A sapphic romance full of tension, connection and self discovery that had me rooting for the main characters from the very first page. Gabriella Gamez has once again created a story that feels authentic and relatable while also incorporating laugh out loud moments and second hand embarrassment opportunities 🥰🤗 I also absolutely adored the narrator (Ruby Corazon) who I felt really brought Angela's sass and strong personality to life in the audiobook.

This novel involves two late-twenties women (Angela and Krystal) who are navigating a viral social media post that thrusts Angela's lack of dating experience into the spotlight. Given the age of the two main characters I felt that some of the dialogue and conflict was immature but appropriate for the life experience of Angela and Krystal. As the two form a closer relationship the tension and chemistry builds between Angela and Krystal, let me tell you the sparks do fly and the wait is worth it! This novel is an open door romance with moderate spice (🔥🔥🔥/5).

Overall this is such a fun and flirty rom com about discovering yourself and what makes you happy. Thank you Forever and Hachette Audio for the advanced copy.

3.75

Kiss Me, Maybe is the second book Librarians in Love series by Gabriella Gamez. After reading about Marcela and Theo's story in The Next Best Fling, I was so excited to see the next book in the series was a sapphic story for Angela. Kiss Me, Maybe is a sapphic friends to lovers with Ace/Demi/bisexual representation. The attraction and yearning between these characters was undeniable and their relationship unfolded slowly as they both figured out what they wanted/deserved in life. I appreciated how open the discussions about being queer were portrayed in this story. While the book lacked closure for Krystal (specifically the storyline about her ex), I really enjoyed this second installment of Gamez's series and Ruby Corazon did a great job with the narration.

I am looking forward to the next in the Librarians in Love series. Thank you NetGalley and Hachette Audio for an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Gabriella just gets better & better. She has such a great way of infusing contemporary romance with diverse love stories. The characters are dynamic and real. The tension and development added so much depth to the story. The narration was good. Overall, another great story from Gabriella Gamez. Thank you, Forever & NetGalley, the ALC.

4/4.25 ⭐️

YES. JUST YES.
This was an absolute joy to read! I had the best time returning to this world and following our MCs.

Gabriella’s writing is some of my favorite writing. It’s extremely bingable, way to read and addictive. This was pretty unputdownable. I never wanted to stop. I couldn’t wait to see how it was going to end.

I really enjoyed the tiktok / influencer aspect of this book. I know a lot of people don’t like seeing that in books but it’s valid and so common now that I liked seeing the storyline. It was really well done as well.

I really enjoyed the identity and sexual exploration. It’s an important topic that i think we don’t see in books often. Generally, the books are where the MCs are already established. I liked seeing this part of their journey where they are still trying to figure out where they feel like they belong. It also hurts my soul to know how there are probably TONS of people who feel like our MC did and just feel like they belong nowhere. YOU ARE ENOUGH - no matter what. Literally there is nothing you could do in terms of identify, gender or sexual exploration that would make you less than. YOU 👏🏼 ARE 👏🏼 ENOUGH.

THE TENSION. when i tell you the tension was dripping off the page… its no exaggeration.

You’ll find the vibes are giving…
-Lesbian & Bi MCs
-ACE representation
-Identity and Sexual Exploration
-friends to lovers
-TENSION 🥵
-medium / slow burn
-PACING 🤌🏼

My ‘downsides’ are pretty minimal ngl. I truly loved this book, but i would have loved to see this as a dual pov. I’m a sucker for a DP though, so it doesn’t break it or ruin it. i just am a sucker. 😆

Also, I wished we saw our MC interact with some of the other friendships she had. I wanted to see more of the found family aspect that was touched on.

Narration was good. I did audio + digital and has a great time. I wouldn’t say the audio made or break the read, it was just fine.

Kiss Me Maybe had an interesting premise: a 27-year-old ace spec woman who goes viral on TikTok after saying she has never been kissed. Things get complicated when her friend Krystal agrees to help her with a scavenger hunt.

I struggled with this plot's messiness and may not have finished without the narration. My biggest issue is that several plot holes, such as Julian's relationship with his dad, felt like they were brought up for entertainment value but were not fully developed. They were too telling and not enough showing.

Additionally, I spent most of the book having no idea why Angela felt she needed to change her aesthetic; I wasn't sure why bringing out meant she needed to change clothing. There were several references to it, and none seemed to connect to the plot for me.

The TikTok premise was entertaining, but by the end, I felt we spent too much time on it and not enough on character development, leaving the writing feeling stale and slow.

I loved the ace spec in this book and feel Gomez did an excellent job exploring that aspect of Angela’s identity. It brought up many identities I don’t frankly see often in contemporary Romance, and I thought Angela’s turmoil over whether or not she needed a specific label was important.

I had a lot of difficulty being invested in Angela and Crystal’s relationship, and overall, I felt this book was just OK. Based on the ace rep, I will recommend it to friends, and I would consider reading another book by this author in the future.

Oh my gosh I ate this book up! I adored the diversity of asexual representation across the spectrum. It was lovely to see a variety of ways that people can experience asexuality. It was also a joy to see Angela have the freedom to question her labels and find one that fit where she is now. The queer discovery aspect of this book made me feel very seen. I so love that we get to see a journey that has some twists and turns. For some, their identity is immediately clear and for others it's more fluid. This book was hot yall!! There are multiple open door sex scenes in this book and I had a fabulous time with it. I did wish that Krystal was better at communication. The final 3rd frustrated me a bit because I was concerned that these two weren't communicating well but overall I had a good time.

I listened to this book entirely on audio and had a delightful time! The narrator did a fantastic job bringing the characters to life and I felt all of Angela's emotions through their voice.

There were a lot of things I enjoyed about this book including the ace spec rep and exploring your own identity. I related to the feeling of being a late bloomer. But for some reason I found i wasn’t really that invested in Angela or her quest to find love. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the social media influencer aspect of this book but I do appreciate how it shows some of the reality of what social media is like. I loved seeing Marcela and Theo and I was a big fan of her first book so I will definitely keep reading this series. The audio was good. Nothing standout about the narration but nothing bad about it either! Overall neutral feelings about this book.

DNFed this one - didn't realize how much tiktok was going to be prevalent in it and I genuinely don't care enough to read a book focused around it.

You're a 27 year old asexual lesbian who hasn't had her first kiss yet. After accidentally posting a thirst trap and going viral, you turn to the internet to change that. But your future first kisser might be closer than you think.

This romance is an exploration of identity, queerness, and self-discovery. What stood out to me the most was how informed the ace and queer representation was throughout the whole book. It is clear that Gabriella Gamez did the homework, and I really enjoyed seeing these experiences from the perspective of an ace person. It is something that is rarely highlighted in mainstream fiction, and it was a breath of fresh air. There was definitely a thought-she-was-ace-until-she-met-the-one moment, which is usually a tricky territory, but the book handles it so well that it just feels like it's another part of the character’s journey, not a dismissal of ace identities.

The characters are messy and felt real, even when I did not always agree with their choices. And I was surprised by their relationships, the open communication even with difficult topics, the vulnerability...!

While the romantic tension leaned more into the physical side than the emotional, the protectiveness and affection between the FMCs still gave me those awww moments. I would not have minded a bit more of those giggling, kicking my feet moments, but that is just personal taste.
And yes, we need to talk about the spice. When I finished chapter 17 I was so surprised (in the best way) and had to physically pause to recover and gather the strength for chapter 18.

I also really enjoyed the Latina representation throughout the story.

To finish, I have to give kudos to the great work by the narrator, Ruby Corazon. There were a lot of tricky things to voice in this audiobook, like video captions, comments, and DMs, but the narration never felt awkward.

This is a great pick for readers who are looking for stories centered in queer identity, complex characters, and personal growth. I look forward to reading more from Gabriella Gamez!

Okay, listen: ace rep? Of course I, an ace person, will want to read it. And I did. And I loved it. This book is cute and funny and so so so steamy. Oh my God, I loved it.
“But it’s an ace book.” Yeah, and FINALLY is a rep with an ace character who is not sex repulsed (I mean, it’s nothing wrong being sex repulsed, I’m sex repulsed, but it’s good to have other rep of the ace spectrum).
The trope are well executed, the romance is cute, the character are well written. I mean, it’s a cute book and an enjoyable listening (the narrator was really good! Loved her voice!).

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

Averaging a 3 star story with 5 star rep into a 4 star story for me. This is the most incredible Ace Rep and Ace discussion I’ve ever seen. I think this is because of a deep steeping in online culture and online conversations around identities. That being said- the story was SO steeped in online culture it didn’t work as well for me as it could have, but again the Rep and development was amazing and well worth the read.

TW: Bullying, Homophobia, and Acephobia

(Disclaimer: I received the audiobook from the publisher, but this has in no way influenced my review. My thoughts are entirely unbiased and honest.)

I’m honestly so sad to give Kiss Me, Maybe this rating, because it's so rare for me to see a main character struggle with the same questions about their queerness and gender identity that I do.

What really made listening to this audiobook unbearable at times was the characterization of Angela, our heroine.

I think the editor (if there was one) should’ve pointed out to the author that her leading lady needs to be more than her queerness.

If you remove her thoughts about being asexual and a lesbian, there’s nothing else about her that’s memorable, so it’s hard to really feel excited for her journey.

The narrative is so focused on how she struggles with these identities that she came across as two-dimensional.

(I’m also asexual btw but if someone were to write about me, I hope it's not only about my orientation dkdkfkf)

Second, the love story is one of those “tell” types.

I wasn’t convinced that she and Krystal were attracted to each other before the story started; their conversations in their earlier scenes just weren’t written well.

The prose had to tell us it was tense, rather than actually describing it and letting the tension jump off the pages.

The flirty banter between them was just okay.

The author definitely needs to work on their dialogue writing in future works. One example I can think of is that no one casually uses the word "resonate" in real conversations.

Third, the scavenger hunt wasn’t that interesting.

It was a big plot point, but I just wasn’t convinced that it really mattered.

It bordered on absurd—because in the first place, how TikTok-famous and attractive do you think you are that the Internet would be willing to go through all that effort just to be your date or first kiss? dkfkfk

(Queer women are actually so picky in real life.)

Overall, I had to suspend a lot of disbelief to finish this book but in fairness there's a twist in the end that made it better.

No regrets in spending my time listening to this audiobook because I can see the potential this story had if only someone pointed out these areas for improvement before it was produced.

I hope this review may be constructive to others who want to write about female asexual leads. You need to make your heroine feel like a real person, not someone with only this label going for them.

Making their entire arc only revolve around queerness and throwing in every concept about their sexuality doesn’t leave you with an interesting character.

Nonetheless, it's still heartwarming to see that stories like this can be published where asexuals are just navigating life. Hopefully there will be more in the future.

I really enjoyed this Sapphic romance with excellent Ace/Aspec rep that has a newly out queer librarian trying to embrace her new sexual identity and find someone for her first kiss through an internet influencer fueled scavenger hunt challenge. With help from her lesbian bartender crush, Angela tries to navigate her new identity. It's steamy, heartfelt and fun while also tackling difficult topics like toxic family relationships and online cancel culture. Great on audio and perfect for fans of authors like Claire Kann. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio and digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

AUDIO REVIEW:
the audiobook for this was FANTASTIC! ruby corazon did such a phenomenal job. the intonation was excellent, the emotion imbued in her voice was done perfectly, and the comedic timing was wonderful. time flew by when i listened to this. i was so engaged in the story and the audio made it even better. 10/10!

GENERAL BOOK REVIEW:
i really enjoyed this!!! a sweet sapphic romance with a lot of really important underlying themes. angela’s complex character conveys a lot of very important elements of being a young adult in today’s society. her understanding of her identity, her relationship with friends and family, and her experience with public perception played imperative roles in her character development. i learned a lot about different sexual preferences i hadn’t known about before and feel like i definitely have a deeper understanding of certain members of the LGBTQIA+ community now. the plot was really interesting and i honestly thought the integration of tiktok was super cool. utilizing it as a platform for speaking out and developing a safe space was neat, and i love that it gave angela the ability to meet people she resonated with. angela and krystal’s relationship was really fun to watch unfold. there were a lot of factors at play and obviously many things in consideration that led to a fair amount of bumps along the way, but ultimately ending in a beautiful love story.

thank you forever for the ARC!!! i look forward to reading more from gabriella gamez!

What do you do when you're almost 30 and have never been kissed? You date the internet via Tiktok, of course!

A sweet story about understanding yourself, finding love, and listening to your heart.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the advanced audiobook.

After Angela posts a video about being a 27 year old lesbian asexual who's never been kissed, the video goes viral and starts her on a journey to get that first kiss. Angela decides to create a scavenger hunt, where the person who wins gets to give her that first kiss. She gets help from Krystal, her favorite bartender (and long time crush) to design the clues for the scavenger hunt. As the two get ever closer, Angela starts to wonder whether the person who should be giving her that kiss is right in front of her.

It was fun to dip back into the world we were first introduced to in THE NEXT BIG FLING (both Carmela and Theo make appearances). Angela's personality wasn't as exciting to me as Carmela's, but learning more about the ace community and seeing Angela's journey to figuring out how she would find the kind of relationship that works for her filled in some of that lost character energy. While the narrator didn't do a lot of differentiation in the voices of the characters, it was enough to keep the story moving forward in an engaging way.

KISS ME, MAYBE is out May 6, 2025

⭐️ 2.5 stars! Kiss Me, Maybe was such a sweet read. It was a slow burn for a while, but when Gabriella Gamez took off, she really took off!

Angela is a super sweet librarian who is struggling with finding her sexual identity. She knows for sure she doesn't like men, but does she like women? Does she like anyone? Is she asexual when she hasn't even experienced sex yet? It's hard to find out who you are and what you like if you're a virgin aaaaand you've never been kissed ... by anyone. Ever!

Welcome Krystal. An outspoken bartender (who is also Angela's longtime crush) who is determined to help Angela secure her first kiss. With the help of TikTok, a few strangers, and a scavenger hunt, Angela won't be a 20 something year old who's never been kissed for much longer.

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Gamez did an excellent job researching and explaining the spectrum that is sexuality! However, on the same token, the FMC's sexual identity became her personality. I really wish Gamez would've went more in depth into who Angela was a character and not harp so much on Angela being an asexual lesbian. It really felt like Angela and Krystal were only together because they were both lesbians; I wanted to know more about them aside from that.

For the narrator: Most of the time it seemed as if she were reading directly from a paper (which obviously she was), but this made some parts seem more robotic. It lost me and didn't submerge me in the story. Overall, she was a good narrator. She really hit the nail on the head with the steamy scenes. I've listened to books with steamy scenes and the narration made me feel awkward because I could tell they were awkward reading it. However, this was not that. Great job to the narrator overall.

Librarian Angela Gutierrez has never been kissed. But after posting a video about her late bloomer status and ace identity, she's finally ready to get some firsts out of the way. Using her new influencer status to come up with a scavenger hunt idea in which the winner earns her first kiss, Angela realizes she may need some help to pull off the event.

Enter Krystal Ramirez, hot bartender and Angela’s unrequited crush of five years. Despite vowing that romantic love isn’t for her, Krystal seems awfully determined to help Angela pull off the scavenger hunt and find true love.

There’s just one problem: the connection between Angela and Krystal is getting stronger and stronger the more they hang out, until Angela isn’t sure she wants to go through with the scavenger hunt after all. But Krystal is convinced that she isn’t capable of love and before long, Angela realizes she's falling head over heels for a woman who may never love her back.


Thank you NetGalley for this arc!

Kiss Me, Maybe is an absolutely incredible novel that beautifully captures the journey of self-discovery and acceptance. The story follows Angela Gutierrez, who goes viral after coming out on TikTok, and her quest for her first kiss with the help of her long-time crush, hot bartender Krystal Ramirez. As Angela navigates her newfound fame, she realizes that her connection with Krystal may lead to something much deeper than just a kiss, challenging her understanding of love and identity along the way.

What I loved most about this book is its authentic ace-spectrum representation. Gabriella Gamez brilliantly explores the fluidity of being asexual, dismantling stereotypes and celebrating the diversity of identities within the community. The narrative is relatable, especially in its exploration of the complexities of social media, where connection and toxicity often coexist. The themes of found family versus blood family resonate deeply, particularly in the context of love and acceptance within the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

The narrative adeptly contrasts Angela's explorations of her sexual identity with Krystal's off-page journey of self-acceptance. While Angela navigates her initial hesitations and societal views on relationships, Krystal wrestles with her own identity, questioning whether her feelings towards romantic love stem from a deeper sense of aromanticism or if they are a reaction to the harm caused by heteronormativity. This interplay adds depth to both characters, illustrating how societal expectations can shape and challenge one's self-perception and acceptance.

The pacing of Kiss Me, Maybe is chef’s kiss, with a slow burn that keeps you invested in Angela and Krystal's developing relationship. The writing style is engaging and heartfelt, making it easy to connect with the characters and their struggles. The tension between them is palpable, adding to the excitement of their journey from friends to lovers.

Overall, Kiss Me, Maybe is a beautifully written story that not only entertains but also educates and inspires. Gabriella Gamez has created a captivating and heartfelt story that I highly recommend to anyone looking for a meaningful romantic journey. You will laugh, cry, and cheer for Angela and Krystal as they navigate the complexities of love and identity. This book is a true delight!

This book was adorable and relatable!

I am VERY familiar with the struggles of trying to figure out your identity and dealing with all types of folks while doing so. Angela's journey made me tear up. The way Gabriella Gamez handles all of the queer info and exploration is seamless. I'm emotional over the fact that this book could be a huge eye-opener to someone who is struggling with their sexuality as well. I would definitely recommend it to people looking for all sorts of queer representation, especially those who fall on the ace spectrum. I personally am demipansexual and I felt so much love for this story and all the queer aspects.

The plot of this book is really engaging. Angela accidentally goes viral but then turns that "fame" into a path for confronting her inexperience with dating as well as help relate to other folks going through similar experiences. I really enjoyed all the communication she had with the different people she met online. A queer-awakening can happen at any age and it's so important to validate that. While I felt bad for Angela going through confusing emotions regarding her sexuality, I loved how REAL that was. Sexuality is such a spectrum that sometimes it's difficult to know where exactly you fall along it and that can be difficult to cope with. It was also genius on the author's part to envelope this story about exploration into a plot that involves a scavenger hunt! Not only is that so fun and cute, but it relates super well with the searching themes.

The romance and tension in this book is TOP NOTCH. I was obsessed with the way feelings are developed between the characters. They were so cute together and had me blushing. The grand gesturing was also just amazing. All the things the characters went through and overcame paid off in the best way. Oh and there is some fantastic spice in this book too!

I also liked the other relationships in the book. Julian was a great cousin and I liked how he could relate to a lot of what Angela was going through. It definitely helps when you have family members you can relate to. Marcela and Theo didn't get too much page time but I did enjoy their roles in the story and I'm definitely going to go back and read their book at some point. There were some bullies in the book (TW: bullying, cyberbullying, homophobia, unaccepting family members). I think the bullying and unaccepting family member aspects were handled really well and felt pretty accurate to what queer folks (and honestly people in general) often deal with.

I can be picky about audiobooks but I thought the narrator in this book did such a good job! I really liked her voice and inflections. I do tend to prefer a faster speed but even at the standard speed I thought this was great. The production quality was pretty good too, nothing stuck out to me or bothered me about it and I'd definitely recommend it.

Thank you so much to Hachette Audio and Forever for this ALC provided through NetGalley!