I’ll be honest—June was a lot. Between work, life, and everything in between, I didn’t exactly plan my reading with this month’s theme in mind. I picked up the advance readers copy of The Girlfriend Agreement by Rowan Croft (Coming July 2025!) purely for fun (hello, fake dating trope!). But partway through, I had to laugh—it turned out to be a perfect match for June’s theme in the Not Quite Superhuman Monthly Reading Challenge: Stories of Change.

Have you noticed this keeps happening in these reviews? The right book just seems to land in my hands at the right time. Maybe it’s intuition. Maybe it’s coincidence. Or maybe it’s just the magic of books—offering us the stories we need, even when we didn’t know we needed them.

Let’s get into it.

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Chaos, Chemistry, and Character Growth

The Girlfriend Agreement follows Lexi Dornan, a literal genius who finds herself making questionable life choices the moment she’s around Damian Navarro—her university’s resident heartthrob and chaos magnet. When Damian’s parents threaten to cut him off unless he proves he can commit to something (or someone), Lexi agrees to be his fake girlfriend in exchange for much-needed cash. Neither expects the act to become anything more than a business transaction.

Spoiler: it gets complicated.

Yes, there’s steam (lots of it—starting almost immediately). Yes, there’s enemies-to-lovers tension. But what really stood out to me was the emotional arc beneath all the heat. Damian—described by Lexi herself as a “f*ckboy”—is grappling with grief, family pressure, and guilt. Lexi, in turn, starts to realize that playing it safe may be holding her back more than protecting her. They’re both forced to reckon with their pasts, challenge their assumptions, and risk being vulnerable.

And unexpectedly? The book also includes a subplot touching on the health insurance industry and access to affordable care—a topic that, if you’ve been reading NQS for a while, you know is deeply personal to my family. I didn’t expect to find a critique of the U.S. health system in a spicy college rom-com, but there it was. And it worked.

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A Real-Time Connection at ALA

Funnily enough, I finished the book the same week I attended the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference, where I sat in on a session by author Emma St. Clair called Writing Romance with Chemistry but Without the Steam. Her talk was incredibly insightful—especially when it came to how romance is marketed and how readers discover the kinds of books they want.

She shared some eye-opening stats, like how more people search for “clean reads” than “steamy reads” on Amazon, while BookTok leans heavily into the high-heat end of the spectrum, often with scene-by-scene spice breakdowns. Meanwhile, Bookstagram tends to prefer emotional connection and swoony tension—sometimes steamy, sometimes not.

That contrast got me thinking: is this just about reader preference, or is it also about generational shifts in how we relate to stories? Where one platform embraces heat as part of empowerment and openness, another may prioritize emotional comfort or relational values. Either way, it’s clear the romance genre is evolving—and so are the ways we talk about it.

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Let’s Talk About Labels

This all reminded me of ongoing conversations we’re having in libraries around the terminology we use in cataloging and reader’s advisory. The term “clean reads” often comes up, but it’s a phrase that makes many of us pause. It implies that anything not labeled “clean” is somehow dirty—which is not only inaccurate, but subtly judgmental.

As a result, more libraries are shifting toward neutral, descriptive language that centers reader choice rather than moral overtones:

• Closed-door vs. open-door
• Low heat vs. high heat
• Slow burn, emotional depth, grumpy-sunshine, etc.

These terms help readers find what they’re looking for—whether that’s a spicy rom-com or a gentle slow burn—without attaching unnecessary value judgments. Because at the end of the day, libraries are for everyone, and that includes everykind of reader, every kind of story.

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Final Thoughts

But back to Lexi and Damian—because at the heart of The Girlfriend Agreement is a story of change, which made it a perfect fit for June’s Not Quite Superhuman Monthly Reading Challenge. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I really enjoyed the character growth. It’s chaotic, funny, tender, occasionally outrageous, and yes—spicy. But underneath it all is a core of emotional honesty and personal transformation that made it more than just a tropey rom-com.

Sometimes, even when life is busy and you’re just reading to unwind, the right story shows up at the right time—and ends up teaching you something in the process.

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Your Turn!
Have you read a romance recently that surprised you with its themes or character development? How do you feel about the evolving language around romance categories? Do platform trends like BookTok or Amazon influence what you pick up?

Let’s talk about it! Drop a comment below or join me on Instagram @jhopwood80.

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