On March 2, 2021, two traditionally published YA books were released that both discuss bisexuality in a nuanced way. (The other is Follow Your Arrow by Jessica Verdi.) As someone who has been following LGBTQ publishing for more than a decade, it brings a tear to my eye...
I Think I Love You is a bisexual romcom, which honestly probably tells you enough about whether you're going to read it or not. If you love romcoms and enjoy some miscommunication in your romances and a little bit of cheesiness, you'll like this. If you can't stand romance tropes, you probably won't. This also has an enemies to lovers romance that has all the banter and cutting remarks associated with it.
In case you need more information, though, here's the quick version of the plot: Emma decides to create the bisexual romcom movie of her dreams for a film contest. She gets all of her friends to help-except that one of her friends, Sophia, has just come back from Paris and is determined to make something ~artsy. Sophia does not want to make a cheesy romance movie: her parents are divorced, and now she has decided that romantic love can only result in tragedy. The group splits in half, they both make their own movies, but their friends come up with a scheme to try to reunite them.
As much as this is a romance, what I enjoyed most about it was Emma coming to terms with her identity. (Emma is bisexual, Sophia is a lesbian.) Emma is nervous to come out to her parents, because although they are mostly well-meaning, they have made some questionable comments about LGBTQ issues. She wonders if it's even worth coming out if she's not in a relationship with a woman. She also doesn't know how to communicate how important bisexuality is to her identity-she's worried about it being brushed off as inconsequential.
I liked that discussion, because I think there is often pressure to act like being bi is not a big deal, and that it feels like you can't claim being queer in the same way. As a bi person who has built a large part of my identity around being queer, I do often get imposter syndrome around it: am I queer enough to be claiming this? Obviously, that's not how it works, but even after running the Lesbrary for 10+ years, I still have to fight against those thoughts, so I appreciated seeing that discussion.
If you want a fun F/F YA enemies-to-lovers romance that also explores bisexual identity issues, pick this one up!
