Written in the Stars

I don't like miscommunication trope but this is small ones and they're quickly resolved. Beautifully tragic until the end. Great wlw suffering with a splash of fluff

if no one got me i know darcyelle got me

🦇 Written in the Stars Book Review 🦇

❓ #QOTD Do you believe in astrology? What are your sun, moon, and rising signs?❓

🦇 Elle Jones dreams of finding her soul mate. But she knows it is most assuredly not Darcy...a no-nonsense stick-in-the-mud, who is way too analytical, punctual, and skeptical for someone as optimistic and free-spirited as Elle. Despite a disastrous first date, Darcy hopes to keep it going--if only to convince her brother (and Elle's new business partner) she's happy. Is it all just a fauxmance, or is love truly written in the stars?

💜 Alexandria Bellefleur has a way with words that could shatter us rom-com lovers into little more than stardust. I went annotation crazy on this one, which is always a good sign, namely because moon and constellation metaphors have always made an appearance in my own writing. What begins with a disastrous blind date evolves into mutual understanding, respect, and eventually, love. Darcy and Elle see each other, even when their families don't. Elle's situation--having a seemingly unstable job and being a romantic disaster among thriving siblings, all while trying to get her family to recognize her accomplishments and passions--is beyond relatable. As is Elle's fear of abandonment, which leads her to guard her heart. The sense of humor between them is full of fun, entertaining wit, making it a cute sapphic enemies-to-lovers fake-dating Pride and Prejudice retelling.

💙 Despite all that cute, the pacing drags. There's a bit TOO much chaos at times, and though I usually love some chaotic queers, it makes for two frustrating FMCs. While I can easily see this story translating into an on-screen rom-com, unnecessary and somewhat repetitive exposition dragged it on too long. This is yet another sapphic story where sex seems to solve all, then makes everything tragically worse--not quite the development I was hoping for. Unfortunately, this is one story I probably won't remember by the end of the year.

🦇 Recommended for fans of Ashley Herring Blake and modern Jane Austen retellings.

✨ The Vibes ✨

⭐ Sapphic Romance

⭐ Contemporary Romance

⭐ Bi/Lesbian FMCs

⭐ Enemies to Lovers

⭐ Faking Dating

⭐ Spicy

💬 Quotes

❝ First-date jitters? No, this feeling was magic, like glitter rushing through her veins. ❞

❝ So many freckles it was like Darcy’s skin was a peachy-cream sky covered in pale brown stars begging to be mapped out, connected into constellations. ❞

❝ Then again, Elle wasn’t looking for easy. Elle wanted right. Would it have been nice if some of her dreams had been easier to achieve? Obviously, but she wished her family would understand that just because her path to success wasn’t a straight line, and just because her definition of success was a little different, she wasn’t automatically a failure. ❞

❝ “Quit trying to marry me off like I’m some Regency spinster in one of your favorite Austen novels.” “Your name is Darcy.” “And I might be a single woman in possession of a good fortune, but I’m not in want of a wife.” ❞

I have read the exact same book like 20 times just with different character names! Sorry but I am slightly over this formula used for romance books like we get it at this point!! Other then that it was fine, the characters were slightly cringe and they fell in love in like 2 weeks which I found a bit silly. Also I don’t think this needed to be fake dating as they stoped that really fast. I think it’s obvious when tropes are used for the sake of saying ‘this trope is in the book’ instead of if really being important and it irked me. Sorry this sounds really rude I just got off ten hour flight and can’t sugar coat it

it was a book i guess 😐

I am gay

This book needed a lot of editing in my opinion. It felt like every other paragraph was something along the lines of “This. This feeling. This feeling in her chest. There was also a fluttering feeling in her stomach. Heat rose to her face. She was blushing.” By the end I was skipping entire paragraphs because it felt like I was reading the same sentence over and over.   My biggest pet peeve is when books describe characters as “pretty” or “beautiful” and then describe almost nothing else except for their hair and eye color. That means nothing to me because my idea of beautiful could be totally different from the author. Give your characters interesting physical traits! Especially things that aren’t conventionally attractive!  I know this is the author’s debut, so I might check out the rest of the series to see if their writing gets a little cleaner with time.

Cute. We love an astrological queen. Simple sweet romance.

i really like darcy. my capricorn queen 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩 gahhhh there needed to be an epilogue or smth. like it ended too fast, so much of darcy and elles family life was unresolved, and there could’ve been more to fixing the ending for them??? i do appreciate the 😏😎 spicy portions of the book. most times in wlw there’s like half to one scene, but naw my girls got game 😤

the fake dating trope is so much better when it’s queer; also darcy and elle are a walking taylor swift lyric, there are so many songs that fit their relationship i was losing my mind

I mean it's a fake dating trope - how could it be anything other than a nice read hehe (also the characters are very likeable)

Such a cute book! I loved every moment!

4.75 Stars for this fauxmance Rom-Com It was a great start – or rather a bad start – Great for the reader, bad for the main characters. Elle agrees to a blind date with the sister of a friend and colleague, Brandon. Darcy agrees to the date, to stop Brandon from fixing her up. Unfortunately they are complete total opposites. Elle is an astrologer who owns a company, Oh My Stars which is partnering with Brandon's company, OTP (One True Pairing) to help people find their soulmates and Darcy is a very successful Actuary (she analyzes "variables and trends" to "establish accurate and fair pricing for insurance" using mathematics/calculus) who scoffs at astrology and OTP. The date ends quickly after Elle accidentally spills red wine on Darcy's vintage dress. After Darcy tells Brandon that the date went great, she makes a deal with Elle – she will go with Elle to her family Thanksgiving and Elle will go with Darcy to Brandon's Christmas party. But to be convincing to their relatives, means they will have to spend time together, getting to know each other. The chemistry between the two was off the charts (ha!). But then something happened that neither expected and they fought to deny it until they couldn't. They fell madly in love with each other. Bellefleur's next book is Hang the Moon. A romance between Brandon and Darcy's best friend, Anne. I'm definitely going the check it out. An advanced readers copy was given to me by Harper Collins and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a well written, fun romance that gave me a LOT of fuzzy feelings. The Pride and Prejudice parallels often made me squeal with delight. I paced myself with the first chapters but I ended up staying awake until AFTER DAWN to finish the book because I could! not! put! it! down!!!! and also, I was highly emotional in more than one scene and throughout the final section of the book. So, what's not *perfect* about this? A couple of spoilery things. 1. The couple's chemistry was FIRE so it makes sense for them to connect despite their differences, but (view spoiler)[I am not too sure about the timing of their falling in love. It was too soon—or rather, it wasn't too soon, but they were in the honeymoon phase in which everything is perfect. I wish the book had gone farther into their relationship so that we could be SURE they'll last. (hide spoiler)] 2. I wish we'd gotten an epilogue in which we saw (view spoiler)[them getting married. I know, I'm getting ahead of things, but everything hints at them being *the one* for each other, and since Darcy's initial unresolved issue was about being on the brink of marriage with another woman, it would make sense to have her marry Elle at the end. (hide spoiler)]

2.5 ⭐️ This book wasn’t for me at all. It was really cute at times but honestly it just dragged for me, it was like fanfiction if you cut out all the interesting parts and just speed ran the relationship. This book made me realise I don’t actually like romance when it’s the main plot 😭😭 like at one point it just got boring. What do you mean they’ve known each other for a month and a half and when they ‘break up’ it’s like the worst heartbreak ever? I just felt like as soon as they got together the book should’ve ended or they should’ve made the getting together the main focus of the book and like drawn it out longer idk it just felt rushed and then it didn’t rly make sense. Anyway in conclusion romance isn’t for me there were parts of this book which were cute but overall it was definitely not my thing

liked the characters, and I liked the plot too. it wasn't a new favourite but a great read nonetheless.

I hope my next breath is my last

(3.5 stars) i did NOT appreciate the capricorn slander👀 but i did love the hotel california and ao3 references hehe, and the fact that darcy and i have the same sun and rising sign - finished this SO fast and immediately ran to pick up the next two books in the trilogy because this world and its characters are the exact fluffy distraction i need from real life at the moment

This story was so fucking cute but it also nicked me on all my sharp edges. I swear to god if I read another book that pokes at my soft spots I am going to explode. This was a modern day sapphic pride and prejudice retelling. I had so much fun with this, Elle is an astrologer who goes on a blind date with Darcy who’s an actuary (insurance numbers person). And while Elle busts in 15 minutes late, mistakes her for a hostess, and spills wine everywhere… there is chemistry. I won’t lie, it wasn’t amazing, heart stopping chemistry (that was something that definitely came later). BUT this turns into a fake dating trope as the date ends abruptly in a-not-so-pleasant way but, because Darcy is tired of her brothers meddling into her love life, she uses Elle as a way to get a reprieve. THE FAKE DATING ENSUES. We get some lovely, and fluffy moments that are absolutely adorable, but what really sold it to me was Elle’s characterization and Darcy’s reluctant interest. The real kicker was the heart break of the third act that had me fighting for my life on the drive home. My only complaint was the quick resolution. Right after the MCs get together the book ends and I don’t feel like I’ve gotten closure. Actually!!! one more thing, pop culture references, I think I could live my whole life without reading about Harry Potter lore in contemporary fiction EVER AGAIN. Please dear god keep it away from me. That’s why I read fanfiction. 4 stars !!!

this book is really good but sometimes it was hard to tell who’s pov it was from, i wish that was a bit more clear.

i really like darcy. my capricorn queen 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩 gahhhh there needed to be an epilogue or smth. like it ended too fast, so much of darcy and elles family life was unresolved, and there could’ve been more to fixing the ending for them??? i do appreciate the 😏😎 spicy portions of the book. most times in wlw there’s like half to one scene, but naw my girls got game 😤

i dislike everything in this book but Annie

i liked this book but it could have been a lot more interesting. brendon’s character was not my favorite and elle just kinda lacked for me.

"Elle was a force, a larger-than-life hurricane of a human; her hands were too small, too delicate for someone who'd come crashing her way into Darcy's life with all the finesse of a wrecking ball." "Not that Elle cared about Darcy’s eyes or that the color she wore complemented them. It was a passing observation, that was all. The sky was blue. The grass was green. Darcy was beautiful. Universally acknowledged truths." "Elle was technicolor chaos and the feelings she inspired in Darcy were a hazard straight out of Pandora’s box. Treacherous and confusing and better kept under lock and key. Darcy didn’t need disorder in her life." "There was no word that existed in the English language that meant the opposite of lonely. Some came closer than others, but nothing did justice to the feeling of someone looking into your eyes and connecting with you on a soul-deep level." from the looks of it, this book has a lot of ~bewitching oh my stars!~ lines. darcyelle's chemistry was palpable and the way the author described it made me feel THINGS. 4.75 ☆