Well-known YA author Jennifer Dugan conquers the world of adult romance with Love at First Set. Following the story of what happens when a woman gives a drunk bathroom pep talk to the wrong person at the right time, only to find out that she just convinced the bride-to-be (who’s also her her best friend’s sister) to leave her fiancé the night before the wedding, this queer romcom is going to steal your heart. When newly-single Cara is on a quest to find herself and enlists Lizzie, the woman who made her see that her life wasn’t the one she wanted, sparks end up flying.
Now first things first, I adored Lizzie. She’s a lesbian gym rat who wants to have her own gym one day and has been pursuing this dream for ages. She’s determined, self-deprecating, a hot mess and overall just way too relatable. The romance between her and Cara also had its golden moments. From their first meeting in a bathroom to encounters along the way to their happy end, they always had a really fun dynamic between them. There’s of course also some drama because Cara’s parents expect a lot of her daughter, especially after leaving her fiancé right before the wedding.
Some parts of the story didn’t quite work for me, though. While I wanted to be mesmerised by the romance between Lizzie and Cara, I kept feeling way too bad for our protagonist and almost felt like the secondary plotlines overshadowed Lizzie’s own journey. Throughout the story, Lizzie isn’t treated well by almost all of the people in her life—her mother who only seems to care about the money Lizzie provides, her employees who bring on the drama and are just…ruthless at times and even her best friend James, who should be her ride or die, often leaves Lizzie stranded. It was just hard to read about Lizzie giving everyone so much and not really being treated fair in exchange, like, ever. Those parts definitely made this feel like less of a comedy and more of a tragedy.
While there is some character growth for the secondary characters toward the end, it felt rushed and could have been tied up a bit better instead of everyone doing a 180 so Lizzie could have her happily ever after.
In the end though, I still had a great time reading this and would recommend Love at First Set to lovers of Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun or One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston!
Love at First Set is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of May 23rd.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
The gym is Lizzie’s life—it’s her passion, her job, and the only place that’s ever felt like home. Unfortunately, her bosses consider her a glorified check-in girl at best, and the gym punching bag at worst.
When their son, Lizzie’s best friend James, begs her to be his plus one at his perfect sister Cara’s wedding, things go wrong immediately, culminating in Lizzie giving a drunken pep talk to a hot stranger in the women’s bathroom—except that stranger is actually the bride-to-be, and Lizzie has accidentally convinced her to ditch her groom.
Now, newly directionless Cara is on a quest to find herself, and Lizzie—desperate to make sure her bosses never find out her role in this disaster—gets strong-armed by James into “entertaining” her. Cara doesn’t have to know it’s a setup; it’ll just be a quick fling before she sobers up and goes back to her real life. After all, how could someone like Cara fall for someone like Lizzie, with no career and no future?
But the more Lizzie gets to know Cara, the more she likes her, and the more is on the line if any of her rapidly multiplying secrets get out. Because now it’s not just Lizzie’s job and entire future on the line, but also the girl of her dreams.
