The Romantic Agenda by Claire Kann

Description from Goodreads:

Joy is in love with Malcolm.

But Malcolm really likes Summer.

Summer is in love with love.

And Fox is Summer’s ex-boyfriend.

Thirty, flirty, and asexual Joy is secretly in love with her best friend Malcolm, but she’s never been brave enough to say so. When he unexpectedly announces that he's met the love of his life—and no, it's not Joy—she's heartbroken. Malcolm invites her on a weekend getaway, and Joy decides it’s her last chance to show him exactly what he’s overlooking. But maybe Joy is the one missing something…or someone…and his name is Fox.

Fox sees a kindred spirit in Joy—and decides to help her. He proposes they pretend to fall for each other on the weekend trip to make Malcolm jealous. But spending time with Fox shows Joy what it’s like to not be the third wheel, and there’s no mistaking the way he makes her feel. Could Fox be the romantic partner she’s always deserved?

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My Review:

I absolutely loved this book. I loved it so much that I purchased my own copy immediately after finishing the copy I borrowed from the library. This isn't my first book with asexual representation but this is my first book by this author. I thought she did an amazing job with the representation.

Joy was an absolute joy. Literally. I liked seeing her anxiety displayed in a different way than I feel is normally presented. She is still a very sassy and extroverted individual. Some may say her confidence borders cockiness as I saw in other reviews, but it doesn't bother me. There's nothing wrong with being a little confident. Could she have been nicer to Summer? Yeah, but I felt the way she reacted at times was very realistic and how I would have handled a situation. I just honestly loved her all around.

Malcolm was a bit annoying. I honestly didn't really like him as a character and didn't fully understand his relationship with Joy. This could have been another point the author was trying to make since a big part of the book is for Joy to let go of her romantic feelings for Malcolm. I absolutely adored Fox. I liked that he wasn't an asshole grump. I feel that most characters described as grumpy tend to be on the asshole side. Not Fox. He just had his own stuff going on. He was very open-minded, respectful, and also a fun character. Honestly, he is my book boyfriend until further notice and I haven't liked a character a lot in a while to bestow them that title.

Overall, this is a fun romantic read that sometimes deals with some heavy topics. I breezed through this in one day. As someone who also recently just came out as greysexual the book hit hard for me personally. I borrowed this from the library but I bought a copy for my own collection.

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