Thank you so much to the publishers for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
When Nozomi Nagai pictured the ideal summer romance, a fake one wasn’t what she had in mind.
That was before she met the perfect girl. Willow is gorgeous, glamorous, and…heartbroken? And when she enlists Nozomi to pose as her new girlfriend to make her ex jealous, Nozomi is a willing volunteer.
Because Nozomi has a master plan of her own: one to show Willow she’s better than a stand-in, and turn their fauxmance into something real. But as the lies pile up, it’s not long before Nozomi’s schemes take a turn toward disaster…and maybe a chance at love she didn’t plan for.
When I saw that Misa Sugiura was releasing a new book I was beyond excited and could not believe my luck when an ARC arrived on my door step. This book is the perfect thing to read in the summer sat out in the sun, on a rainy day or when you have a few hours to spare. I flew through this book in a matter of hours and it was a whole lot of fun!
This book has everything that I love in a good book, lots of tropes, fake dating being the main one and a lot of joy. If you are looking for a book packed full of angst, messiness and complicated feelings then this is the one for you. On top of that, I was surprised by a very touching story of second chances, family and love. I would highly recommend it.
I throughly enjoyed how Misa Sugiura made the fake dating trope her own. It was interesting to see fake dating as part of a love quadrangle. It took fake dating to a level that I had not read before. It allowed us to see exactly how the main character developed and the journey she went on for her to see that she is worthy of love and to be herself no matter what.
I adored the characters in this book especially the main character, Nozomi. She is adorable, clumsy and messy but is never shy to do what she wants to do. I love how she dealt with issues that surrounded her sexuality. Nozomi is proud to be who she is but we also see that issues she is facing because of this. In particular, with Nozomi’s grandmother and the hesitation that Nozomi is having towards coming out to her. I found that this led to some touching moments, a lot of discussions about coming out and some heartbreaking moments due to her grandmother’s dementia diagnosis.
All the points to the love quadrangle are women of colour, which was incredibly refreshing to read. It allowed the reader to see how different races deal with different sexualities which made for some interesting discussions and insights. Each of the relationships that we see between the points of the quadrangle were a lot of fun and brought something unique to the story. There were heart-warming moments, heart-breaking moments and some moments that made me laugh out loud. The main romance was a slow burn one which felt incredibly natural and just wholesome.
Overall, Love & Other Natural Disasters was a fun, light-hearted rom-com which people will be able to fly through. It is full of messiness, touching moments and a story of accepting who you are, second chances and a whole lot of love. I highly recommend you save this one for a perfect summer day!
Loisreadsbooks 