Love Somebody by Rachel Roasek: Blog Tour & Book Review

^{This is a spoiler-free review.}

Love Somebody by Rachel Roasek

^{Expected publication January 11th, 2022 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR).}

My rating:

A sparkling YA debut rom-com about a popular high-school girl, her ex-boyfriend-turned-best-friend, and the girl they both fall for—perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli or Casey McQuiston.

Sam Dickson is a charismatic actress, ambitious and popular with big plans for her future. Ros Shew is one of the smartest people in school—but she’s a loner, and prefers to keep it that way. Then there’s Christian Powell, the darling of the high school soccer team. He’s not the best with communication, which is why he and Sam broke up after dating for six months; but he makes up for it by being genuine, effusive, and kind, which is why they’re still best friends.

When Christian falls for Ros on first sight, their first interaction is a disaster, so he enlists Sam’s help to get through to her. Sam, with motives of her own, agrees to coach Christian from the sidelines on how to soften Ros’s notorious walls. But as Ros starts to suspect Christian is acting differently, and Sam starts to realize the complexity of her own feelings, their fragile relationships threaten to fall apart.

This fresh romantic comedy from debut author Rachel Roasek is a heartfelt story about falling in love—with a partner, with your friends, or just with yourself—and about how maybe, the bravest thing to do in the face of change is just love somebody.

^{Thank you to Turn the Page Tours and the publisher, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)/Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, for providing me with an e-ARC of this book via NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.}

Love Somebody by Rachel Roasek is a great example of how a love triangle should be written. The three leads – Sam, Ros and Christian – are all well-rounded and fully realized characters. The narration does a good job of focusing equally on all three, each one with their own internal battles they have to overcome. The story allows them to all shine on their own as much – if not more! – than when they were together.

I really enjoyed all three of their storylines and personal character arcs, and was pleasantly surprised by their development throughout this novel. When I first began Love Somebody, I actually didn’t find any of them likable and was worried this would affect my overall enjoyment of the book. But the writing did a very good job of changing my opinions about them, and by the end of the novel I definitely felt for each and every one. 💗

I think this novel’s strength is its heart, as it’s a very character-driven story. In fact, I found the emotionality of the writing made up for some minor bumps in the plot that would have otherwise bothered me more. It was just so heartfelt, it was hard to get too hung up on the few plot holes, even if I did notice them.

(By this I mean, there were a couple of instances where one of the characters would somehow know where the other one was coming from even without that character telling them. Like, they shouldn’t have understood the context behind certain actions the way the reader would, yet somehow they did. Almost as if the characters themselves were omniscient – but only when the plot necessitated it. 🙈)

But despite these minor hiccups, I found myself ~feeling~ for these characters. I also really appreciated that in the end, no one was pegged as “the bad guy”, nor was anyone left in the dust. This story was less about ‘who got the girl’ and more about everyone getting what they needed. 💖

About the Author

Rachel Roasek received her BA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2017, with a degree in Drama and two minors in Sign Language and Anthropology. When not coming up with fictional worlds, she works as both a voice actor and stage technician. She currently lives in Raleigh with a few dying plants and her dog, Lupe.

Buy Love Somebody

Giveaway

Up for grabs will be TWO (2) finished copies of Love Somebody by Rachel Roasek. This giveaway will run from January 10th through January 15th at 11:59 PM CST via Rafflecopter. Open to US residents only. Enter by clicking the link below!

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

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