Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC.
To preface this review: I received the ARC of this book; it has probably gone through editors, so take this review with a grain of salt.

Writing:
The author spends a lot of time on scenes that do not affect the plot at all. This book would be so much better if the author had used line separators and time jumps. At times, the writing felt like it was from a Wattpad fanfiction [simple sentences and a lot of he said she said], and then it suddenly jumps to clear and beautiful writing, making the book feel disconnected and choppy.

Characters:
These lesbians are TOXIC. Communication is their worst enemy, and running away from their problems is their best friend. The characters' motivations are hazy at best; we are given little to no justification for their actions. The miscommunication trope is good when it is done well, but not here, people. Kissing a person who has survived SA and ignoring them later, making them believe that they have SAed you, is not normal person behavior.

Weird racist undertones:
A lot of the white characters, like Naomi and Wayne etc are shown to be good people [except for Naomi's father] but poc characters like Jordans family are shown to be objectively bad people with no "redemption" or explanation of their actions. [maybe I'm looking too much into this]

A kind of enemies-to-lovers/friends sapphic romance, this touched all the bases with this reader. I must read the author again.
Am catching up on all the reviews I haven't left over the year, so sorry this is late, but my thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the reading copy.

I really really wanted to love this book! The cover, the blurb - it had me so excited! Unfortunately, for most of the book, I disliked every single character.

I was really rooting for these characters to open up, to share, to grow but it felt like the characters kept making the same mistakes.

I would have loved it if other sources of conflict were more fleshed out (family relationships, etc) and that we were able to see these characters face some of these conflicts together instead of miscommunication, bets, trickery, and self sabotage.

<i>Thank you to M.C. Huston and Netgalley for this eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.</i>

This book definitely made me feel things!

I confess, there were times I disliked Jordan and Noémie throughout the run of the story. Really disliked them. The author talks about how she wanted to see a romance about messy people, and I get that it was also inspired by her own experiences in the Toronto lesbian dating scene, and that's all good, I get that. That said, I was hoping for a little more growth from the characters at the end of the story (<spoiler>instead of just kind of saying 'ok' and putting it aside...seriously, Jordan, use some of your kickstarter money to get professional help, you got a lot of shit to work through!</spoiler>).

There's several people calling the leads toxic, and I guess that's fair. At the same time, there were things I really appreciated about just how broken Jordan felt (<spoiler>like her experiences when she was 14, like not liking to be touched...without going into details, I get that, and appreciated that it was addressed, even though I wanted her to show she was going to take steps to deal with her trauma</spoiler>). I will freely admit that I'm at a point in my life where I really appreciate proper communication with my partners, so the amount they don't talk wasn't a selling point for me, but YMMV.

And all that said, when this story was cute, it was reeaally fucking cute. I love the images of them enjoying dinner and watching Netflix on the couch (points for the Hill House refence...). And it should also be noted that the bulk of my reading of the story, after a bit of a slow start, happened last night. I was up until nearly 4am so I literally could not put the book down, so if that isn't a not a point in the plus column I don't know what is.

Long story short: This is not going to be a book for everyone. These are messy, broken people (who are also occasionally shining beacons of wonderfulness). But for people who like messy, broken people, I think this is definitely worth a read. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 because of that 'cannot put it down' aspect.

I LOVED this! It was my first book in the new year, and as someone who's rather picky with contemporary romance, it charmed me utterly.

I feel that it might draw some mixed opinions from readers because these characters are Messy with the capital 'M'. But that's why it won me over, as I get rather bored of the same kind of characters featured in romance books nowadays.

The novel's setup is simple but works very well: Jordan must shack up with her most irritating customer, Noémie, at the cafe where she works. The two learn to befriend one another and discover a fierce chemistry behind the prickling tension. There's just one problem: Noémie is straight. Right?

Both Jordan and Noémie are complicated people. Their irritable personalities cause many misunderstandings in their relationships. But again, I really enjoyed this. It was surprising and refreshing in a human way. I can definitely foresee readers disliking some of the twists and developments in the novel, but if you like your sapphics messy af, this is PERFECT.

French Pressed Love is a sapphic slow burn that leans heavily on miscommunication and features a third-act breakup. The story centers around Jordan, a masc lesbian with a reputation for making straight women question their sexuality, and Noèmie, a wealthy "straight" woman who initially comes across as rude. Jordan manages a busy but understaffed coffee shop, which Noèmie frequents and complains about. Noèmie finds herself cut off from her family and without access to her father's money. Desperate for income, Noèmie asks Jordan for a job at the coffee shop.
Circumstances lead Jordan and Noèmie to become roommates after Jordan’s best friend and former roommate, who harbors feelings for Jordan, moves out. As they live together, Jordan begins to develop feelings for Noèmie but struggles with guilt, as Noèmie frequently states her straight identity. One drunk night, Jordan kisses Noèmie, which triggers a breakdown as Jordan perceives herself as predatory. Ultimately, they end up together, but it takes intervention from Noèmie's brother, who forces Jordan to attend his wedding.
While the book had potential, the lack of meaningful communication between the characters was frustrating. Rather than addressing their issues directly or seeking professional help, Jordan often resorted to drinking and impulsive decisions. Additionally, the portrayal of Jordan as a toxic, predatory masc lesbian felt overdone and leaned into harmful stereotypes. I found myself wishing Jordan had a reliable friend to confide in since her former roommate fades from her life after moving away, and Wayne, a co-worker, sides with Noèmie and even makes a bet about Jordan's love life, further isolating Jordan.
The book left several loose ends and unanswered questions. What ultimately happened with Noèmie's financial situation? Did she regain access to her father's money or did she turn to her trust fund? Jordan’s past trauma is hinted at but never fully explained. And the nature of Jordan’s relationship with her father, which seems to spark her return to drawing, feels underdeveloped. I also wanted to know more about Noèmie's family dynamics. Her brother appears toxic for much of the story but emerges as Jordan's only advocate by the end.
Overall, French Pressed Love had moments of charm, but its reliance on miscommunication and underexplored character backstories left me craving deeper resolution and connection.

Fewf. This book was so, so, SO messy. Literally everyone in it (except not you Céline). The whole thing was drama. Drama that I could not put it down. I read this book overnight. I probably stayed up way too late (actually I definitely did).

That being said, these characters are flawed. So very flawed, and so very far from perfect. The main characters may be incredibly toxic for one another, and I think it’s important to recognize this. A reader can probably learn a lot of what not to do (ie everyone needs therapy here). I don’t expect everything to be wrapped up nice and neat at the end (and they weren’t in this book). I don’t expect books like this to be a paragon of healthy relationships. But I can appreciate them regardless.

One aspect I really enjoyed was the main character’s struggle with her culture and Blackness. I always enjoy seeing these topics in books, and it means a lot for them to be included.

While this level of drama may not be everyone’s cup of tea, I could not take my eyes off the page. I had to know what happened next, and the chemistry between the main characters was sizzling. I can see this won’t be a book for everyone, but I look forward to future work by this author.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of French Pressed Love. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and I am leaving this review of my own volition.

While "French Pressed Love" is a sapphic romance, I feel like the cover, title, and description miss the mark a bit. The main character, Jordan, is grumpy and toxic throughout the book. As are most of her friends and the other supporting characters. I understand going for an element of realism but the characters all felt over the top in their emotions and manipulations. I found both Noemie and Jordan to be fairly unlikable. Since the book is in the POV of Jordan, her thoughts are the ones you read. SPOILERS: even the "romantic" ending left me cringing. Attributing rudeness and snappiness to depression didn't set well with me. Usually, I can overlook first person POV in a book as I know it is my personal opinion to dislike it. However, here I felt like I was reading the ramblings of an angry person scribbling in a journal. Since we don't see Noemie's perspective the "twist" feels uncomfortable and like I was tricked too. While the writing had its fun and humorous moments, overall I felt unsatisfied. The whimsy font and the women making sweet eyes at each other on the cover DO NOT match the vibes of this book.

I could not put this book down! It kept me curious and intrigued throughout the entire book - I had to know more about the Poutine Princess! There was a great mix of humor with genuine emotional moments. I loved that it was set in Toronto, capturing the essence of the city, and had such a diverse set of characters!

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

French Pressed Love follows Jordan as she navigates the ins and outs of managing a coffee shop, various relationships, family drama, and her aspiring art career. All of which seem to go up in flames when the poutine princess aka Noemie, asks for a job at the coffee shop. And to make matters worse, Jordan’s former roommate and best friend decided to move out to chase a girl across the country, leaving Jordan unable to afford her current rent by herself. That is, until Noemie graciously offers Jordan a room in her home. Jordan’s attraction to Noemie thus starts to grow and make her life even more complicated, especially when she gets the sense that Noemie may have similar feelings even though she is straight… With family introductions, spontaneous mountain trips, clubbing, jealousy, ex’s, and various “non” dates, both Jordan and Noemie find it hard to keep their true feelings hidden.

Jordan was just an okay character for me, she had her good and bad moments, most of which lacked proper character development. She takes offense at being called a predatory lesbian, and yet sometimes that is exactly how she comes off, especially on her “nights out”. I didn’t like how she automatically assumed Noemie was straight without even asking her. I thought her family was extremely rude, toxic, and awkward to be around and I don’t know why her past trauma was never explicitly explained, especially when her feelings about being touched are so strong. I would have loved for her to embrace her art career more and why she felt the need to keep it so hidden. She just seemed to have a lot of issues and trauma and never took the time to heal, get help, or confront her demons. It was just very hard to get behind not only her character, but her motives for pursuing Noemie, especially regarding their so many secrets and lack of chemistry that stems off of anything other than lust or jealousy.

Noemie was pretty unlikeable from the start. Just when she starts to grow on you and you begin to understand her, she goes and drops a bomb. One that was so ridiculous that you could tell was just thrown in there for the sake of adding conflict. Seriously, everything could have been so simpler with one true and honest conversation and I absolutely hate when jealousy gets the best of people that they have to feel inclined to put on a total farce. The bet with Wayne was also extremely childish, but made me more mad at him than Noemie, even though she could have easily told Jordan at any point if she didn't want to make a big deal out of it. I would have loved more backstory on her and her toxic family to be able to have understood her more, especially regarding her dead sister. We also never really truly learn where her money is coming from other than a brief reference to a trust fund, but never how much or how much was left after she was supposedly cut off. I think she definitely had potential to be a great character, but there are just too many questions and not enough answers surrounding her, which does not allow me to understand her motives, connect to her character, or feel the chemistry between her and Jordan. .

The slow burn was just too slow for me, especially with the lack of chemistry and constant miscommunication/ withholding of information. There was definitely too much going on outside of Jordan and Noemie’s relationship, which I think is why I never really had the time to swoon over them. They had nothing in common and that was very clear from the beginning and even more apparent towards the end. Other than Jordan continually assuming that Noemie is straight, I found the sex scene to be extremely cringey because again there was no emotional intimacy whatsoever and the fact that it all came about from Jordan crashing her motorcycle. Neither of them had time to process what was happening and the reveal of Noemie’s sex right before, so rather than ACTUALLY communicate and talk things through, they go straight to having sex. And it gets worse. Because Jordan did not reciprocate Noemie’s feelings and tell her she loved her, Noemie did not have a conversation or try to understand Jordan’s feelings from her point of view and instead ran off with her gay best friend to get back at Jordan… for what? Getting into a car accident and just realizing the person who have been pining over is in fact not straight and not being able to properly express your feelings??? Everything about that situation was just ick to me. The whole story in general really was just one big game.

Overall, I found the coffee shop backdrop to be the best part of the story. Unfortunately I just think too many plot points and character building moments were not explored deep enough or properly handled in order to get behind Jordan and Noemie’s relationship. Along with the disappointing third act breakup, lack of chemistry, and lose ends, I also think their should have been more to the ending, and even an epilogue to get a sense of maybe what the future would have looked like for them, because honestly at this point I’m just left with so many questions.

Delightful! I was totally enthralled by this darling romance by new-to-me author M.C. Hutson! What a great read to start off the new year!

I so badly wanted to like this book, however, I could not finish it. The concept was super interesting to me. I mean, a Canadian sapphic romance and poutine is involved? Anyone who knows me would say this book sounds perfect for me. However, I had to DNF this book at about 50%.

The writing did not have a very natural flow. Some sentences were very curt, simple and it almost seemed that the author didn't trust the reader to be able to read between the lines or understand things beyond what they were telling us. It was a lot of telling and not a lot of showing, something which I don't particularly enjoy and does not lend to a very seamless reading experience.

For the formatting, I don't know if this will be the final format/if it was just the ARC but I felt like I was reading a paper, in a way? The indent at the start of each paragraph, the font, it all just reminded me of school. And some of the paragraph's were just one or two sentences. Why could these sentences not been one entire paragraph?

I also just was not invested in the plot or the characters and so after a while I just did not want to continue. Its unfortunate because everything about it seemed really interesting but I am bit on writing and formatting. I can push through books if those are good even if I'm not fully invested in what is happening but the combination of both of these just made me dnf this.

I... didn't love this but didn't hate it. Like a Real Housewives episode. I wouldn't ever say I LIKED trh, but I watch it anyway. The drama in this and the toxicity made me actively not really want these two together, but I was still hooked, so... here for a good time not a long time?

This book gets stars for a morally grey but still really likeable FMC; very rarely get a more masc MC in a lesbian romance (also she’s over 30!) so loved that change. Representation all around is really great; feel like I learned a lot about both Canadian and Jamaican culture. Liked the spice, loved the espresso bar tension; my only complaint was that the younger love interest didn’t seem to experience enough character growth. I related to her enough to still like her, but I’m worried for the MC!

I received this digital copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

CWs: smoking, drinking, drugs, explicit sex and language, sexual assault (past), death of a parent (past), addiction, death of a sibling (past), car accident, homophobia, racism, pandemic mention, religious references, toxic relationships, outing.

I got this as an arc on Netgalley and it will come out this month. Me: Yeah I like this sapphic romance. It's entertaining. Sometimes you got to love a toxic couple.
Also me during reading: OH FFS WHY WON'T ANYONE COMMUNICATE AND USE THEIR WORDS???

M.C. Hutson’s French Pressed Love is a heartfelt and refreshing Sapphic romance that delves into the complexities of first impressions, personal growth, and unexpected connections. The story introduces readers to Jordan and Noémie, two individuals who couldn’t be more different. Initially, Jordan harbors a strong dislike for Noémie, perceiving her as insincere and unkind. However, fate intervenes when the two are thrown together at work, forcing Jordan to see beyond her assumptions.

As their professional relationship blossoms into something deeper, the narrative beautifully explores themes of vulnerability, understanding, and the transformative power of love. Hutson’s characters are relatable and well-drawn, capturing the hesitations and intensity of young love with authenticity.

What sets French Pressed Love apart is its ability to balance lighthearted romance with deeper emotional resonance. Hutson’s writing is warm and engaging, making the characters’ journey both poignant and delightful. The story offers a fresh perspective on navigating differences and finding common ground, making it relatable to readers from all walks of life.

This novel is a gem for fans of LGBTQ+ romances and those who appreciate stories about personal growth and connection. French Pressed Love is as rich and satisfying as its title suggests—a romance that lingers in your heart like the perfect cup of coffee.

The way I tore through this book! Definitely a great read for all romance fans, especially ones who love a good enemies to lovers.

This was a drama-filled, emotional rollercoaster of a novel that covered a range of social and emotional buzzy topics, from race to sexuality to finances to family issues. At different points in the novel, different characters dealt with different life or emotional issues that kept me wanting to read to see what happened next, even when those same characters were highly frustrating. I binge read the entire book in one day and had a massive book hangover when it was done. I’d recommend this novel to someone looking for an angsty, dramatic read.

First and foremost, what kind of a french woman, qui est si francaise that she can't help but la bise, would bring a bottle of wine as a host gift? maybe it's different in Quebec, as it seems she is less French and more Quebecois, but still that was weird for me.
This romance could have been soooo good. The first half, the slow-burn, the tension, IMMACULATE. Then, what happened? Who did these people become? It made me viscerally angry to read about. I appreciated that these characters, including side characters, were intriguingly complex, flawed, and at times deeply problematic, but at a certain point it was no longer enjoyable to read about. I'm also very upset about Wayne, and I don't understand why Jordan forgave him so easily but not anyone else. That would have been 100% more worth being upset about than anything else.
This was such a fun read, but the last quarter totally blew it for me, it felt like it didn't belong in this cute, slow-burn, romance novel.

DNFed at 50%. I really wanted to like it but the writing didn’t have much depth. I also had an issue with the fact that the only Black characters, Jordan’s family and Ex, are not good people while white people, her friends, the love interest, Noémie, and her dad, are the only ones that have been kind to her. It rubs me the wrong way, especially since the main reason I picked up this book was because I wanted to read about a Black queer woman. Maybe things after the point I stopped at are different but the writing was not gripping enough to keep me going. I will say the chemistry between Jordan and Noémie was good.