July 15, 2024
Faubion’s funny if shallow debut comes across like a sitcom episode, delivering a few good laughs but nothing that will linger long in readers’ minds. The protagonists are tarot reader Kit “Mystic Maven” Larson and event planner Julia Kelley, both terminally online 20-somethings working on the same destination wedding in Joshua Tree National Park. Of the two, Julia’s got it worse. Not only is Kit the girl who broke her heart in high school, but she has another ex among the bridesmaids, who’s circling for a second bite. Despite the heroines being characterized very differently—woo-woo aesthete versus type-A entrepreneur—Kit and Julia both narrate in voices that are essentially identical, particularly in their preoccupation with 1990s cultural references older than they are. This sameness, combined with Kit’s relentless commitment to the bit of wanting to be a rom-com ingenue, render it difficult to accept the artifice and engage with the romance on a deeper level. Still, readers in the mood for a quirky bit of fluff will find this entertaining enough.
August 1, 2024
When best friends Kit and Julia were 12 years old, a psychic told them that they were twin flames. At the age of 18, they developed romantic feelings for each other. However, Kit was not yet ready to accept her bisexuality and abruptly cut off contact with Julia, causing both of them immense heartache. Fast-forward about a decade, and Kit is now a New Age influencer and professional tarot card reader, while Julia is a successful and buttoned-up wedding planner. When Kit is invited to work a gig at a destination wedding in the California desert, the last person she thinks she'll run into is Julia, who's in charge of the event. As their paths continue to cross, they can't ignore the feeling that fate has brought them back together. But Kit still isn't out, and Julia doesn't know if she can trust Kit with her heart again. The otherworldly Joshua Tree setting only enhances the mystical feeling of this sapphic rom-com. VERDICT Readers will enjoy Faubion's (Ellie Is Cool Again, written under the name Faith McClaren) novel about living and loving authentically, whether or not they usually read books that feature spiritual plotlines.--Migdalia Jimenez
Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
October 1, 2024
The universe gives a tarot card reader and a wedding planner a second chance at love. Inspired by her parents, Kit Larson has been pursuing the "Ideal Rom-Com Life Path," searching for the perfect man even though she secretly desires women as well. Then she learns her mom is leaving her dad to be with a woman, which unmoors her. Kit is an influencer working in the realm of spiritual entertainment, and escaping L.A. for Joshua Tree to provide tarot readings at a high-profile wedding seems like just what she needs. The multiday extravaganza is Julia Kelley's last gig before she starts her own wedding-planner business, and she needs everything to go perfectly. But when Julia sees Kit, this trip becomes the emotionally fraught reunion neither of the childhood best friends expected. It's been more than 10 years since they became each other's first loves, just before Kit broke Julia's heart and left for college. Now they have the opportunity to rekindle their relationship, if only they can be open and honest about their true selves. Kit's complicated coming-out journey and Julia's struggle to be her authentic self after a toxic relationship with a manipulative ex may resonate with readers, but there's a shallowness to the characters and their conflicts that prevents them from feeling fully believable. It doesn't help that the alternating first-person narratives are often indistinguishable. The vibrant California setting comes alive through lush descriptions, but some scenes feel like filler, giving the story a plodding pace. A debut that doesn't live up to its potential.
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