Book Review: Leo Loves Aries by Anyta Sunday

Leo Loves Aries (Signs of Love #1)
by Anyta Sunday 
Publication Date: December 4, 2016
Format: E-Book, 377 Pages
Genres: New Adult - LGBTQIA - Romance
Find it On: GoodReads - Amazon
My Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis:

A new person will enter your life in the early year, Leo. Look past any moments of frustration they might bring and laugh—this could be the start of a thriving friendship.

Theo Wallace usually laughs at the horoscopes his mom sends. Still hung up on his ex-girlfriend and practically friendless, this one begs him to reconsider. Because a friendship that stuck, that thrived…

Well, that would be a reason to leave past pains behind and look to the Bright Future.

When his sister Leone challenges him to find her the perfect date for a spring wedding, Theo uses it as a chance to make new friends. Theo’s ex economics tutor and newest roommate Mr Jamie Cooper seems to be a possible and convenient match. Real convenient. Like written in the stars, convenient.

All he has to do is make sure this Jamie is good enough. Could really be the one for her, and the friend for him.

My Review:

What this book is:

- A really adorable romance. Theo lives with his blind sister, Leone, whom he adores and kind of smothers with support. When they need a roommate, Theo convinces his former TA/Tutor, Jamie, despite having done nothing but annoy Jamie for a year of lecture. As Theo and Jamie grow close,r Theo realizes that he'd make a perfect boyfriend - for his sister. 

- A Slow-Burn Relationship with fun twists and turns. I'm not much of a romance reader, but Sunday seems like a master of the genre. She strikes a perfect balance of quirky and cute alongside a more serious and realistic development of their relationship. 

- An awesome bunch of characters. Aside from the romance, the friendships in this were fun to watch unfold. It was one of those feel-good everyone's hanging out like an episode of Friends books.

What this book isn't:

- Queerpositive. I know nothing about the author, but she's fundamentally missing something about coming out. "He had the luxury not to care. His mom, his dad, his sister, and his friends were as rainbow-supporting as they come." Yeah, my parents are accepting people, too, but um, SOCIETY is homophobic as hell. Honestly, if I told someone I was gay, and they responded with "I'm not but I'll sleep with you because I think this identity that you clearly value is NBD and gay sex sounds fun," I'd be hard-pressed to not hit them. So it turns out that Theo's - whatever - is just a plot device to make for hijinks and confusion. But he doesn't even come out by the end! Gay? Nope. Bisexual? What the hell is that word? Nah. I'm just a dude crushing on a dude. 

- A book about economics students. More of a "LOL" for me, but I got a B in Intro to Microeconomics and I understand everything that a graduate-level economist was saying. Having them have a "thing" was cute, but it was adorably transparent how little the author knew of the subject.

Cute? Very. Well-written? Excellent. Kind of low-key offensive? Yeah. Too personal of a subject for me, so I don't think I'll be reading the next book, but I think this would be really enjoyable to someone who could take that with a grain of salt.

Diversity Score: Gay and bi MCs (+2), Main relationship with different sexualities (+2), Supporting character with a physical disability (+1) = 5