Review: Leveled

Leveled by Serena J. Bishop
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Finished on March 14, 2021

Favorite Scene/Quote: Perse trying to tell her parents about Stef

This book is an absolute joy to read. The characters aren’t anywhere near perfect and that’s acknowledged. They make mistakes and fight, but they also help each other through it.
    
Perse moves to a new city when she’s offered the chance to teach at CBU. She soon meets Stef briefly and later meets her again in an environment where they can talk more. Stef is a science teacher at the university, and she created a series of relationship levels one summer. Perse eventually agrees to try Stef’s approach to relationships and from there on it’s a bumpy ride. Both characters have past relationships that they’d rather not deal with again but who says this time has to be like those?

Stef is such a cute character. She’s so nerdy and smart and sweet and I love her to pieces. She’s not exactly a social butterfly and she prefers when things are honest, open, and clear to her. Perse is adventurous and has traveled to countries all over the globe but a series of bad relationships have left her gun-shy for another. She also suffers from anxiety that she uses gummies to help her deal with. She’s anxious in unfamiliar situations and prefers to know about everything beforehand so that she can properly settle her nerves. I instantly connected with Perse and tend to want the same things in unfamiliar situations.

Bishop wrote two likeable characters and put them together in such a nice way. The communication between the two is bumpy at times but it’s usually clear to the two of them where they are and what they want out of the relationship and each other.

The side characters include Perse’s sister Missy who I adore and various other family members. There are also two fellow colleagues that work with Perse and are friends with Stef. The characters are nice and always willing to help the two women when they come across bumps in their relationship or life.

There wasn’t much I didn’t like about this book. There were a few typos that distracted me a bit and at times Stef seemed to judge about Perse’s coping mechanism but those were easily forgotten, and I moved past them. I also wish there had been a bit more conversation about the levels and sublevels but that’s more of a personal interest rather than a flaw with the book.

This is a lovely story. I loved the concept of it from the get-go and would adore reading more about the relationship levels. Bishop writes about two flawed characters who find a way to build an amazing relationship with each other.

I honestly want a relationship similar to the one presented here. A healthy relationship where the other person understands certain things about me, like the fact that I like to have events and expectations clearly spelled out to me. This book personally meant a lot to me and was such a great read.