This author’s books have the ability to simultaneously make you unable to stop reading while wishing you could bury the book somewhere deep underground where it can't be found. Compelling and didn’t want it to end!

Do not be fooled by the title, this is not your average romcom! Ella takes us back into our own childhoods with the music, culture and all the feelings of first love. We go through every heart break and insecurity with her but also the side quests of the important people propping her up and I was there for every second. I loved this book and could not put it down. I loved Ella and I loved Lowe and I loved Jackson too. Read this book, but prepare for it to break you.
For anyone who enjoys a good love story, a bit of nostalgia or who still remembers their first love fondly,

So beyond ready and excited to read this gorgeous gorgeous book! I know so many people that have experienced this including myself and I think many readers will really relate to this one! I’ll be sharing a full review and thoughts very soon as I apologize I’ve been in the hospital unexpectedly due to health issues and falling a bit behind on my reviews but I promise to catch up very soon! Reading and acquiring these beautiful books for readers is the best medicine. HQ keep up your amazing work!

Really enjoyed this book! I laughed so much reading it.

Ella and Lowe meet when they are teenagers. It's love at first sight for her but he just sees her as a friend. The story spans from their teenage years until they are in their thirties. Set when mobiles were just starting to be a thing for teenagers, msn messenger and dial up internet. The characters in the book are great and so realistic. With all her friends getting engaged, married and having babies will Ella and her boyfriend Jackson follow or does she hold a candle still for her first love.

Well. I was not expecting to fall so hard for this book. Comparing to ‘One Day’ always makes me a little uneasy - I adored that book, so I tend to read “comparisons” a little harshly.

Dockrill’s writing is beautiful. From crafting place to person, she creates environments where the reader too falls in love. The two storylines weave perfectly, and I fell hard for the main characters. This story was so relatable.

One of those novels that’s given me a strong book hangover.

I loved it, I loved it, I loved it.

An absolute nod to all of us who were teenagers in the 2000’s. Every page was filled with my teenage years, the smile never left my face.
The story of Ella and Lowe is now one of my favourite stories, ever. I absolutely broke down towards the end, my heart was breaking for Ella ( and Lowe ), their history, their lives. The most perfect book. Thank you!

Omg this book. I read it in a day! I just couldn't put it down. The characters are so strong and relatable. I loved Ella so much and her life and behaviours often made me laugh out loud. Her relationship with Lowe is just gorgeous, so slow burning and gradual but there are points that just make you want to cry out in frustration (in a good way) and weep,
Loved this book. Didn't want it to end and I will be shouting about it everywhere.

Wow. This was an emotional one! I was so invested, and can't imagine forgetting these characters in a hurry.

I really enjoyed reading about Ella's teenage years, she's a similar age to me so everything felt so nostalgic and relatable. The way Ella felt about Lowe was so well-written, anyone who has ever been in love will recognise parts of themselves in the writing.

It wasn't all big, emotional scenes. There was plenty of light relief in the form of Ella's friends and family, with some funny bits thrown in to stop the plot from being a bit much.

I would 100% recommend this. It was emotional and thought-provoking and I loved it.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the advance copy to read.

To say I loved this book would be an understatement. Elle is in her 30s with a steady boyfriend, a job but feels like something is missing from her life. It's told from Elles POV but over dual timelines as we uncover a lifelong long with her best friend Lowe.

This was an incredibly nostalgic read, reminiscing over the late 90s to early 2000s. The writing was so authentic and brilliant. I really felt like I was living through the words of the story. Everyone remembers their first love, the way it makes them obsessive and desperate to be around that person. The author captured this heady feeling so perfectly.

I feel this will be a romance book I'll be recommending forever.

Yes, at times it was frustrating with the miscommunication trope but it also really made the story. The whole way along you are screaming at the characters to just be vulnerable and show their feelings.

One of my favourite reads so far of the year.

I have just flipped the final page and I AM NOT OK. This book is an absolute hurricane of nostalgia, taking me straight back to the painful awkwardness of my teenage years and holding my sticky hand through the agony of growing up - and old - clutching a love that never gets spoken of. Beautiful storytelling and a resolution that hits just the right spot at the right time. Perfection.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and HQ for the advanced copy of this book.
I loved this book so much! I was crying along to their heartache and cheering along to the triumphs. This was one of my most anticipated reads for this year and I'm so glad it didn't disappoint!
The characters were so beautifully written. I loved the friendships and how they were central to the characters despite this being a love story. I particularly adored how the story wove between 'then' and 'now'.
Thank you again for this advanced copy and a truly wonderful read.

I Love You I Love You I Love You
By Laura Dockrill
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“It’s wonderful being a kid like that. You think trauma is just sliding off your skin, when really it is the opposite; it’s sinking in deep, like the most painful tattoo ink of a word or picture that you absolutely hate, directly into your nervous system, that nobody else will ever see unless you one day are loved or desperate enough to show it.”

I was initially drawn to this book based on the cover art and after reading the blurb I was really intrigued.
Laura completely captured the feel of consuming, obsessive love to the point where I felt I was in love with Lowe. Ella’s inner monologue was so convincing that I truly felt I was experiencing each emotion with her, and that I may actually BE Ella. The experience of being a young teenager in the 90s was SO SPOT ON that this book felt like going home to me. Her descriptions of things only a 90s kid could experience had me almost in tears at some points. Then Ella’s experiences as a 30 year old were just so scarily accurate as someone just turned 30. I cannot express enough how much I loved the way this was written.
The way you only got to see Lowe from Ella’s point of view and experience him through her eyes was so interesting as I found myself wondering alongside her - does he like Ella? Is he in love? At one point I wondered if he was real! The reality is you really don’t know anything about Lowe other than Ella’s opinion of him.
The two time lines were perfectly done and went together seamlessly. I absolutely adorned this book and will recommend it to anyone who loves dual timelines, romance, unrequited love stories or ANYONE who has been in love or grew up in the 90s!
Thank you to HQ and the author for the ARC. It really was a privilege to read this one!

REVIEW
cw: financial insecurity, drug use, divorce, bereavement, anxiety

Writer Ella Cole has been in love with Lowe Archer from the first moment they met as awkward, hormonal fourteen-year-olds. But in her attempt to appear aloof, she hides her infatuation and immediately friend-friendzones him. Told through a mixture of flashbacks over fifteen years, as well as the present day, we follow the ebbs and flows of their friendship as well as their respective relationships. But will Ella ever reveal her feelings? And does Lowe even see her as anything more than a friend?

I loved this book. I loved the mixture of flashbacks and present-day narrative. I think it worked best in the flashbacks, as I was hooked from the moment Flashback Ella planned her made-up boyfriend story about Jason, and I was crying laughing by the end of that chapter. The author perfectly captured all of the angst, hopes, and fears of hormonal teenage girls and those awkward teen rights of passage. The sole male exchange student at the girls' school left me crying laughing, and I too identified as 14-year-old 'mixed herbs' Ella, so she was particularly relatable to me.
Her immediate friend zoning of Lowe was so awkward, yet felt painfully accurate. Seriously, I had so much second-hand embarrassment reading this book, but it only made me love and root for Ella even more. At times I wanted to give her a big hug, and at others, I was screaming at her to speak up for what she wanted. I generally hate miscommunication in a story, but this felt so painfully authentic in that Ella was such a fallible, self-doubting character. Her family dynamic was particularly well-written, and the financial (and food) insecurity broke my heart so many times.
Lowe was an interesting character. I enjoyed the one-on-one times he spent with Ella, and loved their banter. My heart broke for him at times, and his grief was palpable, but, he felt like an enigma at times. That might be because we spent SO much time in Ella's head as a teen, seeing him only really through her eyes. I loved him most when he was vulnerable with Ella, and I loved their quieter moments. I also loved the musical aspects of his story, from their shared mixtapes to his band's success. But by far my favourite thing about this book was the humour. There were so many genuinely laugh-out-loud moments. Ella's self-deprecating sense of humour made me snort-laugh so many times, and the tone was so authentically British working class. I don't want to spoil the outcome but those final chapters had me crying one moment and whooping the next.
Hilarious, heartbreaking and swoon-worthy. Highly recommended.

Overall Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Heat Rating: .5

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own*

Favourite Quotes:

Turns out, if you want to get a deposit for a house fast – throw a wedding and invite three hundred people.

Despite the squealing, we are not really scared of this man, because he is just one quite small naked man, and we are 700 girls in bottle-green uniforms with facts about the periodic table that would bore an erection to smooshed banana quicker than one could say titanium.

There’s a new thing going around at school where an attractive person, instead of ‘fit’, is described as ‘spicy’. It’s gone one step further where there now seems to be a grading system, where good-looking-ness gets ranked. ‘Saffron’ means the most smoking, because saffron is the most expensive luxurious spice of all.
‘They are so saffron.’
Well, if this is the case, label me ‘mixed herbs’.

Is this what teen spirit smells like? Like Roast Beef Monster Munch?

SHUT UP, BRAIN. SHUT UP, HEART. YOU TOO, FANNY. How dare I fancy somebody? Oh this is a nightmare. WHY IS MY BODY BETRAYING ME LIKE THIS?

To be Lowe’s friend means to be close to him, as close as I can possibly get without ever having to be rejected or forgotten or looked past.

‘When you get famous, don’t forget me, yeah?’ I joke out of awkwardness.
‘I think you’re pretty difficult to forget.’

Lowe is a heartthrob; girls fall at his feet, but he always makes me feel like the only girl in the room.

‘These are the favourite nights of my life. When you’re here. I’m at my happiest when I’m with you.’

The only feeling worse than being heartbroken is having to pretend you aren’t.

Self-care isn’t a new pair of shoes; it’s finding the compassion to say sorry to yourself.

We hug. And time seems to halt. It’s been ten minutes and a hundred years at the same time. We’re just like riding a bike.

What an absolute belter of a blast from the past! Crammed with nostalgia, teenage angst and the most perfect will they won’t they plot. One of my favourite binge reads of the year so far - is it too soon to want both a tv adaptation and another book by Laura Dockrill?

Ella and Lowe, best friends since their teenage years. But Ella secretly harboured a deeper love that wasn’t reciprocated. Then Lowe’s life took him in a new direction, fame and fortune beckoned. Will their stars ever align?
A super cute story that will resonate with anyone who remembers teen love. Skilfully incorporating lots of nostalgia from the early 2000s. A perfect summer beach read.