Out Review: You will believe in romance again reading “Greta Gets the Girl”

03/08/2026

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This composite image features a photograph of a woman on the left and a book cover on the right, both set against a muted green background. The woman has long, curly reddish-brown hair, a dark wide-brimmed hat, and a magenta cardigan over a black top, with a visible floral tattoo on her chest. To her right is the cover of the novel Greta Gets the Girl by Melissa Marr, which displays a vibrant illustration of a woman in a red dress looking at her phone while a person in a black suit walks past a storefront. The title is written in playful pink script at the top, and the author's name is in white serif font at the bottom. — "Greta Gets the Girl" by Melissa Marr (Image by Ed Hahn)

Where lesbian romance is concerned, are you jaded? Roses are faded? Hugs come only from those related? Immerse yourself in Greta Gets the Girl by Melissa Marr, and like me, you may start to believe in love again.

Writers and people who work with them, love them, and are frustrated by them in all their multifarious foibles will find this fable of 21st century romance irresistible. I can only speak for myself, a veteran of a broken heart or two, who had ceased to believe that romance was a thing.

Sure, there’s always love for sale — even for lesbians. Yet what about the honest-to-gosh frisson of electricity that puts the gal in “gal-vanizing” when you feel someone’s presence? Nah, that’s for Harlequin Romances and Hallmark movies, right?! Turns out, it can work for us too.

When you meet Greta, she’s a tasty morsel of femme power. Burned by love, she’s turned to an app for physical gratification. That’s a need.

She tells herself she doesn’t have time for feelings — she’s a top editor at a publishing house. She’s interested in anonymous, sensational sex, with a boundary of privacy. She has a nom de app for extra space.

Kaelee is a brilliant and busy grad student, a newly fledged author, and self-confessed gym rat who is on an app for the same reasons Greta joined. Kaelee has her own boundaries, so her app name is different. Kaeleee doesn’t have time for love, either — she’s a teaching assistant to someone who’s become a mentor and friend. TA’ing, grading papers, preparing for the publication of her first novel are all difficult enough on their own. Kaelee has a deeper secret beyond the assumed name on her app, and things could really get messy if she falls off the tightrope. When the two worlds each of these women navigate collide, you may feel the earth move.