You x Me

by Ayla Vejdani

Love finds a way-through dating apps, shared playlists, inherited recipes, and sweat-soaked dance floors. In this interconnected collection of modern sapphic stories, six singles navigate the beautiful chaos of finding romance across cosmopolitan cities from Los Angeles to Montreal. Noura swipes right on Luna with a little help from her friends. Maryam and Nilou fall hard after a meet-cute in the copyshop. Paz and Ale rediscover each other, and rehash a decades-old heartbreak. Each story stands alone as a perfect escape, but together they weave a gorgeous tapestry of connection. Hot, hopeful, and unapologetically glamorous, You x Me celebrates love between queer women and nonbinary people of color, in all its sparkling, complex, and irresistible forms.

Genres: Queer, LGBT, Romance, Mental Health, Short Stories, Lesbian, Adult

Audible Audio

Published May 29, 2026

About the author

Ayla Vejdani (she/her) is a storyteller, holder of space and curator of experience. Raised and educated all over the world, she has a master’s in human rights, is a relationship coach and a queer romance writer and poet. She speaks four languages and laughs in all. She is an insatiably creative, romantic realist who believes in magic. 🧿

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had trouble connecting with the characters because of the short length of each story. It was also hard to keep track of all the characters with the review edition/digital edition because there was no easy way to go back and forth between chapters and the tree at the beginning (which I loved! I love a found family tree! I just couldn't use it.) to help me keep track.

[Vanessa Shaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to love "You x Me". The premise was interesting, and I appreciated what the author was trying to do with the themes of love, identity, healing, and chosen family. The book is clearly written with a lot of compassion, and I think many readers will connect with its message of acceptance and emotional growth.

That said, I had a hard time connecting with the story itself.

My biggest issue was that the characters often didn't feel like real people. Almost everyone seemed incredibly emotionally intelligent, patient, and self-aware all the time. Instead of messy, complicated conversations, many of the interactions felt like therapy sessions. I kept feeling like the characters were speaking for the author's message rather than speaking as themselves.

I also struggled with the relationships. They developed so quickly that I never fully bought into them. The book tells us that these connections are deep and meaningful, but I didn't always feel like I saw enough of that development on the page. Because of that, some of the emotional moments didn't hit as hard as I think they were supposed to.

Another problem for me was the lack of tension. Conflicts are introduced, but they're often resolved very quickly or handled so maturely that there isn't much suspense. While that's refreshing in some ways, it also made the story feel a little flat. I never felt particularly worried about the characters or invested in what would happen next.

I also found the themes a bit repetitive. The messages about healing, acceptance, and self-discovery are important, but they were stated so directly and so often that I started to feel like I was being told the same lesson over and over again. I would have preferred more subtlety and more trust in the reader.

Overall, I don't think this is a bad book. It's heartfelt, inclusive, and clearly comes from a good place. Unfortunately, I found the execution weaker than the ideas behind it. While I appreciated what the novel was trying to say, I never became fully invested in the characters or their journeys.

[Atanda Tattrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was tired of how many times characters said "AF" and "Lowkey" out loud. It made it cringy and outdated already.

[Tricia · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book reads like someone fed every queer therapy Instagram infographic, every Pinterest quote about healing, every luxury wellness retreat brochure, and every "communication is sexy" TikTok into a blender and hit purée.

Nobody has a normal conversation. Every character speaks like they're auditioning to keynote a trauma-informed leadership conference. I don't think a single human being in this novel has ever said "lol" or forgotten where they left their keys. Instead, everyone delivers perfectly polished monologues about identity, authenticity, pleasure, community, ancestry, emotional labor, and reciprocal relationships while looking devastatingly hot in ethically sourced linen.

The romance somehow manages to have both zero chemistry and maximum thirst. These people meet, exchange approximately four meaningful glances, and immediately start acting like they're soulmates reunited across multiple lifetimes. I have perishables in my fridge that developed more naturally than this relationship.

The biggest fantasy wasn't the gorgeous polycule. It was that every single person in Los Angeles is impossibly beautiful, multilingual, emotionally available, impeccably dressed, politically enlightened, professionally successful, endlessly patient, and apparently has unlimited PTO to discuss their deepest emotional truths over artisanal tea.

Every room is stunning. Every outfit is breathtaking. Every meal is exquisite. Every person smells like an expensive candle. Every sentence desperately wants to be highlighted.

Instead of showing us who these characters are, the book simply informs us. Repeatedly. At length. Everyone is the most thoughtful, the most magnetic, the most intentional, the most healed person you've ever met. It feels less like reading a novel and more like scrolling through an influencer's caption that somehow never ends.

I wanted messy people making questionable decisions. I got a 270-page LinkedIn post with explicit sex scenes.

One star for reminding me that "less is more" is still excellent writing advice.

[Jaimie Elowsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of ARC received from net galley for an honest review, <3 thank you

🩷 Wow. I absolutely loved this book. You + Me by Ayla Vejdani is a beautifully intimate collection of sapphic love stories that captures the tenderness, vulnerability, and intensity of human connection. Each story felt deeply sincere, making it impossible not to become emotionally invested in the characters and their relationships. Vejdani writes romance with such warmth and authenticity that every interaction feels meaningful, grounded in genuine attraction and emotional intimacy. I found myself falling in love with each story and, in several cases, wishing desperately for more. Some narratives ended without fully revealing the characters’ futures, and while I like to believe many of these relationships continued toward hopeful endings, I still wanted additional pages simply because I had grown so attached to them.

What especially elevated this collection for me was the author’s intentional engagement with themes of colonialism, land theft, and cultural identity. Vejdani thoughtfully explores the complicated realities of Canadian settler identity while emphasizing the importance of personal relationships to land, ancestry, and belonging. The characters’ connections to their cultural histories never feel secondary to the romances; instead, they enrich them. I particularly appreciated how the characters maintained ties to their identities and homelands despite living within a settler-colonial context, especially the inclusion of the Palestinian woman whose relationship to land, displacement, and identity carried emotional and political weight throughout the collection.

The inclusion of a Palestinian sapphic character also felt incredibly significant and timely. At a moment when Palestinians are so often dehumanized or reduced solely to narratives of suffering, reading a story that allowed a Palestinian woman to experience tenderness, desire, joy, and genuine romantic connection was profoundly meaningful. LGBTQ Palestinians exist, and their stories deserve visibility, complexity, and care. Seeing a queer Palestinian love story portrayed with softness and humanity felt both refreshing and necessary, particularly given the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Another aspect of the collection that stood out to me was that all of the central characters are BIPOC. That representation felt deeply important, especially considering how often LGBTQ literature still centers white queer experiences while sidelining queer people of color. Vejdani creates space for BIPOC queer characters to exist in stories defined not by trauma alone, but by love, desire, humor, tenderness, and emotional complexity. The collection feels like a meaningful contribution to queer literature because it expands whose stories are centered and celebrated.

Ultimately, You + Me is not just a celebration of sapphic love, but also of identity, memory, the ways people carry their histories with them into relationships. It also explores how not all love looks the same, how there are various ways people can connect emotionally/romantically with one another that do not fit into the stereotypical relationship. It’s so important to see these types of relationships explored in soft, intimate, and beautiful ways. This book is a thoughtful, emotionally rich collection that lingered with me long after the final page, and I genuinely cannot wait to read more from Ayla Vejdani in the future.


Romance: ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
Spicyness: ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥
Emotional intimacy: 🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾
Heartbreak: JUST THE FACT THAT THE BOOK ENDED

i will be adding this book to my physical collection once it comes out

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

I really enjoyed this rich, loosely interconnected collection of Sapphic love stories that celebrate a diversity of backgrounds, cultures, ages, experiences and identities through six individuals finding joy with one another. This debut collection from queer Iranian-Canadian author, Ayla Vejdani, was filled with memorable, layered characters who have unique meet-cutes, second chances, online matches and random hook-ups.

At its core this book is a celebration of queer love and a beautiful reminder that we are all unique beings in want of sex, love and happiness. Excellent on audio with a full cast of narrators and perfect for fans of authors like Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha and Adriana Herrera. Many thanks to TLC Book Tours for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review.

💋Steam level: some open door scenes, including light BDSM
⚠️CW: anxiety, ADHD, dyslexia, grief, loss, mobility aids and more

[Bookish Beanss · Rating 4 out of 5]

thankyou netgallery for the advance copy of the book. i loed the short stories that were included in this book. with different genders, ethnicity and cultures coming all together in one community. how this book felt a safe space for people looking for a coming out story. i loved how repectfully the author chose to describe the characters stories.

[Emilie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely book of queer short stories! It’s a quick read that you’ll not want to put down as you navigate the relationships and get to know each character.

[Kamilė | cobwebshelves · Rating 2 out of 5]

this isn’t a one-star solely because i do believe vejdani is sincere in her desire to have well-rounded, thorough representation of racial, sexual, and gender diversity. she’s just not the right author to do it.

you see, turns out when you make a book with every shape and flavour of inclusivity, trying to tick every checkbox, you actually very quickly reveal where your prejudices really lie.and this book, in its attempt to empower women and sapphic relationships, simply proved to be biphobic, transmisogynistic, and really, really weird about afrolatinas.

i’ve been thinking about how to best approach this review since before i’d even finished chapter one. how to best structure it. should i talk about the issues by their typology or by chapter? i suppose i have no choice but to do both.

first, let’s start with characters. we have seven pairs, so fourteen characters, plus a cast of companions, whether they be friends (chosen family) or family members by blood. except they aren’t really characters — moreso tropes, an instagram bite-sized infographic for each one (ironically, exactly how this book is promoted). you can look at those infographics, and you really won’t learn more about the characters beyond it.

most couples follow the same pattern: one is more reserved/shy/anxious/doubtful of the relationship, the other is more confident/dominant/self-assured, pushing their partner out of their comfort zone, sometimes with a tad more force than feels natural. there is little conflict. any reservations person A may have are eased and resolved by person B in a few lines of dialogue, at the end of the chapter or just before the postscriptums and epilogues.

everyone speaks in therapy talk, both in oral and written conversations. everyone is multilingual, but it’s not limited to just english and their mother tongue — everyone in their circle speaks three, four, five languages, and everyone understands the same phrases. everyone conveniently has that tidbit of cultural awareness needed to recognise a phrase even if it’s the first time they’d met. the multilingual dialogues fall into the cringy stereotypes of “people who are monolingual attempt to write bilingual dialogue”, which is both surprising and disappointing.

certain terms, like AF, fuckboi, partyboi, lowkey, baby girl feature so frequently it’s grating. all text messages read more like spoken speech, while spoken dialogues feature abbreviations of typical social media shorthand. it feels unnatural, especially with the sheer overload of exposure each speech contains. some stories promise to be intertwined, but it sounds like “Perhaps you, person C, should talk to person A, who has this relation to me.” and the overlaps happen almost exclusively in stories neighbouring each other, lest you forget the snoozefest you’ve just finished reading.

another reviewer put my exact sentiment into words — a lot of this book, in particular the exposition and the character introductions, read like scrolling through the linkedin feed. it’s very much “fanfiction about the tech bros who churn out claude-generated posts every day, but make it queer.” and considering that vejdani is basically a tech bro with her leadership coaching gig, it was less surprising than i’d expected.

really, i’d thought of three categories i can put this book under: the linkedincode infodumps, the fanfiction-esque descriptions, and the buzzfeed ca. 2012 dialogue.

1. The LinkedIn of it all

we have business owners. we have app developers. we have literary agents and illustrators. it’s all well and fine, but here’s the thing: they all follow the same introductions.

i am wary to quote long passages here (i am an arc reader and i did not see the finished work), but i can’t make my point without a few examples:

“If luxury and sustainability had a baby, or in this case a hotel, it would be KIZH. Renewable energy, water conservation, rooftop garden, local products—beyond materials and waste, but encompassing our responsibility to the land and its people.”

“We met shortly after I moved to New York to work at a start-up lifestyle magazine called IN᛫Gé᛫NUE, now long gone.”

“My new book, INDÍGENA, was released last month, telling the stories of thirty-five vibrant Indigenous communities in Argentina through food.”

“LIBÉRÉ was the bridge that brought it all together for us and made us individuals and inseparable. It’s a financial literacy tool we built to help marginalized communities build their capacity and wealth. It originally started specifically for Black women to get out of debt, a response to the immigrant populations we had seen struggling in Montréal. <...> [Nya] and her funding board for Black women-led innovation, specializing in tech and finance, got involved and helped us expand our vision. Then her partner Mako’s firm (AD)VANTAGE helped with the marketing, and we never looked back.”

“We both work at AURORA, a camping app that “empowers, showcases, and normalizes radicalized and marginalized groups in reclaiming outdoor spaces.” That’s the official pitch. The original line was something like “brown people camp too.” We’ve evolved since the early days. AURORA was founded by a brother and sister team, Jae and Avani, a couple of Dani’s friends who recruited us as developers early on. We were happy to leave our soulless corporate cubicles to be part of a dynamic start-up.”

“Lee is in Stockholm working on their sustainable fashion line, ÖRNYA. <...> They saw fashion as a form of storytelling, interested in innovative fabric technologies and were invested in sustainability, future building.”

here’s the thing though: you’re not pitching to dragon’s den. you’re writing an intertwined romance anthology. it’s perfectly enough to say “xyz blew up when a celebrity wore their piece” or “abc felt proud of the sleepless hours they’d put into their work.” you don’t need to prove to me that the app is representative and inclusive. it’s fine to leave it as a background detail without multiple paragraphs of emphasis.

and yet, despite all this tech bro speech and linkedin promo levels of prose, vejdani fails to even portray a proper office. she throws in the term “scrum” here and talks about the development cycles here, and while front and back end are neither hither nor thither for me, i am, as they say, a marketing girlie with a hybrid job.

and if i allowed a random bestie into my offices and had her sit AT A CONFIDENTIAL MEETING DISCUSSING BRAND STRATEGY AND INTERNAL COMPANY PROCESSES, i’d be terminated and have my office card taken away immediately. the whole episode where zoya visits her friend’s office and is just. allowed to sit through an internal meeting was the first massive crack i saw in the story. it kind of felt like someone who’s never worked an an office, someone too young to even have internship experience, imagined a corporate office would work. sure you can just be allowed in and hang out with your friend’s coworkers willy-nilly. it felt very fanficy.

2. Wait, is this fanfiction?

i think having an idealised portrayal of love in romance books is expected. having instalove and desire is fine, and this book is smutty yet kind of formulaic about it. but there are certain writing traits i sometimes see that make me go “did you write gwen/morgana fanfiction for kinktober ca. 2012?”

yeah i’m not someone who likes reading fanfiction, but i’ve dipped my toes enough to know.

there’s the dressing-up and physical appearance descriptions that feel like if “my immortal” was coherent. there’s the multiple mentions of how sexy one character’s cane is. there’s the implied post-coital background characters any time any of the protagonists need some life advice (they’re always snuggling in bed. always). even the moments of characters getting turned on and having sex feel like they were from the same batch of fanfic prompts. there’s honestly no variety in the sex scenes. it’s all fingering, the occasional oral, and, if you’re lucky both at the same time. some perky tits with hard nipples. can you please spare a strap at least once? please?

they’re also all well-travelled. well-educated. they know different cuisines and are explorative foodies. they have fancy homes (we even have a landlord, lads!), drive fancy cars or motorcycles, and wear fancy clothes. not 100% everyone, and it’s nice to not have diverse characters reduced to poverty porn — but again, when the overwhelming representation in your cast is rich, privileged people in a capitalist society, does it really offer a diverse worldview?

3. The Buzzfeed to therapyspeak pipeline

this one is harder to define because it covers so much. first, there’s the zodiac. the key information we get about each character in the chosen family tree is their names, ages, pronouns, and zodiac signs. when characters sign up for dating apps, they need to enter their whole chart. they fall on the usual sign stereotypes. it’s kind of funny how zodiac representation is given almost as much weight as people’s ethnic background and sexuality. you know, things that actually affect your social status?

there’s all the talk of goddesses and rituals, and while some of it has cultural basis to it, a lot of it does read like the 2020s crystal shop choice feminism trite. no actual depth, just corporate manifestation. you get abbreviations like ENM and BDE and AF, which even in their momentary appearances manage to take you out of the text. because again. they’re used in spoken dialogue, not text messages. code switching applies even when you text, and there’s no clear distinction between people’s written and spoken tone of voice.

you get the buzzfeed staples, like eating spoonfuls of nutella and peanut butter and dipping fries in chocolate milkshakes and calling everything sexy. talking about social media, emphasising words with extra vowels (which would not be an issue if it was texting and not an oral conversation, AGAIN).

i’ve already ranted about the dialogue but good lord the dialogue. not a single conversation feels like genuine, human speech, except for maybe some of goli’s anxious ramblings at times. everyone is confessing their full life story upon first meeting, going into their family trauma, their mental health, their past experiences. and they don’t really stumble on their words, they have the self-awareness of someone who’s spent 22 weeks doing CBT. it makes conversations feel rehearsed, like they’re actors in a tv show reading lines off a prompter.

THE BIG ISSUES

now, let’s get to my three serious critiques. i can’t simply say a book is biphobic, transmisogynistic, and a stereotypical representation of afrolatina women without backing it up. so this is a story about how i nearly quit this book in chapter two.

i. The biphobia

not a single protagonist portrayed in this book is named as bisexual. and perhaps, being bisexual, i am more acute to this (and i’ve spent weeks now watching biphobic radfem lesbians act out on twitter), but the aversion to bisexuality, even naming was very apparent. Zoya, one of the protagonists in the first story, could be implied to be bisexual — she is a widow, her spouse passed away a few years ago, and she is trying to date women for the first time. but the word “bisexuality” is never used, nor the concept of multisexual attraction acknowledged. her cousin, gaya, merely describes it as a

“transition period dating women”

in chapter two.

the phrase “straight-passing” is used several times, and that has its own problems. is it straight-passing or is it queer erasure? what does it mean for a woman (or a fem-presenting person) to appear “straight-passing” in public.

there was an icky moment in one of the last stories, where a character says

“I hate to say it, but with men I can always just assume they want more.”

almost hinting at a multisexual attraction, but no, the next page over (and a few pages back) she is referred to as a lesbian. every named character is introduced as either a lesbian (queer at most) or straight. no in between. hey, what does the B in LGBTQIA+ stand for?

ii. The transmisogyny

when you write a book about queer character and same-sex attraction, when you include trans and non-binary characters, you probably don’t want to also display gender essentialist rhetoric.

then why, pray tell, is one of your gender non-confirming characters introducing themselves as a gold star lesbian?

in chapter two, one of noura’s friends, says

“you know i got that gold star baby,”

right after calling themselves the “Lesbian fairy godmother” with a capital L. for those just joining us, a gold-star lesbian is a woman who has never slept with anyone with a penis and, taken a level higher, never slept with anyone who has slept with someone with a penis. this term is generally a biphobic, terfy dog whistle to show you haven’t been “tainted by those dirty slutty bisexuals” or trans women.

speaking of, for a book that’s supposed to represent a diverse group of women, not a single one of them is a trans woman. you have some non-binary characters, and a couple of protagonists introduce themselves as masc. if anything, the masc representation was disproportionate to anyone else. and zero trans women on top of it.

honestly, even the non-binary rep was kind of iffy. all non-binary characters were AFAB, and considering the concept of this book, it really just feels like vejdani treats them as “women lite.” like, they’re not really trans, they’re still womenish on the inside and they’re attracted only to women. just left me feeling icky.

iii. The afrolatin rep

chapter two protagonist noura’s love interest is luna, a queer latine afro-caribbean woman. she’s tall, she wears micro bikinis, she’s covered in tattoos. noura is immediately sexually attracted to her just from the photos. she sends them to her group chat, and her friends respond by saying luna has “big dick energy” (they say BDE but that’s besides the point). as noura prepares for her date and is trying to pick out an outfit, her friends advise her to wear the more revealing one because “[luna] is latine, we need some fogo!” on the first date, luna is quick to lift up her crop top, revealing her “perky little a-cups and dark nipples.”

few characters are sexualised in the book as quickly as luna is. but hey, she’s latina, so she must be instantly horny, she’s dominican so she must be a fuckboi who’s slept with tons of women, she towers over noura so she must be a dom. it falls into the classic stereotypes portraying latin (and especially afrolatin) people as exceptionally sexual, borderline vulgar deviants. the whole chapter lacks awareness, but considering vejdani’s attempts to be thoughtful and sincere in the representation, this one really felt unpleasant.

luna is not given room to grow as a character either. we get a fast forward epilogue, where noura tells us that luna was scouted on the street at a queer event and became a superstar actress. we’re not shown this growth of course, and we never learn more about it because luna is dead (and she's the only of the fourteen main characters to have such an ending). she’s not given dignity to be anything more than the younger woman noura fucks. even in her story with the journalist, noura focuses on their sex life.

there’s also the luna/noura age gap issue. noura is portrayed as borderline creeping on luna because she’s a decade older. mind you luna is 31 and noura is 41. it’s portrayed as some massive taboo. yet the relationship between mako and zoya, who have the exact same age gap, has no such concerns of creepiness.

a related issue was vejdani’s occasional, very random use of AAVE that felt out of place. i don’t remember who it was exactly (because birdie and hava’s chapter was so monotone you couldn’t tell their voices apart), but two characters start occasionally texting using AAVE syntax. in their profile, paz randomly breaks into AAVE while talking about their local community and apparently ale just. wrote it down like it, with no regard to how spoken language translates into writing (sidenote: all instances of prose and poetry within the book, as written and spoken by other characters, were poor, and none of those people would have any journalistic or academic acclaim lol);

SUMMA SUMMARUM

i feel like, despite how long this review has gotten, i’ve still forgotten little tidbits about this book that didn’t work. again, i don’t think vejdani necessarily had bad intentions even with the biggest issues i spotted, but here’s the thing — you cannot be inclusive to perfection. even if you try to write a better world, even when you try to be your best self, you still have inherent prejudices, and they still find ways to appear. you cannot write perfect people, who are perfectly aware, because it’s dull. that’s why nilou and maryam’s story worked. maryam had tangible flaws that made her feel more real than other characters.

i never go into a book expecting to hate it, certainly not way before the halfway point. especially not a book like this — own voices stories showing happy, healthy, varied queer relationships are important, it’s why i sought out the arc. but in trying to wear too many hats and cover too many issues at once, vejdani failed to do what a love story desperately needs — create compelling, three-dimensional characters. even the found family relationships, the promised emotional depth of grief and growth, feel surface-level. it’s very telling that the best story in this collection is about two iranian women, where vejdani gets to shine a light on her cultural heritage.

arc acquired thanks to netgalley and generous press. i am sorry to say this was not the one.

[star · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories are quite hit or miss for me, but this might be one of my favorite collections i've read so far. I really enjoyed that all the stories were on the longer side, between 40-60 pages. It's a nice length to get some depth and some time to get a feel on the characters, find out some things about their background. Also, the fact that the stories were interconnected made everything feel more developed, which is a nice touch. I wish more stort story collections did that.

While there's similarities characterstics across the stories, I appreciate just how diverse the included characters and stories were. We get some disability rep with one character having fibromyalgia, there's a range of different ages, though most of the characters are in their 30s and 40s. Different identities, couple dynamics and relationships with sexuality are explored. All of the characters have a diaspora/migration background and are characters of color from 6 different continents & their cultural roots and backgrounds are integral to their stories which I loved.

While some of the characters went through heavy stuff and experienced trauma in their past, the focus was on healing, on growth, evolving from the past, looking at the bright side. The stories all had quite an optimistic focus and almost all (?) of the characters wanted safety in their relationships and something secure, as opposed to their past. That's something I'm not that used to but I did appreciate this lense and reading from someone who is at a completely different point in their life.

I think that all of the characters were very work oriented and successful in their jobs, and many of them had their own start-ups or brands they created. That's also not something I read that often about so I enjoyed reading about so many characters that are empowering and independent. The biggest downside of this book for me was that a majority of the characters had a similar internal monologue, which was heavily focused on healing from past experiences, a lot of which sounded heavily like therapy speak and like a conversation you would have with your therapist in a therapy session. It's fine when it happens occasionally, but I feel like most people would not be this reflected and self-conscious at all times when just thinking for themselves. A lot of the dialogues also felt slightly unnatural because that's just not how I experience people irl talking. Again, I took it as the author having a vastly different background to me but it did take me out of the flow at times.

[Orion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Generous Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book will pull at your heartstrings, and it made me personally cry more than a couple of times. You x Me explores the stories of 6 different sapphic couples that are interconnected through familial and friendship bonds, which creates a similar feeling to watching a TV show in which multiple couples take the spotlight.

Despite the book changing POVs for each story, I never felt like any of the stories were rushed or too short for their respective pairings. The writing is wonderful, and the author takes very good care of introducing you to each character and makes you care for them and their love stories. It is also very diverse in its representation, including women of color of different ethnicities, nationalities, gender expressions and sexualities, as well as some representations of disability. Even though it encompasses so much, I never felt like it was done poorly at all!

Another thing I really liked was how much it celebrates women and non-men by showcasing them as successful and happy in their careers and lives, and learning how to heal and move forward from the traumatic/negative experiences in their lives. It was genuinely healing just to read, and so very sweet.
Perhaps my one criticism of it is that all the couples follow a very similar formula: the two characters meet, one of them is generally carrying more baggage than the other and therefore doesn’t want to commit for fear of messing up, and then a combination of family/friend support plus the evident love their romantic interest feels for them convinces them to try and they end up happily ever after! It is a repetitive formula, but despite this I didn’t mind it much. Every couple is distinct in how they meet, the unique baggage they carry, and how they overcome it. It could’ve perhaps been done differently, but I think the formula works well enough to showcase all the different backgrounds of these characters and what makes them unique.

All the stories were really sweet and romantic, and though the book wasn’t “un-put-downable” for me, I really enjoyed it and I would absolutely love to read more about all of the couples in it. And as a side note, my favorite were Takaya and Goli, they were so sweet I couldn’t cope. Really good book! 4.75 out of 5 stars for me.

[⁺˚*༓☾ ness ☽༓*˚⁺ · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 ★ — You x Me is a collection of six interconnected queer stories following women and non-binary POC, who find love through dating apps, chance encounters, old flames reconnecting, across different cities.

Let me preface this review by saying that I only managed to read 31% of the book before realizing it wasn't for me, and reading more wouldn't have changed my opinion. I was interested in the set-up of this collection, especially upon seeing the "chosen family" tree at the beginning, which I thought was quite creative.

What ultimately didn't work for me was the narrating voice, which tends to lean into a hyper-online millennial sensibility that kept pulling me out of the stories. Some characters dip fries into chocolate milkshakes while others complain about not wanting to take make-up off, some are clothed in floral and garden print, others comment on a spiral staircase and a character's walking cane as "sexy". Having these all combined in the same story made it almost too millennial for me, in a "28-year-old toddler" kind of way.

When their canes are not being described as sexy, characters are often introduced with strangely polished and resume-like descriptions.

Her blooming business and devoted following created an abundant space to allow Jae to leave his corporate job. Her success inspired him to invest in his own dream project, AURORA, a BIPOC camping app that he founded with his sister, Avani.

Their individual strengths created a safe container where they could trust, let their walls down, show up whole, and create a home. Now they're married, going ten years strong.

At times I felt almost as if I was scrolling through LinkedIn and seeing random people getting really personal on my timeline, which I admit was funny, but not in a way that compliments this book's efforts.

More generally speaking, the sort of self-conscious writing style, where we are communicated every single thought a character has, gets tiring after a while.

I feel the comedown hard. I feel self-conscious that I'm nude. I wrap the flat sheet over my chest; I want to leave, but this is my hotel room. This was a bad idea. What was i thinking? Should I ask her to leave?

You can certainly see these are very personal issues with the book, and shouldn't hinder others, especially those who enjoy modern, conversational romance, from picking up You x Me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Generous Press for providing me with an ARC of this book! All opinions are my own.

[Louann ✮⋆˙ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I fell in love with this book, it's so interesting to have so many queer love stories in one book. Each one of them talks about different subjects, I loved every single character, even the ones whom we don't talk a lot about, they all have such interesting stories and backgrounds. I would love to read more about them! Also, it's very refreshing and heart-warming to read a novel with so much diversity and BIPOC characters. Also, they all are at least 25, which is also really cool because it breaks the pattern of writing about teenagers or young adults. Each story is approximately 50 pages so it's relatively quick to read. Also, each can be read as a stand-alone or as independent stories, even though the characters are connected. These stories are not only centered around love, they also talk about friendship, grief, identity as a queer and BIPOC person, and discovering sexuality and pleasure.
Noura and Louna's story is my favorite. It's a beautiful story about discovering yourself and your sexuality after a divorce with a man. Both characters were amazing, Noura is a Palestinian woman and Luna is Latine and afro-caribbean, and together they form Moonlight, a sweet and loving couple. This chapter is a mix of funny characters, love and steamy sex, but also very touching! The author changes the setting of each story, from New York to Vancouver, these stories make you travel all around the world.
I also really liked the Paz and Ale chapter. We alternate between the present in Vancouver and the past in New York, which was really interesting and well-done, so not confusing at all! I love the elements about Latine culture, especially its cuisine, in this chapter. It helped me learn more about it and helped me to get really into the story as well!

If you're looking for queer stories full of emotions as well as very sexy and intimate scenes, I heavily recommend this book! A big thank you to NetGalley and the IBPA for the ebook of this wonderful book, out on May 28th!

[Mantagray · Rating 5 out of 5]

You x Me is an homage to queer women and nonbinary people of color who have been systematically shoved into molds they didn't fit by society. They can't be queer because they're Black or Indigenous or SW Asian or West African. This collection of interwoven stories shows the power of womanhood and the importance of living loud and proud and creating a society that not only allows that, but encourages it. The characters in this book are all connected tangentially in some way and discover queerness and/or kink and/or gender euphoria as a response to being in community with the other character's discoveries. It's beautiful to see so much space be held for so many people of the global majority, it is long overdue, well deserved and absolutely gorgeous.
This book follows 6 various couplings as they navigate desire and complicated feelings of self-discovery together. It shows all of the unexpected in which love can find us; through dating apps, mutual friends, career changes, meet-cutes. It explores the various facets of finding your person vs finding connection and how that Venn Diagram isn't always a circle. The stories are filled to the brim with intention and you can feel the love and care Ayla Vejdani poured into this creation.
Sapphic romances between people who are grown with careers and friends and homes are few and far between and I am always delighted to see older characters who are navigating the dating pool, not just teens and early 20s. The romanticized idea that we all will find our person, especially in sapphic and lesbian spaces, in our early 20s by happenstance isn't realistic for a majority of us. It also leaves out the later in life lesbians/sapphics who may have married early and not had the opportunity or representation to explore their identities past what they were told by society.

I received an e-arc of this book from Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

[Andrea (looseleftlesbian) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Oh wow. I’m in love. This was so beautiful. Ethereal would be a better word to convey how gorgeous these stories were. I never thought I would be so invested in a character I just met. But with every single short story, the characters were fully fleshed out and complex. You have a limited amount of story to get to know them, but the author is a genius when it comes to making that connection. It’s really a testament to how she writes.

There are six short stories that are standalone but all interconnected. I loved that these were stories about queer women and nonbinary people of color. We need more representation and BIPOC stories being told, especially in the queer community, which tends to be white washed. Each story is carefully crafted with love and care. Luna and Noura’s love story was my favorite and made me cry happy tears. I’m so grateful the author decided to share them with the world.

The last story is between Anonymous x Me. I loved this concept and I’m hoping with how the book ended, there’s more to come from Ayla Vejdani. You x Me explores the intersectionality of love, race, culture, gender expression, gender identity and sexuality. It is a series of stories showcasing the beautiful and complex intricacies of life. You x Me is a much needed read in today’s world.

[Doe Is Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley, however all opinions are my own.

So the reason I wanted to read "You X Me" is genuinely because I saw this on Netgalley and the cover and the description caught my eye. Friends, this was such a perfect before bed read. Each of the stories are about 40-60 pages and honestly (other than the final 2 stories) I ended up reading a story a night. This book was so flowery and gorgeous and truly had me giggling and rooting for all of the characters, even the "smutty" scenes were written beautifully and had so much emotion behind them. I was surprised to see so many queer characters that were older than me represented, because as much as I love queer romance, we typically don't see people above their 30s in many stories. It was also incredible to see so many stories of queer POC all in one place. The diversity in this story was incredible and definitely has something for almost everyone in. This book definitely highlighted how important it is to recognise that even within our own communities we are still lacking in what it means to be equal. I really enjoyed getting to learn about the characters cultures, and how they intermingled with their queerness/relationships. I really enjoyed this book, and I definitely would recommend picking this one up, especially if you love queer romance.

[Oli R · Rating 4 out of 5]

This compilation of interconnected queer stories shares the experiences of sapphics in a way that helps the reader expand their cultural knowledge.

While the stories have some similarities they are by no means one note. The characters are diverse in gender, and there is even disability representation.

I could honestly see this making a great mini series on tv, with a bit of back and forth between the stories.

My only note here is that I think this is one of the rare occasions I would prefer to read an ebook or physical book. Because of the interconnectedness I think I would have preferred the ease of flipping back in the book to reference the other stories.

I really enjoy short stories and this collection was no exception. I really enjoy learning about different people, experiences and cultures via fiction and this book was great for that. I will likely add it to my physical collection soon as I would love to read it again in a different format.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Spotify Audiobooks for the Advanced Listener Copy.

[mey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first romance novel I've loved. As a straight, happily married woman, I fell in love with every one of these characters.

Each character feels dynamic, authentic, and beautifully developed, with rich and diverse cultural backgrounds that add so much beauty to their stories. They show up with honesty and tenderness, and it was special to witness love stories like these.

Unexpectedly, this story is as much a love story about food. I couldn't wait to discover what they would be eating next! Food is written throughout the story  as its own love language - the ingredients, flavours, cultures, connection, and shared experiences.

This book is a complete work of art. From all the languages and fashion to food and family traditions, every character brings their own richness to the page. I love that included in the book is a recipe from a meaningful moment in the story, along with a playlist. Super cute. So thoughtful.

This book is beautifully written, deeply human, and so much fun to read. You x Me is a story that stays with you long after you've turned the final page.

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Generous Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a collection of short stories covering a multitude of queer relationships. Each story has their own highs and lows but are all interconnected in one way or another.

I enjoyed the variety of LGBTQ relationships and the backgrounds of each character. New characters are introduced in each short story but they are expanded upon in continuing chapters from romantic relationships, friendships, and family connections. My favorite part about this book is that it wasn’t just all sad endings or all happy endings. It truly felt like it reflected real life. How people act and react with romantic connections and how their support systems tie into the process. The writing style was something I quickly settled into and made me feel like I was a part of the conversations that occurred.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went into this with no expectations and I was pleasantly surprised!! The author dealt with identity, colonialism, and more in a nuanced way and the representation of different relationship types/ethnicity/gender/ages was done well. With short stories it is harder to show a slower burn/not "insta-love" and fully develop their chemistry but I do think the characters were fleshed out, including relationships with friends/family, and I really appreciated the chart at the beginning showing the interconnections (although the short stories also stand alone). The inclusions of a recipe, playlist, etc was also a creative way to break up the prose. I think my favorite story was Maryam and Nilou. Overall really impressed and different from other modern queer romances I've read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Generous Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

[Uzia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actual rating: 4.5⭐

This is a collection of sapphic stories with queer representation pumping within its blood. Gosh all the love stories and the life lessons in this book made it so worth it to read. I normally wouldn't read such a book under normal conditions but the cover intrigued me and the blurb made me wonder if I could read smth outside my normal genres.

I adored every person within this book. Their insecurities, their past, their love stories, their life problems, their openness to love and the world itself made me see some stuff in a different light altogether.

I really really loved it and I would recommend that any person who wants to read about sapphic lover stories and gain life lessons along the way, pls read this.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read the e-ARC! 🫶 Loved this book. 🙂‍↕️

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I went looking for the playlist, couldn’t find it so I made one. When you get to the couple, you’ll know who it’s for.
I so very much loved each story. Laugh thru them all, and cried for a few. Each chapter (story) is told in a slightly different way, but always so engaging. The chosen family tree is extremely helpful especially visually to see who is who, platonically and romantically. It was a pleasure to get to know all the individuals, to see their quirks, flaws and their joys. The queer communities they’ve created being such a beautiful reflection of themselves.

Oh and I also looked up the cookbook too.

[Jillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley, Generous Press, Spotify Audiobooks and Ayla Vejdani for the chance to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

What a lovely exploration of different relationships, connections, gender identities and cultures and the ways they all work together and where they create friction.

Receiving each short story the way we did was delightful- I loved the character map at the beginning of the eBook AND how it all tied up in the end.

I felt like I learned a great deal from this book about experiences and lives I've never had exposure to and isn't that the BEST bonus of reading!?

[R Thomson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful collection of interconnected stories of sapphic love and finding belonging amidst transness, loss, anxiety, diaspora, and more. Each story is its own complete journey of love - from meet cute to prologue, readers get to watch the couple form attachments and finally settle down together and live their happily ever after. I personally liked the main stories, however the prologues just felt a bit out of place in a book of short stories, and I'd have rather kept those and just been left to hope the couples thrived together.

[bookishthingswedo · Rating 4 out of 5]

𝙖𝙙𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙥𝙮

thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review

this was fun and messy, it’s a collection of short stories of love that are all interconnected reflecting the modern day nature of dating. what I loved was the diversity in the characters. I think the author did a really good job in spotlighting that our differences only enrich human connection rather than divide.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating read, emotionally vulnerable in the best way. I loved all the stories, it's so nice to read about the messiness of love and how the human spirit can overcome so much to love wholly again.

My favorite couple being Noura and Luna gave me hope!

[Mae B · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was sooo good!!

[Krystal Tibbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love books like this with multiple stories a that somewhat overlap. but i always end up wanting more of each story 😩

[Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been such a treat to curl up with in the evenings before bed. I will likely purchase a physical copy for my personal library when it publishes. A nourishingly tender (and hot!!) meditation on queer love and life.

thank you to netgalley for the ARC

[Olya · Rating 4 out of 5]

You x Me is a moving collection of interconnected short stories about queer love, identity, and connection. Each story feels complete and emotionally rich despite its brevity, with strong representation of queer women and nonbinary people of color. The standout romances are heartfelt and memorable, and the final story adds a thoughtful, reflective touch. Overall, it’s a beautifully written, modern exploration of love in many forms.

I received this book from NetGalley. Thank you Ayla Vejdani. All opinions are my own.