The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.Īutumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart their mothers are still best friends. Pleasantly and audaciously fills a gap in queer romance. Most characters are cued as white Beth is English and brown-skinned. Irish slang adds cultural texture to the story. Smyth paints each character as a complex, messy, lifelike individual. The novel’s voice is delightfully brash and no-nonsense while it simultaneously reveals Saoirse’s vulnerabilities as she deals with various feelings of betrayal. As they spend time together, however, it gets harder for Saoirse to follow her own relationship boundary rules. Commitment-phobic Saoirse’s keen to promote wholesome lesbian romance and to keep things casual.

To convert horror-loving Saoirse, Ruby proposes they try to complete a list of rom-com clichés over the summer. There, she finds a cute girl to kiss-Ruby, visiting the seaside Irish town from her native England. To postpone dealing with any of that, she heads to a party. Having just completed her final exams, 17-year-old Saoirse heads into summer after high school with a lot on her plate: not wanting to attend prestigious Oxford, though her father’s set on it navigating the anxiety and struggles of a mother suffering from early-onset dementia and her father’s upcoming marriage to his new girlfriend, Beth. A girl-girl rom-com packed with all the standard cheesy moments and raw emotions.

The falling in love montage