Don't Want You Like a Best Friend
Books | Fiction / LGBTQ+ / Lesbian
3.7
Emma R. Alban
A swoon-worthy debut queer Victorian romance in which two debutantes distract themselves from having to seek husbands by setting up their widowed parents, and instead find their perfect match in each other--the lesbian Bridgerton/Parent Trap you never knew you needed! Gwen has a brilliant beyond brilliant idea. It's 1857, and anxious debutante Beth has just one season to snag a wealthy husband, or she and her mother will be out on the street. But playing the blushing ingenue makes Beth's skin crawl and she'd rather be anywhere but here. Gwen, on the other hand, is on her fourth season and counting, with absolutely no intention of finding a husband, possibly ever. She figures she has plenty of security as the only daughter of a rakish earl, from whom she's gotten all her flair, fun, and less-than-proper party games. "Let's get them together," she says. It doesn't take long for Gwen to hatch her latest scheme: rather than surrender Beth to courtship, they should set up Gwen's father and Beth's newly widowed mother. Let them get married instead. "It'll be easy" she says. There's just...one, teeny, tiny problem. Their parents kind of seem to hate each other. But no worries. Beth and Gwen are more than up to the challenge of a little twenty-year-old heartbreak. How hard can parent-trapping widowed ex-lovers be? Of course, just as their plan begins to unfold, a handsome, wealthy viscount starts calling on Beth, offering up the perfect, secure marriage. Beth's not mature enough for this... Now Gwen must face the prospect of sharing Beth with someone else, forever. And Beth must reckon with the fact that she's caught feelings, hard, and they're definitely not for her potential fiancé. That's the trouble with matchmaking: sometimes you accidentally fall in love with your best friend in the process.
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More Details:
Author
Emma R. Alban
Pages
400
Publisher
HarperCollins Publishers
Published Date
2024-01-09
ISBN
006331200X 9780063312005
Community ReviewsSee all
"OMIGOD OMIDGOD OMIGOD OMIGODDDDD<br/><br/>READING THIS BOOK HAD BROUGHT ME THE MOST INDESCRIBABLE JOY I CANT EVEN TELL YALL!!!!!!!!<br/><br/>Laughs and happy tears and a little happy dance 2 minutes ago when I read the last page. I’m seriously obsessed with this book I can’t EVEN.<br/><br/>Also?!?!?! THE SEQUEL!?!?!?!? AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH<br/><br/>IM SO SO HAPPY IM CHEESING RN"
"the best part of this for me were the supportive relationships had by the main characters. i loved albie, meredith, bobby, and lord havenfort, and i look forward to seeing more of them in the sequel!! the conspiring, scheming bits were also very fun, so i'm excited that the next book will feature quite a bit more of that."
"I didn’t know what to expect from this book, especially looking at the Taylor swift-inspired title, but it was really good. The romance was very beautifully written and the details about clothes and everything was surprisingly accurate to the time period (Victorian era). Also, I love that everyone was so supportive of Gwen and Beth, even if it’s not very accurate. Over all, this was a really nice read."
"I loved this book so much. It was easy to read and caught my attention because it’s genuinely interesting. The writing is beautiful and I almost cried like 10 times while reading this book because it’s so sad. And this story perfectly portrays self discovery (especially for the time it’s set in) it’s also super accurate because sometimes there are fancy words that I have no idea what they mean.
Gwen and Beths friendship and love is so beautiful and passionate. I 100% recommend this book.
Also there are a couple “Spicy” scenes in it they aren’t very long and aren’t super graphic, they’re actually kind of sweet. I’m not a person who usually reads books with those types of scenes but this book was absolutely amazing and I felt seen throughout the entirety of the book."
"YALL!!! Oh my god, this book is SO GOOD!! Seriously, I had so much fun with this book!! I went from sobbing to tears of laughter so many times! Beth and Gwen are everything!!! No one else even needed to be great because of how great they were but even the side characters were so lovable! I love Cordelia, Dashiell, Albie, Bobby, Meredith, Mrs. Gilpe, and Mrs. Stelm so so much"
"A lovely sapphic romance. I loved the exploration of stolen moments between the main characters and the history and evolution of the relationship between the parents. It's a bit predictable at times, but still remains a light, fun, and fluffy read. I really enjoyed that the voice of the two main characters felt very different.<br/>I appreciated that the author tackled the challenges and reality of being (a) a woman (b) queer, at a time when the first had very little rights and the second was outright dangerous to be. For fans of Austen and Bridgerton, this book is a smash hit."
"This was a super cute read, I enjoyed it so much. I loved both characters, the romance and the parent trap plot. It was so cute seeing the main characters go from friends to lovers and then navigating that in the historical times. I can’t wait for the next book in the series because the characters and plot looks so interesting. <br/><br/>Read this if you like: <br/>- Queer Awakening <br/>- Parent trapping <br/>- Sapphic love <br/>- Historical romance <br/>- First love"