“I was hooked from the very first page!” – Christina Lauren, New York Times bestselling author of In a Holidaze
“This book is a delight.” – New York Times Book Review
A National Bestseller and winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Romance! Featured on Shondaland, Oprah Mag, Bustle, The New York Times Book Review, Buzzfeed, POPSUGAR, Entertainment Weekly, Washington Post, NPR, … Times Book Review, Buzzfeed, POPSUGAR, Entertainment Weekly, Washington Post, NPR, Culturess, Vulture, and more. Named one of the Best Romances of 2020 by Washington Post, Bustle, and Buzzfeed!
With nods to Bridget Jones and Pride & Prejudice, this debut is a delightful queer rom-com about a free-spirited social media astrologer who agrees to fake a relationship with a grumpy actuary until New Year’s Eve—with results not even the stars could predict!
After a disastrous blind date, Darcy Lowell is desperate to stop her well-meaning brother from playing matchmaker ever again. Love—and the inevitable heartbreak—is the last thing she wants. So she fibs and says her latest set up was a success. Darcy doesn’t expect her lie to bite her in the ass.
Elle Jones, one of the astrologers behind the popular Twitter account Oh My Stars, dreams of finding her soul mate. But she knows it is most assuredly not Darcy… a no-nonsense stick-in-the-mud, who is way too analytical, punctual, and skeptical for someone as free-spirited as Elle. When Darcy’s brother—and Elle’s new business partner—expresses how happy he is that they hit it off, Elle is baffled. Was Darcy on the same date? Because… awkward.
Darcy begs Elle to play along and she agrees to pretend they’re dating. But with a few conditions: Darcy must help Elle navigate her own overbearing family during the holidays and their arrangement expires on New Year’s Eve. The last thing they expect is to develop real feelings during a faux relationship. But maybe opposites can attract when true love is written in the stars?
“Everything I want from a rom-com: fun, whimsical, sexy.” – Talia Hibbert, USA Today bestselling author of Get a Life, Chloe Brown
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Written in the Stars is the first book I’ve read by Alexandria Bellefleur, and I can’t wait to read more from her. This book is an F/F (LGBT) Romance. I’ve wanted to read more of this genre, and it was one of my goals for this year (2020). If you are a fan of Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones, you will enjoy this book. I know I did.
Female Protagonist (1): Elle Jones is an Astrologer who runs the popular Twitter account called Oh My Stars! She’s one character that I would love to be friends with because her personality is lively, and she’s always on cloud nine. She’s a romantic and loves life. Unfortunately, her family wants her to be more serious, especially with her job. They don’t consider her successful. I felt for her character and how she was treated. She deserved happiness and love.
Female Protagonist (2): Darcy Lowell reminds me of ‘Darcy’ from Pride and Prejudice perfectly. She is not looking for love, but unfortunately, her little brother is persistent for her to find someone. She’s all about her job and getting over her past of having her heartbroken. She’s the complete opposite of Elle, and Darcy has difficulty accepting Elle at first until she gets to know her.
Storyline: Elle Jones is looking for a soulmate and her new business partner Brendon sets her up with his sister, Darcy. The date is a complete disaster until Elle hears differently from Brendon. Darcy wants to get her little brother off her back and sets up a fake relationship with Elle. They both set a deadline for their phony relationship and also setup conditions. It’s not going to be easy faking a relationship with both families.
My Thoughts: Written in the Stars is an excellent story about two characters that fall in love that are complete opposites of each other. I loved Elle’s character and how successful she and her friend Margot is with Oh My Stars! Elle is someone I could consider being a friend with immediately, but Darcy would take a while due to how she treats people. I could understand why she was the way she was due to what happened in her past. Both Elle and Darcy have difficulties in life (past and present). It took me a bit to get used to these characters being together because of how they met in the beginning. It was not the best date. I didn’t think it was a good idea to have a fake relationship because I thought it would lead to disaster. I will say this the scenes between Elle and Darcy were steamy. Very steamy! There was also one particular scene where Elle shares her love of thrift store items to Darcy with a Christmas tree, etc. It was sweet. Elle was a sweetheart in the book, while it took me a bit to like Darcy. It didn’t stop me from reading the book, though. I did feel the ending was rushed, but other than that, this book was satisfying.
Standalone or Part of Series: Standalone.
Steaminess: Steamy.
HEA: Yes.
Trope: Fake/Pretend Relationship and Opposite’s Attract.
Would I recommend this book? Yes. I would recommend this to readers who enjoy the F/F (LBGT) Contemporary Romance genre. Readers that love a re-telling of Pride and Prejudice and also love characters that are opposites of each other will enjoy this book too. I know I love these kinds of books. I can’t wait to read more from Alexandria Bellefleur.
I’m looking forward to Brendon’s story next because he deserves a HEA too.
I received a complimentary copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
This books hit me in allllll the feels. I laughed, I cried, I swooned, and I am always a total sucker for a book that can make me do all three. I cannot recommend this one enough! It’s got a fake relationship trope, the perfect combination of grumpy/sunshine heroines, and plenty of fandom references for those – like me – who are fangirls at heart.
Elle Jones is a free-spirited astrologer with a huge social media following and who believes in the all the magic surrounding the soul-mate myths. She agrees to a blind date with Darcy Lowell, her business partner’s sister. Darcy has long ago given up any belief in love and soul mates and has turned into an uptight, controlling, ice queen who agreed to go out to please her brother. What could possibly go wrong with that? Only everything. After spilling wine on Darcy’s expensive vintage dress, Elle flees the bar. Both women are tired of being judged for being single, both women want their friends and family to stop trying to fix them up only to be ignored. When Darcy’s brother asks her how the date went, she intentionally lets him believe that it had been a success. She believes that will be the end of his meddling in her love life. Yeah, right. When Darcy’s brother tells Elle how happy he is that she and his sister hit it off, Elle is left wondering what Darcy’s up to. When confronted by Elle, Darcy admits to what she’s done and asks Elle to go along with until the end of the year. They work out the details. But then something miraculous occurs – both women begin to care for the other.
This is a well-written lesbian romance with two complex characters that the reader can love and root for. The storyline is plausible and well-executed.
If you love romance, soul mates, humor, and feel good writing. this is the book for you. You’ll find yourself reading into the wee hours of the morning unwilling to say goodnight to Darcy and Elle.
My thanks to Avon Books and Edelweiss for an eARC.
{I received this as an ARC in exchange for an Honest Review}
“Never before had Elle met someone so pretty it pissed her off.”
I LOVED this book. It was so wonderful. I wanted to read this book as soon as I saw the cover. It is so beautiful and it fits the story perfectly. This was my first Female/Female romance and I loved it. Elle and Darcy are complete opposites. I mean completely different but that is what makes them so special. I have to admit the fake dating trope is my least favorite but Alexandria wrote this one flawlessly. It was so good. These two have captured my heart. They have some of the sweetest scenes. This book made me laugh so much. It was fun and hot and so full of emotion and angst and passion. Elle is so full of life and loves love, while Darcy is focused on work and scared to have her heart broken so stays clear of relationships. Watching these two together is magic. Their relationship is full of drama and trials and lots of good times and most importantly love. This was such an amazing read. It gave me all the feels and the ending had me tearing up in the best way. I seriously love this book. It is quirky and fun with truly amazing characters. I will most definitely recommend this to everyone and I will be re-reading for sure.
“Above them, the sky was dark, not a star in sight, not even the moon, Elle was, by far, the brightest thing Darcy could see, brighter than the streetlights and the lamps, a beacon in the darkness.”