First thing’s first: thank you Netgalley for the ALC of this book!

Love in Focus by Lyla Lee was cute! This was a second chance romance between Gemma and Celeste, college exes who are pushed back together on a work project after not being in touch for the better part of 10 years.

I liked the way the characters interacted when they got back together. They were sweet and easy to root for, but the original cause of the breakup felt…weird and not realistic? While I enjoyed the book, I also felt like it was a bit long and kind of drug on in parts. It would have been more successful if edited down a little, in my opinion! Second chance romance isn’t my favorite but this one was okay.

3.5⭐️

I started this audiobook enjoying it so much. However I could not stand Celeste's chapters being in 3rd POV when Gemma's was in 1st POV. I can't stand the switch and it makes the book not flow as nicely.

We read this book in our romance book club and I like to listen when I do not have time to physically read. I enjoyed the two different narrators and I feel they did a good job narrating their respective characters Celeste and Gemma. One thing that confused me was the two different writings styles depending on which character was narrating - third and first person. It would have been easier to follow the book if it had been one or the other. I enjoyed the plot of Love in Focus but I wish there had been a bit more of a climax to the story.

This was so cute!! If you’re into sapphic second-chance romances, Love in Focus is totally worth checking out. I listened to the audiobook and the narration was great.

I absolutely loved the representation in this book—great bisexual rep, Korean characters, and a thoughtful exploration of how queerness is often hidden or unspoken in some Asian communities. It added a lot of depth without feeling heavy. And yes, it's fairly spicy!

Gemma was definitely the more developed of the two FMCs. Her voice felt natural, real, and I connected with her easily. Celeste’s POV, on the other hand, was a bit harder to get into—partly because of the writing style shift between first and third person. It made Celeste’s sections feel a little choppy, and honestly, I wish we had more from her in general.

Gemma and Celeste together were adorable. Their chemistry felt believable, and even though there were bumps in their reconnection, I found myself rooting for them from the start. They felt relatable and sweet.

One thing that bugged me was James's character. He had all the makings of a juicy antagonist but was barely used. He popped in and out like the author forgot he existed until the plot needed a little nudge. A bit more angst or tension there could’ve really elevated the stakes.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Hachette Audio and Netgalley for providing this audiobook for free in exchange for an honest review.

This was a profoundly feel-good story about missed opportunities, and the chance for a redo. Perfect for a summer beach read or for when you don't want something too heavy. The narration was good, easy to follow and distinguish the characters.

This is my first book from Lyla Lee and I’m excited to get the special edition of this from Afterlight. What I liked about the story is that it is a second chance romance.- I like the idea of them reuniting and becoming reacquainted was due to work (forced proximity). I think Celeste is such a cool character. I liked getting to know Gemma’s character and feeling her emotions as she navigates a longtime relationship lost and reuniting and starting a new relationship with her first time love.

It’s rare (at least my knowledge) to see a sapphic romance featuring two Korean characters. I was drawn to listening to this/hearing this story- what i enjoyed is that it is dual POV (Gemma’s is 1st person and Celeste is 3rd person- i needed more Celeste chapters). Catherine Ho and Natalie Nauru’s did well with the narration.

If you love books that are: second chance romance, forced proximity, first love, and sapphic romance then you may like this,

Overall I listened to this book quickly- it had me entertained- I look forward to reading more from Lyla Lee.

this was cute, cozy and very fast paced. you could definitely finish it in one day, in one sitting, especially if you're listing to it at 1.5x or faster. unfortunately, the whole situation could have been avoided with a bit of communication and that 100% annoyed me. but still, it was a cute sapphic romance with asian rep and i loved that! now about the audio... i didn't love Catherine Ho as celeste... i felt that her voice was just a bit too mature and it threw me off every time her chapters came up. she just sounded wayyy older than gemma. i think the Natalie Naudus could have narrated both parts just fine! i actually liked her voice distinctions of both characters in her own chapters. because i didn't love the voice acting, i may have enjoyed it more as a physical copy, however it was still cute, not life changing by any means, but fun! and i LOVED gemma's friends! thanks for the alc hachette audio and forever!

This was cute and the narrators did an amazing job!

The story had a good flow and the conversations were easy to stay engaged in, so while good I felt like it was missing a bit of a wow factor. I just wanted a little more drama.

Would definitely pick up another title from this new to me author!

an adorable second chance romance between two college sweethearts thrown together on a work project. this audiobook was an easy listen with a lot of laughs.

Love is Focus is a sapphic second chance romance of college roomates turned lovers, Gemma and Celeste who broke up ubruptly 8 years ago and now have to work together. The tension with Gemma and Celeste is THICK. Just show i like it! Love in Focus is a sweet will they wont they but shes STRAPPED. I love the bisexual representation in this book, the struggles queer people go through in countries that don’t have gay rights (South Korea) and what a difference queer people’s lives are when they are in environments that let them thrive and be themselves. The project that Gemma and Celeste worked on together was also great. I loved all the different couples at different stages of their lives discussing love and their relationships.

Fair warning - 50% of this book takes place around Christmas. I was not expecting that going in, especially since the cover is giving spring! I love the cover & artist but it feels like it misrepresents the book.

🤍 Second Chance
🩷 Workplace Romance
💜 Tension + yearning
🤍 Will they, won’t they
🩷 MCs go to therapy
💜 Bisexual + Lesbian Rep
🤍 Photographer x photo journalist
🩷 Dual POV
💜 Sapphic love
🤍 Found Family
🩷 AAPI Rep
🤍 Grumpy x Sunshine
💜 College roommates/exes
🤍 Forced Proximity

Thank you to NetGalley & Hatchette Audio for letting me read & give an honest review!

The book follows Gemma (mainly) and Celeste who dated in college for a year, and seven years later they end up working together on a career defining project. Gemma, the relationship advice columnist who was recently broken up with by her fiancé is assigned a project about couples in love and the photographer hired is her ex-girlfriend, Celeste. Gemma claims that Celeste ghosted her at the end of their relationship but Celeste has a different side to the story.

What to expect
- Sapphic second chance romance
- Accurate bisexual and Lesbian rep
- Forced proximity
- South Korean main characters

I am usually a hater of second chance romance but Love in Focus may have changed my mind. One person didn’t cheat or do something utterly horrible or unforgivable so it was easy to believe the story being told and not hating one person the entire time.

The novel follows mainly Gemma with the occasional chapter from Celeste’s pov to gain some context in the overall story being told and I really enjoyed being more invested in one character over both? It reflects real life that way – I know myself and my own thoughts more than my wife’s. So it was just all very believable?

The sexuality rep was done so well as well! I am a bisexual married to a lesbian and I went to her and said ‘ugh, I hate it when lesbians say that they hate when their bisexual ex dates a man after. I feel like they are not getting what bisexuals are’ which opened up dialogue between a lesbians pov vs a bisexuals and was so lovely to have.

All the characters in the book are likeable, you understand where everyone is coming from and are cheering them on at the same time. Also the South Korean representation was something new to me. I mainly read fantasy so to read a romance book where they outright say ‘in Korea xxx’ was so interesting and I feel like I learned a lot while keeping the dialogue completely natural.

I received the audiobook on NetGalley, I really loved the narrator for Gemma, but struggled with Celeste’s one from time to time. But that being said it wasn’t bad at all, just a shock and adjustment that was done in 30 seconds. I would still recommend this as an audiobook for sure!

Thank you Hachette ANZ and NetGalley for the audiobook, all thoughts are my own!

𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 4⭐️
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: contemporary romance 📚

𝙼𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜:
A sweet and fun sapphic romance

𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
Second chance (college exes)
Workplace romance
Love advice columnist/ photographer
Found family
Sapphic romance
Moments of healing

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚍:
Korean- American cultural rep
I loved the narration

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛:
Chemistry between the two felt a little flat
Pacing was a little off
Underdeveloped subplots

𝙵𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚀𝚞𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚜:
★ “The beauty of being bi, I learned, is that you can get rejected by both women and men.”
★ “But nothing could mitigate the intense pain and betrayal Celeste felt when she’d finally managed to pull herself back to the surface, only to discover that Gemma had not only moved on, but she’d moved on with a man. A lesbian’s worst nightmare.”
★ “She’s raging into love the way soldiers rage into war.”

I loved every second of Love in Focus. The second chance romance was really swoony and the characters heartfelt!

I’ve wanted to read this book as soon as I saw Lyla Lee talk about it on her Tik tok. She has me hooked from the start so getting the chance to hear the audiobook was the cherry on top. First of all, the narrators for both POV were amazing. I do wish I had more equal splits of POV from each character because I really loved both narrators bringing to life our protagonist. I could easily close my eyes and feel myself right in the studio with the two women as they worked on their interviews. I could hear the pain in their voices when discussing their past. The book is amazing but please give so much credit to the narrators for a smashing performance!!

This was a cute book, especially on audio. Love in Focus is a sapphic second chance romance, which is not one of my "normal" genres, but I enjoyed it. It felt like I was watching a cute rom com, and didn't need to really "focus" on the book as much as a thriller or historical fiction. This was definitely a nice change of pace for me. The narrators were good too - the dual narration is always one of my favorites on audio books.

Thanks to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Oooooh boy do I have a mix of emotions about this one. I really enjoyed Gemma and her POV, If it wasn't for her POV I'm not sure I would have made it through the story. Celeste however. for starters I really do not understand why some books are mixed POV (as in Gemma was first person and Celeste was 3rd person POV), its a creative choice and the author has every right but its probably one of my least favorite creative choices when its comes to storytelling POV. As for the character herself, Celestes logic for why SHE was mad at Gemma was unhinged and REALLY hard to get past. The seggsual chemistry in this story was probably the strongest piece of this work.

As far as narration, I love Natalie Naudus but the narrator who read Celeste again was a miss for me.

If you had told me that the author of this book was two people and they did almost no consulting with each other beyond the "here is where my chapter ended" I might actually believe you.

Love in Focus is a sweet and romantic novel about a second chance sapphic relationship between a recently jilted bisexual relationship columnist and her former college lesbian lover, a world-renowned photographer. The two are paired up to work on an article on modern love and rekindle an old flame while collaborating and interviewing couples about their relationships.
This story was soooo sweet and quick paced! It was fun and engaging and I ate up this audiobook in two days. I felt the plot was very intriguing and the characters very well-developed. In the beginning, I was a bit annoyed with our main characters and their lack of communication, but just chopped it up to being young and dumb (who wasn't in college, right?). I enjoyed the little bit of spice we got in the story and that things did not get too smutty or cheesy, it was very well-balanced in my opinion. Some of my favorite aspects of the story were the multicultural references as our main characters are both Asian, as well as the the different types of relationships explored between the rest of the cast of characters including the people they are interviewing for their article. I feel there is great character growth and development through this story as well.

Thank you to NetGalley and HachetteAudio for allowing me to listen to this audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion in this review.

3.5 - A cute second chance romance with great dual POV narration! BUT second chance romances just aren’t always my thing and that’s where this one lost me a bit. Still had a good time overall and the audiobook was really well done!

Thank you NetGalley for the ALC 🎧💕

Love in Focus is a short and sweet sapphic romcom. It's a second chance romance, which I don't always love, but I had quite a good time with it. The main character, Gemma, is a relationship columnist paired up on assignment with her college ex. This premise felt so cozy and reminiscent of early 2000 romcoms. I really liked both of the main characters, as well as the book's writing style. My only problem with the book is it sometimes felt like Celeste was less invested in the relationship than Gemma, which was a bit of a downer. As a whole though, I had a really fun time with this book. It's a quick read and easily worth the time!

A sweet and honest story of taking another chance on an ex. Full of snappy dialogue, sizzly chemistry, and spicy spice, I enjoyed this book a lot. Second-chance romance isn’t usually my favorite, but I can also admit that I do not want to be judged for the choices I made in college haha, where common sense often goes to die. As a note, I listened to the audio version and the narration was excellent!

Read if you like: Bi & asian rep, workplace romance, artsy characters.

Thanks to Netgalley and Hachette Audio for providing me with a digital copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.