I Think I Love You by Auriane Desombre: Blog Tour & Book Review

^{This is a spoiler-free review.}

I Think I Love You by Auriane Desombre

^{Expected publication March 2nd, 2021 by Underlined.}

My rating:

A sweet and funny debut novel about falling for someone when you least expect it . . . and finding out that real life romance is better than anything on screen.

Emma is a die-hard romantic. She loves a meet-cute Netflix movie, her pet, Lady Catulet, and dreaming up the Gay Rom Com of her heart for the film festival competition she and her friends are entering. If only they’d listen to her ideas. . .

Sophia is pragmatic. She’s big into boycotts, namely 1) relationships, 2) teen boys and their BO (reason #2347683 she’s a lesbian), and 3) Emma’s nauseating ideas. Forget starry-eyed romance, Sophia knows what will win: an artistic film with a message.

Cue the drama. The movie is doomed before they even start shooting . . . until a real-life plot twist unfolds behind the camera when Emma and Sophia start seeing each other through a different lens. Suddenly their rivalry is starting to feel like an actual rom-com.

^{Thank you to TBR and Beyond Tours and the publisher, Underlined/Random House Children’s Books, for providing me with an e-ARC of this book via NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.}

Emma loves love. Obsessed with rom-coms, she can’t wait to have her very own love story. If only it could hurry up and happen already. But until then, Emma is content to help her friends achieve their own happily-ever-afters and bring her dreams, a gay rom-com she can actually relate to, to the big screen herself.

Sophia is the opposite. After the whirlwind of her parents divorcing, her mother uprooting them to France, getting remarried, and then sending her daughter right back to where she started all within the blink of an eye, Sophia is well and truly sick to death of romance. The last thing she wants to do is work on a rom-com.

This rift between Emma and Sophia soon splits their friend group in half. And what was once supposed to be a fun film project to submit for the NYC-LA Film Festival soon becomes a bitter rivalry. But love has its own plans, and these plans not even Emma and Sophia can prevent.

“A rom-com might sound cliché, but as a bisexual girl, I have yet to see myself represented well. I’ve seen myself represented as the quirky girl who doesn’t like labels, as the tragic girl who dies at the end, as the cheater who breaks the protagonist’s heart.

But I’ve never seen a bisexual love story that ends with a happily ever after. And, almost more importantly, neither has my family. When I come out to them, I want them to know that bisexuality is valid, and I want them to know that bisexual love stories are as possible and beautiful and lovely as any other.

And that starts with us, the storytellers in this room, showing them the possibilities.”

I was instantly drawn to I Think I Love You by Auriane Desombre the second I laid eyes on it. The title is perfect, the cover is gorgeous, and the premise? *Chef’s kiss* c’est magnifique! I mean, sapphic rivals-to-lovers falling in love while filming their own sapphic rom-com? I’m pretty sure that’s the most perfect premise I’ve ever heard.

So, you can guess how high my expectations were for this story going into it.

And, oh. My. God. Did it ever exceed them.

This book was literally everything I’ve ever wanted.

Look, I relate to Emma a lot. I’m obsessed with rom-coms. But as much as I love them, they also really bum me out. Because, just like her, I very rarely feel represented in the movies I watch (and honestly, many of the books I read). So often I’ve bemoaned, ‘why can’t there just be a cute rom-com for bi girls?!’ Like seriously, there’s so few, if any.

I Think I Love You just got that need. And boy, did it deliver!

This book was so cute, and heartfelt – and the perfect mix between serious and sweet. I loved every part of it, the colourful, round cast of characters, the drama, the romance. 😍 I found both Sophia and Emma to be very relatable in their own ways, and easy to root for. They both had their own struggles to overcome, and I really enjoyed watching them do so while falling in love with each other. The supporting cast was also great. For a novel with so many characters, I felt like they were all very well fleshed out. I appreciated that not only the two main leads grew and changed throughout the story, but the other characters did too.

I feel like queer romance novel have it doubly hard, because not only do they have to portray an adorable, swoon-worthy romance, they also have to tackle some tough issues – like coming out to friends and family – to be able to really ground the story in reality and make it relatable. Balancing the two is no easy-feat, but Desombre managed it flawlessly! I loved that while this book dealt with some tough situations, it always stayed positive. (All too often queer stories just wind up being depressing – and there’s nothing wrong with that, those stories are important – but sometimes I just want a happy, uplifting queer romance too.)

Overall, this novel just made me so, so happy. In a way so few books can. It was positive, uplifting, and absolutely adorable – and I loved every minute of it. ❤️

About the Author

Auriane is the author of I Think I Love You, and works as a middle school teacher and freelance editor. She holds an MA in English Literature and an MFA in Creative Writing for Children & Young Adults. She lives in Los Angeles with her dog, Sammy, who is a certified bad boy.

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

^{Buy Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indigo | IndieBound}

~ Check out the rest of the tour schedule here! ~

What’s your favorite queer YA contemporary novel?

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