Blog Tour – I Think I Love You

Hello hello! Second day of March and my second post of the month – so far, so brilliant, well done me. Today I’m writing about the young adult contemporary novel, I Think I Love You, as part of the blog tour organised by TBR and Beyond Tours. I’m right at the beginning of the tour this time, and you can find the schedule with links to all the blogs included right here. It also happens to be publishing day today for this beautiful book so happy book birthday to author Auriane Desombre.

Synopsis
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.

Review
Rating: 4.5 stars
I absolutely LOVED this book, and loved it so much more than I thought I would. I thought I’d like it, sure, but I didn’t see myself absolutely falling in love with the characters, their stories, and their love. I must admit I’m far more of a Sophia when it comes to love, being a level of skeptical that my friends often despair at, and leaves my husband utterly bemused I ever married him, let alone that I’m queer and attracted to women as well.

I read this book in three sittings, because I just couldn’t put it down when I started reading. It’s the length of an average novel at around 320 pages, but it felt so easy to take in that I barely noticed the time going by; I was just so involved in the story.

The author has managed to capture the perfect balance between ‘easy read’ and ’emotional investment’, which is a fine balance to strike in any novel, but in a romantic novel especially is even more difficult. To keep it light with heavier moments where needed, balanced out with genuine snapshots of comedy… It just really, really worked, and I loved every page.

It takes a lot for me to just gush over a novel, especially anything that does center romance, but I’m in love with this book – and this couple – and I think you will be, too.

Top Five Reasons To Read “I Think I Love You”

• Healthy friendships and relationships represented
  Aside from the main storyline, one of my favourite bits about this book was the friendships, especially male / female friendships, and both Sophia and Emma being happy to call out people in their friendship group for unacceptable behaviour. The fact that these people weren’t perfect but were able to apologize also really made me warm to them.
• All the banter
  Before, during and after Sophia and Emma have realised their feelings for each other, the way they swing insults at each other is highly amusing. They learn more about each other through their petty squabbling, and it leads them to seeing each other in a new light.
• Coming out stories
  Emma tells her parents that she’s bisexual during the course of book, and quite simply we need more of these in books, healthy and unhealthy ones. The more people see that coming out as something casual, the less it will even need to be done. I wasn’t out to my parents until my twenties, even though I was 99% sure they would support me; it was that 1% that held me back. I’m nearly 30 now and I’d like to think the world has progressed. Stories like this help gay teens.
• High quality writing
  As well as there being things about the story that are brilliant, the story itself is well written and lovely to read. It flows well, and the two characters as clearly defined in their personalities when written. It’s of huge credit to the author that both Sophia and Emma feel real, and very different from each other when reading.
• Self discovery
  As well as the coming out story side of the book, and the journey of a couple, there is the individual soul searching that goes on for both characters, but especially Sophia. She is able to express what she’s been through to Emma more than anyone else, much to both of their surprise. It works to help form the characters, and make them more endearing.

Book Links
Good Reads
Amazon UK / Amazon US
Barnes and Noble
Book Depository
Indigo
IndieBound

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.

Author Links
Website: https://www.aurianedesombre.com/
Twitter
Instagram
Goodreads