🥰 Jane Austen, but make it sapphic. 🌈

This was a sweet book. I was surprised when I saw Hayley Kiyoko had written a book. I have a very sapphic playlist I listen to when I'm writing, and it includes her song Girls Like Girls. Also, her collab with Kehlani on What I Need is a bop. I'm also a big fan of Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë, so when I saw this book on NetGalley, I had to pick it up.

The book takes place in 1880s England where queerness is cool, but women don't have the vote, and sapphic couples can't inherit their father's title or inheritance. I really liked that we didn't have to worry about the main characters being together from an extremely homophobic standpoint. It allowed the story to focus on their love without having to hide in dark corners, and to address women's rights.

Freya is one of four daughters of a wealthy landowner, and everyone expects her to marry a man with a title and have a bunch of boys to carry on the family name and inheritance. Two of her sisters are queer, and one is married to a man but hasn't had any boys. A lot is riding on Freya marrying well and popping out babies.

Ivy is the daughter of an American man and a Japanese woman. She's a poet and successful in her own right. Her brother inherits a house near Freya's family, and they move to England to deal with the estate. Ivy has writer's block and needs inspiration, and she has a reputation as a womanizer.

The two meet at a party, and Ivy is smitten. Freya is confused, but loves spending time with Ivy. What follows is a cute romance intertwined with societal pressures to conform and do what's best for the family. There's a tug-of-war between Ivy's American individualism and Freya's English penchant for status and family above all. Ivy is more politically minded, and Freya refuses to see her father's misogyny for what it is.

There is very little to no spice, other than some kissing and mild groping. It's all closed door, so YA readers could pick this one up. It's in keeping with the Austen style by mixing political and societal criticism with a stirring love story.

My only beef is the breakup mechanism. It's not terrible, but I think it could have been stronger if it were more intrinsically tied to Ivy's story arc and the lesson she needed to learn. It was close enough that it wasn't a big deal, but I felt that with a little effort it could have been stronger.

I didn't get worked up reading the book, but the acknowledgments had me tearing up. She wrote something similar to what I write in my books: she aspires to offer hopeful stories to the queer community. I feel you. We need a little hope in dark times when it's so hard to find.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a sweet, sapphic Victorian romance. This Where There's Room For Us fits the bill.

/rae/