“When Katie Met Cassidy” is the rom-com we all need in our lives. This beautiful, easy read came out this past June and was featured on the podcast “The Female Gaze.” I found out about the novel when listening to an interview with the author, Camille Perri. The interview intrigued me so much I bought it just a week later and finished the entire book in two days.

Perri writes an idyllic and frankly unoriginal rom-com that replicates many other books and movies that came before it. But here’s the catch: the novel features the romance between two women.

I had never read gay literature before, so I was extremely excited to see this idea becoming normalized. It’s so important for everyone, not just people in the LGBTQ+ community, to read literature or consume media that features people of all shapes, abilities, orientations, races, religions and backgrounds.

The book contains real, complex characters that accurately portray women in the LGBTQ+ community, and does a good job of acknowledging their gayness, but not obsessing about it. Perri acknowledges the specific struggles a lesbian couple might experience — odd looks, questions, unaccepting family members — but she also allows them to be defined not by their sexualities but their personalities.

Katie is a southern girl who has only lived in New York City for a few years. She just got out of a major and messy breakup with her boyfriend when she meets Cassidy. On the other hand, Cassidy is a true-bred New Yorker who likes expensive haircuts and wearing the trendiest suits.

The plot follows the basic rom-com style of boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. Except this time it’s girl meets girl. The regularness of the plotline allows the characters to shine and lesbian relationships to be seen as normal and relatable.

One might think it would be similar to a Nicholas Sparks novel or a Julia Roberts movie, but the slight twist makes it all the more modern, realistic and enticing.

“When Katie Met Cassidy:” ★★★★☆