Angie's Reviews > How You Get the Girl

I was always planning on reading this book. Eventually. But when Kay gave this book 5 stars, I moved it up my priority list. And I'm glad I did.

I have a lot of complaints about the current state of [sapphic] romance: instant love and/or instant sex; too much femme (and femme-femme, specifically) representation; characters who are inexplicably wealthy and/or have unrealistic jobs; characters who live in small communities with disproportionately-large queer communities; and, most importantly, books that are just poorly written, with stale or unrealistic characters and dialogue, and books that fail to make me feel anything on an emotional level. But How You Get the Girl delivered in almost every way.

Julie Parker works an office job that bores her (points for realistic job in a real and big city!). She feels twenty steps behind her twin and her best friend and basically everyone her age who all seem to be doing something (and something successful) with their lives. The only thing that's given her some satisfaction is coaching the girls basketball team at the high school she graduated from.

When she finds out that the guardian of her newest player is her long-time crush, former University of Tennessee basketball star, Elle Cochrane, Julie does a banger job of not playing it cool and making Elle, who's disappeared from the basketball world for several years, more than a little uncomfortable. Mostly because the Elle who played at UT, whose posters adored Julie's childhood bedroom, is not the star everyone thought she'd be. She's barely managing to treat her depression, while also suddenly finding herself in charge of a teenager, all while working a job that brings her little joy (points again for realistic job in a big city and for someone with realistic problems!).

But things change for Julie and Elle when, to the surprise of everyone but especially to Elle, she agrees to be Julie's assistant coach, stepping onto a basketball court for the first time in nearly a decade.

I was invested in this story from go, even with the UConn digs (which hit me at a personal level. LOL). Julie is awkward and smart and funny and honest. Elle is kind and insecure and humble. Neither are perfect. Their relationship is definitely not easy and they each must battle their own demons. Their moments of intimacy are messy and imperfect (and also sexy) in a way that is endearingly realistic. Neither are particularly butch/masc nor femme, but rather somewhere in-between, which felt refreshingly accurate. Also, the dialogue in this is A+.

I haven't read the first two books in the series, but I will be changing that as soon as I can get my hands on the first book because I enjoyed London and Dahlia's characters so much. And I will probably read book 2, which is about Julie's gay bff and his love story, but jury is still out on that one. But I know I will come back to How You Get the Girl pretty soon. I loved it.