Annabel Paulsen

Such a cute little queer romance story. It plays so nicely into the classic tropes you find in all of the dating shows that are playing right now. I really enjoyed the bits of point of view that allowed the readers to get the perspective of figuring one's sexuality out. I do think the miscommunication trope fit well into this story specifically with the production side of a dating show, which made the miscommunication feel a tad less frustrating than it normally would. All in all a great little read about two ladies just trying to figure out love.… (más)

Thanks to LibraryThing for the ARC!

4 out of 5 stars

In Here for the Wrong Reasons, we watch the newest season of Hopelessly Devoted, a fictional version of the Bachelor, unfold with a focus on two of the contestants: Krystin and Lauren. Krystin is a country girl who knows exactly what she wants: her happily ever after. So what if she's never actually been in a relationship (at least not since eighth grade)? She knows what she wants and who she wants it with: Josh, this season's Hopeless Romantic . . . right? Lauren also knows exactly what she wants: the increase in followers that's sure to come from making it to the Hopelessly Devoted finals. However, after a less-than-stellar interaction in one of the challenges, the two are pulled closer into each other's orbits and eventually begin to care for each other. But will they be able to reconcile their feelings with their original plans? I recommend this book for people who like the Bachelor, the idiots-in-love trope, and don't mind the awkwardness that sometimes comes from love triangles (there is no love triangle, but poor Josh doesn't know that).

At the beginning, I struggled to see how Krystin and Lauren could actually end up together. I genuinely liked Krystin from the beginning and could identify with her awkwardness and the way she seemed to know what she wanted. Lauren was not my favorite initially. She was presented as kind of manipulative, and not in a "girlboss doing what she needs to so she can get ahead" way. However, over the course of the book her inner monologue opened up in the narrative and it became clear that she was just scared to be open. In a way, Krystin had the exact same struggle, and while they were both very bad communicators, it completely fit both their characters so I didn't really mind (even though I tend to think the miscommunication trope can be a bit of a cop-out. I was a big fan of the authors' "show don't tell" style of narration; since both Lauren and Krystin were clearly emotionally constipated, it made a lot of sense that most of the signs of their growing affection for each other (and, in Krystin's case, the fact that she was gay) were presented as physical feelings.

The climax was deeply uncomfortable to read, but that's kind of to be expected, given the situation; since they were both the final girls, there was no way Josh was coming out of this unscathed and that was sad. I did end up liking Josh, even though he didn't have a ton of personality; it was clear that a lot of the blander lines were from the producers and the hints of his actual self all made it clear he was generally a cool guy. Overall I liked the cast of characters; all the contestants we got close to seemed to have a real personality and a lot of the interpersonal clashes felt very real, not like caricatures played up for the reality TV angle. I do think the ending was well done.

My only real complaint is that the pacing felt a bit off to me; there were a couple moments in the beginning that I was bored, and I think that Lauren's about-face felt a bit abrupt and there could have been more active growth in the narrative.… (más)

thank you to librarything for the arc!

I just finished here for the wrong reasons and let me say…i LOVED it. while i do have some drawbacks, such as the third person pov (i just don’t love it), but that’s a personal preference. i loved how lydia wang wrote this story. from the beginning with them all vying for josh’s attention to the feud between krystin and lauren i was hooked. i finished this book in one day unable to put it down. i laughed and cried and felt so many emotions as i watched lauren struggle with coming out and all the things that go along with it as well as krystin finding her true self. overall this book was an amazing read and such a good example of a perfect lgbtq+ romance.… (más)