As someone who has worked at conventions in numerous positions this was a cute read. It was nice to see the characters grow over the course of the book. Really enjoyable and I’ll definitely be checking out more from this author in the future

This was a fun read that included two things I love- queers and fandoms. This was a book that had very relatable characters because they were real and imperfect. I loved watching their growth.

Almost Perfect brings you into the fangirl world of a popular television show which includes a lesbian superhero couple. Olivia, as well as being a fangirl, is an amazing artist who creates impressive fan art. Riley writes popular summaries of episodes, heavy on the snark, for different social media platforms and a gay entertainment zine. The two meet at a convention for gay positive entertainment, QueerCon. This is a well written book, but the MC not being very likeable and the slower pace didn’t quite work for me in the end.

I utterly love this emergence of influencer characters so I was in love with this book after reading the blurb only. And I wasn't disappointed. As a massive fangirl myself, I thought this was funny, quirky and relatable. Throw in a lovely romance and I am more than happy! :)

The premise is cute - two women meeting at QueerCon. However, this is an angst driven story which took the sweetness out of it. Although I was engaged throughout, I found it hard to connect to the characters, and therefore the story itself.

Olivia and Riley are drawn towards each other quickly, but have very different priorities in life. This causes some tension throughout the novel which is where I was kept engaged, but eventually I wondered if they were the right fit for each other. Probably not a great thought when reading a romance.

All in all, a well written book but unfortunately the romance just didn't work for me.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for a copy of this novel. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Tagan Shepard and NetGalley for providing me with a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the perfect, if.a little nerdy (and that is most definitely not a bad thing) romance, with Olivia and Riley showcasing the perils of family, work and a long-distance relationship. While at times it can be a little cheesy and perhaps come off a little fan fiction-esque, the book is largely a fun read, with a smattering of conflict and angst and a cute cat to lighten the mood.

While this won't reinvent the wheel and Riley St James may grate on you a little at times, Almost Perfect is a well paced romance for a new-adult audience.

Almost Perfect was a book that I judged by its cover - a lanyard and a wristband caught my attention.  The book starts out at a QueerCon devoted to television shows with queer characters.  I was hooked early on when one of the characters said "I'm just so pleased the studio hired an actor with cerebral palsy to play the character. It infuriates me when able-bodied actors are hired to play disabled characters. Don't you agree?" This character and the disabled character were only bit parts as the queer characters were more of the main characters - but representation matters and as a straight girl with CP - that is what caught my attention.

Our main character, Olivia, meets blogger/writer/journalist Riley and they hit it off at the con.  They sneak off for a few meals and then decide to try long distance dating after the con. Of course it wouldn't be a good book without some drama and Riley says some terrible things to Olivia and they break up for a bit.  Will they get back together and have the happy ending everyone around them seems to think they deserve?  Well, you'll just have to read the book to find out. 

This book was a quick read and I really enjoyed it (yes even as a straight reader) and am looking forward to checking out some more books from this author in the future!

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated.

Almost Perfect gives us a glimpse into the fan community with cons, influencers and fan art. At a queer convention Riley and Olivia meet, feel an attraction and that's the start of their romance. The book was not really what I was expecting after reading the blurb, but I had a good enough time with it.
The biggest discrepancy was how Riley was described as adorably awkward, but her actions and inner musings made her more a condescending a-hole, so much so that I was almost wishing Olivia would meet someone more deserving of her caring and sweet nature. I like Tagan Shepard more action packed / thrillers books and while this was a good try to do something new and different, it wasn't on the same level as her earlier work.

***Thank you Netgalley and Bold Stroke Books for giving me the chance to read and review this book ***

‘Almost Perfect’ feels like a love letter to the entire sapphic fangirl community and I am here for it.
Olivia has a lot going on in her personal life and has a lot of responsibilities on her young shoulders, her main escape is to draw fanart from her favourite tropes. Riley is a queer influencer who has built a career on analysing shows and is now a celeb in her own right. I liked the contrasts between the two women and also how they supported one another in terms of where their careers could go and both of them are so relatable and flawed.
As with the way of romances, opposites attract and their relationship moves quickly and although I liked their dynamic and the clash of two completely different worlds I wasn’t one hundred per cent sold on the ending. No spoilers but I think maybe Riley’s defensiveness was a little bit too aggressive when put against the caregiver character of Olivia and felt their resolution was a little rushed for me. I did really enjoy the supporting characters, especially Olivia’s little sister and best friend and I loved the sheer amount of media references as I have always been a fangirl myself and appreciate the communities that I have encountered.
Great debut for Shepard with BSB and a fun and flirty read.

I really enjoyed this book & it doesn't even matter than I haven't attended any Cons in my life. When a fan girl, Olivia meets Riley, a queer entertainment influencer, it is love at first sight, for both of them. However, both of them have something to hide. Olivia creates fan art in private and Riley gushes online about how much she loves a show that in private she can't stand.
The two women try to find the time to spend together to learn more about each other. Things seem like they are going well, until their secrets come to life. It seems doubtful that their relationship can survive.
I liked this book and would recommend.
I received an ARC from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

I’d really enjoyed this author’s previous works so was excited to see her move to BSB. I liked the rivalry between the two leads and really related to Regan as a character. The relationship between the two leads developed really naturally from enemies to friends to lovers to partners. The big conflict at the end felt a little like one of the characters created a lot of drama over nothing but nevertheless it was an enjoyable read. I look forward to the author’s next work.

This was not a bad story, if you're a lover of fan fiction then this will be right up your alley. Unfortunately, it was not for me. Regardless, I did finish the book. 3.5 stars.


Thank you NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books.

Olivia and Riley meet at a conference. Can they make a long-distance love affair work?

This was DNF for me at ~58. I liked the characters but the plot was thin—there's no real conflict in the part I read.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

𝗤𝘂𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁.

My feelings about this book are mixed so let's talk about the positives first. One of the characters, Olivia, is nice. She's the type of person who believes that family comes first and has over the years, assumed the caregiver role for every family member, and to an extent, I think that trait is sweet (though overdoing it isn't healthy). Olivia is also a fan of the other character, Riley, who is some sort of celebrity but I like how she doesn't act like a fangirl around Riley when they meet at QueerCon and after. In fact, she's attractive and exudes a certain charm and Riley is instead, besotted by her.

Many readers had issues with Riley and I agree with most of the comments but I found that Riley's personality didn't bother me that much. Riley sees herself as a queer entertainment journalist but in reality, she's just an influencer who made a name for herself from recapping one particular Queer show - a show that she secretly wants to disassociates herself with, but can't, without consequences so she ends up "quiet quitting" while also trying her luck getting better jobs, and becomes really bitter when things don't work out. But as much as I find this negative and unappealing, I also find it common to be jaded in real life like that so to an extent, I understand how Riley feels. That being said, it doesn't mean I agree with how she lashes out.

The problem I had with the story was more that I thought the chemistry between Olivia and Riley wasn't quite there. They are entirely different people whose priorities are different and it was hard for me to visualise how they would work out in the long run.

This book might appeal to fans of queer entertainment, I think, but the romance part isn't quite there.

This was a lovely romance, that spoke not just of the individual love of Olivia and Riley, but also of the power of random (especially queer fandom, the bravery of being sincere and owning your cringe, and The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known.

Riley and Olivia worked really well for me, as people who are attempting to hide their insecurities through a shield of blasé irony (Riley) and the protection of family responsibilities (Olivia), and who both eventually learn the benefits of dropping those shields. This is a favourite trope of mine, and it was done well here. There were a few times where I wondered if certain issues would be addressed, and I was a little fearful even about whether the HEA would definitely feel right, but in the end I was convinced and happy!

I would have liked some more togetherness after the Big Gesture though, as I felt that a lot of their issues had been exacerbated by bad communication, and while they did address that, I would have liked to have seen if more on page too. I also wanted more on page talking and actions between Olivia and her mother; they had had this long going codependent relationship, with Olivia infantalising her mother, and Alison relying on her, and I wanted again to see more of them working that through.

Also, related to the communication issues, there were a couple of times when I felt a bit uneasy. For example Riley made a big thing about them having separate beds when Olivia first stated over. We saw from Riley's perspective that she was nervous but aiming for making Olivia feel as unpressured as possible. Olivia however didn't know that, and as far as she knew it was because Riley wasn't comfortable going further. Yet she came in the night to her room, and yep we see that Riley was nervous but OK, but I felt Olivia needed to address this later, that she didn't respect this boundary and didn't talk about it properly. Again a better amount of discussing their communication mishaps at the end would have countered that, and I wish we had had a couple more chapters of Olivia understanding this.

Overall this was a happy and warming romance for all fandom, ex-fandom, and fandom adjacent readers!

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free ARC*

Where do I even begin without giving any spoilers?

I guess I'll start with, I was pleasantly surprised, like....REALLY surprised. I'm usually a fence sitter that sits at '3 star' for pretty good and '4 star' for exceptional...but this one is a solid 5!

I've read other books based on 'some meet-cute at a -Con of some sort' a few times, usually, it's hard for me to get into it because perhaps I'm a bit too-old or... not brave enough to have strong feelings towards anything in pop culture-y to attend any conventions. I'd usually have a hard time engaging into the story and care about what the story/character is about to really keep reading, I think a lot of my DNFs come from '-con related books'. (There must be a technical term for this type of stories? Please feel free to educate me.)

BUT!! Almost Perfect, or I should say Tagan Shepard, had delivered an amazing gem. The story is cute, with a higher than average amount of time and effort going through the flirtation phase of the setup. The characters are vibrant and the 'sexy' parts are fun!

The book has a good cadence to it and the side characters are not annoying (thanks Tagan Shepard!). I think this is a solid, entertaining, sometimes thought provoking read with just the right amount of stary-eye connection, interesting character development (that isn't completely far fetched) and like....just enough heart warming bits without being super cheesy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for the digital advance copy. I enjoyed this thoroughly and hope that others will too.

I didn’t hate this book but I didn’t’ love it either. …. I enjoyed the setting - meeting at a convention and I loved how Olivia found herself through fan art. I also loved Lewis’ character and actually liked the way Riley connected with them. However I really did not like Riley’s character at all -though she pulled it back in a stunning epilogue scene! And I disliked Dani even more!
Overall the second half of the book flowed better than the first but there was something slightly missing

As someone who's gone to many a convention, I can totally get into a romance about one. Its the ultimate fan fantasy. Throw in LGBTQIA+ rep and you got yourself a winner. Really enjoyed this fast pace read. A few of the characters didn't 100% convince me, but nothing that took away from the overall experience.

Thank you NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for providing an eARC for a sincere review.

Like others I was surprised by what I read versus what I was expecting from the blurb. I don’t know if this messed with me the whole time I was reading or what, but I couldn’t get into it. I didn’t feel as though the romance was really fleshed out. I’ve been in a bit of a book slump lately. I don’t know if that’s why I was vibing with the book. Is usually enjoy what this author puts out.

Almost Perfect was my first Tagan Shepard book, and it left me curious to see what else she has on offer.

Riley is an influencer who has become internet famous for her blogs and TV recaps. Her ambition goes further than that though, and she is struggling to be taken seriously. Olivia spends her days taking care of her family, working a job that bores her and drawing fan art. When she takes her little sister and her best friend to QueerCon, she finds herself being hit on by Riley St James. There is instant chemistry between them, and instead of feeling star-struck, she flirts back, and quickly they are inseparable. The weekend of QueerCon ends and Riley must return home, but Olivia is never far from her thoughts.

They begin a relationship, and the hard work of maintaining it begins.
Almost Perfect began quite lightly, introducing both characters slowly, and then blowing up when they decide to date. I liked Riley and Olivia, and although they had the typical miscommunication arguments, they still seemed to work as a couple for me. I didn’t like Dani, Riley’s best friend, but I’m not sure we were meant to. Olivia’s little sister, Chelsea and her best friend Lewis were a cute addition to the story, though they seemed a little too worldly to be pre-teens.

Tagan’s ability to create the world Riley and Olivia live in, with fan art, conventions and fandoms made the book all that more enjoyable for me. I was given enough information to understand something which I know very little about and didn’t need to pause my reading to google something that confused me. Almost Perfect was fast-paced, sweet and angsty, and it all worked to create a relevant and beautiful story.