Date At Eight is a dating company run by Tess Harding, a single mother, through which she organises dates for her clients based on their requirements. One of her new clients is Frankie Davison, whose relationship has hit the rocks with her wife. She tries to mend it with her through a well thought out date but Olivia doesn't want to continue the relationship. The twist is that Tess's daughter and Frankie's son attend the same school, which means they come across each other outside of work too.

I have read less books set in Australia so this was a welcome change. Tess comes out of the closet late, depicting how it's not a race to have everything figured and be out in your teens itself. This will resonate with a lot of people. I d the side characters too.

This is a friends to lovers romance, one of my favourite tropes. If you slow burns, this is for you.lesbian lgbtia lgbtqia-author ...more6 s Conny B318 46

I loved this wonderful slow-burn romance story between Tess and Frankie and am so happy I got to read it.

When they meet things doesn’t really look they will become anything more than friends. Tess being a single mum andan event planner who came out after she got divorced from her husband, never had a relationship with a woman. Planning dates for other couples definitely isn’t easy. When one of the planned dates is for Frankie & Olivia she feels drawn to them (or rather mostly to Frankie).

Frankie on the other hand does everything to save her relationship. Probably most of all because of their kids. When she realises that Tess isn’t only her date planner but also has her daughter at the same school, she and Tess start to form a friendship. At first Frankie is still trying to work on her relationship, but because Olivia wasn’t on the same page, there is no way it could work. It was when I wanted to take Frankie in my arms so many times. Being a butch on the outside, but having such a vulnerable side inside just touched me.

After she and Olivia split up the friendship to Tess grows more and more until both feel more than friendship. But of course it wouldn’t be a slow-burn story if they just fell in each other’s arms. ?? there were moments I wanted to push them to each other and just act on their feelings. Thank god they have friends Jenny and Rob who look out for them more than once. I definitely d them (especially their connection to each other ??).

And in the end the waiting was totally worth it. Their chemistry was amazing. I mean it actually was right from the start, then to be honest I definitely believe that a friendship often is the best foundation for a romantic relationship. And that’s exactly what we got to see here. Again I’m so happy about this story and highly recommend it to everyone who loves a wonderful slow-burn romance.

I received an advance reader copy from the author and voluntarily leaving a review.2022 gay-and-lesbian i-heart-lesfic-2022 ...more6 s Laure289 2

That’s in exchange of an honest review that I received, from the author, an ARC of ‘‘Date At Eight’’ by Gemma Johns.

Thanks a lot for that reading opportunity…
My rating : 3 ??

It’s actually the first time I’m able to read one of Gemma Johns’ books.

The story sets in Canberra, Australia and focuses on Tess Harding & Frankie Davison. Tess is a single mom who runs ‘‘Date At Eight’’ and organizes all sorts of dates for her clients. Frankie hires Tess in an attempt to save her marriage with Olivia but fails due to Olivia’s lack of will to rekindle their relationship… After the break-up with Olivia, Tess’s a daughter being in the same class as Frankie’s son they often bump into each other at the school gates after dropping their kids and Tess & Frankie develop a friendship over time…

I usually love slow-burn romances … but this one was slightly too sappy for my own taste & way too slow … Yep, so slow-burn that more than once I seriously wondered if the flame "under the pan" had been blown and it wasn’t a pleasant feeling…

Because of a lot of assumptions and misunderstandings, neither Tess nor Frankie acts on thieir growing feelings for the other school mum…. All this was cute and quite funny … well, at least at first !! But, for me anyway, after a while, those ‘‘missed acts’’ became quite annoying especially since they were the source of some rambling and repetitiveness both in the narrative flow & in the dialogues. Apparently it has been made on purpose but, IMO, it’s not a good idea to have kept on all this time (about 80 to 85% of the book !!!), it should have stopped way sooner because it’s been tiresome and could be seen as fillers which is never a good thing …

I confess that I don’t mind a certain degree of gaucherie from time to time and coming from one MC or the other but when it’s seemingly all the time & coming from both MCs that’s quite tiresome I’m afraid & it makes them both look half-wits (not something you want coming from grown-women well established in their lives professional or else …), making me wondering why would anyone be interested in any of them… and it didn’t help me to connect with any of them.

If I had proof read such book, I would have suggested a tad less of redundancies and a bit more of angst and drama, you know, to challenge the MCs ( more BS from the gossiping shcool mums clique and so much more ...), ordeals that the Lovebirds would have faced together (a bit later) as one item … Because, right now, too many things, all the novel long, are too ‘‘perfect’’ to be credible 'cause in life, nothing is that perfect and you have to ‘‘work’’ on stuff to go through rough times and face some nasty people as well (more often than you could wish for…) … Hence the wish of more drama evoked …

I love travelling when reading a novel (I especially love Aussie settings ‘cause that’s a country I intend to visit sooner rather than later) but here, and that’s a shame, despite a couple of colloquial / slang terms or abbreviations used here and there, I didn’t felt I left my couch … and even less read a book set in Aussie. A lil bit more of Aussie specific things would have brought some authenticity which would have improved the novel …

Despite the fact I have very mixed feelings about this story, it was a quite nice discovery & I’ll give this author another try someday.2022-sapphic-bingo arc11 s Fran Sappharc574 28

Good start. I d the pacing and the plot meet up near misses. Also how all the plot paving stones were dropped in subtlety. 78% in and the misunderstanding is still going on. I honestly don’t know how the writer has done it, but this is not frustrating. I am not wanting to bang the mains heads together and tell them just to get on with it. I think perhaps it is because the characters, including the secondary characters are three dimensional, as are the situations. An enjoyable read, that put a smile on my face. Although the start for one couple is a sad situation, I d that Olivia wasn’t an all round bad person and she was a good mum. As it is set in Australia there are a few abbreviations used, that although understandable, adds a nice sense of Aussie. Jude745 3

Good Story

This is a well layed out story. I how the author connected the pieces, bringing all the characters together. Well done! Kerryn Johns8

Such a sweet romance! I was instantly pulled into the story of Tess and Frankie and loved watching their friendship develop over time. Great escapism and a light, fun read. Sandy463 12

This was a fairly quick and pleasant read. Ir is a Femme/Soft Butch sub genre. Tess is an entrepreneur in Australia who creates dates for people who are looking for a way to romance their partner, or create fun to-dos for family outings. you provide the person, she does all the rest, except in her own life she can't duplicate it. She is pretty lonely and would love to meet some of the school mums from her daughter's class but that seem out of reach. Enter Frankie, who is married with a child in the same class. Sparks ensue, communication glitches, and friends who stick their noses in to help all make the story work. Some Australian lingo makes you stop a moment but it is a sweet story.glbt-lesbian romance Emma RossiAuthor 1 book20 Read

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