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Iris Kelly Doesn't Date: A swoon-worthy, laugh-out-loud queer romcom

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I can't believe I'm saying goodbye to the amazing ladies from this series! Their friendship, drama, strength, and love will always hold a special place in my heart! ❤️ There is a conversation between Iris and Stevie about asexuality and being aromantic, which was fantastic, and I thought handled really well. And Iris is a hopeless romantic, but the fact that her mum, and her siblings, couldn't fathom her not wanting to be with someone was just. Yeah. Not it. I also think Blake does a disservice to Iris in that everyone--and I do mean everyone--in this novel is really judgemental of Iris's choices not to date and to only seek meaningless hookups when Iris insists that's what she wants. I had hoped her friends would have been more supportive. But there was a moment where I wondered if the friendship had run its course because they were all so judgmental and just in wildly different places in life. And that's what happens sometimes. I'm glad Blake didn't take it there, but I wasn't sure how she'd pull them out of that mire. And she’s happy for all of them, truly. So what if she misses her friends and family, who are busy with their perfectly paired partners. At least she has her brand-new career writing romance novels (the irony), right? I LOVE me some fake dating. This one definitely took it a completely new way for me and I loved it even more.

I can't describe how happy I was reading all of their love stories, and just being so immersed in all of their friendships. Ofc the characters have a "disdain for literary fiction" and think it's pretentious. Boohoo a book makes you think and doesn't rely on tropes What I liked: I found both Iris and Stevie relatable in a lot of ways. I love seeing anxiety rep in books, AND awesome bisexual rep! Stevie’s anxiety, while different from mine, also felt so familiar. My heart ached for the way her friends took advantage of her, the way she made herself small to be more likable. Watching her journey throughout the book was so wonderful. With Iris, I really related to the way everyone in her life was constantly pressuring her to live life the way they thought was best. Truly, these two characters are the closest I have felt to fictional people in a long time. They were nuanced and real and didn’t always make the right choices, and I loved them. And then putting them together?? Absolute magic! Their love story was so sweet, it had me wishing for a real life romance just like it. Iris's growth was wonderful, it was so hard for her to let go and trust again and fully give her all to Stevie. But when she did...it made my heart so happy.

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My problem with Iris Kelly Doesn't Date is actually the fake-dating aspect of the plot. And that's an odd thing to write because that is literally the entire plot and because I normally love this trope. But it didn't quite come off as genuine. (It's fake-dating, I get that's it's not supposed to be completely genuine). And it didn't feel romantic, even with the romance "lessons." It's like it was all too clinical to be believable? The rules/parameters of their fake relationship didn't quite work. It didn't help the novel that I read immediately after reading this was another fake-dating book ( Fly with Me), which pulled off the trope in a much more romantic/believable way. I also loved Iris' commentary on her friends' perspectives of her having a lot of sex. She wasn't wrong - there was definitely that judgemental tone of slut shaming without actually outright saying it. It was so fantastic to see snippets (and they were few and far between, sadly) of my OTP, Delilah and Claire. And, of course, Astrid and Jordan. She is vehemently against dating after a string of bad relationships, including her last girlfriend, Jillian, cheating on her wife with Iris. So she swears off dating.

Iris Kelly has been through a lot. She's loud and opinionated. She has a big heart and loves so very fiercely that anyone who is loved by her should be happy they are. I struggled with the third-act misunderstanding/breakup that is so common in contemporary romance, and I struggled with reading the self-sabotage on both sides, but even still, I was so invested in their love story that I was able to push through for that happily ever after.Overall: I would highly recommend this for the artfully crafted characters, anxiety rep, and fantastic romance. PDF / EPUB File Name: Iris_Kelly_Doesnt_Date_-_Ashley_Herring_Blake.pdf, Iris_Kelly_Doesnt_Date_-_Ashley_Herring_Blake.epub

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