I absolutely wanted to love this book based on the cover alone but the dialogue is stiffer than pants pressed for Sunday church services. It was too mechanical to overcome and on top of that, the faux crusader storyline added nothing and just became an annoying talking point.

I downloaded this as it was read now and the cover is divine. Unfortunately I have only seen negative, meh, and scathing reviews especially concerning dialogue which is a big thing for me so I will no longer be reading this book.

Unfortunately, I did not finish this book due to it being difficult for me to read. I enjoyed the story concept so much and hope to see more from this author in the future, but I found the dialogue to be INCREDIBLY clunky and the conversation between characters just felt generally unrealistic. There was also a LOT of info laid out really explicitly and I felt like the book could benefit from being redone with the idea of "show, don't tell." I really do feel that this book was the start to something fantastic -- it just isn't there yet.

Thanks to #NetGalley.and Montlake for the Arc of #CantResistHer

I absolutely love the cover of this book and I really wanted to love the book itself. The premise is interesting however the execution fell short. I didn't connect with the characters and the dialogue didn't feel natural. I also struggled to see the chemistry or romantic connection between Summer and Aiko which is the most important part of a romance novel for me. A great concept, just not a 5 star book for me.

Thank you netgalley for an arc, here is my honest review.
Dnf 50%

I was so excited to find another book about two black queer women, but sadly everything about this fell flat for me.

I'm very intrigued by this novel, even though I can't place a finger on a single aspect that I enjoyed, I kept on reading.

I really wanted to love this one. There were so many great elements that I really wanted to work but the book fell flat. I liked the premise, I liked the individual characters, I liked a lot of the pieces of it but it didn’t come together for me. I didn’t really get a spark between the love interests, the sudden zeal for saving the school seemed over the top from someone who had left and hadn’t looked back in years. The fact that she wasn’t that old and the school was referred to as crumbling and tearing it down was a better investment than repurposing it seemed extreme. There were too many things that just didn’t quite add up and align for me to really enjoy this one. That said, I realize that this book was not written for me as a cis white lady and that certain cultural aspects are going over my head. Just because it fell flat for me doesn’t mean there isn’t potential for others to love it.

I will start with what I loved! I loved the premise of the book, the well written blurb and the adorable cover! I enjoyed that this is a story of two women exploring issues of gentrification and community.

I didn't feel drawn into the characters and didn't feel like this was a proper representation of conversations. I found this fell flat.

Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Absolutely loved this book. Compelling, heartfelt, and complicated! A great read for anyone looking to add more f/f to their lives.

We love a second chance romance!! This book was cute and fun. The setting in Austin TX was not my favorite but not a deal breaker either.

I was really excited to read this sapphic romance but had a hard time connecting to the characters. The dialogue between the characters didn’t feel genuine and there was so many long descriptions for background information. I think that the fight over the building and the issues they were both dealing with with their families were more interesting and stole the spotlight,in the end I didn’t feel their romantic connection.

I was so disappointed! I loved the cover, which drew me in but the characters and their relationship were not great. The story was just okay.

I was really excited about this one because of the representation it’s hard to find books like this but sadly i had to dnf this book at 40% i didn’t like the writing style it just wasn’t for me.

3.5 ish, but man, it's so rare for me to find an adult romance book that I actually vibe with so we're rounding up.

The writing style was so... pleasant? and it was just so easy to get immersed into the story and the characters. I found myself rooting for both of the main characters separately, as well as for their relationship. The backstories of both of the characters and their relationships with the side characters also felt very fleshed out without feeling like there was too much going on. Also loved that the classic third act conflict was actually reasonable and made perfect sense with the way the plot was set up. The characters also were pretty great and communicating given their circumstances which made for an enjoyable reading experience.

The themes of gentrification that are at the center of the plot of this book were also explored very well. The two characters are at odds for pretty much the entire story, but the author brings a lot of nuance into the discussion and manages to show that both sides' arguments have merit. The plot to romance balance in this book was also quite perfect.

Overall a very solid book. While I didn't necessarily fall head over heels in love with any aspect of the book, there was literally nothing I didn't enjoy about it. Also, there's something about seeing high school crushes get together that just butters my bread.

"Can't resist her" by Kianna Alexander is a sapphic romcom that follows our main characters Aiko and Summer who shared a kiss at their senior prom and then never saw each other again. That is until they're both back in their home town at the same time, for different reasons. Summer is a dedicated teacher who wants to stop the demolition of the school her grandma founded. Aiko is part of the architectural company who was hired to complete this project. This obviously complicates a lot of things in their relationship.
First of all I wanna start out by saying that this book includes fantastic representation for a black lesbian protagonist, a biracial (japanese and black) main character, as well as black and sapphic side characters.
The book also discusses some important topics such as gentrification and community and while I enjoyed reading about these I was quite disappointed in the romance. The backstory of how Aiko and Summer knew each other was really intriguing, but the actual relationship in the present felt really unrealistic to me. I didn't feel any romantic chemistry between the two main characters and it seemed as though they met and fell in love just like that. There was no real build up to the relationship, plus the dialogue was really unrealistic and awkward.
I do think there was a lot of potential in this story and I did enjoy the the discussion about the lack of community spaces in a less well-off neighbourhood, but it being a romance novel where I didn't like the romance I can't help but give this two stars.
I still believe that others will find enjoyment in this story, especially if what they're looking for is a lighthearted romance novel with great representation, but it unfortunately missed the mark for me.

The premise of this book is amazing - unfortunately, I just didn't feel the chemistry between these characters at all. When Summer suddenly confessed that she was in love with Aiko after two — maybe three — dates, I was confused, as I didn't see that connection, even from their shared past (which also felt like it should have been deeper, for how quickly they fell in love as adults). The dialogue felt stilted, and not like how people actually speak, and the italicized thoughts often felt jarring and out of place. The concept is everything I ever wanted, but unfortunately, it just fell flat for me. I do hope it finds its audience, because we need more books like this.

This just wasn't my favorite. It had some important things to say but could have done more with the characters.

Can't Resist Her follows Summer Graves and Aiko Holt. Summer recently moved back to her home of Austin Texas, but is surprised when everything around her seems to be nothing like she remembers it, despite geographically being the same place, and she's particularly angry about the charter school her grandmother founded being next up for destruction and replacement. Aiko on the other hand is the force behind modernizing all of the area and making it new and fresh. But Aiko and Summer have some history too

As I mentioned this book has interesting things to say about several important topics, particularly gentrification as it's a major factor in the book. And I think it handled it pretty well showing the nuances of the issue but also the negative effect on a large number of people. The book also discusses community and identity frequently and I enjoyed seeing those discussions.

But above all this book is a romance novel- it's literally called Can't Resist Her. And I just wasn't really into the romance at all. The dialogue between the two characters was often clunky and just really hard to get into for me. It didn't feel like they had a lot of chemistry together.

Additionally their ideological differences were a major point of contention and it seems to me that this isn't something they would have been able to put aside in the real world. Even several characters in the book mention that to the main characters.

And finally it was weird for me to side with either one of these characters ultimately, because my personal politics definitely lean towards Summers' perspective, yet I think the hill she chooses to die on being a charter school (albeit one her grandmother started and she attended) is a weird point because charter schools are very iffy themselves. I get the emotional connection with the school, but I just couldn't fully get behind either position.

This was an ok book. It did have interesting things to say about big issues, but the romance falls far short. 2.5/5

No chemistry between the main characters. Robotic conversations and mainly, the romance fell flat. I like Summer and Aiko as their own separate characters. Also, the story of a small town being taking over with gentrification is always a kind of go-to-read for me.

Basically, there are some good parts of Can't Resist Her but if I'm being honest; the bad parts outweighed the good.

I wanted to love this so bad. The cover is absolutely stunning, but the book itself didn’t live up to it. While it had a great plot and really touched on some of the serious issues with gentrification, the dialogue was weird and clunky. It didn’t feel like realistic things people would actually say.
In addition, the characters were a little flat. There was a lot of telling but not a lot of showing throughout the book.

This really wasn't for me. I didn't like the dialogue or the romance and the characters were one-dimensional.