Jubilee has it all together. She’s an elite cellist, and when she’s not working in her stepmom’s indie comic shop, she’s prepping for the biggest audition of her life.
Ridley is barely holding it together. His parents own the biggest comic-store chain in the country, and Ridley can’t stop disappointing them—that is, when they’re even paying attention.
They meet one fateful night at a comic convention prom, and the two can’t help falling for each other. Too bad their parents are at each other’s throats every chance they get, making a relationship between them nearly impossible…unless they manage to keep it a secret.
Then again, the feud between their families may be the least of their problems. As Ridley’s anxiety spirals, Jubilee tries to help but finds her focus torn between her fast-approaching audition and their intensifying relationship. What if love can’t conquer all? What if each of them needs more than the other can give?
**TW: depression, anxiety, mention of a past suicide attempt, suicidal ideation, car crash, mentally abusive parent, homophobia**
There was something so beautiful about reading about queer characters and not having their queer-ness be the only part of their story.
As a queer women, there seems to be a lot of pressure to “prove” yourself by being in or ending up in a relationship between another woman. Otherwise you’re not valid. Reading a book about a romance that both parties are queer and identify as “not-straight” but are in a straight-passing relationship made my heart soar. I know this seems as if I’m like “yay a palatable queer romance” but that’s not it I promise.
When I started reading this, I had no idea about the mental health aspect. Thankfully, it’s pretty clear from the start that Ridley has very extreme anxiety so it was never used as a plot twist which is always a bad thing in books. As a person who suffers from both anxiety and depression, the rep felt really accurate to me. While I don’t suffer on the same level as Ridley, but so many of his experiences in the book felt copy and pasted from my own life.
Seeing that this is a spoiler-free review, I obviously won’t spoil anything. So I’ll try and give my thoughts on Jubilee and Ridley’s romance as well as I can without spoilers. I really loved how Dugan handled their relationship at the end of the book. There were a lot of parts where things could have gone south and thankfully, for me, it never did. Everything seemed authentic and focused on the wellbeing of both characters and never demonized either of them.
Overall, I really loved this. I’ve yet to read Hot Dog Girl (I know, I promise I’m getting to it) so I’m really excited that this was my first exposure to Jennifer Dugan. If you can handle the content of Verona Comics pick it up. I promise you’ll enjoy it. BUY HERE
BookaPlenty 
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