LGBTQ, teen drama, Neurodiversity, heartbreak, class divide and romance - Lover Birds covered them all. A true representation of life amongst a group of 16/17 year old girls. I have to admit I did read the whole book with a scouse accent! Enjoyable read for YA readers.

It took me longer than it should have to twig that I was reading a modern, queer, Scouse take on Pride and Prejudice - what a fantastic surprise! Leanne Egan manages to make the 'enemies-to-lovers' trope feel fresh and engaging, as it's the journey rather than the end result that matters here.
Narrator Eloise (Lou) is such a well developed character that I feel like I genuinely know her (or AM her!). She is not a super-smart know-it-all who saves the day, or a clumsy shambles who makes all the wrong decisions, but is realistically somewhere in the middle - just working her way through teenage life and trying to figure out her recent ADHD diagnosis. The ADHD representation is woven into the story so honestly and expertly, and I think it's going to be an important book for so many of my students (to both see themselves, and understand their friends better). The same is true of the LGBTQ+ representation - never feeling forced, and always totally authentic - and also class issues, something that isn't often touched on in YA fiction, but is an important part of British life.
This book is also about the wonderful city of Liverpool, and took me right back to my youth and the places I love (The Egg Cafe!!). I think anyone reading it who is not local will surely want to visit as a soon as possible - and rightly so!

A love letter to Liverpool, queerness, friendship, & the things that make us who we are.

I Loved this!!

Great neurodivergent rep! As someone with ADHD, everything that was described was pretty much spot on! (apart from wanting to run a marathon, but good for Lou i guess! ) I loved that it didn't just cover the basics, it went into all of the things that people don't see, the rushing thoughts, the overthinking, the skin picking, the lot!

Lou was a great MC, I really loved her, and again, being called 'too loud' or 'insufferable' is definitely something that I related too, because it definitely comes pat and parcel with a busy brain!

I loved the relationship between Lou and her group and friends as well as her as Isabel. The working class setting was great, again coming from a working class background, and the whole dynamic between the two was really interesting to see unfold.

Definitely recommend and will definitely be stocking our small bookshop.

Did anyone else picture an intensely shy Amy from I Kissed a Girl as Isabel while reading this? (Yes, trying to imagine a shy Amy is a stretch, but that's my only queer reference point right now)

So, as usual, I chose this book because I like the cover. But thankfully, I found the story quite interesting, too. Firstly, because I'm living with someone who has ADHD and having this story told from Lou's perspective really helped give me some insight into how she navigates the world.

I also found the class divide behind this enemies-to-lovers story easy to relate to. I honestly don't know if I would have forgiven Isabel for being so pretentious and judgy! Let alone her mum and aunt. I hope that Lou grows up and runs a mile from this family.

But otherwise, was into it.

I’m kind of bummed because at first I thought I would like this, but I just didn’t really.

I liked the ADHD representation and the way the author really showed and made you understand how living with ADHD impacted Lou. That was nicely done.
But I found myself struggling to like Lou, and since she was the main character, this made enjoying this book tricky for me. She came across as very judgmental and dare I say mean. Like the way she treated Isabel in the beginning really bothered me. Yes, she said something mean about you, yes, everyone is like 16 years old so they’re going to be a bit dramatic about things. But she borderline bullied her for a while there imo, and I’m not into those kinds of romances, and therefore couldn’t take the romance seriously after that.

Overall, it was a quick, well-paced read that just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

What can I say? I absolutely loved this book. Amazing queer representation and even some representation of a character with ADHD- a first for me. This was wonderfully written and gives you all the feels. Would recommend to anyone!

I love reading books with the enemies-to-lovers trope so this was a perfect read for me, I loved it overall.

So, I'm meant to say I love the joyful queer rep - and I do! - but actually, what I want to shout about is the wonderfully joyful scouse-ness. That's something underrepresented in YA novels, and I loved how Lou, the main character, is passionate about her culture and really brings it alive. I was also impressed by the tender portrayal of ADHD as a complex condition that is to be embraced rather than overcome. Both of those themes wove into the romance, giving it depth. It's light, sweet, and joyful, while also containing insights into neurodivergence, shame, and self-acceptance.

Bright, refreshing, relatable. I loved this book, Elouise and Isabel are great characters, and their eventual story together is so wonderful. The representation is beautiful too.

I loved this book! I loved Eloise and her adhd and I loved Wil and their personality and how all the friends reacted to each other and dealt with the horrible Jay. Simply put I adored this book and loved every aspect of it esp how Eloise and Isabel finally get together.
5 stars

I don't normally ready YA but this came up and I thought I would give it a read. It was such an easy read that I finished it over two days.

The representation of ADHD was done really well, including the concerns of the character about how to help herself and what would happen with medication.

A nice little book reminding of the joys and pain of younger years.

This was a simple, fun, easy and quick read. The perfect type of book for your holiday, beach, pool kind of read. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

Lover Birds is such a compulsively enjoyable book that even such a grouch as myself read it across two evenings. The grouchiness is my old, chronic genre-related complaint; but this book connected with me despite all my baggage. Lover Birds is an absolute love letter to Liverpool, and at the same time it's so grounded in the UK in general: I don't mean just the school system, but the general dynamics that reads very true to the UK. A lot of the fracture lines in the novel come from the still all-pervasive classist prejudices, and that's so good to see on the page instead of glossed over. It's unbelievable that to this day nothing tanks a person's social standing in certain circles as much as being judged as working class, frequently on the basis of your accent alone. The book doesn't just acknowledge that in passing, it leans into it heavily and makes its characters confront that without making any allowances for this being a highschool lesbian romcom - a genuinely propulsive and funny one at that. That alone would have been a great recommendation for the book, but it packed so much more that that: an open depiction of ADHD, examination of queer steretypes, girl friendships, toxic relationships (if I have one complaint, it's that I would have dearly liked to know what happens in Isabel's relationship with her posh bestie).

Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins for an advance copy of Lover Birds.

My first thought while reading this was that I really don't miss being a teenage girl at all. Every emotion dialled up to 11, over-analyzing every interaction in search of a hidden barb (and not the Nicki Minaj superfan kind) friend groups where people are in or out for "reasons".
No, please.

It's exhausting IRL and it's a little bit exhausting at the start of this book too, but as soon as you get a feel for Lou and her pals it gets better.
This is a cute little love story with gobs of social commentary folded in (some more seamlessly than others). It has a diverse cast of characters, all of whom are well drawn and believable. I would have been thrilled to find a book like this when I was a confused teenager feeling isolated in a very small town, so if it's not really a book for the middle-aged me of today it could be the perfect and necessary one for someone growing up queer in a small town today.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the ARC, and Happy Pride everyone!

This is the sapphic college read that all young girls need, the representation is fantastic, including LGBTQ+ rep, as well as neurodiverse characters, this is the first book I have read with a main character who has ADHD, and it's so refreshing to see this kind of inclusion within books, Lou was a lovely well written character who I just fell for straight away. I love that the author included all the difficult parts of Lou’s ND, as well as just how supportive her mum and friends were. The sapphic romance is cute, but not insta love, which I really liked, it was great to see both characters learning and growing together, and I feel like this something that should be highlight in young adult books more often.

This book really gave squad vibes, and I loved how much all the girls supported each other, and each had their own things going on but with the help of their friends they were able to overcome their fears and struggles. I like how the author included just how stressful college can be with exams, peer pressure, characters own individual struggles, as well as modern issues such as revenge porn. I have seen a few comments regarding this book being too full of annoying characters, but I think readers are missing the point the author is trying to make, too often people are quick to judge neurodiverse characters/people as annoying or embarrassing (just as Isabel had) instead of accepting that that is the individuals personality, and that is what makes them so beautifully and perfectly ND.

Either way this was a delightful read, that had me chuckling and crying in various places, this book had me in the feels, and it is a read I would recommend to young adults. Its engrossing, enlightening and thoughtful, a read that I just could not put down, or keep cheering the characters on, there were swoon worthy moments, and the world building was lovely, I have never been to Liverpool, but Lou’s tour makes me want to!

4.5

Such a cute sapphic, almost enemies to lovers. I love it when wlw relationships get their much deserved happy ending.

Such a quick read that I read in less than 24 hours, so you know it's a good one!

I enjoyed reading this lighthearted YA queer romance. This is the story of a teenager in Liverpool who finds herself falling for a posh London girl, who she develops a love/hate, tense relationship with. It is a heartwarming slow-burner.

I feel this is the perfect book for both teenagers and adults in their 20s, especially those who are queer or questioning their sexuality. The queer representation in this novel is wonderful and fairly diverse! I especially liked how Eloise wasn’t pressured into figuring out her ‘label’ and other characters were all accepting of her for where she was at! I also enjoyed how (aside from one homophobic character - who is the villain of the novel) the majority of characters, including family members, were not homophobic or transphobic, and queer people of all identities were accepted, preferred pronouns used, etc. with no bigotry. Obviously, it is important to highlight these issues in fiction, but it is nice to have queer existence normalised in fiction (as it is and should be) without homophobia being the focal point. I know that when I was a teen I would have loved reading this book. Sometimes, when you are in the closet due to a fear of other’s reactions, it is helpful to read a very positive experience of a queer coming of age story.

Additionally, there was brilliant ADHD representation which felt very true and is not often enough explored, particularly in a main character. This was believable and explored very well and in an empowering way.

Lou is a girl in the lower sixth of a Liverpool comp. Her English teacher asks her to help Isobel acclimatise to school life - her family have moved from London. Initially, Lou and Isobel don’t like each other… but against the scarlet background of the city, A Levels and friendship… something blossoms.

Ok, by now you should have sussed this is a teen Scouse version of Pride And Prejudice (Lou as Elizabeth and Isobel as Darcy). And that also works in the settings - substitute boho Liverpool, beach parties, Ladies Day at Aintree and going out in your PJ’s for balls and banquets. Isobel even has a nasty old bat of an auntie, Austenites will love that.

But this is no bad thing. It’s got an enthusiasm, a warmth and wit that I’ve not encountered this year. And although this is YA book that knows its audience well (with themes of sexuality, neurodiversity, revenge porn) it’s far too good for them. Buy it for the teenager in your life and read it first.

Leanne Egan should also be congratulated for writing a book that is both definitely Scouse, a brilliant debut and one of my favourite books this year. It’s published by Harper Collins on 4th July and I thank them for preview copy. #loverbirds.

Queer, hilarious, and downright heart wrenching.

'Lover Birds' follows the story of Lou (Eloise) and Isabel, their rivalry and their romance, as well as Lou's life post-ADHD Diagnosis.
It's a beautiful page turner that is truly enjoyable.

If you're looking for a gay awakening, ADHD main character, and a happy ending - this is perfect for you.

I loved this book. I thought it was such a lovely UKYA offering. I will be awaiting the author's next book eagerly.