Love in Focus
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
A relationship advice columnist gets a second chance at love with her ex in this sapphic rom-com, perfect for fans of Ashley Herring Blake and Alexandria Bellefleur.
When her boyfriend of seven years suddenly breaks up with her, relationship advice columnist Gemma Cho is convinced that real love doesn’t exist. As a bisexual woman who’s had zero luck with both men and women, she’s ready to give up on her own romantic prospects. That is, until she's paired up with world-renowned photographer Celeste Min on a potentially career-saving piece on modern love.
Celeste is extremely talented and sexy, and would be the perfect collaborator and rebound for Gemma—if it weren’t for the fact that she’s Gemma’s ex, the one that broke her heart in college and moved to a whole other country before Gemma could even make sense of what went wrong between them. Heightened by the unmistakable sparks that still fly between them, Gemma and Celeste struggle to keep their relationship strictly professional. For the sake of her career, Gemma needs this piece to do well. And for the sake of what’s left of her beaten up hopeless romantic heart, she wants to fall head over heels for Celeste again.
But can she trust Celeste to feel the same this time around?
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PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this cute if somewhat forgettable sapphic second-chance romance from Lee (Flip the Script), college exes are reunited to pull together a Valentine's Day feature for a San Francisco magazine. "Modern Love in Focus" will spotlight diverse couples across three generations, with Gemma Cho, a romance advice columnist, conducting the interviews and her ex Celeste Min, a freelancer, brought on to photograph the couples. Unfortunately, Gemma, usually a romantic, has never felt more jaded about love, having recently been dumped by her boyfriend of seven years. Spending time with the woman who abandoned her to return to her home country of South Korea with no explanation eight years prior isn't on the top of her to-do list. But as they complete the assignment, old feelings resurface. Meaningful inclusions of Korean culture and the touching relationship between Gemma and her supportive friend group make for enjoyable reading. Unfortunately, the couples' interviews are littered with clichés ("Love is being there for each other, no matter what"), and Gemma and Celeste's chemistry feels underdeveloped, with the plot relying heavily on their history to convince readers of their compatibility rather than building a present connection. More successful are the personal growth arcs of both protagonists as they heal their past wounds. Those who appreciate imperfect but endearing heroines will be happy to pick this up.
