3.5 stars

Thank you @grandcentralpub for sending me this absolutely delightful copy of Willa & Hesper by Amy Feltman to review! This was such an interesting little book, full of thoughtful explorations of love, regret, faith, and pain, and one I enjoyed.
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Willa and Hesper meet while doing an MFA in Creative Writing, and Feltman perfectly captures that feeling everyone in their early 20s knows too well - shit-I-have-no-idea-what-I’m-doing-I’m-just-pretending-to-be-an-adult-and-all-my-feelings-confuse-me!!! Their relationship lasts only a quarter of the book, and the rest is follows their lives as they go their separate ways, yet never quite able to shake one another.
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Although I liked both characters, I much preferred the chapters from Hesper’s perspective, who goes to Georgia with her family in an attempt to rediscover and reconnect with her family history (while Willa goes to Berlin with a group of young Jewish people to learn about their heritage as she struggles with her faith), and the problem when you come to prefer one perspective is that you feel like you want to rush through every other chapter to get to your preferred character.
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There were some truly beautiful sentences and passages, although the author freely admits to being a fan of adverbs and she isn’t lying - ‘Barkily’ isn’t a word I’ve come across before and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it - but you do get used to the unusual word choices after the first few chapters, and they’re not that frequent!
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I would recommend this book if you’re interested in queer relationships, struggles with religious identity, and young women trying to find their way!