This was such a great audiobook!
Even though there is only one narrator, both MCs have different voices and show different personalities. I only get that from audiobooks with more than one narrator, so I appreciate it.
This is a book where the miscommunication trope is used in the right way. Why do I think that? Because normally I hate the trope, especially when it's used to justify very common things, but I had such a great time listening to this book.
I would love to read more from the author and to hear more books narrated by this narrator. If they could collaborate again, it would be awesome. They make a great team!

Thank you Hachette audio for the audio arc!

This was such a sweet but moving queer story. I loved seeing Sapphic love portrayed in a way that felt both relatable and endearing. I found myself really understanding both Gem and Celeste’s doubts and hesitation when it came to their relationship and that also came through amazing in the audiobook. Seeing them work together on Love in Focus’ project article gave so many great moments for growth and reflection and we see how other unique couples feel and express love in their life.

It was also nice to see sapphic sex and love in a mature relationship with what I felt to be, realistic smut (yay for strap representation 🤣).

I really loved Gemma’s narrator and felt her voice fit the characterization very well. I had a harder time with Celeste’s narration as often times it felt a bit robotic, almost as if Siri was reading as it lacked a bit of emotional depth.

Overall a great listen!

I accidentally forgot to download before jt expired so I listened to my copy via Spotify audiobooks :)

3.5 🌟
Cute second chance romance!
I enjoyed the plot, side characters and Gemma & Celeste’s character growth however I do feel like it was missing something.

I also wasn’t the biggest fan of Celeste’s POV being in 3rd person and it threw me off a bit but I wouldn’t say it’s a reason to not read.

A really moving second chance sapphic romance! Not only this but they have to work together on a project. Definitely a story I adore. In my opinion, shows the good and bad of personal relationships and approaches love in different ways which most of the time is not portraited in romance books.

I absolutely love a good sapphic romance and this was no exception. The narrators were perfect for this these characters. Thank you to @hachetteaudio for the audiobook! The cover is what drew me in, two people who seem to possible be opposites. The project that the two FMC are working on really draws you in and is so important! Throughout the novel you can really feel their chemistry! attraction and their beautiful relationship. Lyla is such an incredible author and I’ll definitely be adding her next book to my TBR. She has quickly become an autobuy author for me. I would definitely recommend this book to my fellow sapphic lovers!

This was a really good read and I enjoyed! I am a big fan of second chance romance and I love how their jobs found their way back to one another. Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC!

The cover is what drew me in and once I read the synopsis it made me want to read this book. The narration was good but I didn’t care for Celeste as a character. I am happy that Gemma did get her happy ending.

goshhhh i’m late to the party but this was so cute and funny and good. i can’t wait to see more lyla lee

Thank you to @hachetteaudio for the gifted audiobook and thank you to @readforever for the eARC!
As soon as this book was announced and the cover revealed (stunning!) I was so excited! I loved this book so much. The project that Gemma and Celeste work on together is so special and so important and their chemistry was incredible! I loved how real this book felt and that both characters were humanized and had their own struggles outside of the magnetic attraction and their beautiful relationship.
Celeste and Gemma were both great characters, I appreciate getting both of their POVs and the story as a whole.
Absolutely recommend for my fellow sapphic romance lovers.
I'll be anticipating Lyla Lee's next book in the meantime!

First of all, thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

A new author debut to myself and let me tell you, Lyla Lee did not disappoint with this one. This book is the perfect second chance Sapphic romance novel that you absolutely have to read. For anyone who loves Ashley Herring Blake, Alexandria Bellefleur or Rachel Lacey, this one is for you! I listened to this on audio and it made this book even more endearing.

Gemma, a relationship advice columnist suddenly gets dumped by her long term boyfriend and has to move out asap. When she is struggling mentally with the break up she puts all her energy into a new project. But the catch? She has to work with her first ex-girlfriend who ghosted her after a year into their relationship.

Celeste, a magnificent photographer who recently got hired to free-lance a romance project with Gemma. Celeste has found it hard to keep things strictly professional when Gemma is asking all the couples of what defines love? Things get pretty heated between both women but they have to remember what they are doing this project for. But lines start blurring, misunderstandings and put to rest and feelings evolve.

Love In Focus is the perfect romance novel that is a must read and makes you believe in second chances for people.

Thank you to Hachette Book Group, Forever, Lyla Lee, and NetGalley for the arc copy of this book. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.

The last thing romance advise columnist Gemma Cho imagines happening after James, her partner of 7 years, suddenly ends their engagement with no explanation, is running into her ex from college, Celeste Min. But sometimes, the universe has a funny way of bringing people back into your life. Gemma is assigned a project at work that requires a photographer for their upcoming magazine spread on love, and Celeste is hired to photograph. With no real reason to fire Celeste, Gemma assures her boss that the arrangement will not be an issue, and the pair soon work closely together to interview and photograph a group of couples. What they imagined would be an easy assignment turns complicated once the pair realizes they still have lingering feelings and unresolved hurt from college.

This was a quick read and sweet second chance romance. I enjoyed the dual POV from both Celeste and Gemma, but it threw me off that one was third person and one was first person. They should have been the same style. I enjoyed the multicultural and LGBTQIA+ representation, as most romances are told through straight white characters.

3.5 stars.

I didn't finish this title. I listened to about 10% before I realized that it wasn't for me. I didn't like one the narrators for this role, which is a shame because I listened to another of her works directly after and loved it.

okay I did listen to this even though I missed my window to download this ALC when netgalley approved me for it! this was... cute? and I liked the asian queer rep with this book, but I had trouble rooting for them in this book, which is the most important part when reading a romance book! I flew through this book though and the spice was great! but I truly wish there was more between Gemma and Celeste. thank you to the author and netgalley for this ALC in exchange for an honest review!

Cute story !
The love/romance element wasn’t that strong in my opinion but I enjoyed the cultural elements, learning the ins and outs of their industry and swooned over the documentary they crafted!

I thoroughly enjoyed the narration.
I could confidently recommend

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for an ARC of Love in Focus by Lyla Lee.

First I just want to mention I loved the narrators for this book! Gemma's voice actress was so bright and bubbly, and Celeste's was a little husky and much more serious - it made the characters so much easier to picture. Celeste Min is for sure my book wife, every description of her had me like - oh my God! She's tattooed! She's emotionally unavailable! She's a talented photographer!

Celeste was by far my favourite character in this story.

The pacing of the audio was fantastic for the first two acts of the story, but I found by the third it seemed to drag. I think this was partially a pacing problem with the story itself, however, and does not necessarily reflect the quality of the audio performance.

Gemma and Celeste's story was so tragic and beautiful. A second chance romance is something that authors can struggle with portraying, but Lyla Lee executes it so well. Gemma starts the story needing to do so much work and self-reflection - she's a bisexual mess who has never been single for more than a month since college. Celeste, meanwhile, is so hurt by her and Gemma's breakup eight years prior that she has ended all expectation of ever finding a relationship again. The two of them dance around each other for a while, unwilling to give in to their obvious and growing attraction, but when they finally come together it's like fireworks.

The cast of supporting characters was delightful, too. Val and Kiara were super supportive friends with a beautiful romance of their own, meanwhile James and Daphne were characters you love to hate. Gemma boss, Evelyn, was sharp and clever but also exceedingly kind. They really rounded out the story nicely. I would have loved to see more characters from Celeste's life to balance things out, however - aside from a few mentions and one brief appearance of her friend Min-joon, this story is heavily weighted in Gemma's favour, which is somewhat disappointing as it is (sort of?) dual POV.

Gemma's perspective being third person and Celeste's perspective being in third person was a little disappointing to me. I understood it served to add another barrier between the reader and Celeste's inner thoughts and feelings, but I just wanted to know more about her - about her struggles, her pain, her whirlwind romance with Gemma.

The ending of this story was satisfying, but I strongly disliked Gemma and Celeste's conversation that was riddled with therapyspeak. It felt disingenuous to their previous characterisations, especially Celeste's. However, while it did subtract one star from my overall rating, I would still recommend this book to others and will be seeking out Lyla Lee's Flip the Script, which is another sapphic romance novel.

I had so much fun with the second chance, romance!

Gemma is a relationship advice, colonist who’s thrown for a loop when she is paired up with her college ex, Celeste, a world, renowned photographer for a in depth look at love for her magazine !

Gemma‘s first reaction is to try to get out of working with Celeste- which I thought was very mature and I loved seeing a lot of adult reactions in this book. When she’s not able to get out of it, she attempts to make the best out of the situation with Celeste, even though she’s still heartbroken from when she ghosted her all those years ago!

But shockingly some frank conversations prompted by the romance of love and Valentines, has both Gemma and Celeste opening up about that time and finding out they both were in the wrong back then… and perhaps the lingering spark that exist between them is worth exploring!

What a refreshing second chance romance where their past issues and misunderstandings are dealt with. It does take a bit of time for them to get to the point where they can open up and unpack this baggage but once they do, it’s easy to see why these two were perfect for each other!

The audiobook narrated by Natalie Naudus and Catherine Ho provides a great listening experience with both narrators fully embodying their character. I like how the voice is complementing each other and gave a clear voice to both Gemma and Celeste. I really enjoyed listening to this pairing just as much as I enjoyed Celeste and Gemma‘s romance!

First off - I just wanted to say thank you for the opportunity to listen and review "Love in Focus"

I was really excited for this book, however I found myself being let down in a lot of ways. The first thing I will say is that the narrators did a really good job and I felt that I was invested more because of the narrators.

As for the story, it had the potential to be really cute but I found it falling short. I love second chance romances, but in my opinion the characters in this book held grudges throughout most of it which made it lose its lustre and left me feeling like they were fighting to make their relationship work too much.

The supporting characters however were great! I love how supportive their friends were and how they kept rooting for them throughout the book.

Would I recommend this book? Depends on what they are looking for. I sell it in my store and it's something I will continue to carry but just not a favourite of mine.

Thank you for this arc!

I am a little late on my review but here it goes… I found the plot quite cute and I was definitely invested with the plot and the characters, especially thanks to the great narration by Natalie Naudus and Catherine Ho. I think they really fit their characters and helped bring the story to like audibly. This was my first Lyla Lee book and I am definitely curious to see what else she has in store!

Love in Focus is a cute sapphic love story between Gemma, a relationship advice columnist, and Celeste, a professional photographer. The two dated in college and end up reunited on a new work project. The story mainly takes place from Gemma's point of view with the occasional chapter from Celeste's POV. I found it slightly jarring that Gemma's chapters would be in first person but Celeste's were in third person. Love in Focus tells the growing relationship between these two characters while also discussing Korean cultural dynamics, discovering one's identity, and growing as an individual outside of a relationship. I appreciated how Gemma evolved throughout the story and went from a serial dater to an independent woman.

🌟2.5/5
🌶️ 3.5/5 (several in depth scenes)
Would recommend? No
Would reread? No
Genre: romance
Vibes: 📸🍜📝💔

This one didn’t work for me. I really wanted to love it. The representation was a nice and I felt well done, but I never found myself rooting for them.

Tropes & themes:
-LGBTQ rep (sapphic/ bi)
-Korean rep
-dating apps
-she’s a love advice columnist , she’s a photographer
-forced proximity
-second chance / exes
-several breakups

🥀
Almost 30 year olds getting so drunk they blackout/vomit/pass out…. Then the ex has to take care of them. Lots of people were getting vomit drunk and wasnt my scene.

Also the ZERO COMMUNICATION? To holding a grudge. They refused to get closure and then just get back together without forgiving each other. Over and over again.

Thank you HachetteAudio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.