartstrings. I will absolutely be looking to read more from this author!

Fantastic Ace representation!!! As someone also on that spectrum, I found Angela to be very relatable. I cared less for the social media side of the story and found that read a bit more YA than a book about a 27-year-old. I did find the romance between Angela and Krystal to be very sweet and believable. I will read more from Gabriella.

3.80 stars

I received an ARC of this book way after I put it on my 2025 release list & I'm so happy that I got to read it.

Angela is relatable. She's us. She's just a girl trying to figure things out...and happens to use social media in that process. I love that she isn't held to the identities that she's relating to after making it clear that she isn't completely sure where she stands/fits in. She's given space to explore, experiment, reject, etc.

I'm invested in the family dynamics, friendships, and Krystal's backstory, which isn't always easy to hook readers with when the story isn't multiple POVs and focuses on one love story. Another thing I appreciated was feeling like I was on this journey with Angela. With every new thing she finds or considers, there's an explanation and a transparent look at her decision-making process. With that, some parts in the ARC feel a little repetitive and very expository, but it doesn't obstruct the reading process.

I could be alone in this thought, but because the scavenger hunt was occurring locally, and there are so many "now" references (TikTok, thirst trap, etc). I think there could've been more references to Texas and the climate now for immigrants & LGBTQ+ communities. There's a lot of vulnerability in the individual character's experiences, and I think this would've added to it.

This book originally caught my attention because of the ace representation, and as someone who's vicariously learned a lot about myself through the media I consume, and very happy that books like this are being platformed. If you need a story like this or you're simply looking to diversify the romance stories you're reading, I highly rec Kiss Me, Maybe!

The premise of this was so much fun and something I found unique while taking care to discuss queerness and coming out. A scavenger hunt for a first kiss sounds like a crazy idea but how this played out, worked perfectly. I was giggling and swooning even if the characters were a bit messy. But honestly, I love a messy girl because I am also a messy girl and life is messy.

Thank you so much for this gifted copy in Luke of an honest review
First of all, this cover is gorgeous! And the tension in this book was so good! It started out a bit slow but I got more interested about 1/3 of the way through. The story overall was pretty good and was a solid sapphic Romance

I enjoyed this one!!! I loved witnessing the journey of Angel discovering her sexuality. I loved seeing how her and Crystal’s connection grew. I loved how real the lesbian sex was written as well. It was raw and not watered down to be digestible.

✨ Review ✨ Kiss Me, Maybe by Gabriella Gamez; Narrated by Ruby Corazon

Thanks to Forever, Hachette Audio, and #netgalley for the gifted advanced copy/ies of this book!

This book is so Puro San Antonio! It takes place during Fiesta and locals will find it even more delightful!

Angela accidentally goes viral on TikTok and uses the platform to learn more about asexuality as she creates a scavenger hunt to grant the winner her first kiss. When Krystal, her bartender crush, wants to help her plan the scavenger hunt, the two develop a close friendship, resulting in a steamy potential romance. Overall, this book has great asexual/aromantic spectrum representation as Angela sorts through this range of identities.

There's a lot of family drama as Angela's cousins don't understand her identity. It's also made messier by Angela's librarian boss interfering with her personal life and what she shares on social media (perfect commentary on the state of Texas honestly), and this book emphasizes growth as the characters change throughout.

The book slowed a bit in the middle for me, and started to feel a little drawn out, but otherwise, I loved the atmosphere of this book!

🎧 I really enjoyed the audio for this one. Great narration that was full of emotion.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Genre: f/f romance with asexual rep
Setting: San Antonio
Length: 10 hours 21 minutes
Pub Date: May 6, 2025

Read this if you like:
⭕️ asexual romance
⭕️ exploration of queer identity
⭕️ San Antonio
⭕️ murals, art, and bookstores

3.5⭐️

Diversity in books is important. It educates, it fosters empathy, understanding, and acceptance, but most importantly it allows for everyone to see themselves in a book. Everyone should have the opportunity to identify with a character at some point in their reading journey and I think this book is a good representation of that.

Angela is an asexual lesbian and wondering if she will ever have her first kiss, let alone fall in love. Krystal is the hot bisexual bartender who has sworn off love after her last breakup.

When Angela launches a romantic scavenger hunt, in the hunt for her first kiss on TikTok, Krystal becomes her sidekick, “guiding” her along the way. What starts as friendship grows quickly into more and the two have to decide what they are both ready for.

Cute steamy story of self discovery in a world where not everyone is so kind.

Thank you Forever Publishing, Gabriella Gamez, Libro.fm and Netgalley for my physical arc, digital arc, and ALC of this book!

From the amount of arcs I received for this book, it was clearly important for the trajectory of my life and many others that I read this book and you know what universe, you slayed!

I LOVED this book! Gamez has created a beautifully crafted and nuanced romance about discovering who you are, loving every version of yourself, and exploring queerness (specifically asexuality). I loved Angela, I loved Krystal, and I LOVED THEM TOGETHER!!!!! They are quite possibly the two hottest women alive?? And I loved getting to watch them figure out life.

The side cast of characters, Angela's friends, online friends, and family, were also so fun and added so much depth to this story.

Angela's cousin on the other hand, she needs to get smacked.

Now that I've written this review, all I want to do is reread this and visit these lovely characters again!

in KISS ME, MAYBE angela gutierrez, a librarian who's never been kissed, goes viral after sharing her ace identity and decides it's time to get some firsts out of the way. she plans a scavenger hunt where the winner gets her first kiss and ropes in krystal ramirez, the hot bartender and her long-time crush, to help. the more time they spend together, the more angela starts falling for krystal… even though krystal swears she's not capable of love.

okayyy wow!! i devoured this book. watching angela explore her identity and sexuality in her late 20s felt so refreshing and real! self-discovery does NOT have an expiration date! i especially loved the open, thoughtful dialogue around identity and the fluidity of labels, both within angela herself and in her convos with others. it was informative without ever feeling overwhelming, and it honestly made me want to go do a deep dive on ace spec identities so that i can learn more.

also?? this book was HOT. like, HOT hot. the intimacy was beautifully written and just incredibly satisfying. i was blushing, kicking my lil feet, internally screaming.. the whole thing.

the way gamez handled family dynamics post–coming out was tender, complicated, and so real. nothing felt sugarcoated, but it also wasn’t hopeless. overall, i ate this one up and will absolutely be reading more from gabriella gamez. highly recommend!!

4.5/5

Really enjoyed going back into this world! This time around we get to see Angela’s story and how she is coming to terms with being aro asexual and exploring that while also dealing with the fallout of her coming out and what to do about it. When she meets Krystal, everything starts to change. I definitely enjoy the plot and how aro asexual is incorporated into the story along with different representations from the LGBTQ+ community and it shows the friends to lovers trope as well.

Can’t wait to read more from the author soon!

3.5 Stars

Thank you Forever Publishing and NetGalley for this eARC!

Kiss Me, Maybe is a cute romance, but even more a look into the experience of a newly out asexual finding her way through posting on social media and building community both online and in person. Angela has recently come to terms that she is on the asexual spectrum, and in this book she explores even more so where exactly she is along that spectrum, if she is even interested in sex, and how exactly this has shaped who she is as a person today.I'll start off with what I loved. I came into this book excited for the sapphic romance with a librarian and a promise of a big scavenger hunt aided by social media. What instead I found was so much relatability to her experience growing up on the ace spectrum. The questioning from others on why you haven't done expected things, the questioning yourself if you're alone in your feelings, so many other universal queer experiences but also so specific to the ace community that I related to so much. 

The setting being in Texas is another thing I loved. I live in Oklahoma, and we hardly get books set in this part of the country, especially romance and especially especially a queer romance. I loved that there were landmarks like Six Flags that I've actually gone to. It's so important to remind people that queer people exist everywhere, including in heavily Republican-controlled states.

I think maybe because I related so much to the queer experiences in this book I had an even harder time distancing myself from unbelievable plot points or things that in real life would drive me mad if they happened to me. Instead of being enamored by the will-they-won't-they, I was frustrated by all the mixed signals they were sending to each other. They both clearly expressed care, only for the other to then ruin the moment so many times that it got repetitive and frustrating for me as a reader.

I was also really excited for the theatrics of the scavenger hunt, but all of the planning and actual event took a back burner to everything else that it felt a bit more like an afterthought.

There were also some plot holes and inaccuracies throughout that may be edited out for the final run. One of these was when a character said they were getting too much carbon dioxide and not enough oxygen because they were surrounded by too many plants, which is the opposite effect plants have. Not story relevant, but a common enough science fact to leave me surprised that made it in. Another was when Angela threw her phone, broke it, said she then couldn't contact a character, but also texted other characters? If the phone was only partially working or if she was just using this as an excuse it wasn't clearly described and instead just seemed like a plot hole. The final one I'll mention was when the mural was washed away. What mural is painted with water soluble pigment? It also had been up for a long time at that point, and if it had been water soluble I would think rain would have taken it down by then.

I'd recommend this book if you are someone that loves angst, a will-they-won't-they story, or someone that can distance themselves enough from some ridiculous plot points and just enjoy the ride. I'd especially recommend this to lovers of sapphic romance, sex-favorable ace spectrum rep, family drama, friends to lovers trope, messy gays, and discussions on the complex role of social media in our lives.