Review: “The Love Study” by Kris Ripper

This was a cute little romantic comedy that catches the realities of dating in 2020 at a time where sexuality is such a fluid concept and people are being respected more and more for who they identify as.

It is, in part, a wholly progressive lens on where we as a society have advanced to.

The Love Study follows Declan; he left his last boyfriend at the altar and his friends love to remind him of this fact at every opportune moment. Deciding after several years that he wants to get over his fear of commitment, he takes the charming Sidney– a non-binary host of a Youtube Series about queer love and relationships– up on their offer to procure Declan a series of dates that Declan will then discuss on Sidney’s series. Sounds easy right? Well what happens when you decide you’re more interested in the host of the show, then the date they’re trying to set you up on?

I loved this as a concept through and through. I thought Sidney’s character was absolutely “buyable” as the host of a psychological Youtube series and they made for the perfect calm influence on Hurricane Declan.

Declan is, bless him, a mess of nerdiness and trauma stemming from his decision to leave his boyfriend at the altar. It pains him to this day and it doesn’t help that the very ex-fiance whom he left is still a very good friend. 

Sidney also fit very well into Declan’s friend group, which made for a great dynamic if friendly support and community. 

I think where I didn’t quite connect with the story as much as I could have is that I’m simply not nerdy enough for several of the conversations about cosplay and anime. I mean that only with the utmost respect, because I adore my friends who cosplay and watch everything that they want. It’s just not something  relate to and therefore I drifted off during some of the conversations. 

But just because the books wasn’t wholly to my taste does not mean that it was not a great book. I think a lot of people are going to see themselves represented here in a romantic comedy and absolutely adore it. 

3/5