Review by Maia Dueck
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (June 10, 2025)
Length: 352 pages
ISBN13: 9781665957571
Ages: 14+
YA Romance, Fiction
I have such a warm glow when I leave the café. This whole rebrand is going to help Mom, Jenn, and the other business owners so much. Sales will increase, Mom won’t have to sell the building, and we can all stay here happily on Love Street. I touch my locket as I walk out into the early spring night. Maybe Jenn was right–this fortune could be referring to Love Street, not my love life. This whole street is going to get flipped over by love.
And if I also find love while helping Love Street? Even better.
High school senior Sana Merali is a self proclaimed hopeless romantic. She’s been obsessed with all things romance for as long as she can remember. She’s equally obsessed with Love Street, a Toronto staple, where she lives and works. The charming fictional side-street hosts a wide array of unique locally owned businesses including Cosmic Vintage, LoveBug café, and Morgan Ashton Flowers, her mom’s flower shop. When Sana overhears her mom planning to sell their building due to new developments threatening her community, she’s determined to do something about it. What better way to promote the businesses on Love Street than a festival centered all around Sana’s favourite subject: love!
Just when Sana thinks she’s figured things out, she encounters a brand new problem: Miles Desai. He’s the newest employee of Love Street’s bookstore, Second Story Books, and while he might be annoyingly attractive, he’s also Sana’s complete opposite. Much to Sana’s dismay, he’s also on the festival planning committee. While she’s bubbly, optimistic, and love-obsessed, he’s practical, pessimistic, and entirely anti-romance. Determined to change his skeptical view on love, which extends into his festival-planning, Sana decides to matchmake him…only to find her own heart caught up in the game.
At its core, this book centers around community. Heron establishes a well-rounded world full of intriguing and diverse characters. Both Love Street and the surrounding city setting of Toronto are full of life, adding to the robust environment that the characters exist within. One of the strengths of this novel is its thoughtful character interactions. Given the opposites-attract premise of the romance, I found the conversations between Miles and Sana particularly honest, warm, and realistic. They navigated opposing worldviews and opinions in ways that demonstrated healthy communication styles, and the difficulties and joys of new relationships to young readers.
That being said, there were moments I sought more agency from the characters, especially when they drew conclusions from miscommunications that were later solved with a conversation. On the other hand, these moments created intrigue for me, and had me interested in seeing how those moments would later be resolved by Sana and Miles. Overall, the story allowed its characters to mess up and make up, reflecting the ups and downs of teenage coming-of-age stories. As an unrelated bonus, Heron’s focus on describing the character’s impeccable outfits helped draw me into the world she created, and will certainly entice any fashion-minded readers!
Young readers will particularly enjoy how the book handles relevant topics such as gentrification, urban planning, and changing environments with honesty, humour, and with tact, which will appeal to those who might be navigating similar experiences. Whether you’re a hopeless romantic like Sana or skeptical like Miles, this read has something for you. Who knows – you might find something new on Love Street!
Maia Dueck is an avid reader and writer currently enrolled in the UBC Creative Writing program with an interest in Children’s and YA Fiction as well as Screenwriting. Her favorite trope is probably enemies-to-lovers.
YOUNG ADULTING 