Written In The Stars is a fun and frothy queer rom-com with a nod to Pride & Prejudice. Rather than taking the form of a straight-forward retelling, the main pairing in this book is instead just loosely inspired by Darcy and Elizabeth and the disaster that is their first meeting, which is a fun choice as it means that the story isn’t as predictable as expected.
A blind date set up by Darcy’s brother Brendon could’ve led to a meet-cute, but it ends up being an awkward evening between two completely unsuited women. Darcy is a savvy and ambitious business professional in a white collar job as an actuary who provides risk analysis for insurance premiums – basically she enjoys math! Elle is on the opposite end of the spectrum as a social media astrologer who is collaborating with Brendon to incorporate birth chart readings on his dating app to ensure greater compatibility between OTP’s matches. Between Darcy’s condescending manner towards Elle’s profession and Elle accidentally knocking a bottle of wine all over Darcy, it seems unlikely that these two would ever have the misfortune to find themselves in the same room again.
But that’s where the fake dating trope comes in! This is a popular trope which is fantastic when done right, and it’s used to full advantage here with the author avoiding the common pitfalls by steering clear of any gross power dynamics and making sure that both characters are on the same page about consenting to PDAs. The latter, by the way, is absolutely no issue at all as Darcy and Elle have smoking hot chemistry, even from the first disastrous date where they were both clearly into each other! There’s a delicious friction between the ladies as they reluctantly join forces to fake a relationship in order to appease overbearing family members, deciding to make do with each other for lack of better options. To their surprise, they find that despite their mutual bad first impressions, this pretend romance may not be such a hardship after all.
Both main characters have distinct voices and personalities, and this is most clearly expressed in their text message exchanges. Of course Darcy uses proper spelling and punctuation in carefully constructed sentences while Elle sends short bursts of messages with common abbreviations. Another cute inclusion is a series of fun Buzzfeed-style horoscope readings interspersed throughout the story, such as ‘What Holiday Activity Are You Based On Your Zodiac Sign’ (as a Cancerian, I agree with the answer ‘Holiday Movie Binge’). It’s fun and immersive seeing the type of content that Elle creates for the social media page Oh My Stars that she runs with her friend Margot.
Speaking of Margot, she and Annie who are best friends to Elle and Darcy respectively are a highlight of this book. They’re well-written side characters who provide greater insight into our heroines as well as standing on their own as believable and realistic three-dimensional human beings. These ladies may not be the star of the story, but they add a great deal of humour and heart. I really appreciate how the author shows the intermingling of friendship groups as Darcy and Elle’s relationship becomes more serious, this isn’t something I’ve noticed before and it makes the world of Written in the Stars seem more true to life by going to the effort of fleshing out these side characters and their interactions with each member of the couple.
There aren’t any real surprises or plot twists here as romance readers know how the story will end, but it’s the journey that matters and watching the romance develop between Darcy and Elle is an utter joy. It’s sweet and delightful to see them grow closer and start viewing each other’s previously annoying mannerisms as endearing quirks instead. Ah, the power of love!
While your mileage may vary on this, the chief weakness of this story for me was the motivation for Darcy and Elle to embark on the fake relationship in the first place. Brendon came off as rude and pushy with his never-ending attempts to match-make for Darcy regardless of her wishes on the matter and given how confident and self-assured she is, it didn’t make sense that she couldn’t stand up to him and put her foot down when she was clearly unhappy. Elle’s situation seemed more realistic as she felt like a disappointment to her family after dropping out of college instead of finishing her degree to take up an insecure job in social media. While I personally would distance myself from toxic people, it’s not that easy for others and it tracked on an emotional level that Elle would be desperate to prove herself to her family. But fake-dating someone accomplished and successful like Darcy to make herself look better by association didn’t seem like a great idea considering they were going to terminate the relationship in the near future, so how would that help her standing with the family?
Overall, this is a charming opposites-attract sapphic romance with loveable main characters who are easy to invest in. It’s a bumpy road to true love, but what a fun ride watching Darcy and Elle gravitate towards each other and succumb to the inevitable! A quick, enjoyable read that is highly recommended to romance lovers.
Written In The Stars is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of November 10th 2020.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
With nods to Bridget Jones and Pride and Prejudice, a charming #ownvoices queer rom-com debut about a free-spirited social media astrologer who agrees to fake a relationship with an uptight 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.
When Darcy begs Elle to play along, she agrees to pretend they’re dating to save face. But with a few conditions: Darcy must help Elle navigate her own overbearing family over the holidays and their arrangement expires on New Year’s Eve. The last thing they expect is to develop real feelings during a fake relationship.
But maybe opposites can attract when true love is written in the stars?
