The Road to You: A Lesbian Romance Novel

by Harper Bliss

Opposites attract... or do they? Workaholic Katherine and free-spirited singer Ali have disliked each other since college. Fate, however, keeps bringing them together and the paths of their lives keep crossing. Are some differences in personality simply too vast to overcome? Or are some things just meant to be? Find out in this light-hearted but epic new book from best-selling author Harper Bliss. If you love a deliciously slow-burning lesbian romance, The Road to You is sure to satisfy!

Genres: Romance, Audiobook, LGBT, Lesbian, Queer, Enemies To Lovers, Fiction

229 pages, Paperback

Published June 8, 2016

About the author

Harper Bliss is a best-selling lesbian romance author. Among her most-loved books are the highly dramatic French Kissing and the often thought-provoking Pink Bean series. She is the co-founder of My LesFic, a weekly newsletter offering discount deals on lesbian fiction.

Harper lived in Hong Kong for 7 years, travelled the world for a bit, and has now settled in Brussels (Belgium) with her wife and photogenic cat, Dolly Purrton.

Together with her wife, she hosts a weekly podcast called Harper Bliss & Her Mrs.

Reviews

[Les Read · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever heard of the joke... What does a lesbian bring on the second date?

This may be an over-generalization, but the progression of love and romance between lesbians is Looney Tunes Roadrunner fast. What's an example of a potentially lesbifastandfurious relationship?

Week 1: Two lesbians bump into each other at the local IKEA. They reach for the same wonderfully Scandinavian-patterned duvet cover, make heavy eye contact, and are instantly smitten with each other. Within a few hours, they're exclusively dating. They're Facebook official.

Week 2: Those three little words have been exchanged. All is right in the world. Everything is hearts. Lovely hearts. K + A = 4Ever 143-637 <3 <3 <3 <3

Week 3: The wheels on the UHaul go round and round. They're now sharing the Scandinavian-patterned duvet cover under the same roof, and they've adopted a cute domestic short-hair from the local animal rescue and named him Ingvar.

Thankfully, this love story doesn't play into that hand. The Road to You is a slow-burn romance that develops, not during the course of days, weeks, months or years... but decades. There isn't a UHaul in sight.

The beginning of Katherine and Ali is less than ideal, to say the least. They both find each other in compromising positions (literally), and from the very start, it's a love-hate sort of thang. But as they say, there's a very thin line. In every chance encounter over the course of nearly two decades, the air is always thick with tension and red-hot chemistry between Ali and Katherine. There's a push-pull dynamic between the characters and because of the nature of this interaction, neither end up in the dreaded "friend zone" with the other.

For the readers, the underlying attraction between the two characters always feels like it's only one or two stitches away from bursting at the seams. When the stars finally align and every moment that they've experienced together and apart map them to the most important moment of their lives, you'll be jumping out of your skin to see what happens next.

[Kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished “The Road To You” yesterday, and I was smiling at the HEA. I thought of writing up a review, but quickly realized I felt mild disquiet at writing the positive review I was initially considering. I wasn’t really as sure of what I thought of the book as I was feeling. So, I slept on it. Perhaps reviews are like texts...never send one in haste ;)

After sleeping on it, and relistening to several of my bookmarks, I realized this book is not really a cute “true love wins out after twists and turns of life” kinda story after all.

The first 2/3 of the book describes Katherine and Ali over a 20 year period of their lives. They cross paths occasionally, but lead very different lives. Katherine, the up-and-climbing corporate CFO is always judgmental whenever she meets Ali, the free-spirit, sleep with LOTS of women singer from a rich family who dislikes her lifestyle. Katherine, it would seem, would fit in well with the family Ali dislikes being with. Neither MC is someone I’d really want to spend much time with.

Ali does show considerable growth as she ages from her teens to her late 30s, though she never has a relationship lasting more than a night during those decades. Katherine does well at work, and has a long-term relationship that *shockingly for a lesfic romance* falls apart, but at age 38 is still pretty much the girl she was at 20. Ali offers sincere friendship in their late 30s as it turns out that their best friends have now become “the one” to each other, and the two strike a great bond.

And then….

Katherine suddenly decides she’s fallen in love with Ali, and becomes quite the lust-filled and exuberant sex-kitten. Ali, at least, thinks twice before moving from friend to lover…but twenty minutes later is ready to buy a wedding dress for the love of her life. Huh?

I’m not sure if this was the love that was meant to be, if this was two women who after decades of knowing each other decided that mutual comfort could include sex and love, or if Harper Bliss (the author) really did decide to paste another story onto this as a quick and easy ending.

So, after initially considering this as a 4* book, upon reflection I think this is more of a 2* book. I’ll give it 3* and move on.

[Chelsea (chelseadolling reads) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was mega meh, tbh. I'm tempted to rate it higher purely because it's a F/F romance and it was miraculous that my library even had it, but this was real boring and not worth it. Meeeehhhhhh.

[Book Worm · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure what to say. I realise that it is hard to write a story that encompasses so many years.
We have two people who meet in college under not the most favourable circumstances. One is having an affair with her French prof and the other accidentally walks in on them and blackmails the French prof. So from the get go we have two very opposing characters. Katherine is a very conscientious (apart from blackmailing the French prof) and hard-working girl. She likes the numbers and turns out to become a hard ass business woman.
On the other side we have Ali, who has a rich background and has an easy attitude to everything. She loves music and performing and she loves the girls.
So how do get such an unlikely match to become romantically involved? Well as the book spans a period of at least 20 years it would be easiest to have the people evolve.
I liked that about Ali's character. She does change from a very self-centred person, to a person who generally seems to care and to empathize. However, even though I know my fair share of likable bohemian characters in real life, I just didn't like Ali that much. Maybe it would have helped, if I'd seen her interact with the kids, if I'd seen more of the friendship that blossomed between Ali and Katherine, heard more conversations.
The same that is true for Ali is even truer for Katherine. What do I know of her? I don't even know what she loved about her long-term partner. And this might be the real problem for me about this book. I just don't like her. She's judgemental, she's a little obsessive. Apart from her being vulnerable at the end, what are her redeeming qualities?

So enough about this.
Apart from all of that it is an interesting plot. It did grip me and I love the author's way to express and describe.

I also loved that the audio was done by two narrators, who really seemed to capture the personalities of the two povs.

And 4 Stars for the cover. As always Harper Bliss has a professional and appealing cover. I like some of her other covers more, but this one goes a long way.

Note to self:
The book does remind me of another book I've read with an even similar cover "Something for the weekend" by Natasha West. I'll have to check up on that.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

If The Road to You were structured like a typical romance, it would start in the last section of the book when Katherine and Ali get to know each other beyond the impressions they’d been carrying since university. Instead, it shows how those impressions were created and then reinforced by their interactions through the years. We see Katherine enter a serious relationship and exit it. Ali goes from making most of her money with her music to taking a job running a children’s music charity, and learning to love stability as she helps kids learn the joy of music. It makes for an unusual reading experience because this IS a romance novel, even if it refuses to behave like one for half of the book, and yet it just works, reminding us that some relationships are years in the making.

Full review: http://www.thelesbianreview.com/road-...

[Loek Krancher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!

This has it all; French lessons, break ups, betrayal, blackmail, a Christmas party, a little white lie, lovers to friends and friends to lovers. The road to her was very long and bumpy. I'm glad that I was with them on this road. A great read and definitely recommended.

[Corporate Slave · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating is based on the last 25% of the book is a 4 and the rest is a 2 so I rounded it up to 3 :) It's a cute book but the reason why I wouldn't give it a 4 or a 5 is because the story dragged so much until the main characters actually got together. Which is fine but how it happened was the main reason why I had an issue with the book. I just couldn't understand why out of the blue the main character all of a sudden felt she was in love with the other character. It just wasn't believable.. The writing is the best thing about the book but hey it's Harper bliss how can it go wrong :)

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed score: 4.0

Bliss is mainly known for her erotica - or at least erotica with a side of romance... But if The Road to You is any indication of what she can produce when she focuses on the swoon side of things, I hope Bliss decides to walk on the less steamy side more often.

It was sweet. It was sexy. It left me wanting more. Delicious.

[lauraღ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe everything that has happened up until now has been a detour, a means to make us evolve in the right direction and prepare us for this. For the inevitable, because that’s how this kiss feels: inevitable. Meant to be.

This was a slow-burn in terms of the relationship, and also in terms of how I felt about it. Because for most of this book, I just felt kinda 'meh' about it. But the last 1/3 or so, where the relationship really picks up, was so swoony and enjoyable, and the chemistry between the characters just flew off the page, and I fell in love with them.

This is the kind of slow-burn that takes place over the course of years (almost 20 years, in fact) and Katherine and Ali, complete opposites and semi-enemies, keep dipping in and out of each other's lives. They meet for the first time in college, and don't exactly hit it off. We follow them through different relationships with other women, triumphs and heartbreaks, always dropping in on them at times where they happen to connect again, and eventually, become friends. It's not really the type of slow-burn that I enjoy; I like slow-burn when the characters are around each other constantly, but are slow to realise their feelings/get together for one reason or the other. So I struggled a bit with that. They spend a lot of the book not in each other's circles (even though they do think about each other frequently) and not realising their feelings for one another.

But the groundwork was laid, and when things do start getting romantic, the pay-off is just so freaking good. Their chemistry was on fire, and there were a few moments where I just melted. I really loved the ways the book talked about how people change over the course of their lives. It's a fanciful premise, but the idea of two people orbiting each other's lives, never really aligning until the exact moment where they're right for each other, is sooooo romantic. This is definitely an opposites attract romance, but by the end of it, I was convinced that this CFO and this musician were made for each other. I loved their relationships with their friends as well, how those friendships never stopped being important, and all the ways this cutely poked fun at some aspects of lesbian culture.

Some nit-picks? It really is kinda slow in the beginning. The book did manage to keep my interest, and I did, for the most part, like their other romantic involvements. Still, it was a bit dull. The most annoying thing was Katherine's non-stop equating "being healthy" with "not gaining weight". The bit where she talks about Grace not taking care of herself is very preachy and frustrating. And that attitude never gets challenged, so, beware that. The writing on a whole is fine, but I've definitely read better from Bliss.

With how I felt about this in the beginning, I'm really happy with how it ended. A pretty solid romance that I'm glad I finally read.

Content warnings: professor/student relationship, implicit fatphobia, infidelity (side characters).

[Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars The Road to You (audiobook) by Harper Bliss read by Emily Beresford and Gabra Zackman.

Fate keeps bringing these two women together and finally they give love a chance.

[Gail · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an angst filled, slow burn romance with main characters Katherine and Alison (Ali) only thing is they don't realize it. The author includes well written supporting characters that ably add to the storyline. My peeve is the swift ending with the two leads suddenly in love. Katherine's turn about just didn't feel right. However, Ali's angst and torment with the situation rang true. Overall, a fair read. I re-read sections before writing my review but still can only give 2.5 stars.

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review on my blog • Twitter • Instagram

Rep: f/f romance, lesbian main characters, black main character

The Road to You is a slow burn romance novel following two women, who are very much polar opposites. They have their very first interaction in a prologue where they are young children, then officially meet when they are in college, completely by chance and in less than ideal situations. From there, they have multiple by chance encounters.

True to its subtitle listed on Amazon, it is a slow burn romance. It takes years for Katherine and Ali to finally date and in my opinion, it worked. While I’m a big fan of slow burn, sometimes it can take so long that when they do end up together, I no longer care. I feel like that was possible for this book to fall into that but I actually really loved it in this book.

The slow burn made sense for these characters. Katherine is wound much more tight than Ali, they’re different in basically all ways personality wise. They needed time to understand each other and work out how they could get along before they fell in love. I am also usually not a fan of fluff, but surprisingly in this I really enjoyed it. The fluff worked, especially with the writing. It wasn’t specifically special writing; it was simple but entertaining. The characters were likeable, and the changes in setting made it more interesting. They both show growth throughout the years, and even changes in other personal relationships, like Katherine and her college ex-girlfriend becoming good friends after initial heartbreak.

Their polar opposite personalities did work. You do understand why they don’t get along; especially in adulthood. In college, Katherine is a rule follower who almost always does great at school, while Ali is more rebellious. Ali even sleeps with a professor; which Katherine looks down at her for. This is realistic conflict, but also forgivable. They never do anything to each other that should make them irredeemable, but enough that you understand why they have conflict. When they’re adults, Katherine is very focused on work, while Ali is a musician and wants to purse that as her career. Put those two kinds of people together and you get an understandable dislike for one another. Their personalities clashed at times, so them learning to get along was rewarding to see.

The book taking its time to pair the couple off really worked for the book. Katherine needed time to unwind while Ali needed time to mature so they could in the end, meet in the middle. Them dating in the end and having a HEA was believable. That time was needed to have a believable and healthy relationship. That would probably not work for everyone but if you’re a fan of slow burn, fluff, and sapphic books, I highly recommend it.

[Canders5 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some spoilers ahead to explain the rating (not hidden), I implore those who are willing to read, as the glowing reviews misled me. Skip to the bottom for a summary.

I'm not entirely sure that I read the same story as all of these other reviewers have, but in no way, was this story "light and feel-good". This story was about the serious workaholic Katherine and the womanizing Ali. Throughout 90% of the book, Katherine and Ali are literally fighting and making off-handed comments about each other, from the time they were 21 and in college, up until they were both 38. I was constantly questioning as to why neither of them had matured (albeit, Ali matured a lot more as a character than Katherine). Their arguments seemed bitter and contrived, and quite honestly, childlike for the sake of a fake "slow burn" romance.

At about 80%, after having finally formed a semi-friendship through going to Yoga, Katherine is suddenly hit with the reality that she's in love with Ali, from out of the blue. From there on out, she battles with her desire and decides to keep her crush hidden; as a result, she starts ignoring and lying to the few friends she has, including a commitment she made to Ali 2 months in advance. All for the sake of not showing any signs of a crush. This obviously did not sit well with Ali, and then they were enemies yet again, only to have make up sex the next day and claim that they were in love, the marriage kind (this actually happened).

I hope I don't have to explain why having a book with 90% cat fights, and then a sudden romance and declaration of love in the last 10% is off-putting.

In summary, this book is all drama and very little fluff. It's not the 'throw the book across the room' drama, but drama nonetheless. If the above intrigues you, have at it. I just don't want others to be mislead by the blind glowing reviews claiming that this book is a romcom or feel good book. Anything but, very little humor if I were to be honest.

Oh, and the last 10% of the book (from 90% on) is an excerpt from another book, keep that in mind if you're considering price and length.

[Ameliah Faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ali has always been a wild child. She wants nothing to do with her rich family's idea of traditional, acceptable careers, she loves to play music, and live loose and free. Shes in a band kicking it with a different girl every week. Katherine is a bookish, serious sort of woman, prim and proper, always by the book except for the one time in college when she catches Ali with the French teacher. She reluctantly takes an A for her silence. As the years go by, their paths cross from time to time. When Ali's best friend gets involved with Katherine's best friend the two begin to spend more and more time together. Maybe Ali has settled down a bit and maybe Katherine isn't such a disapproving prude....

This book switches POV between Ali and Katherine. I love when authors do this. You get to see how the characters think and why they do what they do. I loved the emotions in this book. They feel so real and honest and the sex and love making scenes are very hot and intense!! Exactly what you would expect with a Harper Bliss novel.

These characters are very lovable and real too. My favourite part is in chapter 22 when Katherine overcomes her fears and shyness to lay all her cards on the table. She becomes so bold and sure and brave. It took a lot for her to get to that point and what she says is just so beautiful and endearing.

It was wonderful to follow these women as they age and mature and watching them grow and change into the lovely women they were meant to be.

Another great job Ms Bliss!!

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite of the Harper Bliss books. I just didn't like the Katherine character.

[Ted · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the two voice actresses. Each with the different POV's. I wish more audible books did that. It really sets a tone that was very enjoyable.

[Abril Sol · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
Oh my gosh... I loved this book! hahahaha I just can't believe it. I almost dnfed it.
I wasn't a big fan at the beginning but damn, that second half.

[Carly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! I read this in a day. What a brilliant refreshing read for a romance. I'm a fan of a slow burning romance. They can be tricky to write as the build up is that much bigger and sometimes the reader can be left disappointed. I loved that the story was spread out over 18 or so years. I love how I loved both main characters even though they were massively different people. When I first started reading, I couldn't think how these two characters could come to like each other but as the story develops you see what it is they like about each other and have noticed about each other over the years. I read and read, I could not put it down until they got together. Once they got together I was waiting for the typical romance fall out and get back together again and was ready to skip a few pages, but it didn't happen, it ended just at the right time. It's one I'll definitely read again.

[Kent · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this story from Harper for my honest review. Thank you Harper; I always love your stories. The outcome of this story was a bit predictable, but the meat of the story was a joy to read. I always feel like I know Harper's characters personally and can imagine myself interacting with them in the real world. This was another wonderful story that I will read over and over again.

[Journey · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5, rounded down just because i'm stingy with my 4-5 stars and this didn't quite meet the standard for 4 :) reminder that 3(.5) means it's good, i liked it and i enjoyed it!

i know this is supposed to be an epic slow-burn but it was a little TOO slow-moving for me, and i think Katherine and Ali didn't have enough actual interaction in the first parts to really establish the UST. that said, it was fun and when the finally hook up it was very satisfying :D

[Mindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute friends to lover romance. I really enjoy this authors writing. She writes very compelling stories. This is the second book I have read by this author and I will definitely read more. The romance in this one took a little longer to unfold than I wanted though.

[Jax · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might just be my favorite Harper Bliss book. I loved how they slowly came together over 20 years (or 40?). I haven’t read any other reviews to know what people didn’t like. I just know I enjoyed it.

[Ty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not a fan of the alternating first person narrative, but I was a fan of just about everything else. Good read.

[Amsebamse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before this I re-read "The Road" and it was a funny contrast
Anyway cute book I liked that we followed the characters from highschool into their 40s

[Gillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Road To You by Harper Bliss is one of my favourite lesbian books I’ve read to date. It’s a somewhat short but sweet slow-burn about two polar-opposite women, Katherine and Ali, who went to university together and didn’t get along. But their paths keep crossing throughout their lives, which leads them back to each other in different ways. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The main character, Katherine, is somewhat stuck-up whereas Ali goes with the flow; by the end of the book you’ll just be wishing these opposites were together already. You also might be like me, and find yourself falling in love with Ali and all her free-spiritedness.

This is a book that also skips over large periods of time, like SoS, but in a way that makes sense and that I enjoyed. It’s also one of the only sapphic novels I’ve read so far that has had a Black main character. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
While a lot of these books may be great for lesbian & bisexual representation, they are predominantly and overwhelmingly white. I’ve made a conscious effort now to order sapphic books that have main characters of colour. Does anyone have any recommendations?

CW: sexual themes, affairs, professor/student relations

[Kindle Girl · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a delightful slow burning romance... but why the rush Mrs. Harper?

I don´t know how to explain this, but the book had few dialogues between the main characters and we had only a few pages to see the love between Kat & Ali grow. And suddenly... BAM! All the lesbian stereotypes in one chapter. I liked very much the plot, the writing is always so good and the way that the story is told is excellent (always showing both sides), but I think the rushed writing was a sin to the plot.

But I continuing liking you very very much Mrs. Harper. I´m sorry for the 3 stars.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounding up

This is my first book by Harper Bliss, and it definitely made me interested in trying some more of her books. This is a slow burn romance (y'all know I love those) told over the span of about 20 years. It starts as enemies-to-lovers and progresses into friends-to-lovers by the end, so that's my trope catnip.

Ali and Katherine meet in college when Katherine catches Ali having an affair with their French professor. Ali thinks Katherine is uptight and judgmental, and Katherine thinks Ali is a hussy, basically. Young Katherine was... a lot.

They meet again at various points throughout their lives--the book skips 6 years between each section--and Katherine never really gets over her first impression of Ali until their best friends start dating each other and they are forced to hang out with each other a lot.

I enjoyed that a good chunk of the book was them in their 30s (they're 38ish by the time the book ends). I appreciate older protagonists now that I'm also in my 30s :) The progression from friends to lovers is what fizzled for me just a bit. Katherine is certainly a "prickly" heroine and Ali is more of the free-spirited type. This is a definite opposites attract romance. And I thought their friendship was great. Just... hmm, I don't know how to explain it. Katherine acted kind of horrible when she realized she had feelings for Ali, and I was like, dude, you're 38 acting like you're 18? Ali goes from "I'm not sure I'm quite there yet" to "yes, I love you." I definitely thought they were happy together by the end of the book, but I almost felt like something was missing. Maybe I just needed more. I mean, this was a SUPER slow burn, so I don't think it needed to be dragged out more, but once they are together, we don't see them do much besides have sex.

Anyway, knocking the rating down just a bit because 4+ means I'm likely to reread the book, and I'm not sure this will be a reread for me. But that doesn't meant I didn't enjoy it and wouldn't recommend it to others looking for a slow burn romance!

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook version of this one. The narrator of Katherine bothered me, especially in the beginning. This has absolutely nothing to do with the writing of this book, but it did drive me a bit nuts. She seemed annoying, but perhaps that is how the narrator saw Katherine. I enjoyed the narrator of Ali and hope I will hear her on other books. She has a deeper voice and it was easy to picture this was how Ali would sound. Now to the story. I didn't love it. It is difficult to show two people fall in love so slowly over so many years. I didn't dislike the characters and actually would have liked the HEA if I had felt more of a connection between them. Those months of meeting for yoga needed to be shown. The little things between them that made them become comfortable with one another. I just needed to "see" more of the connection.

[Issy Waldrom · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story of love and the journey to it, this is a highly enjoyable, low-angst and emotional tale. Told over the course of 18 years (with a very cute prologue from before that), it touches on moments in their lives where their paths cross, and the various interactions and relationships that they had over that time, and how that shaped them as they go from enemies to friends and then lovers. It's the kind of tale that make you feel for and with the characters, care for them, and cry at certain moments. Beautiful, touching, and an easy story to love.

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars