I am a huge Lyla Lee fan! I’ve loved her YA books and her middle grade ones are on my TBR! So when I saw this adult romance debut, I knew I had to read Love in Focus. Keep reading this book review of Love in Focus for my full thoughts.
Summary
When her seven-year long relationship suddenly falls apart, relationship advice columnist Gemma Cho is convinced that real love doesn’t exist. As a bisexual woman who’s had zero luck with both men and women, she’s ready to give up on her own romantic prospects when she gets paired up with Celeste Min, a world-renowned photographer, on a highly visual, potentially career-saving piece on modern love.
Celeste is extremely talented, sexy, and gay, and would be the perfect collaborator and rebound for Gemma if it weren’t for one major fact: she’s Gemma’s ex, the one that broke her heart in college and moved to a whole another country before Gemma could even make sense of what went wrong between them. Despite working on a project together about what constitutes love and romance in the modern age, when it comes to their own affairs, both Gemma and Celeste are tripping over each other’s feet…and into each other’s arms.
Heightened by their shared love for love and the unmistakable sparks that still fly between them, Gemma and Celeste struggle to keep their relationship strictly professional. For the sake of her career, Gemma needs this piece to do well. And for the sake of what’s left of her beaten up hopeless romantic heart, she wants to fall head over heels for Celeste again. But can she trust Celeste to feel the same this time around?
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
I’m a huge fan of second chance romances, forced working together-ness, and anything inspired by Chappell Roan! Love in Focus has all of those and more! What I really loved about this book is that it examines how few representation certain ethnicities have of queer elders. It’s so important to have older role models because when we can’t see it, it becomes difficult to believe we have a future. It’s also touched upon in the book the queerphobia within Korean Culture and the struggles this brings to the conceptualization of relationships and the future.
(Disclaimer: Some of the links below are affiliate links. For more information you can look at the Policy page. If you’re uncomfortable with that, know you can look up the book on any of the sites below to avoid the link)
To see someone who is queer and in the same community and have it work. To know that the pressure, expectations, and sanctions are possible to work through. Celeste and Gemma cannot deny their chemistry even as they work together and they’re trying to keep it casual. Love in Focus explores whether it’s possible for them to try again. Can both Celeste and Gemma work through forgiveness and opening up their hearts again? For both characters, they have to figure out if it’s worth the pain they have experienced to try again. For fans of second chance romances and figuring out the intersectionality of our queer and asian identities, this is for you!
Find Love in Focus on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop. org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.