The Love Study by Kris Ripper

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HARLEQUIN - Carina Press in exchange for an honest review.

The Love Study is a rarity because never have I read a book about a group of diverse, queer characters and related so hard to all of them. Not necessarily the characters themselves but the dynamics, the attitudes, the friendships. This is the story of Declan, a man who has struggled with dating in the past and has huge commitment issues. He meets a nonbinary Youtuber called Sidney and together they start a new streaming show. Sidney will set Declan up on dates and Declan will discuss what diverse dating is like in the modern world. However, Declan soon starts to fall for Sidney just as his commitment issues start to kick in hard.

Ripper has perfectly captured something I almost never see in books and that is to be commended. The group of people in The Love Study interact like my friendship group does, like so many predominantly queer groups do. That alone makes this book refreshing and highly entertaining, but the plot that goes alongside that is also great. I am a huge fan of cute dating project type stories, and this is a brilliant example of the trope. The romance is sweet but realistic, never quite crossing into outright fluff and addressing a lot of genuine relationship issues which can come up in queer groups. This is all done extremely well.

The only thing that stopped this book being perfect for me was that at times, it felt a bit cringey? I'm not sure if it was just that I'm not used to reading books which actually reflect real life experiences but at times, it got a bit intense. This bothered me quite a lot but I recognise it is likely a me problem which is why I didn't take too much off the rating for it. If you are not used to these kind of social environments, you might not 'get' this book and you might find it a bit off putting as a result. If you're open-minded though or used to predominantly queer spaces, this is a real gem.

Overall, The Love Study is both a very important book in terms of its rep and just a fun, sweet romance. If you care less about rep than me, you will still love the story and the couple and everything that goes on. I would love to see more books like this, more romances where I feel I can relate to the characters. I am very glad I got a copy of this and I will definitely be looking out for more of Ripper's work.

Overall Rating:

.5