Review of ‘#CassiNova’ by Lori G. Matthews
I ended up enjoying this lesbian rom-com book more than I expected. If you follow my reviews you will know I’m not the biggest rom-com fan. My funny bone seems to be broken when it comes to book humor and I struggle more times than not. However, I do love reading debut authors and Bella has a track record of publishing some really good ones these last few years, so I wanted to read this. I’m glad I did since this was an entertaining read. There were some bumps for sure, but for the most part, they didn’t affect my enjoyment too much.
The author mentioned that this story was originally based on fanfiction. I honestly have no idea what this could have started out as. This is a celebrity romance with one of the main characters as an actress on a show that resembles ‘The 100’, so maybe this started as uber Clexa, I’m just not sure. I thought it was cute that one of the characters actually writes fanfiction so I think fanfiction fans will get a kick out of this book.
I do have to say I didn’t like the book at first. Taking place in WeHo, with beautiful people, it seemed like really fake, stereotypical California. One character is a player sleeping with anything that moves, and for almost every character attraction is 100% based on looks with perfect bodies flying around. It was hard to see through all the plastic. Luckily, this really calmed down and got so much better as the book went on. I mean yes, the two mains are still the most perfect physical specimens on the planet, but at least they became more human with flaws, feelings, and actual personalities.
When it came to the romance I really enjoyed it, especially once the characters became more real. I don’t think I would call this slow-burn, but it was a really nice even pace. The “actress” wants to win the heart of the “player” so she is trying to woo her. So this means a ton of flirting and making out before the characters even go further. And slowing it down this way brought out a ton of good chemistry. I was impressed, these two women set off fireworks together. I completely bought into them as a potential couple and I was rooting hard they would make it.
I do have to say that I was not big on the storyline of an actress in the closet worried about her career. I feel like this has been done to death and it doesn’t have the same impact it would have had even five years ago. On the good side, it led to some really funny comedic moments. A group of friends had to keep the potential couple apart, at a bar, when drinking and dancing were involved. Let’s just say it was really funny and like one long comedy sketch. There is a lot of humor in this book. Unfortunately, not everything hits and at times I thought it was too much, that the author was trying too hard. However, I laughed out loud more times while reading this book, than I have since I read ‘Ambereye’ over four years ago. I mean, even sometimes something was a little stupidly funny and I didn’t even want to laugh, but it still popped out of me anyway. When the humor landed, this book was very funny indeed.
Overall, I would easily recommend this to rom-com fans. The romance has great chemistry and the humor is funny, exactly what you want in a rom-com. I would especially recommend this to Hollywood/celebrity romance fans and fanfiction fans. I did think that the book started off a little rough, and there were a few characters that were over the top, but this really was a fun read. There is some angst but it’s pretty low, all things considered, this is mostly a feel-good and laugh out loud romance. I would absolutely read Lori G. Matthews again. 3.75 Stars.
A copy was given to me for an honest review.
#CassiNova
I ended up enjoying this lesbian rom-com book more than I expected. If you follow my reviews you will know I’m not the biggest rom-com fan. My funny bone seems to be broken when it comes to book humor and I struggle more times than not. However, I do love reading debut authors and Bella has a track record of publishing some really good ones these last few years, so I wanted to read this. I’m glad I did since this was an entertaining read. There were some bumps for sure, but for the most part, they didn’t affect my enjoyment too much.
URL: 4 stars, Actress, Celebrity - Famous character
Author: Lori G. Matthews
3.75
