Just Be Her: An Opposites Attract Romance

OMG…..I loved this book so much. It hit all of the feels and I love how it has two main characters. I did a lot of laughing while reading this. Beyond amazing and HIGHLY recommend for anyone who loves to read.

This book was a enjoyable read. I really like the POV from the characters. This is a book had great character development. I am not going to give any spoilers. No spoilers here.

Just Be Her was a nice treat as it’s been a long while since I have read a swap-identities story and this one was well-written and edited, with intriguingly different heroines and some delicious MMF. Objectively speaking, the juxtaposition of the tandem story lines was done very well – something I know is not easily done from the many books I have read that don’t do it near as well – the chapters alternate at the right places in the story while moving the story along without repeating things the reader has already seen. Subjectively speaking – this type of story mechanic is not my personal favorite. I often find myself just getting into one side of the story right before it switches and then half my mind is still focused on the former thread, making me not as fully present in the current one. I never quite felt the emotion between the characters, and that may be partially (or fully) owing to that personal quirk of mine with the back and forth storytelling. I would have liked more time on page spent between the heroines and their love interests, to really see their love grow, but I also think that might have messed with the established flow, so I can accept it as is too. I liked that just as much (if not more) attention was given to the growing relationship between the heroines, and seeing them realize their dreams. This is a talented author – I’m looking forward to the creative ideas she will treat us with next.

THIS BOOK. I was intrigued from the very beginning and as the first chapter continued, I was completely addicted to this story. Just Be Her is different from anything I have ever read and it was truly a breath of fresh air.
Toni is a bartender, she is fully of sass and just doesn’t care what anyone thinks of her. Alex is reserved, proper and is all about her image. Toni and Alex are complete opposites when it comes to their personalities, however, when it comes to looks they are 100% identical. I loved both of these women, they were each so different, but I felt like I could connect with them. I loved the instant bond and friendship they formed throughout the story.
This book is told in a dual POV but not in the typical romance fashion. It is told from Toni and Alex’s views the entire time. The story had a great flow and with the two views, as a reader, you easily got the full picture without a ton of repeating and overlapping.
While this story was completely different and unique for me, it was also a great romance. It packed A LOT of steam (ahem Ren and Andre) and plenty of sweetness. The growth of Toni and Alex throughout the story is what really made me love this. They both fought for their dreams and formed an everlasting friendship and bond.
Just Be Her is highly addictive and completely blew my mind. It is a MUST READ!

I discovered Kaydence Snow earlier in the year. I’ve yet to read a book of hers that I haven’t loved.

Just be Her is a fun new take on the Prince and the Pauper with a surprise plot twist. Or two.

Toni is a standoffish, orphaned, bar tender with trust issues. She left the upper Midwest after her parent’s deaths on a quest to find a place where she fit. New Orleans is where she landed. Wooed into a bar by the music pouring out into the street and begrudgingly adopted/hired by the bar’s owner, Andre. Toni is killing time with the goal of one day making it to college.

Alexandra is the opposite. A posh, upper crust, family heiress princess sitting on the slowly crumbling remains of her father’s business, Alex is in the process of selling her soul over for the money influx needed to pull her family’s vineyard back from the brink. Understandably, Alex is more than a little overwhelmed by the whole “brink of ruin and an arranged marriage to a perfect stranger to safe me” situation she finds herself in. One well timed panic attack has Alex meeting Toni.

Prep school posture with a string of pearls meet grunge band chain smoker doppelgänger.

For all that Toni has a tough “Don’t touch me, talk to me, be near me” exterior and mouth, she’s hiding a soft core. Seeing a stranger in distress in her alley puts a crimp in her break, but she can’t walk away. Once Toni has calmed Alex enough to know that she won’t keel over in the alley, Toni walks thinking that’s the end of it.

For Alex, watching her double stride confidently away, owning her space and herself, she sees something she yearns for.

This is where the story really takes off.

Somehow, okay….with a VERY generous bribe to help fund a college dream, Alex convinces Toni to switch places with her for two weeks.

The thought is that Alex will have a break from the impending doom that’s hanging over her while Toni enjoys a vacation and getting to know her new fiancée. Or, Alex’s new fiancée.

This plan of course goes seriously off course in a matter of hours.

Toni can only play nod and smile for so long. Also, her nicotine addiction is going to kill her pretense. Add in a hot as heck stable manager whom she is NOT engaged to and she’s already sliding down her hill of destruction. Cross town Alex doesn’t fair much better. She’s on time to things. She offers to help. She doesn’t complain. She talks. Things that Toni struggles with. Alex is one complex mixed drink away from tossing her disguise to no repair.

Then there are the guys that these ladies run into.

Andre has been Toni’s boss and landlord since she walked in off the streets. He has a big heart and stretches it for Toni…but Alex steals it. Then there’s Ren. The smoky, seductive voices singer for the band that plays at the bar. He and Toni are like alley cats marking territory. But Ren and Alex – sparks fly. Which is made more interesting given that Ren is also Andre’s long term partner.

Toni is falling in love with horses and Alex’s fiancée. Stable manager Jack is hot and has that manual labor sexy working for him, but it’s Oren who begins to grab Toni’s heart. Toni shows him the soft heart that she doesn’t let anyone see. She offers him her scars and her fears. Oren treats them like treasures and offers Toni his in return.

Things are getting messy and dirty and then Alex’s mom comes to town.

Screeching halt.

This is the plot twist. No I am NOT going to tell you anything about it. Needless to say, as a plot twist, Annabelle (Alex’s mom) acts as a detonator to the bomb the two girls have been dancing on.

Alex’s life as Toni starts to flake in pieces. Toni’s life as Alex starts to show the deep cracks. Everything falls into one big pile of cards without any winners.

Then comes the second twist. The girls find similarities to each other. They begin to help each other repair the damage to the two different worlds. They find that their biggest supporter is someone they never saw coming.

While this is a retelling of an old fable, it doesn’t play to script. There’s that warmth of familiarity, while the characters run into new and different obstacles. The prep school princess finds herself in a polyamorous relationship. And it’s okay.
The poor girl from the upper Midwest finds that the rich Southern boy doesn’t fit his stereo type. And he needs her to fill in the gaps.

A new family is created.

And they all DO live happily ever after.

This read is fantastically written from characters, to plot, to world building. As I’ve come to expect with Ms. Snow’s works, her female characters drive the story. They are always strong, always a little broken inside, and never a cookie cutter person from all the other stories you read. Her male characters are equal matches for her females with dialogue that rivals an Aaron Sorkin script.
Her worlds are richly detailed and shown to the reader via the character’s point of view. Side characters aren’t just cardboard space takers. They grab a bit of the reader’s affection as well.

Overall, a wonderful curl up in a chair and settle for a good story telling book.

Fans of the stories like the parent trap will love the life swap premise- as two women find their doppelganger and decide to escape their own lives. On the surface, these two are totally different- on a feisty bartender, the other a frustrated socialite, but escaping in each other’s realities not only opens the door for romances with the people that circle their worlds but also helps both Alex and Toni explore themselves, while also getting to know each other. And, of course, we have some “less conventional” romance (some MMF/polyamorous love story lines) that make it more fun and even spicier.

We do have two storylines told in parallel, which I know can make some readers impatient. I sometimes find that it stunts my emotional engagement simply because I’m moving my focus between different storylines. But here I actually appreciated it- in part because their two stories are interconnected and thematically tied, and also because in truth this story felt more ensemble in nature, with the romances just part of the dynamic. This is a romance, don’t get me wrong, but we also are exploring themes of self-identity and friendship and family. Kayedence also uses this narrative approach to beautifully juxtapose not only their evolution of each of their romances but also their own character growth and discovery- two very different women going through a similar self-awareness exploration. There are a few tonal shifts that jolted me a bit, but otherwise this was a fun, witty, and sweet story. Really clever and creative writing.

I read this for the romance, but I left inspired by the focus Kaydence gave to the sisterhood of these two women- their budding relationship and the way they inspire and support one another. The characterization is really stellar, both Alex and Toni are nuanced and interesting, the dynamism of their characters only accentuated by their character contrasts, and this made this story so much more than a sexy romance (all though it as it) but one about self-discovery and acceptance, finding your purpose, and the power of connection.

Kaydence Snow is wildly talented, and I’m excited for more and more readers to find her. She’s demonstrated a impressive versatility in the work she’s created thus far, has proven to be a fantastic world and character builders, and she brings an emotional gravitas- a meaningful point of view- to the stories she creates, no matter how sexy or fun they are on the surface. Just Be Her is another testament to her creativity and talent. This one left me feeling all happy- and grateful I found her stories!

Overall 4.5 stars- really enjoyed this read!

This book was very different from anything I had previously read.
It was interesting, quirky and a really fun story to read.
The lies and deception ran deeper than I could have imagined but the pay off was completely worth it.
What happens after two strangers meet in an alley will surprise you!

3-1/2 Stars!

This book took me forever to get into. I don’t know why but I really had to push myself to get to about a 1/4 of the way through the book. But after that it was a pretty entertaining read.

Both girls couldn’t be more different so it was a pretty classic parent trap type read. But there was more to it than that. It was hot, steamy, funny, frustrating, & had some twists even I didn’t see coming. The twists at the end surprised me quite a bit. I really enjoyed the second half of this book! Kept me flipping pages till i got to the end.

I went in blind to this book, I didn’t read the blurb, I just liked the original cover and now I also love the new cover! And what did I find…..well just a witty, funny, light-hearted, steamy, surprising, page-turner!
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Just Be Her is a parent-trap style life switch romance, but at it’s heart it is also so much more than that. Alex & Toni are completely different people in almost every way except their doppelganger looks, and on the face of it their life switch should NOT work, because of how different they are. But what Kaydence has shown (again!) is that well known message of ‘not judging a book by it’s cover’. Throughout their month long switch, the girls discover new layers of themselves while also letting each other in. Their text conversations had me howling!
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Because of the nature of the book we get not only one romance but two and I loved seeing the differences between how the girls stories develop. There are twists at the end which I did not see coming, and while they change the tone of the story for a short while, overall I was left with an over-riding feeling of fun, laughter, acceptance and love when I finished the story
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For fans of the steamy scenes there are plenty of angsty build up scenes as well as full out steam! There’s elements of menage and MM too, so a real fulfilling mixed bag for the lovers of all tropes of romance
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I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book. The synopsis was so interesting, I gave it a try. Boy, am I glad I did. Kaydence Snow weaves an intriguing, updated version of The Parent Trap, but don’t worry, the story of Alexandria (Alex) and Antoinette (Toni) is nothing like the movie. The only similarity is a chance meeting and switching places. They are each totally taken out of their comfort zones and pushed toward people they would normally ever meet. This switch leads to a lot of self-discovery, a little sexual experimentation, and falling in love when you least expect it. Of course, living a lie has consequences and those they’ve come to care for may up end up getting hurt. Can their betrayal be forgiven?
The writing is clever with a biting wit, angst and a lot of heart. Ms Snow gives us an empathetic view of not pre-judging people as those perceptions can be shattered once you get to know a person and their life stories. A really well-written book with wonderful characters. I couldn’t put it down.