Ahhh the comfort of a good romance (and a lady romance at that), during a stressful few weeks of life cannot be overestimated. I had this one on my radar thanks to @booksnblazers and my library hold came in at exactly the right time, helping get me through the final few weeks of "busy season" with the end-of-school-year health education field trip rush. Much. needed. 

 

As soon as she could after graduating from high school, Delilah Green got the heck away from Bright Falls and the stepmother and stepsister who always made her feel unwanted. She's now living in NYC and *almost* making it as a photographer. However, she isn't making it quite enough that she can turn down a very lucrative job offer, from said stepmother, to come back to Bright Falls to photograph three weeks of events for her stepsister, Astrid's, wedding. Claire Sutherland has managed to make very solid life for herself in Bright Falls as a (mostly) single mother and bookstore owner. When Claire hits on Delilah her first night back in town, Delilah figures there might be some fun to be had in Bright Falls after all, while Claire has maybe found an ally in her efforts to derail Astrid's wedding (her fiancé is horrible!). And all their forced time together is leading to some sparks between them that might be too big to fight. 

 

Well, this romance hit all the right spots of sexiness, sweetness, and emotional growth. I was really impressed with the depth of the interpersonal development throughout this novel. Delilah has some deep-seated resentment towards her stepmother and stepsister, and the ways she reacts around them as a result of the many childhood years she felt left out by them is totally understandable. And yet, as she sees how truly terrible Astrid's fiancé is, she still has pangs of sympathy and the inclination to help...maybe? As for Claire, her attraction to Delilah is at deep odds with her support of Astrid as a friend, remembering back to childhood when Delilah disappeared into herself when Astrid needed her most. Seeing, now, the reasons for that from Delilah's point of view (and the way Delilah is great with her moody middle-school aged daughter) has her in a tough spot, pulled between the two. Plus, there's the reappearance of her unreliable ex/father of her daughter, who promises he's here to stay this time. But Claire has been here before, and been let down, and her instinct to protect herself and her daughter from the emotional pain of him leaving again is so strong as to overwhelm rational thought. And then there is Astrid herself, who acts the same distant and snobbish way towards Delilah as she's always done, and yet there are small cracks in her perfect demeanor now and then, that give Delilah, Claire and their friend Iris (the final character in this childhood "friends" group), that give them glimpses of her own inner unhappiness. The reasons Claire, Iris and Delilah come together to stop the wedding might be different, but the relationships that form as a result are very real. 

 

All that to reiterate, as I mentioned, the emotional growth in all these characters (except perhaps Iris, who plays less of a primary role), is phenomenal. I was so appreciative of the way they each had really real flaws, the kind that go past “cute in a story” and really get into “but actually I know people like this” and “it’s not always easy but it's worth working through it in order to be with them.” And the flaws themselves were so...relatable. Like, overprotectiveness in situations where you know there's deep potential for yourself (or someone you love) to be hurt or the difficulty in moving past long-held resentment or seeing things from childhood in a different way now as an adult. These are not flashy or unique problems, but they are absolutely insidious and long-lasting and we can all see ourselves in some of them and that just made these characters feel so authentic. As Blake says at one point, there is such “a tangle of complicated histories” and I couldn't think of a better way to describe these women, and also relate to what they're dealing with.  

 

I have another few short notes to add. First, this was pretty steamy, and I was here for that. I loved the back and forth between Claire and Delilah; they were a wonderful opposites-attract that I was really rooting for and enjoyed seeing them work through (smoothly and not-so-smoothly) their issues together. Lots of vulnerability on display. And their dialogue (really, all the dialogue) was amazing - I feel spoiled by all the great romance dialogue I have read recently! The cover!!! It's the full sleeve tattoos for me. Swoon. The on-page bi rep was everything! There was so much of it, in so many forms, and so fully developed (more than just a casual on-page reference) and I loved loved loved it. 

 

Wow. This romance was so full. It had the well-loved tropes of forced proximity, single-bed, opposites-attract and some wonderful sexual tension and release. And it also addressed, with full dimension, lots of themes of family and friendship and coming home and co-parenting and self-love/acceptance, and how to handle dealing with past grief that you’ve buried for years and are now realizing you never worked through. Plus, it touches on, in a very poignant way, the realization of how much childhood misperception can hinder/affect your life, so do you accept your own self and flaws or do you double down and lose potential for future happier-ness? I had such a full heart seeing all these characters find some peace, love or otherwise self-accepting path forward and just really enjoyed my time with this book. 

 

“It didn’t feel desperate or like a distraction or something they both needed to relieve some stress. It didn't feel like a spillover of pent-up lust. It felt like it was on purpose.”