I was a bit confused about the set up of this world with the period it’s supposed to be in and how the gays or rather the wlw relationships found a place in this. Basically, the historic setting seemed to be a bit of an extra, just so the reader could experience the ball gowns and the thrill of secretly dating set against the expectations of a conservative, noble English family. It was interesting of course, especially to read the differences between American and English society, but it was also a bit confusing because it was so close to reality, but not really. After a few pages, I just decided to treat it as a Bridgerton for the gays, a world that is supposed to be historical, but that isn’t very accurate. After this decision, I found the set up very exciting.
Once one made it past this struggle of understanding the fictional world, it was a joy to read this though. The love story was super cute, and the flirting thrilling. Freya and Ivy had great character developments and had overall very interesting personalities, that made the reader fall in love and feel with them quickly. I loved how their love story progressed (they both fell deeply in love rather quick) and how it tied in with the rest of the story.
As someone who didn’t enjoy “Girls like girls” as much (I’m looking forward to the movie though!), I thorougly enjoyed this book by Hayley Kiyoko and I’m definitely looking forward to whatever she will write next.
