- These POVs are WHACK
- 3 stars feels generous
- This reads like bisexual fan fiction….very odd
- I think this has great bones but not the best execution?
- Would make a better movie than book…
- Cover art pops off though

The biphobic comment towards the beginning really should have been my first red flag…not too sure about this one.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for the EARC in exchange for my honest review!

3.5/5 stars, rounded up

This was a low stakes and cute sapphic read with Korean rep and a bi MC. I didn't find myself wanting to pick this one up a lot, but I slowly made my way through it. It was cute, although I don't know if it will stick with me.

I know romance books are predictable, but this one felt especially so, I think because the stakes were so low. Honestly, I would have liked to see more tension in the plot, perhaps in regards to the work project Gemma and Celeste were working on. I think most things worked themselves out too easily?? (Or maybe I'm just in the mood for more angst right now???)

I also think Celeste's POV could have been either cut or given more balance. It felt like an odd choice to have her POV in third person and only included every 3-5 chapters. I felt like I could have skipped over all of her chapters and been left with the same information. I never really got to know Celeste as well as I did Gemma, which is a shame because they were both interesting characters.

Overall, if you want a light sapphic read with a bit of spice and Korean rep, you can give this one a try! Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for the eARC. All thoughts shared are my own!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc!

This book follows Gemma as her boyfriend of seven years breaks up with her. Gemma moves with her friends. While she is dealing with these changes, her job comes with a project about documenting love stories. What Gemma did not expect was that her ex-girlfriend would be included in this project. Celeste is Gemma's first girlfriend and her college roommate. This book is quite easy to get through. I would recommend it between two heavy books. I enjoyed Gemma's character. I admired that she did not become so cynical about love after her experiences. I liked Celeste as well. Celeste definitely gagged me when she revealed why she does not get into relationships. I wish we had more chapters from her point of view. Seeing their relationship develop was nice, and I completely understand 'the third act break-up'. I did not care for Gemma's ex-boyfriend, and I wish he would disappear.

Cute and fun. A solid second chance romance. Celeste and Gemma felt like a solid pair even before they got together, but I wanted more from their story.

I was excited for a sapphic second chance romance but this one ended up falling flat for me. I didn’t love the switching of POVS as it felt a bit jarring. The connection between the two main characters just never really made sense to me.

Fast-paced easy-to-follow sapphic romance between a photographer and a magazine writer who were once girlfriends.

I enjoyed how the author wove her culture into the story. It added a lot of nuance and gave me insight into a culture I'm unfamiliar with. There weren't any major plot twists, however, I did like that the ending retained each character's independence and there wasn't a rush to be together.

I didn't like the biphobic thoughts one of the main characters had. It was not needed for the plot and perpetutes horizontal hositility between queer folks.

I would recommend it with caution given the biphobic thoughts. Overall, the book was fine, but I wasn't drawn in all that easily. The biphobic brings down the overall rating to a 2. Fine, but not for me.

Second chance romances with forced proximity are usually a winner for me, but there was just something missing.

The characters lacked chemistry and after supposedly being together for a year (many years ago), their relationship felt very surface level.

The pacing was a little weird for me and the third act break up even though they were “casual FWB” was unnecessarily annoying. (They break up for a year by the way)

The switching between first and third person POV was a little confusing and pulled me out of the story a little.

Also, while I loved that these main characters were in their late 20s, they didn’t act with the maturity of almost 30 year olds and it was frustrating. Celeste ghosted Gemma not once, but TWICE. I’m really not sure why these characters are drawn to each other aside from physical attraction.

Overall, this one had so much potential and I really, really wanted to love it, but I just wasn’t invested or rooting for these characters to end up together.


Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Lyla Lee's Love in Focus is my favorite sapphic second-chance romance and a must-read for any romance reader. There is also a forced proximity element to this book and that's one of my favorite book tropes in existence.

Gemma Cho's seven-year long relationship falls apart and Gemma is ready to give up on love. Gemma, a relationship advice columnist (yeah, a bit ironic considering every relationship she has had has fallen apart) gets paired up with Celeste Min, an amazing photographer, on a piece about modern love. Celeste seems like the perfect rebound, but there's one little catch--Celeste is Gemma's ex from college and their relationship ended in heartbreak for Gemma. What starts off as a professional endeavor, turns into something where sparks fly between Gemma and Celeste and leaves Gemma wondering if this time will be different than the last.

I loved seeing Gemma and Celeste reunite after so many years apart. I feel like they had matured since college (as I think we all do in some ways) and their background history together added so much depth to the story. When you read a second-chance romance, there are two stories happening--the initial falling in love story and the present=day story of finding their way back to each other. Both storylines here were well-crafted and left me practically balling at the ending.

Thank you Forever for the e-ARC!

Consider me a new autobuy for Lyla Lee. A sapphic second chance romance, it lauded a lot of feelings for me that felt like the show "The Bold Type" which sold me immensely. Gemma is ready to give up on love and given her dating history across the spectrum of gender, she feels defective in a way that she can't seem to get it right. But when she is assigned a career reviving project that would pair her with Celeste, a bedazzling photographer who happens to be an ex? All bets would have been off if there wasn't so much at stake.

I mean these two. This second chance romance had it's cute moments. I liked a lot of little tiny details about this and the cover.

3⭐️

give me a second-chance workplace romance but make it sapphic and i am instantly sold! it was fun, swoon worthy, and had me absolutely blushing over how cute gemma and celeste were together! i adored that there was so much bisexual and queer representation throughout the book.

gemma's romantic days are over, since her fiance had broken off their engagement and immediately jumped into his next one. so, she finds herself crashing on her best friends' couch while figuring out the next step. side note, i LOVED how supportive val and kiara were 🥹 her boss evelyn has an upcoming project pitch which requires gemma to interview couples and work with a hot-shot photographer. little does she know, her whole world is about to turn on its head when she finds out the photographer is her ex, celeste - otherwise known as the one that got away.

together, their chemistry was sweet and sultry, the perfect combo if you ask me 🤭 i loved that there was SO much communication about why their relationship failed the first time around and it ultimately felt so refreshing to read that right off the bat. from there, they had a genuine understanding even though their feelings were still a little muddled amidst their instant attraction to each other (yep, even after 8 years of being no contact). the spicy scenes were not over the top and i also loved their exploration.

while i loved being in gemma's point of view, i wish we had gotten the same for celeste. yes, we technically did have her point of view but sort of in third person, as opposed to gemma's chapters in first person. that was the only thing that sort of threw me off. aside from that, i really enjoyed this sexy sapphic love story. i was also so touched on the "modern love in focus" project, with the two girls interviewing the different couples.

thank you so much to forever for the e-ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️

I’m not normally a second chance romance girlie but this one 💔❤️ I am HERE for the sapphic boss babes and BIPOC representation!!

College girlfriends Gemma and Celeste are forced back into each other’s lives by work after 8 YEARS apart. Thankfully we don’t have to wait till the end of the book to figure out why. I love that their story isn’t about unnecessary mystery, but about figuring out what you want and if/how another person might fit into your life.

The book gives us both POV’s and they switch from first to third person depending on the narrator which helped keep their chapters distinct.

This was a quick, fun read who's characters have good chemistry. I would have liked it to be a little bit longer with a little bit more development because I enjoyed it.

This was really cute! I enjoyed the love story between the two FMC's and I thought they were very relatable and funny. I found myself laughing out loud a lot. I also appreciated the Korean representation and how the culture was integrated into the story. It really brought the whole story together. And the spiceeeeeeee?? There aren't too many books, that I have read, that have a "backpack" scene, if you know what I mean. So... that was fun to read. Overall, I had a fun time reading this!

Thank you to Forever for the ARC <3

Gemma and Celeste were so fun to read about!! Seeing what they both went through in the past and present and how they overcame it was very well written. It shows that not everyone is going to be on track in their 20s no matter how much they plan it. You just never know what will happen!
Celeste and Gemma were college lovers and they meet back with each other 8 years later to work on a project for a column, the way they connected right off the bat like nothing changed was everything. The angst and tension between the two and how they were trying so hard to not let anything happen was *chefs kiss*, then we got down to the spicy spice and WHEWW they were having A TIMEEEE LOL. I loved how they were spending time together and then realized they both needed time apart to really figure out what they really needed to do with themselves!! Just loved the story and the characters!! AND HER BESTFRIENDS THEY WERE AMAZINGGG! Loved this one for sure

A second chance Sapphic Romance? 💘 Literally my dream come true. I kept hearing about it and when I saw it on Netgalley as Read Now, I immediately clicked download. I wanted to love this books so bad, but unfortunately it didn’t do it for me.

The story follows Gemma, a journalist who after 7 years of being in a relationship and engaged, is dumped. She reconnects with Celeste, her ex-girlfriend from college, when her job makes them work together in a once in a lifetime project. Celeste and Gemma’s relationship didn’t end well, and they must navigate through their old feelings, as they work together.

What I loved:
- The asian and queer representation! I absolutely loved the representation of bi-curiosity and exploration of your sexuality.


What didn’t work for me:
- Knowing this was a second chance, the romance in the present time was fine, but I didn’t feel a true connection between the characters. It felt more like they met in the present and they never dated before.
- Jumping from First person point of view from Gemma’s character to third person point of view on Celeste’s. I honestly felt so lost and It didn’t help me visualize their feelings.
- The unimportance of James, her ex for seven years. It seemed like 60% of the book Gemma was still pinning on James and was hurt, which was understandable after dating for 7 years, but he just kind of disappeared? There was no plot line for him, and Gemma jumped to Celeste immediately after.
- There were some comments made in the book that I didn’t appreciate, like when Celeste is expressing she’s mad because Gemma moved on with a man after dating her, saying it’s a “lesbian’s worst nightmare”. Also, Gemma’s friends make a joke about lesbians going on a date and moving together immediately after.

Overall, it was a cute story, but I’m sad I didn’t enjoy it was much as I wanted to.

Thank you Netgalley + Forever for the ARC.

Pride Month 2025 #1

🍦 🍓 The Ripped Bodice's 9th Annual Summer Romance Bingo 🕶️ 🏄🏼

/ Road Trip

"The beauty of being bi, I learned, is that you can get rejected by both women and men."

Is it really a K-drama (K-book, whatever?) if there's no umbrella sharing moment? I love this.

Anyway, these two aren't perfect. No one is. But I love them. Gemma is a bit dependent. Celeste is as hot as Jane from ONE LAST STOP. The most unbelievable thing so far is that you would leave a hot, tattooed Korean woman for a mid white man, but I'm here for the plot.

And I guess it's not second chance romance I hate. I was going to say it's second chance romance with men. But that's a lie. I loved SECOND CHANCES IN NEW PORT STEPHEN. So it's just straight second chance romance. Because straight women deserve better than straight men!

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Forever

Thank you Forever Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC. I will be giving my honest review.
I wanted to love this book SO BAD. A sapphic, forced proximity second chance romance set in San Francisco sounded like it would be right up my alley. And the cover is STUNNING. My little bi heart was so excited to read it during pride month. But unfortunately, this book just fell so flat for me.
While it started out promising, with tension and open and honest communication about their pasts, it quickly devolved into stress, annoyance, and me almost DNF'ing the book on multiple occasions.
One of my biggest issues with this book was the pacing. The story did not flow and felt choppy. It completely took me out of the story because I was so distracted by how random situations were and how confused I became.
Celeste's reasoning for literally GHOSTING Gemma 8 years ago filled me with so much annoyance and started off my distaste for the character. How hard is it to tell the person you have been in a relationship with for OVER A YEAR that your mom is sick and you'll be away for a while?! I get that there's stress and anxiety that go into those kind of situations, but then to continue to ghost her for months afterwards and then have THE NERVE to be pissed that she moved on 4 months later and make that the reason you give up on relationships? That pissed me off so much and is honestly my biggest issue with this book. Not to mention, she continually made it seem like this was all Gemma's felt and had her feeling guilty, when she was simply trying to heal and move on from being left with no explanation. Insane, and I'm surprised I don't see more people talking about this in their reviews because it felt so unfair and made me irrationally angry.
They fell back into lust, not love, and when they had their 3rd act breakup, I thought "oh finally, they can move on and stop making each other miserable." But then Celeste leaves her AGAIN and they don't connect for over a year afterwards.
This book had such potential and I really thought it was going to be a new favorite for me, and that just unfortunately did not happen.

Love in Focus was a book I was SO EXCITED for having loved I'll be the One by Lyla Lee. However; I found the point of view for Celeste to be lacking and could have done without it. I wanted more from both storylines and ended up not finishing at 68% because of this. While I would not recommend the book based on the above, I would give Lee another read in the future. I find it's so important to see yourself represented on the page and know this book will resonate with the right audience.

Gemma is a bisexual woman in her late 20s who’s convinced real love doesn’t exist after the abrupt ending of her 7 year long relationship with her fiancé. She was ready to give up until she ends up getting paired up with and old flame, Celeste from undergrad. They get paired up on a project on modern love and welp… we got forced proximity and second chance! It’s a cute sapphic romance. I love diverse characters, the sapphic + bi representation, the mental health rep in navigating relational issues, and commentary on general cultural expectations and for queer folx. I will say the dual pov — one in first person and the other in third person was a bit jarring. I would have been okay without Celeste’s chapters. I personally prefer high stakes books and wanted more from the story and a slower conclusion. It’s a low stakes romance story, if you’re looking for a light sapphic second chance romance with spice, it’s worth checking out.