Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend

One of my most anticipated romances this year is Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend by Emma R. Alban. The first in her Mischief & Matchmaking series, it follows two young women during the London season of 1857. While searching for husbands, the two become friends… then something more. But how can they have a life together? One ploy is to get their respective single, widowed parents together à la The Parent Trap!

Special thanks to Avon, Goodreads, and NetGalley for the print and digital review copies of this book!

Review

Although I’ve read a fair number of queer contemporary romances, I have read very few historicals about queer couples—and that’s something I plan to change! I was excited to read Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend, a Victorian romance in which two young women, looking for husbands during the London season, start to develop romantic feelings for each other. How can they find happiness together in 1857? One way would be to get their respective single parents (who seem to have some history) to finally admit their love for each other. But playing matchmaker for your parents is harder than it seems, and the stakes are high as the season quickly nears its end. 

At first, I loved seeing Beth and Gwen become close friends. It’s Beth’s first season, but Gwen is on her fourth by now and knows a thing or two about how to navigate it. The two become fast friends, relying on each other to get through endless balls, tea parties, and so on, all in a fruitless attempt to find a husband. But neither really wants a man in her life… and as time goes on, it starts to become clear that their friendship could be something more. 

I enjoyed seeing how Gwen, in particular, comes to terms with her feelings for Beth. She never really thought about what it’s like to have romantic feelings for someone of the same gender, and she’s not sure how to go about it. Luckily, she has a couple she can learn from and a dad who is wonderfully open-minded and accepting, especially for the time. Gwen and Beth eventually must face each other and decide what to do about these romantic feelings. Things get steamy, but how can it last?

A major subplot here is Gwen and Beth’s mission to get their parents together. Gwen’s dad and Beth’s mom are both widowed, and though they seem to hate each other now, there’s definitely more to their past than their daughters realize. In a very Parent Trap fashion, Beth and Gwen do what they can to play matchmaker to their reluctant parents. If it all works out, not only will the parents get their long-overdue happily ever after, Gwen and Beth will also have a chance at being together themselves. 

Final Thoughts

Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend is filled with a wonderful cast of characters, a dramatic arc involving Beth’s potential (male) suitor, and so much heart. I loved getting to see Beth and Gwen become friends and fall in love, finding a path for their relationship despite the restrictions of the Victorian era. This is the first in Emma R. Alban’s Mischief & Matchmaking series, and I already look forward to reading its sequel, You’re the Problem, It’s You, due out in August 2024. And in the meantime, you can bet that I’ll be reading some more queer historical romances! 

Get the Book

You can buy Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend here – it’s available as a paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend by Emma R. Alban
Series	Mischief & Matchmaking (#1)
Audience	Adult
Genre	Historical Romance
Setting	England
Number of Pages	400
Format I Read	Paperback (ARC)
Original Publication Date	January 9, 2024
Publisher	Avon

Official Summary

A swoon-worthy debut queer Victorian romance in which two debutantes distract themselves from having to seek husbands by setting up their widowed parents, and instead find their perfect match in each other—the lesbian Bridgerton/Parent Trap you never knew you needed!

Gwen has a brilliant beyond brilliant idea.

It’s 1857, and anxious debutante Beth has just one season to snag a wealthy husband, or she and her mother will be out on the street. But playing the blushing ingenue makes Beth’s skin crawl and she’d rather be anywhere but here.

Gwen, on the other hand, is on her fourth season and counting, with absolutely no intention of finding a husband, possibly ever. She figures she has plenty of security as the only daughter of a rakish earl, from whom she’s gotten all her flair, fun, and less-than-proper party games.

“Let’s get them together,” she says.

It doesn’t take long for Gwen to hatch her latest scheme: rather than surrender Beth to courtship, they should set up Gwen’s father and Beth’s newly widowed mother. Let them get married instead.

“It’ll be easy” she says.

There’s just…one, teeny, tiny problem. Their parents kind of seem to hate each other.

But no worries. Beth and Gwen are more than up to the challenge of a little twenty-year-old heartbreak. How hard can parent-trapping widowed ex-lovers be?

Of course, just as their plan begins to unfold, a handsome, wealthy viscount starts calling on Beth, offering up the perfect, secure marriage.

Beth’s not mature enough for this…

Now Gwen must face the prospect of sharing Beth with someone else, forever. And Beth must reckon with the fact that she’s caught feelings, hard, and they’re definitely not for her potential fiancé.

That’s the trouble with matchmaking: sometimes you accidentally fall in love with your best friend in the process.