Recently, I decided that I wanted to give historical sapphic romances a go. I have nothing against the genre at all; it’s just never been something I have prioritized. For my first one, I decided to head to regency England (thanks to my love of the 2005 Pride and Prejudice) with Emma R. Alban’s Like in Love with You.
Lady Rosalie is Bath’s resident mean girl. She’s at the top of Bath’s social circle of eligible young women. Like her mother, she schemes and plots to make sure that all of her friends get the man they are supposed to. The only problem is that the gentleman courting her, the most eligible Mr. Dean, is an absolute bore she feels nothing for. Enter Catherine Pine, Bath’s newest arrival. Catherine’s family is returning to Bath 25 years after Mrs. Pine was betrayed by her former best friend, Rosalie’s mother. Seeing an opportunity for revenge, Catherine’s mother begins her own scheme for Catherine to steal Mr. Dean from Rosalie. Unfortunately, as Catherine and Rosalie begin spending more time together in an effort to come out on top, they find themselves smitten with each other and feeling things that they have never felt for anyone else. Soon, the women discover that maybe their fight shouldn’t be about who can win the hand of a man neither of them wants but instead how they can end up together forever.
Overall, I enjoyed the mix of a regency England setting with modern romantic comedy vibes. There are your standard social events, rules, and expectations you expect from the setting, yet the entire place feels so unstuffy. There’s plenty of quippy lines, jokes at the expense of mediocre men (which I will always love), and hijinks galore. There are also so many sweet and tender moments between Catherine and Rosalie. The intimate scenes between them have this enjoyable blend of modern sexiness and playfulness that you’d expect from two young women finally able to shed the heavy societal expectations of how “proper” ladies should behave.
The story also does a good job balancing between serious and funny. I liked how Emma was able to approach Catherine and Rosalie’s feelings of being trapped by society and their mothers’ machinations in different ways. Both want to do right by their mothers and both come up against societal expectations for women, but their respective journeys feel unique. For Catherine, who starts out already skeptical of it all, her struggle becomes more about going for what she truly wants while also doing right by her mother. For Rosalie, it’s more about shedding her scheming mean girl facade and embracing her truth. Both arcs work and make you really feel for the characters without ever taking away from the overall fun vibes of the story.
I really appreciated how Emma approached the third act. For fellow readers who are skeptical of third act breakups, I’m happy to report that there isn’t one here. That doesn’t mean there are no stakes, as there very much are. But rather than focusing on internal tension, it’s all about the external. It becomes less, “how can we be together despite ourselves?” and more “how can we be together in spite of what society thinks?”, something that still resonates in modern times. The moments when these external conflicts came to a head didn’t really hit me as hard as they may other readers, but they were still well done. I could see them landing much harder for readers who may have come out around the same age as Catherine and Rosalie. There were also some really great and touching moments that felt so real to the coming out experience today. I even wrote down a few lines in my notebook and will be holding on to them for a while.
Like in Love With You is a fun, light-hearted, and medium-stakes romance that blends regency England setting and modern romantic comedy vibes in a way that will satisfy historical romance fans and newcomers to the genre alike. So, if girls falling in love while wearing fancy dresses and attending teas and garden parties sounds like something you might be interested in, you should give this one a go.
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