Staff Writer: Kathleen
Book Title by Author: Like in Love With You by Emma R. Alban
Published Date: January 13, 2026
Number of pages: 400 pages
Format: Physical book
Genre: Romance
Tags: Historical Fiction, Regency, Rivals to Lovers, Spicy, LGBTQ+, Lesbian Main Characters, Female Author
Cardigan rating: 5 out of 5
I’ve been a fan of Emma Alban since reading her debut, Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend, so as soon as I saw the author describe her next book as Mean Girls but a) Regency era and b) if Cady and Regina fell in love, I knew I needed to read it as soon as it came out! I love a queer historical romance, sue me. It’s not an exact copy of the movie - our girls’ mothers have a history, the boy they’re fighting over is less likable than the love interest in Mean Girls, and there aren’t any Janis or Damian characters - but it really doesn’t need to be. I didn’t grow up with that movie so I don’t have the same love for it that some folks of my generation do, but the familiarity definitely added some humor for me- when I realized which of Rosalie’s friends correlated with Karen and Gretchen from Mean Girls, I laughed so loud that I scared my cat! All this to say, there are similarities, but you don’t have to know Mean Girls to enjoy Like in Love With You.
Rosalie and Catherine’s inner conflict was just wonderful- the sparks immediately flew, but with their mothers pushing so hard for them to be enemies, of course they were going to try to play along at first. When you love your mother, you’re going to try to make her happy. There’s the additional element that, back then, the only acceptable option was to marry a man and have his babies, so of course they were going to compete for the “best” suitor… even if he’s a self-centered bore. It was so fun how even when they were trying to win the boy, they were trying to win each other over too.
One thing that sets this apart from a lot of romances I’ve seen is the conflict doesn’t come from any sort of miscommunication or conflict between the two women, but is purely external. Miscommunication as a plot device drives me absolutely bonkers, so Rosalie and Catherine teaming up to earn their own happy ending (not that I’m telling you how - you have to read the book for that) instead of being pitted against each other until the bitter end was nice. In a historical setting like this, systematic homophobia is enough of a barrier. Arguments and miscommunication is just too much to have to deal with on top of that. It didn’t feel formulaic like a Hallmark movie - it was obviously going to have a happy ending, that’s just how the genre works, but it wasn’t obvious how it was going to get there.
I could hardly put Like in Love With You down, and I can’t wait to see what Emma Alban comes out with next- actually, no, her next book is a supernatural romance, so I’m not too jazzed about that, but what she comes out with after that! This was definitely my favorite of her books so far, and that’s saying something from someone who’s become one of my favorite adult authors.