Historical romance fans are in for a treat with Emma R. Alban’s sapphic love story Like in Love With You. This Regency-era rivals to lovers is so fun and swoonworthy, you’ll be ready to don your pinkest bonnet on the promenade.
Catherine Pine has spent most of her youth in the countryside, but as is the case with every young lady of a certain age and class, it’s time to enter the marriage market. When the Pines relocate to Bath, they immediately encounter Lady Tisand and her beautiful, well-liked daughter, Lady Rosalie. Although the two mothers used to be the very best of friends, Mrs. Pine alleges that Lady Tisand maligned her reputation during their youth, and she still harbors a grudge nearly 25 years later. Sensing an opportunity for justice, Mrs. Pine devises the perfect revenge: Catherine will woo Lady Rosalie’s intended (the handsome but deeply boring Mr. Dean—a real Regency-era Ken) and secure a proposal of her own. It’s absolutely diabolical and the perfect way to really stick it to Lady Tisand.
Except there is just one problem: Catherine and Rosalie like each other. Like, really like each other. In fact, neither one of them has been so thoroughly vexed by someone who is also so damn pretty and clever and talented and . . . well, you get the picture.
Like in Love With You is a hilarious and romantic reimagining of Mean Girls, which is perfectly suited for a queer historical romance. The marriage market is cutthroat, not unlike the wilds of a 21st-century high school, and sometimes you have to do whatever you can to survive. If that means redirecting dance partners away from your competition, forcing impromptu piano concerts in hopes they flop in front of the ton or, when all else fails, locking them in the bathroom till the end of the dance—survival is the name of the game. But what is sexier than a worthy opponent? Rosalie and Catherine have never been challenged so thoroughly by someone they find so attractive.
Alban is a master at finding creative ways to create Happily Ever Afters for her couples. It isn’t a stretch to say that an HEA would have been a challenge for two women in this era. However, Alban creates a world that is both realistic and a little bit better. Catherine’s and Rosalie’s supportive biological and chosen families reassure readers that their happiness truly is possible; Rosalie’s charming brother, Christopher, is so supportive that he is practically a poster boy for PFLAG.
With its hilarious antics and sparkling chemistry, Like in Love With You is a perfect homage to Mean Girls, Jane Austen and the legions of fans who saw sparks between women in both.