You want The Parent Trap but make it sapphic?
Look no further, Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend has got you covered. In this historical romance, we follow our two main characters, Beth and Gwen who upon becoming fast friends and realising that there is more to their parent’s connection than they have been told, decide to concoct a plan to set up their parents and give them the second chance at happiness they deserve. Yet their parents isn’t the only thing that’s causing them trouble. While Gwen has long since given up on finding a suitable husband, this season marks Beth’s last chance to find a good match so she can keep her and her mother afloat. Yet as Beth and Gwen spend more time together, scheme together and dream up wild and gorgeous futures together, the real love story might just turn out to be their very own—if they play their cards right in the Victorian era, that is.
(Listening to Dress by Taylor Swift on a loop while reading this book is obligatory, by the way.)
I honestly can’t quite believe this is a debut novel. Gwen and Beth as well as all the secondary characters were so fleshed out that they practically jumped off the pages.
Gwen is clever and feisty (maybe even more so than her father and that’s saying something) and then we have Beth, who is the embodiment of kind and cordial. It could be argued that together they bring out both the best and the worst in each other but it’s so entertaining that you can’t really complain about the drama that ensues. Not to mention that their chemistry was absolutely sizzling.
I admit to being a tiny bit scared before I read this whether I would like the storyline with the parents. See, for The Parent Trap to work, you can’t just be invested in the youngster’s story, you also need to be rooting for the parents to actually get together because they belong together instead of just for the girls to get what they want.
It’s a feat to balance the main romance between Gwen and Beth and the romantic relationship development of their parents yet Alban does this swimmingly. I rooted just as much for Gwen and Beth’s plan to come to fruition as I did for their own happily-ever-after. The parent storyline offered so much: a layer of complication to Gwen and Beth’s romance but also a social commentary on the rules and conventions of a time that would rather see you stuck with someone in an unhappy marriage than following your heart’s deepest desire. There was a lot of depth to the discussion of women’s rights and political upheavals and the rich having their hands in keeping women powerless but there were also so many moments of fighting for your voice, for your dreams and not confining yourself to archaic gender roles that were all detailed beautifully in Gwen and Beth’s struggle to make it in society but also in getting their parents back together.
Also this may be a controversial opinion I’m sure but in my opinion this was idiots to lovers and I had just such a fun time reading it. Gwen and Beth both take a while to figure out that they’re into each other and once they do, all bets are off. From secret moments in a crowded room (IYKYK) to stolen kisses in a labyrinth, their romance made my heart soar. But all of these giddy feelings were amplified by the fact that they were the best of friends and genuinely cared for each other, even when they made mistakes or said the wrong thing.
Add to that rambunctious humour, found family, hilarious banter, Gwen’s dad who deserves his own book and other side characters that add so much to this wild tapestry of emotions as well as an explosively epic conclusion and you have yourself an unputdownable debut. I for one can’t wait to get my hands on the companion novel to return to the wonderful universe Alban has created.
Historical romance meets a sapphic The Parent Trap retelling in Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend, a gorgeously immersive tale that’s a must-read for fans of Bridgerton, the friends-to-lovers trope and swanky romances that leave you swooning.
Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of January 9th 2024.
Will you be picking up Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
A swoon-worthy debut queer Victorian romance in which two debutantes distract themselves from having to seek husbands by setting up their widowed parents, and instead find their perfect match in each other—the lesbian Bridgerton/Parent Trap you never knew you needed!
Gwen has a brilliant beyond brilliant idea.
It’s 1857, and anxious debutante Beth has just one season to snag a wealthy husband, or she and her mother will be out on the street. But playing the blushing ingenue makes Beth’s skin crawl and she’d rather be anywhere but here.
Gwen, on the other hand, is on her fourth season and counting, with absolutely no intention of finding a husband, possibly ever. She figures she has plenty of security as the only daughter of a rakish earl, from whom she’s gotten all her flair, fun, and less-than-proper party games.
“Let’s get them together,” she says.
It doesn’t take long for Gwen to hatch her latest scheme: rather than surrender Beth to courtship, they should set up Gwen’s father and Beth’s newly widowed mother. Let them get married instead.
“It’ll be easy” she says.
There’s just…one, teeny, tiny problem. Their parents kind of seem to hate each other.
But no worries. Beth and Gwen are more than up to the challenge of a little twenty-year-old heartbreak. How hard can parent-trapping widowed ex-lovers be?
Of course, just as their plan begins to unfold, a handsome, wealthy viscount starts calling on Beth, offering up the perfect, secure marriage.
Beth’s not mature enough for this…
Now Gwen must face the prospect of sharing Beth with someone else, forever. And Beth must reckon with the fact that she’s caught feelings, hard, and they’re definitely not for her potential fiancé.
That’s the trouble with matchmaking: sometimes you accidentally fall in love with your best friend in the process.
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