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Delilah Green Doesn't Care Paperback – February 22, 2022
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Delilah Green swore she would never go back to Bright Falls—nothing is there for her but memories of a lonely childhood where she was little more than a burden to her cold and distant stepfamily. Her life is in New York, with her photography career finally gaining steam and her bed never empty. Sure, it’s a different woman every night, but that’s just fine with her.
When Delilah’s estranged stepsister, Astrid, pressures her into photographing her wedding with a guilt trip and a five-figure check, Delilah finds herself back in the godforsaken town that she used to call home. She plans to breeze in and out, but then she sees Claire Sutherland, one of Astrid’s stuck-up besties, and decides that maybe there’s some fun (and a little retribution) to be had in Bright Falls, after all.
Having raised her eleven-year-old daughter mostly on her own while dealing with her unreliable ex and running a bookstore, Claire Sutherland depends upon a life without surprises. And Delilah Green is an unwelcome surprise…at first. Though they’ve known each other for years, they don’t really know each other—so Claire is unsettled when Delilah figures out exactly what buttons to push. When they’re forced together during a gauntlet of wedding preparations—including a plot to save Astrid from her horrible fiancé—Claire isn’t sure she has the strength to resist Delilah’s charms. Even worse, she’s starting to think she doesn’t want to...
- Print length400 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBerkley
- Publication dateFebruary 22, 2022
- Dimensions5.45 x 1 x 8.24 inches
- ISBN-100593336402
- ISBN-13978-0593336403
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
More items to explore
- But then she moved her arms around Ruby, pressed her cheek to the top of her hair. She exhaled what felt like a decade’s worth of anxiety, and accepted the girl’s love.Highlighted by 289 Kindle readers
- “I’m putting you first, Claire. In case you couldn’t tell, that’s what’s happening here.”Highlighted by 265 Kindle readers
- And it was from these images, Claire, beautiful and in pain in the river, that Delilah got the idea for a series that would define her style, her whole career. Queer women, turmoil, and water.Highlighted by 196 Kindle readers
Editorial Reviews
Review
"A fun hometown romance, planned as the start of a series of Bright Falls–set queer romances."—Library Journal, starred review
"There's family drama, trauma, childhood memories, love, romance, diverse relationships between not just the main couple, but everyone in the book, that'll have you on the edge of your seat. The novel also does a great job of inputting a queer love story in the middle of an enticing read."—USA Today
"Delilah Green Doesn’t Care is a hot, frothy romcom with a relatable heart beating at its centre. I loved every hilarious character, every outrageous shenanigan - and most of all, I loved Delilah Green. I can’t wait for the rest of the series!"—Talia Hibbert, New York Times bestselling author of Act Your Age, Eve Brown
"A truly exquisite romance about second chances, new beginnings, and the fragile joy of letting people in. I can't even count the number of gorgeous lines I highlighted. The setting, the scheming, the spice—Ashley Herring Blake paints every scene with a lyrical, tender brush. I'm wildly in love with this book."—Rachel Lynn Solomon, author of Weather Girl
"A classic in the making, Ashely's adult debut is a warm welcome home from the first page. A swoon-worthy, laugh-out-loud romp of a romance, this rom-com deserves to be amongst romantic titanslike You've Got Mail, Breakfast at Tiffany's and Sleepless in Seattle."—Kosoko Jackson, author of I'm So Not Over You
“A spectacular debut brimming with yearning, swooning, and healing. Delilah Green Doesn’t Care reads the way realizing your crush likes you back feels. Ashley Herring Blake is a romance star on the rise.”—Rosie Danan, national bestselling author of The Roommate
"Delilah Green Doesn't Care is the dreamy, steamy, utterly satisfying answer to your craving for an outcast-and-former-mean-girl romance, with complicated step-family relationships thrown in for extra delight. Ashley Herring Blake draws her characters with such beautiful, loving depth, and infinite compassion for the many ways relatives and friends can both hurt and heal each other. And let’s not forget the snappy banter and seriously scorching chemistry; you’ll need a very cold shower after this read!"—Lana Harper, author of Payback's a Witch
“Charming and entertaining, Delilah Green Doesn’t Care entrances the reader with the redemptive power of love. Blake’s masterful blend of sexual tension and growing affection will have readers swooning.”—Karelia Stetz-Waters, author of Satisfaction Guaranteed
“Blake’s well-crafted adult debut Delilah Green Doesn’t Care combines everything you could want in a sapphic romance—snark, steam and sweetness—with an intricate exploration of what it means to love someone and how we choose to show it, all spearheaded by its unforgettable protagonist Delilah who you’ll simultaneously want to be and be with forever. Fans of Alexandria Bellefleur and Talia Hibbert won’t want to miss out on this emotional extravaganza.” —The Nerd Daily
“This tender story of growth and change is about becoming a person your younger self can be proud of… Blake’s impressive talent is on display on every page, especially when it comes to tracking the evolution of her central couple’s relationship.”—BookPage, starred review
“This is a cute rom-com type story for the LGBTQ set, with two heroines that will entertain and readers will want to see end up happily ever after.”—Parkersburg News and Sentinel
"Blake's smart and sexy first foray into adult after years of publishing gorgeous Sapphic middle grade and young adult.”—Buzzfeed
"What an absolute joy to read! Snarky, steamy, and swoony in equal measure, I never wanted this book to end, but there’s an easy momentum to Blake’s writing that made it impossible to put down.”—Meryl Wilsner, author of Something to Talk About
"Delilah Green Doesn't Care is a steamy romp with a warm heart at its center.”—Popsugar
“Ashley Herring Blake is an extraordinary writer.”—Autostraddle
“Smart and sexy.”—Buzzfeed
"After you take a moment to take in this gorgeous cover, you're going to want to immediately pick up this debut.”—Cosmopolitan
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Delilah's eyes flipped open at the buzz on the nightstand. She blinked the unfamiliar room into focus, once . . . twice. It had to be at least two in the morning, maybe later. She fumbled for her phone, silky white sheets tangling around her naked thighs as she twisted to silence the vibrating, which seemed loud enough to wake up-
Oh shit.
She'd done it again. The name of the woman lying next to her slipped and slid in her memories from the previous night, the letters nearly impossible to grasp through the art show at the tiny Fitz gallery in the Village-a few of her photographs on the walls, a handful of patrons nodding and praising but never actually intrigued enough to buy anything, the champagne that never seemed to stop flowing- followed by that florid bar up on MacDougal Street and a whole hell of a lot of bourbon.
Delilah glanced over her shoulder at the sleeping white woman next to her. Dark blond pixie cut, creamy skin. Nice mouth, full thighs, phenomenal hands.
Lorna?
Lauren.
No. Lola. Her name was definitely Lola.
Maybe.
Delilah bit her lip and grabbed the still gyrating phone, squinting at the name flashing on the bright display in the dark.
Ass-trid
She barely had time to smirk at the way she'd spelled her stepsister's name in her contacts before she hit Ignore. An instinct. In Delilah's experience, a phone call at two in the morning was rarely a good thing, particularly when Astrid Parker was on the other end of the line. And who the hell even called anymore? Why couldn't Astrid text like a normal human?
Okay, fine, there might have been several unanswered texts in Delilah's messages, but in her defense, she was a useless sack of skin lately, with another month's rent looming and preparing for the Fitz show, at which her work only appeared because she knew the owner, Rhea Fitz, a former fellow waitress whose dead grandmother left her enough money to open her own gallery. The past few weeks had been a scramble of waiting tables part-time at the River Café in Brooklyn and working freelance portrait jobs and weddings, all of which barely paid enough to cover her apartment and food. She was one catastrophe away from having to move to New Jersey, and if she ever wanted to break into the ruthless New York City art world, New Jersey wasn't going to cut it. She'd sold a piece or two, sure, but her photography was niche, as one agent had told her while declining to represent her, and niche wasn't an easy sell.
So, yeah, she'd been too busy busting her niche ass to talk to her stepsister. Plus, it wasn't like Astrid even liked her all that much anyway. They hadn't seen each other in five years.
Had it already been that long?
Hell, it was late. Delilah dropped the phone to her chest while Jax drifted into her thoughts for the first time in a while. Months. She squeezed her eyes closed tight, then opened them and stared up at the ceiling, which was covered with those glow-in-the-dark star stickers. She sat up, a cold panic shooting through her veins. Was she in a college dorm? God, please no. Delilah was nearly thirty years old, and college girls . . . well, she'd been there already, lived that part of her life. She preferred women her own age, always had, and was happy to leave behind all the fumbling and fluttering lashes she remembered from her early twenties.
She relaxed as the room came into focus, felt the softness of expensive sheets under her fingers. The bedroom was filled with modern furniture, all straight lines and cream-colored wood. Sophisticated art dappled the walls, expertly hung. An open door led into a living area, which Delilah now distinctly remembered as the scene where-Lana? Lily?-had pushed her onto a very posh white couch and slid Delilah's underwear off, tossing it over her own bare shoulder.
Definitely not college-level kind of furnishings. Not even Delilah Green-level kind of furnishings, and she was a full grown-up. Also, what Lilith had proceeded to do with her mouth was definitely not a college-level kind of skill.
Delilah flopped back down onto the bed, boneless at the memory. Her eyes had just started to feel heavy enough to close when her phone buzzed again. She jolted fully awake, peering at that same unlikely name and pressing Ignore for the second time.
Layton stirred next to her, turning over and squinting at Delilah, mascara smeared under her eyes. "Oh. Hey. Everything okay?"
"Yeah, sure-"
Her phone went off again.
Ass-trid
"Should you get that?" Linda asked, tousled hair falling adorably over one blue eye. No way this sex goddess's name was Linda.
"Maybe."
"Then do it. When you're done, I've got something I want to show you."
Lydia-sure, why not-grinned, pulling down the linens to her hips for a split second before tucking the sheet back up to her chin. Delilah laughed as she tossed the covers back, slipping out of the bed completely naked. She very nearly answered the phone like that, but then grabbed a silk robe-definitely not a college-level kind of robe-that hung over a gray upholstered chair in the corner. She could not and would not talk to her stepsister in the buff.
Sliding on the robe, she went into the small living room-slash-open kitchen and climbed onto a stool, resting her elbows on the cool marble counter. She breathed in . . . out. She shook out her hands, rolled her neck. She had to prepare to talk to Astrid, like a boxer heading into a match. Gloves on, mouth guard in. On the counter, the phone stilled, Astrid's name disappearing, only to pop back up like a greeting card from hell. Best get this over with, then. She slid her finger across the phone.
"What?"
"Delilah?"
Astrid's velvety voice filtered through the phone. Like an American Cate Blanchett, except more stick-up-your-ass and less queen-of-bisexuals. Exactly the kind of voice Delilah always knew adult-Astrid would have.
"Yeah," Delilah said, then cleared her throat. Her own voice was somewhere between six-cocktails-parched and years-of-sleep-deprivation-raspy.
"Took you long enough to answer."
Delilah sighed. "It's late."
"It's only eleven in Oregon. Plus, I figured this was the best time to catch you. Don't you turn into a bat after midnight?"
Delilah snorted. "I do. Now if you'll excuse me I'd like to get back to my cave."
Astrid didn't say anything for a few seconds. Long seconds that made Delilah wonder if she was still there, but she wasn't going to be the one to crack. They'd only spoken on the phone a dozen or so times since Delilah left Bright Falls the day after high school graduation, hopping a bus to Seattle with her Bright Falls High duffel bag on her shoulder, while Astrid took off for a postgrad trip to France with all of her horrible BFFs. Isabel, Astrid's mom and Delilah's wicked stepmother, had armed both girls with enough cash to keep them out of her hair for two weeks. The only difference being, Astrid came back, prepared for college at Berkeley like the dutiful daughter, while Delilah flew to New York and rented a one-bedroom dump on the Lower East Side. She was a legal adult, and there was no way in hell she was going to stay in that house one second longer than she needed to.
It wasn't like Isabel mourned her leaving.
Neither did Astrid, as far as Delilah could tell, though every now and then, this would happen. Texts that went ignored and turned into awkward phone calls where Astrid tried to pretend she hadn't made Delilah's already lonely childhood a living hell. Delilah had been back to Bright Falls five or six times in the past twelve years-a few Christmases and Thanksgivings, a funeral when her favorite art teacher had died. The last time was five years ago, when Delilah fled New York with a freshly obliterated heart, mistakenly thinking the familiarity of Bright Falls might serve as a balm. It hadn't, but it had given Delilah an idea for a photo series that had changed her ambition from struggling freelance photographer who barely made rent to successful queer artist with an amazing apartment in Williamsburg.
Which she still hadn't achieved, but she was trying.
"So . . . are you coming?"
Astrid's voice cut through her musings, and she blinked Lucinda's kitchen back into view. "Coming . . ." A dirty joke rested on the tip of her tongue, but she bit it back.
"Oh my god," Astrid said. "Are you serious? Tell me you are not serious."
"I-"
"Delilah, tell me!"
"I'm trying if you'd shut up for two seconds!"
Astrid blew out a breath so loud, it buzzed in Delilah's ear. "Okay. Okay, I'm sorry, I'm just stressed. There's a lot going on."
"Right," Delilah said, racking her brain for what the hell was going on. "Um, so-"
"Nope, no, no. You are not canceling on me, Delilah Green. Tell me that is not what you're doing."
"Jesus, Ass, take a Xanax, will you?"
"Please don't call me that and do not cancel on me."
Delilah let a beat of silence pass. Maybe seeing her own art on actual gallery walls, tiny as they may be, followed by great sex had just addled her brain a little, and whatever the hell Astrid was talking about would come roaring back to clarity. She pulled the phone from her ear and hit the speakerphone button, then checked the date on her calendar app-Saturday, June 2. Wee hours. Friday the first was definitely a date that had been cemented in her mind for months as she prepped for the Fitz show. But there was something else there, something June-ish and Astrid-shaped and-
Oh fuck.
"Your wedding," Delilah said.
"Yes, my wedding," Astrid said. "The one I've been planning for months and for which Mother insisted I hire you as a photographer."
"Don't sound so excited."
"I have another word for it."
"You're not really helping your case here, Ass."
Astrid huffed into the phone.
"I'm still crushed I'm not a bridesmaid," Delilah deadpanned, but with the revelation of her stepsister's impending nuptials to some poor sucker, her heart picked up its pace as both terror and relief flooded her system.
On the one hand, a Parker society wedding in Bright Falls was the absolute last thing she wanted to do right now. Or ever. She'd rubbed elbows with a few agents at the Fitz show and sold one whole piece-granted the patron was currently sleeping in the next room, but Loretta one hundred percent forked over her money before even batting a single lash Delilah's way. At least, Delilah was pretty sure that's how it happened, as she was too busy freaking the fuck out that someone traded actual money for something she'd created.
Regardless, now was not the time for Astrid-slash-Isabel bullshit. Delilah felt as though she was on the edge of something, being someone, and Bright Falls was a soul-sucking pit of despair where she was absolutely no one.
On the other hand-the hand that tried to keep Delilah fed and clothed-Isabel Parker-Green had offered her a ridiculous sum of money to photograph Astrid's wedding and two weeks' worth of pre-wedding events. As the details from when Astrid first called Delilah about this happy event floated back to her now, there were definitely five figures involved. Low five figures, but still. Pocket change to Isabel Parker-Green and to most Brooklynites, but to Delilah, who could stretch a dollar for days, it was an IV to her dehydrated bank account.
Along with the money, which Astrid almost certainly knew Delilah couldn't refuse, Astrid had also delivered an oh-so-subtly manipulative, "Mom says your father would've wanted you at my wedding." Delilah still resented her for it, mostly because she knew Isabel was right. While he'd been alive, Andrew Green had been a devoted family man to the point of ridiculousness, insisting on nightly dinners and spring break vacations, Christmas Eve traditions and checking homework and learning how to plait hair just so Delilah wouldn't be the only girl at the Renaissance Faire field trip without a braid crown.
A wedding would be nonnegotiable. You showed up for family, even if you got paid for it and gritted your teeth the entire time.
"Pre-wedding events start on Sunday," Astrid said now. "You agreed to be there for all of it, remember? The details I emailed you indicate you're booked June third through the sixteenth. I signed your contract, agreeing to all of your terms, and-"
"I know, I know, yes," Delilah said, running a hand over her hair. Shit, she did not want to go back to Bright Falls for two whole weeks. And it was Pride month. She loved Pride in New York City. Who the hell started all this wedding nonsense that far before the actual day anyway? Well, Delilah knew exactly who.
"Astrid-"
"Don't you fucking dare."
"That mouth, Ass. What would Isabel say."
"She'd say that and a lot worse if you're about to cancel on her only daughter's wedding on such short notice."
Delilah sucked in a breath, even though she tried not to.
Her only daughter.
She wanted to fight the sting, to let the words slide right over her, but she failed. It was a reflex, this feeling, left over from a childhood with two dead parents and a stepmother who never really wanted her in the first place.
"Shit," Astrid said, her tone regretful and irritated at the same time, as though Delilah had made her forget that Isabel had been Delilah's sole guardian after her father, Isabel's second husband, had died of an aneurysm when Delilah was ten years old.
"There's that mouth again," Delilah said, laughing through a thick throat. "I think I might like this new stressed-out Astrid."
Her stepsister didn't say anything for a few seconds, but the silence was long enough for Delilah to know she'd be on a morning flight out of JFK.
"Just be here, okay?" Astrid said. "It's too late to find someone decent to replace you."
Delilah wiped her hand down her face. "Yeah."
"What was that?"
"Yes," Delilah practically yelled. "I'll be there."
"Good. I already booked your room at the Kaleidoscope-"
"What, I'm not staying with Mommy Dearest?"
"-and I'll email you the itinerary. Again."
Delilah grunted and hung up before Astrid could hang up on her, then dropped the phone on the counter like it was on fire. She twisted the lid off a half-full bottle of gin that sat next to the sink and took a shot, no glass required. The liquor burned all the way down, searing her nostrils and watering her eyes.
Product details
- Publisher : Berkley (February 22, 2022)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 400 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0593336402
- ISBN-13 : 978-0593336403
- Item Weight : 12.5 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.45 x 1 x 8.24 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #7,693 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #377 in LGBTQ+ Romance (Books)
- #1,434 in Romantic Comedy (Books)
- #3,579 in Contemporary Romance (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Ashley Herring Blake is a teacher and writer and lives in Nashville, TN. She is a voracious reader and likes organizing her books by color. When she's not writing or reading, she's wrangling her two young sons, falling into Pinterest holes, drinking coffee, taking walks, or trying to figure out which Orphan Black clone she likes best.
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Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2022
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Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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Spoiler alert: Delilah Green *does* care
Anyhoo, Delilah is bold and artsy and loves her casual hookups and living her best seggsiest life in New York City. But really she isn’t. There’s bills to pay and family to see back home in small town Oregon, where her wicked stepsister Astrid is about to tie the knot. Or is Delilah the wicked one? Well we shall find out. Delilah most definitely does not care about any of these people back home. Claire is one of Astrid’s BFF coven, single mom who worries and cares about everything and everyone, soft and caring and stable, basically the opposite of Delilah in all ways. The attraction is immediate and unavoidable once the prodigal daughter returns home. The romance between Claire and Delilah is sweet and steamy, rife with only one bed moments and casual seggs pacts, they each end up being exactly what the other needs. However the star of the show is Delilah and Astrid’s reluctant relationship, Delilah finding friends and a found family in a place she never thought she could love, and Claire and Josh’s Lorelei Gilmore and Christopher like dynamic and his character’s growth.
Astrid and D have so much pain and recriminations in their past and years avoiding it and it’s so satisfying to see them finally work through it all. Or at least start the process. Delilah’s blossoming relationships with the coven and Ruby are totally heartwarming, her back and forth with both Astrid and Iris snarky and sharp and hilarious, her mini tirades against the patriarchy cheerfully accurate. The female friendships in this book are just, life affirming goals. Astrid’s character was the most fascinating to me. I saw her, and I wanted to know more about her so I’m very much looking forward to her upcoming story.
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I knew I was going to enjoy this book but I didn't expect to love it so much. It has one of the best portrayals of queer characters I've ever read and the plot is so strong and true to the background of the characters that it's possible for me to see them in real life, just perfectly beautiful craft and written
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Anyway, one of my five stars and best reads of the year 💞 and I'm dying to read the next book 🥰

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 22, 2022
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I knew I was going to enjoy this book but I didn't expect to love it so much. It has one of the best portrayals of queer characters I've ever read and the plot is so strong and true to the background of the characters that it's possible for me to see them in real life, just perfectly beautiful craft and written
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Anyway, one of my five stars and best reads of the year 💞 and I'm dying to read the next book 🥰

Delilah Green Doesn’t Care has easily made its way in to my top ten favorite books of all time. I typically read a book in 2-3 days, but this one took me TEN. DAYS. Not because I didn’t like it, god no. But because I COULD NOT LET IT END.
We follow Delilah, a struggling artist living in NYC who’s back in Bright Falls to photograph her estranged step-sister’s wedding, and Claire, a single mom who’s trying to navigate parenting an almost-teen and dealing with a flighty co-parent. Delilah and Claire haven’t seen each other since high school, but something sparks between them when they reunite. However, Delilah’s estranged step-sister, Astrid, is also Claire’s best friend. Astrid has made it clear she doesn’t want her step-sister getting involved with her friend, but there’s something there that may prove to be irresistible for both Delilah and Claire.
This book has everything you could ever want in a sapphic romance - beautifully developed main (and side!) characters, relatable & vulnerable experiences, laugh out loud moments, and a phenomenal plot that makes you forget you’re reading.
Do yourself a favor and pick up Delilah Green Doesn’t Care this Pride Month. Or really any month ever.
Dual POV
Childhood enemies to lovers
Struggling NYC artist and small town single parent sapphic romance
Lesbian, bisexual representation
Top reviews from other countries

I really dislike insta love. It doesn't matter if it takes 20 pages out of the story or 350. If ppl fall in love after spending together a few days... it's just not what I enjoy reading about. And this book is one of the worst examples of that. I was sure the hardest part of this story would be coming back to hometown trope, which I'm not a fan of either. But in this case I thought it was done surprisingly well. Yet by the end of the book all I could think was "you love her? You met her Sunday". It just really lacked any kind of realism for me, and I don't require that much of it from romance books.
My other problem was Delilah herself. She was mean and rude and only concerned with herself and her own feelings, and as much as I tried to have some sympathy for her tragic past, she was so self involved it was simply exhausting. I understand that it was hard to balance the story where the readers would know Astrid isn't the bad guy in this situation, especially when she's the protagonist of the next book. But for me it worked perfectly at making me very sympathetic towards Astrid, and completely annoyed with Delilah at all times. I hated how Delilah somehow managed to make every situation to be about her without really considering how it affected other people around her. Even in interactions with Claire, the expectations Delilah had versus reality of Claire's life and circumstances just didn't make any sense and further showed that Delilah only cares about her own feelings.
On the bright side getting so invested in Astrid as a character certainly made me excited for the next book, especially since the writing in this book is really good and makes for a quick and pleasant read. This story just wasn't for me.

Content Warnings: death of a parent
I've been on a bit of a contemporary romance binge since I got a kindle a couple months ago so this book fit in absolutely perfectly! I found this novel to have an excellent balance of romance and other plot elements, both of which I was really invested in.
Delilah Green Doesn't Care is a dual POV contemporary adult romance, featuring lesbian and bisexual protagonists. Delilah Green is pulled from her life as an up-and-coming photographer in New York City to the small town where she grew up to work as the photographer for her step-sister Astrid's wedding. Returning to her hometown brings up a lot of lingering emotions for Delilah from an unhappy childhood. At the same time, she's dealing with a growing crush on one of Astrid's bridesmaids, and quickly realises that Astrid's life (and upcoming wedding) may not be as perfect as they seem.
There was a lot to like about this book. The main characters were multidimensional and complex - they have plenty of flaws and sometimes you want to scream at them, but overall they felt relatable and real. In particular, Delilah, Claire, and Astrid - who I didn't expect to like but really ended up loving - were all very well developed characters, and the relationships between them were similarly fleshed out and realistic. I really enjoyed the romance - Blake hit a good balance between sweet and sexy, and Claire and Delilah felt believable as a couple for me (I was rooting for them!) It's not hugely common to read a romance book where one of the romantic leads has a child, but I also liked this element. Claire's daughter Ruby didn't feel like an obstacle to Claire's relationship with Delilah for the most part, and I loved the scenes where watching Ruby and Delilah interact made Claire feel all gooey inside - that's such a cute trope. Speaking of tropes - the only one bed trope popped up in here too, which I'll never complain about. As much as I enjoyed the romance in this book, I think I actually found the development of Astrid and Delilah's relationship more compelling. Their relationship is allowed to be confusing and complicated, but I really enjoyed the portrayal of their tentative reconciliation.
That said, here are my nitpicky complaints. The 'I bet you I can sleep with her' plotline. Ugh. Not my favourite trope by any stretch of the imagination, since it just serves to breed miscommunication (another trope I do not like). It felt pretty unnecessary to the plot and I don't think much would have been lost by leaving that element out. Thankfully, it didn't end up being such a large part of the overarching plot of the book so as to be a dealbreaker, but I definitely cringed when this trope cropped up. Another issue I had was that this book, where the titular character is pretty clearly a lesbian, only uses the word 'lesbian' one time, and in a joking context at that. This is such a pet peeve of mine, as a lesbian, since I feel like the refusal to use the word (particularly in contemporary romances) when it's applicable feeds into the problematic idea that 'lesbian' is a dirty word. I don't think this would be an issue for the majority of readers, but once I noticed the lack of the word lesbian in a book where the main character is a lesbian, I couldn't stop noticing it.
Overall, this was a really enjoyable read for me, and a relatively quick and easy one. I'd definitely recommend it!


The plot brings us second chances, self development, new beginnings, healing, chemistry, steam and dreamy romance, told between dual perspectives from Delilah and Claire, both of whom I adored. Delilah was such a quirky, bold and outgoing character, but she had a vulnerable side for sure and my heart utterly broke for her upbringing and the effect it had on her. Every single side character was hilarious, brilliantly written and added something to the plot. The relationship growth and the individual character development was brilliantly done, I loved the witty humour throughout and the subplot of bye bye Spencer!
My only gripe about this book is the use of “the other woman” from Claire and Delilah’s POV which felt slightly odd and the unnecessary, undisguised descriptions of race (always white) when characters were introduced. Other than this I ADORED this book, it was super engaging and I was hooked from the first page to the last - I’m SO excited to have just been granted the second book on Netgalley which I can’t WAIT to read!
Side note: how CUTE is this front cover!? OBSESSED.


Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 5, 2022
The plot brings us second chances, self development, new beginnings, healing, chemistry, steam and dreamy romance, told between dual perspectives from Delilah and Claire, both of whom I adored. Delilah was such a quirky, bold and outgoing character, but she had a vulnerable side for sure and my heart utterly broke for her upbringing and the effect it had on her. Every single side character was hilarious, brilliantly written and added something to the plot. The relationship growth and the individual character development was brilliantly done, I loved the witty humour throughout and the subplot of bye bye Spencer!
My only gripe about this book is the use of “the other woman” from Claire and Delilah’s POV which felt slightly odd and the unnecessary, undisguised descriptions of race (always white) when characters were introduced. Other than this I ADORED this book, it was super engaging and I was hooked from the first page to the last - I’m SO excited to have just been granted the second book on Netgalley which I can’t WAIT to read!
Side note: how CUTE is this front cover!? OBSESSED.


Tropes: sisters best friend, grumpy/sunshine, forced proximity, single parents.
This book is everything I wanted it to be and more. It is fun and romantic but with a depth that makes it relatable. A lot of this is due to the incredible characters and their chemistry/relationship with each other. Delilah is a badass, confident artist that all 'weird' teens want to grow up to be. Claire is a loving single mum, fiercely loyal to her friends and dedicated to growing the book store she has inherited. They shouldn't work together but they do - each one brings out the best in the other without losing any of their own identities.
Delilah and Claire are surrounded by a cast of also complex characters - Astrid (Delilah's estranged sister and Claire's best friend) and Iris (an outspoken but funny best friend) being the most important. This book tackles modern family dynamics in a refreshing way, without falling into any stereotypes. When reading, you feel like the characters are real, acting like anyone else would in their situation.
THE REPRESENTATION!! I have never felt so seen by a book. It does bisexual and lesbian representation so well. There were no harmful stereotypes and, honestly, the queerness was treated as irrelevant. The focus was on the love story, not the gender of the couple. I always worry with a small town romance that homophobia is going to be the conflict, but in this case the conflict came from internal character reflections rather than external bigotry, resulting in a small town queer romance that is actually fun to read!
I loved this book and have nothing negative to say about it at all. I 100% recommend picking it up if you want a fun, steamy, romantic read.
Thank you to Net Galley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.