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When Katie Met Cassidy
From the acclaimed author of The Assistants comes another gutsy book about the importance of women taking the reins—except this time, when it comes to finding sexuality, pleasure and love sometimes where you least expect it.Katie Daniels is a perfection-seeking 28-year-old lawyer living the New York dream. She’s engaged to charming art curator Paul Michael, has successfully made her way up the ladder at a multinational law firm, and has a hold on apartments in Soho and the West Village. Suffice it to say, she has come a long way from her Kentucky upbringing.But the rug is swept from under Katie when she is suddenly dumped by her fiance, Paul Michael, leaving her devastated and completely lost. On a whim, she agrees to have a drink with Cassidy Price-a self-assured, sexually promiscuous woman she meets at work. The two form a newfound friendship, which soon brings into question everything Katie thought she knew about sex—and love.When Katie Met Cassidy is a romantic comedy that explores how, as a culture, while we may have come a long way in terms of gender equality, a woman’s capacity for and entitlement to sexual pleasure still remain entirely taboo. This novel tackles the Why, when it comes to female sexuality, are so few women figuring out what they want and then going out and doing it?
272 pages, Paperback
First published June 19, 2018
577 people are currently reading
14904 people want to read
About the author
Camille Perri
4 books325 followersCamille Perri is the author of The Assistants and When Katie Met Cassidy. She has worked as a books editor for Cosmopolitan and Esquire. She has also been a ghostwriter of young adult novels and a reference librarian. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from New York University and a master of library science degree from Queens College.
From https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/au...
From https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/au...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,208 reviews
February 4, 2021
Between all the stereotypes, the lackluster characters, and the fade-to-black sex scenes, this was a real dud. I’m hella bummed. 😭
June 28, 2018
Folks, the unthinkable has finally happened.
Someone wrote a lesbian romance novel for straight people.
I appreciate that a w/w romance made it into the mainstream, but I don't think we can really call "two corporate lawyers insulting each other and sitting in awkward silence until suddenly it's a relationship" a successful step forward for gay literature. Katie is a corn-fed, garden-variety stereotype of the unsullied straight girl, and Cassidy is a pastiche of every lesbian stereotype imaginable, all piled like clothes that always end up heaped in that one chair. She's got a powerful career, but she's a functioning alcoholic; she's unfailingly dapper, but she's super into fitness; she's friends with a glorious crew of artists and chefs and girls with tattoos, but she has intimacy issues that prevent her from ever really opening up. (cue sad music here.) If Katie is the straight everywoman, Cassidy is the Frankenlesbian sent to sweep her away.
The ludicrous idea that a bunch of punks would pal around with a goddang hedge fund lawyer notwithstanding, the most enjoyable part of the entire book is Cassidy's group of friends. I saw a lot of my own friend group there, and that was gratifying. The rest of this book, though? Ugh, keep it.
Someone wrote a lesbian romance novel for straight people.
I appreciate that a w/w romance made it into the mainstream, but I don't think we can really call "two corporate lawyers insulting each other and sitting in awkward silence until suddenly it's a relationship" a successful step forward for gay literature. Katie is a corn-fed, garden-variety stereotype of the unsullied straight girl, and Cassidy is a pastiche of every lesbian stereotype imaginable, all piled like clothes that always end up heaped in that one chair. She's got a powerful career, but she's a functioning alcoholic; she's unfailingly dapper, but she's super into fitness; she's friends with a glorious crew of artists and chefs and girls with tattoos, but she has intimacy issues that prevent her from ever really opening up. (cue sad music here.) If Katie is the straight everywoman, Cassidy is the Frankenlesbian sent to sweep her away.
The ludicrous idea that a bunch of punks would pal around with a goddang hedge fund lawyer notwithstanding, the most enjoyable part of the entire book is Cassidy's group of friends. I saw a lot of my own friend group there, and that was gratifying. The rest of this book, though? Ugh, keep it.
May 22, 2018
If this book featured a heteronormative couple, it would get absolutely zero press (and would have a way lower rating). Because it is not a good book at all. The characters are superficially drawn and the relationship between them advances at an absurd pace; things that should pose significant barriers and obstacles to their relationship (e.g., conservative/disapproving family, first same-sex relationship for one character after decades of never having questioned her sexuality) either don't rock the boat at all or are tidily addressed so quickly as to strain the reader's credulity past what is reasonable. You might expect that a book in which one of the main characters grapples with her sexuality would be thought-provoking and deeply introspective, except there is no grappling to be done (outside of the bedroom, that is) and Katie's transition from recently-enganged-to-a-man heterosexual female to unconcerned lesbian (or, at the very least, bisexual... maybe pansexual?) is so fast and relatively stress-free it is laughable. It's frustrating that this author apparently thought so little about these issues and couldn't be bothered to flesh out a real story, one in which she wasn't afraid to dive into the points of conflict and let things get messy and complicated (you know, like how life actually is) rather than hurriedly sweeping things under the rug all for the sake of a HEA. I finished this book feeling supremely unsatisfied with how the material was handled, and was also offended that such a mediocre, bland piece of pap will inevitably be heralded as "groundbreaking" and "brave"—solely because it features a same sex couple—when it is actually anything but. It's filled with stereotypes and caricatures, as if Perri binged her way through the tv show The L Word but has never met an actual real human woman in her life.
Conventional & safe, ironically this dross undermines how important it is for the publishing industry to celebrate inclusiveness and diversity and offer up titles that are an accurate reflection of its readers. Please, some other author, tell this story the way it deserved to be told. I resent that readers are feeling they should grade this thing on a curve & that I initially felt I should throw it some extra stars just because it had the guts to depict a "nontraditional" couple. Surely in 2018 readers should have more options than this if they're looking for a modern-day lesbian love story/rom com? Surely LGQBT readers shouldn't be further marginalized by being made to feel that even though this is a shitty, hollow depiction of a non-hetero couple that at least it was depicted & published at all, so take what you can get? FUCK THAT NOISE. All book lovers—regardless of sexuality—deserve better than this.
Conventional & safe, ironically this dross undermines how important it is for the publishing industry to celebrate inclusiveness and diversity and offer up titles that are an accurate reflection of its readers. Please, some other author, tell this story the way it deserved to be told. I resent that readers are feeling they should grade this thing on a curve & that I initially felt I should throw it some extra stars just because it had the guts to depict a "nontraditional" couple. Surely in 2018 readers should have more options than this if they're looking for a modern-day lesbian love story/rom com? Surely LGQBT readers shouldn't be further marginalized by being made to feel that even though this is a shitty, hollow depiction of a non-hetero couple that at least it was depicted & published at all, so take what you can get? FUCK THAT NOISE. All book lovers—regardless of sexuality—deserve better than this.
May 7, 2023
If you want to read the most stereotypical book about a lesbian couple where one is scared to come out,
read this.
read this.
August 5, 2025
JUST SAY BISEXUAL. JUST SAY BISEXUAL. JUST SAY BISEXUAL. JUST SAY BISEXUAL. JUST SAY BISEXUAL. JUST SAY BISEXUAL. JUST SAY BISEXUAL. JUST SAY BISEXUAL!
If I have to read anything along the lines of “Am I a lesbian now?” I am gonna scream.
Honestly, if it wasn’t for all of the “Does this make me a lesbian?” and anti-butch (hell, just anti-gay) segments, this would have just been an average read for me.
Instead it’s just your typical “woman was in a relationship with a man but they broke up, then she ventures out and finds herself being attracted to another woman and questions her sexuality the whole time”. And that would have been fine. If every two seconds she wasn’t going “I’m a lesbian now because I’m attracted to another woman”. Or even if she wasn’t criticizing other women (mostly butch women) about their appearance. And constantly thinking “she would be pretty if she actually looked like a woman” and all that bullshit.
Like, just stop already. I would expect this sort of thing from a book from the early 2000’s, not from one that was published within the last four years.
⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆
𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐢 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬
✰ - 5 ✰ “I am disgusted. I am revolted. I dedicate my entire life to our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, and THIS is the thanks I get??”
━━━━━━━━━━☽✰☾━━━━━━━━━━
If I have to read anything along the lines of “Am I a lesbian now?” I am gonna scream.
Honestly, if it wasn’t for all of the “Does this make me a lesbian?” and anti-butch (hell, just anti-gay) segments, this would have just been an average read for me.
Instead it’s just your typical “woman was in a relationship with a man but they broke up, then she ventures out and finds herself being attracted to another woman and questions her sexuality the whole time”. And that would have been fine. If every two seconds she wasn’t going “I’m a lesbian now because I’m attracted to another woman”. Or even if she wasn’t criticizing other women (mostly butch women) about their appearance. And constantly thinking “she would be pretty if she actually looked like a woman” and all that bullshit.
Like, just stop already. I would expect this sort of thing from a book from the early 2000’s, not from one that was published within the last four years.
⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆
𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐢 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬
✰ - 5 ✰ “I am disgusted. I am revolted. I dedicate my entire life to our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, and THIS is the thanks I get??”
━━━━━━━━━━☽✰☾━━━━━━━━━━
July 24, 2018
This is a quick and enjoyable love story.
Katie Daniels is a successful lawyer who gets dumped by her fiancee and is having a difficult time overcoming the end of her relationship. Soon after, she meets Cassidy in a business meeting. That same day after work hours, Cassidy bumps into Katie at a wine bar and asks her out for a drink. Katie accepts unenthusiastically but soon the views and feelings will change for both.
The book is short and entertaining, it was funny too and the characters were likable. When Katie Met Cassidy is narrated from alternating points of view and takes place in NYC which is one of my favorite settings for books. I liked the story but felt it was a bit breezy, not much depth but perfect for a summer read.
Overall, I enjoyed it and recommend it to readers of romance and contemporary fiction.
Katie Daniels is a successful lawyer who gets dumped by her fiancee and is having a difficult time overcoming the end of her relationship. Soon after, she meets Cassidy in a business meeting. That same day after work hours, Cassidy bumps into Katie at a wine bar and asks her out for a drink. Katie accepts unenthusiastically but soon the views and feelings will change for both.
The book is short and entertaining, it was funny too and the characters were likable. When Katie Met Cassidy is narrated from alternating points of view and takes place in NYC which is one of my favorite settings for books. I liked the story but felt it was a bit breezy, not much depth but perfect for a summer read.
Overall, I enjoyed it and recommend it to readers of romance and contemporary fiction.
August 1, 2018
Initial thoughts:
I know a lot of people have been loving this, but I had... mixed feelings. Katie has a lot of anti-queer, specifically anti-butch sentiments in the beginning. She is scandalized that Cassidy wears all men's clothing. (Especially that she wears briefs--like, this discovery is earth-shattering for Katie.) Cassidy is a ~womanizing heartbreaker. (Until she meets Katie, of course.) And, of course, the concept of bisexuality is never mentioned. Katie falls for Cassidy--now she has to decide if she's always been gay or if she's actually straight.
On the whole, it felt like a lesbian romance novel from the 80s, except that it's meant to be present-day. Everyone says that this is a cute, fluffy story, but I don't really want to read about a main character's anti-gay attitudes at such length in a romance novel?
Full review is at the Lesbrary.
I know a lot of people have been loving this, but I had... mixed feelings. Katie has a lot of anti-queer, specifically anti-butch sentiments in the beginning. She is scandalized that Cassidy wears all men's clothing. (Especially that she wears briefs--like, this discovery is earth-shattering for Katie.) Cassidy is a ~womanizing heartbreaker. (Until she meets Katie, of course.) And, of course, the concept of bisexuality is never mentioned. Katie falls for Cassidy--now she has to decide if she's always been gay or if she's actually straight.
On the whole, it felt like a lesbian romance novel from the 80s, except that it's meant to be present-day. Everyone says that this is a cute, fluffy story, but I don't really want to read about a main character's anti-gay attitudes at such length in a romance novel?
Full review is at the Lesbrary.
Read
June 10, 2018This is a cute, fun, fast read, and I'm always thrilled when a major publisher does f/f romance and I know people are gonna actually be able to find queer reads on bookshelves. That said, this book would've been half the length if anyone had ever acknowledged the existence of bisexuality, which is a good reminder of why I prefer queer traditionally published YA f/f to queer adult traditionally published f/f by an exponent of a billion. (Literally, the "straight" MC has a conversation with herself that's just "am I gay now? Does that mean I never loved my fiance? I guess!" *punches self in face*) But - lesbian romance on bookshelves! With a cute, professional couple that goes from work adversaries to friends to lovers on (realistic) hyperspeed! That I read in a single night! More of this, please!
April 16, 2019
This story is so basic. I was interested in reading more F/F romances and this cover is so gorgeous and I was fooled once again by a pretty cover. This is a very basic straight girl meets lesbian girl story and it was very cliche and full of stereotypes and the characters were all one dimensional... and idk. I get so sick of reading books like this. This story could've had some potential if these characters had been more fleshed out and not so cringe-worthy. Also, why was the main character Katie Daniels soooo judgy. Was it just me? I was like damn what the fuck? She actually said this when she walked into a lesbian bar: "Plenty of these women looked like women." Like wow Katie it's probably because they ARE women. And she kept repeating how "these people are not her people" it just seemed so shallow. I wish there were better written F/F romances out there.
December 30, 2021
Katie gets 0 stars and Cassidy gets 5. Math is the worst but that averages out to a solid 3
Read
June 1, 2018Why I Love It
by Samantha Irby
As a woman who used to have a boyfriend but now has a wife I have to say that there aren’t a lot of romantic comedies out there aiming for my very specific demographic. So I was pleasantly surprised to encounter this breezy story about a woman who discovers she has a few things to learn about love.
Katie, a blonde corporate lawyer with an affinity for chic Dior footwear, has just been dumped by her vegan boyfriend. She’s spending her days sulking over barbecue and Wild Turkey in her wrecked Manhattan apartment (she’s a transplant from the South). Cassidy, her intimidating opposing counsel on a high-stakes closing, couldn’t be more different. She’s fond of $300 haircuts, well-tailored men’s suits, and the family she’s made at a divey lesbian bar called “Cheers,” where she spends most nights trolling for new romantic conquests. They meet, and an adorably awkward game of will-they-or-won’t-they cat and mouse ensues.
This book is like popcorn! It’s the kind of bubbly romcom you can’t stop reading despite getting sunburned on your lawn chair because you haven’t realized how much time has gone by. When Katie Met Cassidy is like Kissing Jessica Stein updated for the age of Instagram and Taylor Swift, a flirty and fun story of two girls trying to figure out where they fit in the world, and if they fit together. It’s the sweetest, sunniest beach read. Don’t forget your sunscreen.
Read more at: https://www.bookofthemonth.com/when-k...
by Samantha Irby
As a woman who used to have a boyfriend but now has a wife I have to say that there aren’t a lot of romantic comedies out there aiming for my very specific demographic. So I was pleasantly surprised to encounter this breezy story about a woman who discovers she has a few things to learn about love.
Katie, a blonde corporate lawyer with an affinity for chic Dior footwear, has just been dumped by her vegan boyfriend. She’s spending her days sulking over barbecue and Wild Turkey in her wrecked Manhattan apartment (she’s a transplant from the South). Cassidy, her intimidating opposing counsel on a high-stakes closing, couldn’t be more different. She’s fond of $300 haircuts, well-tailored men’s suits, and the family she’s made at a divey lesbian bar called “Cheers,” where she spends most nights trolling for new romantic conquests. They meet, and an adorably awkward game of will-they-or-won’t-they cat and mouse ensues.
This book is like popcorn! It’s the kind of bubbly romcom you can’t stop reading despite getting sunburned on your lawn chair because you haven’t realized how much time has gone by. When Katie Met Cassidy is like Kissing Jessica Stein updated for the age of Instagram and Taylor Swift, a flirty and fun story of two girls trying to figure out where they fit in the world, and if they fit together. It’s the sweetest, sunniest beach read. Don’t forget your sunscreen.
Read more at: https://www.bookofthemonth.com/when-k...
July 9, 2018
Cute story, though I'd wish Perri would have used bisexual at least once, considering that Katie exhibited aspects contributed to bisexuality.
3.5/5
3.5/5
July 31, 2018
.5/5
I have some thoughts about this book. This book doesn't feel... natural. Everything seemed so disingenuous and the characters were bland and one dimensional. I find it odd that this is an own voices book because this feels like lesbian fiction written by a straight person.
The writing is also very lackluster. I wasn't looking for a verbose epic, just a cute story about two women in the LGBTQ community, and I feel like I didn't get that. This was written like a hallmark movie and not in an endearing purposeful way, just in a dry, uninspired way.
None of the characters were relatable, in any way. This partially is because there was one person of color that was a character in the entire book, and it was polarizing to see all these upper middle class white lesbians go to the same gay bar where only white lesbians, save one Asian woman, hang out. Also why did every lesbian have a pixie cut/ short hair??? I felt like this was just perpetuating stereotypes about lesbians, especially butch lesbians, that were very outdated. It also bummed me out that Perri didn't quite capture the matter of gender identity and fluidity many lesbians face quite correctly. It came off as superficial and heteronormative (once again, it felt like a straight person was writing this book). I saw what she tried to do with Cassidy, but it just didn't work. None of it worked.
All in all, I was very disappointed and unimpressed by this book.
I have some thoughts about this book. This book doesn't feel... natural. Everything seemed so disingenuous and the characters were bland and one dimensional. I find it odd that this is an own voices book because this feels like lesbian fiction written by a straight person.
The writing is also very lackluster. I wasn't looking for a verbose epic, just a cute story about two women in the LGBTQ community, and I feel like I didn't get that. This was written like a hallmark movie and not in an endearing purposeful way, just in a dry, uninspired way.
None of the characters were relatable, in any way. This partially is because there was one person of color that was a character in the entire book, and it was polarizing to see all these upper middle class white lesbians go to the same gay bar where only white lesbians, save one Asian woman, hang out. Also why did every lesbian have a pixie cut/ short hair??? I felt like this was just perpetuating stereotypes about lesbians, especially butch lesbians, that were very outdated. It also bummed me out that Perri didn't quite capture the matter of gender identity and fluidity many lesbians face quite correctly. It came off as superficial and heteronormative (once again, it felt like a straight person was writing this book). I saw what she tried to do with Cassidy, but it just didn't work. None of it worked.
All in all, I was very disappointed and unimpressed by this book.
July 23, 2018
UGH I hated both of these characters. Katie is a straight up homophobe and Cassidy is an asshole. And they are both corporate lawyers?! This is the straightest gay book I have ever read.
June 13, 2021
“Do you like girls? Is. That. A. Thing. You. Do?”
This is the worst thing I've read in years.
When Katie Met Cassidy is a romance about two lawyers who form a relationship. Katie Daniels is an extremely sheltered straight woman from Kentucky who has never been able to explore her identity because she’s been surrounded by other sheltered people. So when she meets Cassidy, apparently the first lesbian Katie has ever met in her life, Katie suddenly questions everything.
I realized a few chapters in that I would absolutely hate this. But there was that sliver of doubt. That sliver of hope. That maybe this would turn out to be an amazing book. I told myself that some books have horrible beginnings and get better, but no.
The offensive/homophobic jokes, disruptive stereotypes, painfully annoying characters, predictable plot line, and romanticization of using someone just for their body⁉️
The Characters
- Katie is…. How do I put this?
....The absolute worst.
Essentially, Katie is a sheltered straight girl who just got dumped by her fiancée - Paul Michael. She’s going through a rough patch when she meets Cassidy.
Anyways, the moral is find yourself a friend like Gina and stay 500 ft away from people like Katie Daniels.
- Cassidy is an asshole but compared to Katie is an angel. The main flaw with her in my opinion is that she is flat. Like Flat Stanley flat. She has no nuance. It’s like she exists only to be Katie’s butch lover. I would've maybe enjoyed this if it was mostly Cassidy’s pov and we got more of a backstory for her that wasn’t “I saw someone with a cool haircut and decided to completely reinvent myself”.
Katie seems like she’s only using Cassidy for sex. Cassidy has real feelings for Katie and does most of the work in the bedroom if you know what I mean, and whenever someone questions Katie about how she feels about Cassidy she says “I’m still figuring it out 😢”. It’s okay to figure it out, but she continually hurts Cassidy who loves her.
And poor Cassidy feels like it’s just her being needy or dependent all the time - afraid that being with Katie is ruining her “stud image”.
The Plot
Super predictable.
I knew that they would end up together. I did not feel any emotions reading this except for anger and self-despair. So thank you very much, Camille Perri.
The Writing
Hated it.
Here are some examples of the writing:
The Narration
My book was narrated by Allyson Ryan. It was fine. I don't think it added in any way to the reading, and I don't think it amplified my existing distaste for the book. It was just fine. Although Gina's voice was... interesting... 🤨
I wouldn't be opposed to reading other books by Allyson Ryan, but this narration didn't wow me or interest me since I was not a fan of the writing whatsoever.
In conclusion, I hated this. I read this because One Last Stop was out of stock, and I wanted to read a f/f contemporary romance. And I thoroughly hated this. I would believe it if you told me this was written by an old straight white man.
I regret my life choices. Don’t be like me. Don’t read this.
This is the worst thing I've read in years.
When Katie Met Cassidy is a romance about two lawyers who form a relationship. Katie Daniels is an extremely sheltered straight woman from Kentucky who has never been able to explore her identity because she’s been surrounded by other sheltered people. So when she meets Cassidy, apparently the first lesbian Katie has ever met in her life, Katie suddenly questions everything.
I realized a few chapters in that I would absolutely hate this. But there was that sliver of doubt. That sliver of hope. That maybe this would turn out to be an amazing book. I told myself that some books have horrible beginnings and get better, but no.
The offensive/homophobic jokes, disruptive stereotypes, painfully annoying characters, predictable plot line, and romanticization of using someone just for their body⁉️
The Characters
- Katie is…. How do I put this?
....The absolute worst.
Essentially, Katie is a sheltered straight girl who just got dumped by her fiancée - Paul Michael. She’s going through a rough patch when she meets Cassidy.
"Within the hour she was in her pajamas on her sofa, licking barbecue sauce from her fingers, sipping a pint of cheap bourbon, and flipping the channels looking for some bad TV to watch."She gets caught up in Cassidy’s world and starts exploring her sexuality. Which is fine. Except Cassidy is falling in love with Katie and Katie only wants Cassidy for sex.
"Just tell me one thing.” Gina fished through her quinoa bowl to locate a chunk of chicken. “Has she laid a finger on you yet?”Katie also expresses so many questionable, anti-queer sentiments.
“Would you say raw denim is the way to go?” Cassidy asked. “Or would a cotton-blend jean allow for more flexibility?”
“That’s a no,” Gina said. “And it’s gonna stay a no.”
Cassidy examined her footwear choices. “It’s not about the sex to me.”
“But it’s only about the sex to her.” Gina set down her bowl on Cassidy’s nightstand. “Until she gets it out of her system and meets a nice boy."
“She had to be lesbian. Which, after the weekend Katie had had, seemed so much easier than being straight.”I know Gina, Cassidy’s best friend, is supposed to represent the bad guy who is trying to stop Cassidy and Katie from being together, but I actually agree with her for the most part. Cassidy was getting strung along and could have done SO much better.
“Of course she smelled amazing in a way not even the gayest gay man could compete with.”
“Cassidy herself was a living, breathing fuck-you to appearances, a waking middle finger to doing anything just because someone told her to. How else could she make her way through the world otherwise?”
“Sometimes I think you’re more boy than any boy I’ve ever dated,” Katie said.”
Anyways, the moral is find yourself a friend like Gina and stay 500 ft away from people like Katie Daniels.
- Cassidy is an asshole but compared to Katie is an angel. The main flaw with her in my opinion is that she is flat. Like Flat Stanley flat. She has no nuance. It’s like she exists only to be Katie’s butch lover. I would've maybe enjoyed this if it was mostly Cassidy’s pov and we got more of a backstory for her that wasn’t “I saw someone with a cool haircut and decided to completely reinvent myself”.
Katie seems like she’s only using Cassidy for sex. Cassidy has real feelings for Katie and does most of the work in the bedroom if you know what I mean, and whenever someone questions Katie about how she feels about Cassidy she says “I’m still figuring it out 😢”. It’s okay to figure it out, but she continually hurts Cassidy who loves her.
And poor Cassidy feels like it’s just her being needy or dependent all the time - afraid that being with Katie is ruining her “stud image”.
“Her own text back oozed neediness. I understand, Cassidy wrote, but I was really hoping to see you tonight.My opinion is that Cassidy should have ended up with Gina 😌 At least Gina acknowledges Cassidy’s feelings and truly cares about her.
And as if that weren’t bad enough, she sent the clingiest follow-up texts about the Met closing. Could use your moral support? What the hell was that overeager bullshit?
Of course Katie’s response was noncommittal. Cassidy wouldn’t have wanted to see her own sorry ass tonight either.”
The Plot
Super predictable.
I knew that they would end up together. I did not feel any emotions reading this except for anger and self-despair. So thank you very much, Camille Perri.
The Writing
Hated it.
Here are some examples of the writing:
“She hung her jacket, blouse, and skirt from the shower curtain rod and then sat on the edge of the tub with all of it swinging over her like a hanged woman.”That was just a little bit of what I had to experience. 😔
“She stepped through the door like it was no big deal, like the first sight of the dildo table didn’t make her want to cover her eyes.”
“Who else would be lurking about the elevators like an insect spy drone?”
“Do you like girls? Is. That. A. Thing. You. Do?”
The Narration
My book was narrated by Allyson Ryan. It was fine. I don't think it added in any way to the reading, and I don't think it amplified my existing distaste for the book. It was just fine. Although Gina's voice was... interesting... 🤨
I wouldn't be opposed to reading other books by Allyson Ryan, but this narration didn't wow me or interest me since I was not a fan of the writing whatsoever.
In conclusion, I hated this. I read this because One Last Stop was out of stock, and I wanted to read a f/f contemporary romance. And I thoroughly hated this. I would believe it if you told me this was written by an old straight white man.
I regret my life choices. Don’t be like me. Don’t read this.
December 28, 2018
This was neither as bad as I had heard but not as great as I had also heard. I found it a standard romance with unremarkable characters and not a great story. It's disappointing Katie never considers that being bi is an option, yes. Although so many of us have internalized that gay and straight are the only options that this unfortunately is probably realistic. But I don't think the book at all reinforces negative stereotypes about lesbians as some reviews have said; I suspect people think any representation of masculine and/or promiscuous lesbians is "bad press"?
Some people also seemed to have a problem with Katie's anti-queer thoughts, which I can see but also thought were pretty believable? I understand some queer folks just don't want to read that, which I totally respect, but given what I had been warned about, I thought the few fleeting thoughts of "oh that's so weird/gross a woman wear's men's briefs" etc. were pretty tame. I thought the community aspect of the lesbian bar felt true to life--this is where you could see that it was an own voices book.
This reminded me a lot of Jasmine Guillory's two books, in that in theory it sounds great, interesting diversity and own voices romance but there's just something lacking in both the characterization and the plot. I just don't think a romance where the two people are dating the whole time and things are going pretty well for most of the book is a satisfying romantic narrative. It's...boring. And this story certainly didn't have to be, but Perri didn't really delve into either woman's issues (Cassidy's trouble with emotional intimacy and Katie's not knowing she was queer and having internalized a lot of homophobic rhetoric). It was like Perri set up certain issues to be obstacles and then just completely ignored them?
And my final thought is that more than fade to black sex would have likely improved this book.
Some people also seemed to have a problem with Katie's anti-queer thoughts, which I can see but also thought were pretty believable? I understand some queer folks just don't want to read that, which I totally respect, but given what I had been warned about, I thought the few fleeting thoughts of "oh that's so weird/gross a woman wear's men's briefs" etc. were pretty tame. I thought the community aspect of the lesbian bar felt true to life--this is where you could see that it was an own voices book.
This reminded me a lot of Jasmine Guillory's two books, in that in theory it sounds great, interesting diversity and own voices romance but there's just something lacking in both the characterization and the plot. I just don't think a romance where the two people are dating the whole time and things are going pretty well for most of the book is a satisfying romantic narrative. It's...boring. And this story certainly didn't have to be, but Perri didn't really delve into either woman's issues (Cassidy's trouble with emotional intimacy and Katie's not knowing she was queer and having internalized a lot of homophobic rhetoric). It was like Perri set up certain issues to be obstacles and then just completely ignored them?
And my final thought is that more than fade to black sex would have likely improved this book.
June 11, 2018
I was a big fan of Camille Perri's The Assistants and thought the relationship between the narrator, Tina, and her friend Emily was really interesting, much more interesting than the relationship between Tina and her boyfriend, whose name I forget. So when I learned that Perri's new novel was about a romantic relationship between two women, it made complete sense to me, and I was dying to read a romance that had the same distinctive voice, humor, and quick pacing that The Assistants had. In that sense, When Katie Met Cassidy did not disappoint—I really liked both main characters, the supporting characters were unique and amusing, and the whole thing made for an extremely satisfying light read. I gave The Assistants four stars and enjoyed this one just as much, but I don't think it's quite as distinctive. Months later, I still think about The Assistants and laugh at some of its funny lines. I don't suspect I'll ever say something similar about When Katie Met Cassidy. I still recommend it as a fabulous summer read.
July 27, 2018
Homophobic, butchphobic piece of tripe with no trace of the word “bisexual” where it very well should have been. Seems like a sheltered straight girl saw one episode of The L Word and decided to write a wlw romance. Did not finish.
August 23, 2018
This is cute, fun, short, sweet, and pretty gay... my favorite. I think there are problematic details though. The actual title of this book should probably be “stereotypes 101”. Katie couldn’t be more of a straight, white girl if she tried. As for Cassidy - puhlease with this womanizing butch thing. It kind of felt like this was written in the 90’s by a straight lady, which I know isn’t the case! No matter what… if girls are kissing in it I’m gonna enjoy the book so it’s an easy 4* for me.
April 13, 2018
I debated whether to give this 2 stars or 3 stars. I did binge read it in about 3 days but kept noticing aspects of the book throughout. I also would not reread. This book was meant to be an LGBTQ novel but the structure of the writing screamed erotica to me even though no erotic scenes occur. One thing I noticed throughout the book was the lack of character development and the lack of insight into the character's history. For example, though it is briefly mentioned that Katie was an equestrian and that Cassidy is born upper-class New Yorker, that's all the info we get. We do not see either character without the other unless it involves the Met (gay bar) or their workplaces. A big issue for me was that both characters are defined by the other. We never get to see Katie with her ex-fiancee and we never get to see Cassidy with one of her flings. We never get to experience their lives before they met each other either! This would add so much more to the novel because when you only get to see how to people are inextricably attracted to one another--you don't understand how this is different from any other relationship they've had. I was sort of waiting for Katie to have a sexual identity crisis too and all we got was a paragraph where she was like, "i like this girl but I'm not sure if I should, oh well, let's make coffee." That probably should have been given more weight especially because of the three page "pivotal fight" every romance novel needs. I was also confused about the business at the end? All in all I think it was an okay book but not very representative of the people wanting to read an LGBTQ novel.
May 10, 2018
3.5 stars rounded up
Looking for a quick summer read, this may be your jam. I read this book in one day and loved the immediate connection between Katie and Cassidy.
Katie Daniels is off the heels of a bad break-up with her fiancé, Paul Michael (or something like that, who cares he stinks) and crosses paths with Cassidy Price. Cassidy is immediately intrigued by Katie even knowing she isn't her "type." There is an immediate curiosity and connection between the two women and the rest of the story is their journey through discovering what happiness really means to each of them individually.
I liked the book, but felt the character development was a bit rushed. It was refreshing to read a love story between two characters, regardless of gender, who realize that what they thought made them happy was in fact just what they expected happy to be. I think the cover is really clever too, well done.
June 14, 2018
This is a cheesy lesbian romance novel through & through. I thought it was so cute and perfect for summer reading. Queer women deserve cheesy romance novels. Straight people, sometimes being queer is NOT THAT DEEP and don't read this expecting it to be about our "pain" because we want light & fluffy as much as you do. It's also tricky because I don't want people reading this & thinking it's representative of the queer experience (ie I have NEVER thought of my partner as "like a man" - that's literally the whole point...). So long as I could turn off that fear & forgive the tropes, I loved reading this book. I wouldn't blame a queer person for disliking it, but I loved it, read it in two sittings, one of which was poolside.
July 14, 2018
I wish we could do 1/2 stars, because I think this book is a solid 3.5 star book.
Katie Daniels has just been dumped by her "perfect" fiancee when she meets Cassidy Price. Cassidy is confidant and aggressive compared to Katie's meek and quiet personality. But they are immediately drawn to each other. Cassidy introduces Katie to a life she did not think she wanted, but finds herself drawn into. This is a quick, fun, summer read.
I guess where I struggled is I was left wanting more - I'm not sure what I wanted more of, I just wanted more - more character development, more meat to the story, etc. But, overall I thought it was the perfect summer day read and an important book as writers continue to expand the LGBTQ genre for readers!
Katie Daniels has just been dumped by her "perfect" fiancee when she meets Cassidy Price. Cassidy is confidant and aggressive compared to Katie's meek and quiet personality. But they are immediately drawn to each other. Cassidy introduces Katie to a life she did not think she wanted, but finds herself drawn into. This is a quick, fun, summer read.
I guess where I struggled is I was left wanting more - I'm not sure what I wanted more of, I just wanted more - more character development, more meat to the story, etc. But, overall I thought it was the perfect summer day read and an important book as writers continue to expand the LGBTQ genre for readers!
June 6, 2018
There is so much better fanfiction than this that it makes me a little mad that this got published. It's a quick read, but pretty dumb, and everyone is a boring stereotype. I suppose in that way it's just like a badly-written heterosexual romance.
May 4, 2022
I wanted to love this book. I heard it described as a fluffy, cute lesbian romcom… But it did not live up to my expectations. When Katie Met Cassidy follows Katie, a woman in her late twenties who has just broken up with her fiance Paul Michael. At her job she meets a butch woman named Cassidy who she reluctantly befriends. But soon their friendship leads to something more.
Look, I’m generally not one to dislike a book because I find the main character to be annoying or unlikeable. But OH MY GOD I was so annoyed by Katie at the beginning of this book. She is constantly thinking about how Cassidy “looks like a man” or acts like a man and all these other things. And when she ends up in a lesbian bar she thinks about how she’s “surprised that many of the women looked like women.” I know it was meant to show how uninformed she is about queer women in general and to show her understanding grow, but it was just frustrating to read. And she asks Cassidy questions like “were you straight until college?” instead of “were you closeted until college?” or even “did you think you were straight until college?” I just wanted to read a cute story about women falling in love, not get pissed about stupid things a character was saying.
Putting Katie’s initial ignorance aside, neither of the characters seemed particularly well developed. We got a few tidbits from their pasts, but they never felt like fully formed characters. They were more like caricatures of the blonde girl from the south who moves to the big city and the butch, sexually promiscuous woman who doesn’t do relationships. Also, the romance wasn’t even that good. It felt way too rushed and too many things were glossed over. Also, I was annoyed that every time it was a sexual scene it would just fade to black. I’m not saying this needed to be erotica, but especially when Katie spends so much time worrying about what sex with Cassidy will be like… shouldn’t it be shown a little more than it was?
I have some specific thoughts about the ending and how things were handled … But overall the entire ending of the book was so rushed it was ridiculous.
ALSO, being bisexual never comes up. It never crosses Katie’s mind, or anyone else’s, that she could be bi? She’s only been with men and never thought of herself as anything but straight before Cassidy. Sure, it can happen that gay women don’t realize that they’re gay until way later in life because of heteronormativity and compulsory heterosexuality… but to never even have the word “bisexual” come up as a possibility? Ugh.
TL;DR Not sexy, annoying character, rushed romance, bi-erasure
Look, I’m generally not one to dislike a book because I find the main character to be annoying or unlikeable. But OH MY GOD I was so annoyed by Katie at the beginning of this book. She is constantly thinking about how Cassidy “looks like a man” or acts like a man and all these other things. And when she ends up in a lesbian bar she thinks about how she’s “surprised that many of the women looked like women.” I know it was meant to show how uninformed she is about queer women in general and to show her understanding grow, but it was just frustrating to read. And she asks Cassidy questions like “were you straight until college?” instead of “were you closeted until college?” or even “did you think you were straight until college?” I just wanted to read a cute story about women falling in love, not get pissed about stupid things a character was saying.
Putting Katie’s initial ignorance aside, neither of the characters seemed particularly well developed. We got a few tidbits from their pasts, but they never felt like fully formed characters. They were more like caricatures of the blonde girl from the south who moves to the big city and the butch, sexually promiscuous woman who doesn’t do relationships. Also, the romance wasn’t even that good. It felt way too rushed and too many things were glossed over. Also, I was annoyed that every time it was a sexual scene it would just fade to black. I’m not saying this needed to be erotica, but especially when Katie spends so much time worrying about what sex with Cassidy will be like… shouldn’t it be shown a little more than it was?
I have some specific thoughts about the ending and how things were handled … But overall the entire ending of the book was so rushed it was ridiculous.
ALSO, being bisexual never comes up. It never crosses Katie’s mind, or anyone else’s, that she could be bi? She’s only been with men and never thought of herself as anything but straight before Cassidy. Sure, it can happen that gay women don’t realize that they’re gay until way later in life because of heteronormativity and compulsory heterosexuality… but to never even have the word “bisexual” come up as a possibility? Ugh.
TL;DR Not sexy, annoying character, rushed romance, bi-erasure
May 19, 2018
I loved this book! And as the Katie in my own relationship, I didn’t know how much I needed this book until I was crying at the end. When Katie Met Cassidy is as funny, charming, and romantic as your favorite Nora Ephron movie. I fell in love with every single character, and I was rooting for the relationship from the moment they met until the very last page. Treat yourself to this smart, sexy, and sweet love story. It’s a delight.
July 22, 2018
Review on my blog • Twitter • Instagram
Rep: f/f romance, lesbian mc
I was sent an arc from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
My feelings for this book are, complicated. I'm not sure where to begin.
Katie has just gone through a breakup, and she has a new job at a law firm. She meets Cassidy, who is higher up in the company and kind of an office romance begins.
Katie thinks she's straight, but she doesn't later say she's bisexual. It's never defiant in whether she's bi or a lesbian actually, which I didn't like. She also said weird things when it came to butch lesbians, saying that she expected them to look threatening, and when she did see them she said they looked like boys. She also said the lesbians that were feminine 'looked like women'. Another thing i didn't like was that when Katie saw some not so great comments about Cassidy in a bars bathroom, regarding her sex life, Katie thought less of her for it. And in a scene she asked Cassidy when she came out, but her exact words were 'were you straight before college'. This was such a weird question, and I don't get why it was worded that way.
Katie was also just really flat. She didn't leave much of an impression, and I really didn't like how judgemental she tended to be.
Cassidy was an okay character. I don't have much to say about her, but I liked her better than I liked Katie.
It wasn't terrible but it wasn't my favourite either.
May 2, 2018
Katie is a 28 year old lawyer who just found out her fiancé, Paul Michael, cheated on her with her best friend. Cassidy Price is also a lawyer who enjoys plenty of one night stands with women and likes to wear men's clothing. The two of them meet as opposing counsel during negotiations for their respective clients. As they interact with one another, it's obvious there is a special connection between the two. But do they really have a shot at love when it's so different than anything they have ever experienced before?
By the time I finished this book, I was left feeling like something was missing. While I certainly had enough interest in the story to finish, I just felt like I never truly knew the characters. I would have liked for more character development. I was never really able to fully figure out what Cassidy saw in Katie. I also wish the ending was little more fleshed out as it almost felt like the author was in a rush to finish the book after the big climatic scene. On a positive note though, I'm all for books with diverse characters, topics that aren't often explored in mainstream books, and I did enjoy how the author handled the alternating perspectives of the characters. This is definitely a decent read, but I just wish it could have been more.
Thank you to First to Read for the opportunity to read an advance digital copy! I was under no obligation to post a review and all views expressed are my honest opinion.
By the time I finished this book, I was left feeling like something was missing. While I certainly had enough interest in the story to finish, I just felt like I never truly knew the characters. I would have liked for more character development. I was never really able to fully figure out what Cassidy saw in Katie. I also wish the ending was little more fleshed out as it almost felt like the author was in a rush to finish the book after the big climatic scene. On a positive note though, I'm all for books with diverse characters, topics that aren't often explored in mainstream books, and I did enjoy how the author handled the alternating perspectives of the characters. This is definitely a decent read, but I just wish it could have been more.
Thank you to First to Read for the opportunity to read an advance digital copy! I was under no obligation to post a review and all views expressed are my honest opinion.
June 21, 2018
*2.5 stars*
On one hand, I’m happy an f/f romance is getting so much attention. On the other... I wish it was a better f/f romance.
On one hand, I’m happy an f/f romance is getting so much attention. On the other... I wish it was a better f/f romance.
August 12, 2018
An adorable little example of how an excellent writer can render enjoyable to a reader a typically unfavored genre. I am not a romance reader at all, but went for this BOTM Club selection anyway because I so enjoyed Perri’s The Assistants. Her writing is like Cassidy’s sartorial style as described in the book: it’s just clean and sharp and accomplishes much with simple deftness and high caliber minimalism complemented by a touch of dashing whimsy and charisma. Perri vividly paints characters in a manner that belies overall low page/word count. Who could not fall a bit in love with Cassidy and her squad? Katie’s purported charms beyond mere Barbie doll looks were a bit of a harder sell, but I was able to make peace with her in the end. Fun, playful, and definitely nothing deep, yet still conveying some good content about the journey to finding one’s identity. Super cute and charming romance beach read that does not insult one’s intelligence.
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