What a slay - I thoroughly enjoyed this surprise sapphic romance, and it's perfect for reality/dating show lovers!! The characters and plot were equally interesting, and I could feel the sense of yearning through the pages. I also thought it was wrapped up nicely and everything that needed to be done delicately was indeed handled well.

*eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

i had fun reading this book! i found the premise and world-building really engaging and well-excecuted - it evoked the same feelings i got watching my favourite reality TV! i liked krystin and lauren's interactions and personalities but i found the rest of the characters were a little bland in comparison.

Cute, light, fun. Just enough bite to keep it interesting. I love a queer romance book. I would like more!

This ended up being a DNF for me. There was too much about the reality dating show and the many side characters and I just wasn't feeling any chemistry between the love interests. If you want a book about a bachelor tv show then this is a great choice but there just wasn't enough focus on the romance for me.

this is a 3.75/4 stars!

i loved the layout of this book, the confessionals and then the extra details at the end of the book!

the characters were very easy to love and relate to, i do wish some of the other devotees had different names because i kept getting confused with them all.

i also wish we saw more of lauren and krystin just together, like them bonding over life and their experiences outside of josh (though i do understand why we saw so much of that)

i'm a swiftie so the taylor references were everything to me! they were so fun to see added in.

overall the book is a breathe of fresh air for the lgbtq+ genre, i know i'll definitely be recommending this book to my friends

I really hate doing this (and always try incredibly hard to avoid it) but I had to DNF this one.

I requested this book because it said on the description it was a romcom but at 25% in and the love interests have barely interacted😭 so surely that can't be right.

And while, in my opinion, that should never happen in a romance, there are books where it might pass if the story is interesting enough but I’m not invested and don’t really care about any of the characters at this point.

I guess if you like reality shows such as The Bachelor that might be different but alas, this isn’t for me.

I was expecting things that sadly didn't deliver but that's on me however this is a really fun romance about two lesbians in a version of “The Bachelor". Whilst it was okay and I didn't love it, I'll keep an eye out for more books from Annabel Paulsen and Lydia Wang in the future.

A really sweet queer romance about first love and accepting yourself

Perfect for those reality tv dating show fans and the nosey ones who want to see what it’s like behind the scenes.
While nothing new or groundbreaking it’s a cute fluffy read

4.5⭐️

This was such a fun read! The premise is so hooky and the narrative was so compelling I stayed up til 3AM before begrudgingly going to sleep.

I loved the way everything played out and I thought the plot/hook in this made it super engaging. Overall, just a really fun and steamy read.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

i was always going to struggle with this book as i am not a fan of reality tv and this book being about a reality show with contestants and knowing what they were getting up to i have to say did do my head in

but the actual storyline between the two main characters... the two that made the final was interesting and thats what kept me reading... i cant say that i enjoyed the rest of it as again i am not a fan of reality shows, you have to feel sorry for josh the one looking for love...

but i know others will love this book and the theme....

HERE FOR THE WRONG REASONS is a sapphic dating show romance where two women who are supposed to be vying for the affection of the same man end up falling for each other instead. and if that doesn't tell you how excited i was to read this book, i don't know what else would. i mean sapphic? dating show? rivals to lovers? say less! i absolutely loved krystin and lauren's story—i loved how their relationship developed, how it slowly evolved from rivals to friends and how they fell in love from there. it was really refreshing that while krystin was discovering her sexuality throughout the course of the book, it wasn't made into a Thing. this was a wonderful debut and i really hope paulsen and wang continue to write romances together!

read if you like:
- the bachelor but make it gay
- mud wrestling! horseback riding!
- forced proximity + slow burn
- the messiness of dating show contestants

thanks to netgalley and headline for the advanced copy. HERE FOR THE WRONG REASONS comes out may 21st!

𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 | 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥 𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐧 & 𝐋𝐲𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐠
★★★★☆

𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬
Two women enter the TV show Hopelessly Devoted where they compete for the hand of Perfect-Guy Josh. Krystin, wholesome cowgirl with no experience is there to find love whilst Lauren C, closeted lesbian and slightly cold and calculating fashionista is there to boost her social media. Sparks fly when the two women realise they’re more into each other than they are the prize at the end.

𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟
⟡ Romcom
⟡ Reality TV (particularly The Bachelor)
⟡ LGBTQ+
⟡ Forced proximity
⟡ Slow burn
⟡ Toxic female friendship dynamics

𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝
Written as a sort of spin-off of The Bachelor, this book was just as entertaining and addictive as trashy TV and yet had way more depth and vulnerability to it.

I adored the way Krystin’s and Lauren’s sexuality was written about. Krystin is this fully closeted lesbian whose character arc is used to confront her feelings (particularly lack of) for men and women. Because everyone is supposed to fancy their friends whilst growing up, right? (See quotes). Whilst Lauren is semi-closeted, she’s comfortable and confident in herself, she’s just not comfortable and confident in other people, including her family. She’s out to one person in her life (and the multitude of female hookups), and during the course of this book she stops caring about how being gay affects her heteronormative social media audience and focuses on the building meaningful relationships in her life.

I loved the way the show was written. The one-on-one dates and the performative element of it all. It made the girls’ relationships with Josh so shallow that I didn’t particularly care if Josh was hurt at the end, particularly as he was technically dating around thirty women at one point.

There really was so much to love in this. It’s a slow burn romance but once that first kiss hits, all bets are off and readers can get ready for some sapphic spice in their lives. I loved the conclusion for this story and how warmhearted it felt too. Particularly Josh’s metaphorical door monologue at the end that was so exasperating and funny.

𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝
I do feel like the TV show eliminations could have been waaay more tense and full of drama. Most of the eliminations were closed doors and were made apparent in post-confessionals with the other women. I’m not a sadist I swear but it would have been fun to experience the heartbreak and disappointment of all the women. It definitely would have counteracted any residual guilt I felt for Josh with Krysten and Lauren’s blossoming closeness.

𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬
“𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘪𝘴𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴—𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦, 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭?
𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘮𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯. 𝘕𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵.”

Such a lovely, quick read! While dual written books aren't for everything I definitely think they are for me because I love the unique tone it goes to the book and the depth to the characters! Plus how adorable is this cover?

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this early 🩷

This is was cute however the interactions between the two main characters was lacking in the first 50 percent of this book. They hated each other and boom suddenly they liked each other.

It was a quick and easy read however it just lacked that oomph that I needed, did I enjoy? Yes I did.

I felt like the connection was lacking between both the characters obviously they had their struggles as one character still wasn’t out yet and the other one didn’t know what she wanted until she had her. But it did portray across what many others have faced so it brings light on that situation that other may have faced.

If you’re a fan of the Bachelor, Love Island and shows like the ones I’ve listed then you may like this book.

It wasn’t what I wanted from the book. I love reality dating shows and loved the idea of the women falling in love. But the characters were extremely irritating. I couldn’t get passed them and had to DNF at 20%.

This was such a fun read - with a reality show vibe similar to The Bachelor, it had me hooked right from the start.

Nope sorry but this was way WAY too cringey for me, I got about 10% in and the second hand embarrassment made me DNF.

In this swoon-filled lesbian rom-com, two dating show contestants vying for the attention of the handsome, eligible 'bachelor' fall head over heels - for each other... It has warmth, charm, laugh-out-loud moments and a wistful nostalgia. I absolutely loved it.

Finished this book in a day and the reason is pretty simple: it's such a fun and fast paced read. The idea to write about a dating show is quite nice, but I have to admit it's SUPER complicated with all the names. I really had a hard time remembering them and then just decided to go along with it. I honestly think this is less of a problem with a physical copy because you can easily go back to where everyone is introduced. It gives quite an honest insight in how dating shows actually work, but I feel like it would have been more interesting to get some more back story from Josh. In my opinion, his character is very flat and he's just this golden retriever who's nice to everyone and therefore never stands out (I feel kinda bad for him). Lauren and Krystin are more fun, even though it feels a bit superficial at times to me. They suddenly go from 0 to 100 in front of the camera and even if I do think that's super cute, it doesn't entirely fit with how they've been portrayed earlier. So for me, this is a 3.5 star read, the kind of book I'd pick up for a quick read, on holiday, when I feel 'meh' and need some cheering up.