Very light and fun! I loved the ace romance with a bit of still figuring yourself out. The premise was cute: setting up a scavenger hunt to have your first kiss, but falling for the person you’re setting it up with. It felt like some of the plot and conversations were a little younger than adult (but the spice definitely made it adult). I also felt like a dual POV would have really helped me get more from the love interest, but I still enjoyed them and their journey together.

I received an audiobook from NetGalley, Hachette Audio, and Forever in exchange for my honest review.

A true 4/5 stars! I loved so much about this book. The plot was so cute, and I think the author integrated modern technology and media (i.e., TikTok) very seamlessly. I don't normally like when modern tech/media is a focal point in a book, but for this story it fit so well.

Also, the phrase "dumbasses to lovers" has never made sense to me until I read this book; I love both girls so much, but they really do make some questionable choices! It was quite funny and endearing though. The side characters seemed just slightly underdeveloped to me, which is where I took off the star rating, but it wasn't so bad as to be distracting.

Even though this was more of a romance book, I still found it very educational about the ace community. Further, I think the way the author dealt with sexuality was very respectful while still being absolutely entertaining.

Finally, as I did listen to the audiobook, I think the narrator did a great job. I really felt like I was in the character's life, not just listening to someone reading a book out loud. At first I wasn't sure I liked the narrator's voice (which can really make or break an audiobook for me), but once I settled in, I really ended up enjoying it.

Thanks so much to NetGalley, the author, the publisher, and Hachette Audio for this free audiobook in exchange for my honest review!

I just couldnt get into this book. I think it was interesting to have the Ace rep and the lesbian rep but I couldnt get into the characters, the scavenger hunt hint was fine but also a bit meh and I agree with other readers that tiktok is also not my idea of finding romance. I think everyone was likeable but not enough that Ill remember their names or have any strong attachment to them.

Thanks to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the ARC.

I never requested this :( I wish I had of but I never had the chance and it isn’t available now however it’s on my feedback list.

I hope everyone enjoyed itt

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for providing me with an ALC in exchange for my honest thoughts <3

I adored Gabriella Gamez' debut last year; I would say I loved Kiss Me, Maybe even more. It's definitely a romance book, but it's also a journey of self discovery and finding the labels that bring one the most comfort. I'm not asexual, but I am greyromantic. I related to a lot of Angela's struggles with coming to terms with not only her sexuality but also the need to explore more labels as new feelings arise. I love that most of the people in Angela's life give her the grace to figure things out and the role that social media plays in finding community. I understand that many people won't like the references to TikTok; however, you can't argue that it isn't the perfect tool to move this story along.

The romance between Angela and Krystal shines for me because it's grounded in friendship. They've been in each other's orbit for years. Angela's post going viral is just the push they need to go from friendly acquaintances to actual friends. From there we see the tension between them flourish. There's attraction and then there's whatever is happening between Angela and Krystal. To be loved is to be given the chance to explore your sexuality with the hot bartender at your favorite bar or something like that. I thoroughly enjoyed Kiss Me, Maybe and can't wait to see what comes next for Gabriella Gamez.

I honestly didn't think I was going to enjoy this one but it turned out to be utterly amazing!! I was wary because the premise of an ace person going online to almost auction off their first kiss sounded like it was trying to cure their asexuality. This book isn't that at all!!! I really loved how ace positive it was and how it showed many different aspects of being ace. My one criticism would have been the amount of sex scenes for it being an ace romance was a bit much for me, but that's a me thing. The chemistry between the two main characters was perfect and I really was rooting for them the whole book. This was a really fun romance filled with tension and it was such a great reading experience!

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, The Next Best Fling, so I was happy to dive into this one!

Librarian/late bloomer Angela Gutierrez has never been kissed, but after going viral for sharing her ace identity, she’s ready to change that. She plans a romantic scavenger hunt where the winner gets her first kiss and enlists help from Krystal Ramirez, the bartender she’s secretly crushed on for years. As they work together, sparks start to fly, and Angela begins to question whether she wants a random winner or the woman right in front of her. The only problem is Krystal doesn’t believe she’s capable of love, and Angela might be falling for someone who can’t love her back.

I thought this book was great, low stakes, and a really nice way to learn more about the ace community! There are so many variations of how people identify, and I thought this book did a good job of exploring a lot of that. The storyline was cute, and the spice that was in there was sexy! Loved to see those sides of Angela and Krystal.

Thank you NetGalley, Hachette Audio, Forever, and Grand Central Publishing for this ALC/ARC!

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ALC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

Librarians in Love #2

Out now!

Librarian Angela Gutierrez has never been kissed, but when she posts a video about being asexual and a late bloomer, she decides she is ready to do some firsts. Being a new influencer, she comes up with a scavenger hunt where the winner will get her first kiss. Krystal, who swore that romantic love wasn’t for her, is determined to help Angela bring the scavenger hunt to life and find true love.

In all honesty, I should have DNFed this book. There were multiple points where I considered it and wished I had. I read the first book in this series, The Next Best Fling, last year and I only gave it 3.5 stars, so I wanted to give this author another chance.

Unfortunately, I was not invested in this story and found the story boring to follow. The idea of the scavenger hunt with clues coming via social media was interesting, but ultimately there were times where I felt that it was pushed to the back burner and forgotten about. I also had a problem connecting with the characters, which didn’t help with me wanting to keep reading. This book has lots of hispanic, ace, and queer representation which is amazing, but I was really bummed that I was not enjoying the story.

For the audiobook, I liked the narration, but I wish there had been more differentiation between our two main female characters. Even a second female narrator would have been great. Other than that, the audiobook production was done well.

Overall, I am bummed that I have not enjoyed anything from this author. I am unsure if I will try another book from them. I am giving this book a 2 star rating.

As a late-to-dating-asexual myself, I absolutely loved the premise of this novel! Angela's experiences and self-discovery around her asexuality were so comforting and beautiful to read. I loved the way her relationship with Krystal developed and how they both really grew into themselves throughout the novel. Such a lovely romance for ace and sapphic readers!

I absolutely loved The Next Best Fling, so I was really excited for this one. However, I was a bit disappointed. I adore that there is Latinx, ace, and lesbian rep, and there was some great discussion around these topics. But I couldn't connect with the characters, and I was not a big fan of the love interest. There was great communication but a lot of messy communication. Most of the exploration of asexuality and queer identities felt like textbook discussions and didn't feel natural. I was also not a fan of the TikTok scavenger hunt, but that is a personal preference. I did enjoy that Angela is full of love, and Gabriella Gamez did a good job of showing the power of connection and community. This one just fell short for me. I'm definitely interested in reading more of Gamez's work in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF @ 13%
Thank you so much to Forever, Hachette Audio, and Netgalley for providing advanced copies of this book. All thoughts and opinions are still my own.

I really wanted to love this one... I think this author is featuring a lot of amazing representations but I just haven't loved the execution of either book in this series.

As an asexual romance reader, I am ALWAYS looking for more ace rep. So I was insanely excited to see not only that, but ace rep in a sapphic romance. I also really appreciated that this heroine was older when she discovering her ace identity (I was in my 30s before I figured it out).

But I just wasn't loving the execution of the story itself... while the MC was older, she didn't read her age. But instead very young. I also have a lot of trouble when pop culture things appear in books. And TikTok was biiiiiig in this book. It inherently time stamps your story and limits its long term relevance.

I also the juxtaposition between her being so terrified to simply talk to love interest but totally cool with auctioning her first kiss on TikTok was.... odd.

Kiss Me, Maybe is a sapphic romcom following a 27 year old who's never been kissed, and puts all her potential matches up to a test with a scavenger hunt. It's a ridiculously cute premise, very befitting of the romcom genre. The characters felt fleshed out, and there are some really important conversations about sexuality and representation. Overall, it's a quick cute read, but it's also got some depth (also the cover is gorgeous). I'd definitely recommend it!

The book started out sweet and promising. Unfortunately, after I got a new phone, I was not able to download the book again on my new device, so I could not finish it.

Overall all I would say I enjoyed this book. It’s an interesting premise that I feel doesn’t get a lot of representation. Angela, a late-bloomer ace spec lesbian accidentally goes viral in tiktok. She gains popularity for her story on never having kissed/dated anyone and her story snowballs from there.

Focusing on the audiobook narration- I enjoyed it. I thought the narrator did a good job of keeping a consistent pace, though at times I wished for a little more animated emotion. I understand that audiobooks should be easily understood, but at times the tone felt a little too robotic and a mismatch to what was happening.

I was surprised by how well the TikTok comments and moments translated to audiobook version, the narrator did a great job with making that all easily understandable. Sometimes there are spcwcially formatted things like that that make sense in the physical book but get lost in translation in audio- but that was not the case here!

Overall enjoyed it, and lived hearing a story with a Latina asexual spectrum and lesbian woman representation because often asexual representation is overlooked, and BIPOC LGBTQ stories are so important.

Thank you to NetGalley, and Gabriella Gamez for allowing me to enjoy this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

i was really really into this book through 78ish% but then i was just frustrated. i hate esme and i kind of hated that plot line but overall i love the gays

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review

When I started this book I was really excited and intrigued about reading it. The story was cute however I was unfamiliar with some of terminology which made it challenging to keep up initially. The main character was likable and I wanted to love this book but I didn’t love it. The plot of the story made sense for the most part but it didn’t keep my attention. The narration of the book was done very well.

This was very cute but I didn’t love how involved with social media it was. The romance was cute but I didn’t enjoy the TikTok aspect of it all.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for this alc. All opinions are my own. I absolutely loved this author's debut, so I was excited to read the second book in this interconnected series. Loved getting to know Angela more and follow her on her journey. Really appreciated the queer representation. While the contest fell flat after a while, I still enjoyed the story over all. The narrator did a great job as well. Will definitely continue reading more from this author.

I listened to audiobook for Kiss Me, Maybe and I was so excited for it because 1. A scavenger hunt sounded so fun, and 2. I really loved the first book in this series, The Next Best Fling.

Honestly, I should have read the full synopsis before requesting this book because I felt like the whole TikTok thing was a bit cringe. So, that was my fault, so I won't hold that against this book too much. My main faults with this story is that Angela aka Angel had a love interest from the very beginning of the book, so why was she still trying to go forward with the scavenger hunt to find love? It was a bit pointless. Then I felt like I was being strung along the whole book waiting for this fun scavenger hunt only for it to be canceled in the end (which was not even Angel's decision).

It would have been much better if we got to see a cute little scavenger hunt and Angel found a love interest through that event.

I also felt like I was being told a lot of stuff instead of being showed, so I felt disconnected from the story and characters.

As for the audiobook narration, something was off about it. I think it was that the narrator had a repetitve cadence.

Overall, I was disappointed in this one. I hope the next in the series is better.

Thank you Netgalley, Hachette Audio, Forever, and Gabriella Gamez for the advanced listening copy in exchange for my honest review.

Kiss Me, Maybe is out now.

I enjoyed this book, and the audiobook was good.

The reason why I’m giving it a 3.5 is because the story fell kind of flat for me. There was nothing wrong with it per Se, it just felt like something was missing. That little extra spark you know.

I enjoyed reading about the mc’s coming to terms and figuring out her sexuality, as well as seeing how her family took it. Perhaps a reason why I didn’t like the story so much was because of Krystal, and her constantly being like “nobody can love me” or whatever. I didn’t really get why she felt so strongly about that. It didn’t quite make sense to me.