24-year-old Allegra Bird has the perfect routine to her daily life. She lives in the garage extension of a wealthy family - rent cheap on the assumption she will babysit whenever they need her, and every day she starts her morning with a coffee and Belgian waffle before starting her beat as a parking enforcement officer. But there's a reason Allegra moved from her small Kerry town, away from her beloved dad, to a seaside suburb in Dublin but she hasn't built up the courage yet to fulfil her mission. When a man angry at his parking ticket berates her one day, he says something that shakes Allegra to the core and she starts a new project to surround herself with the type of people she wants to learn from but in the process she learns more about herself.

CW: Self harm

This book surprised me in how much I ended up enjoying it by the end (genuine tears in my eyes/lump in my throat at some bits at the end!). I think I was being a bit snobby thinking this was going to be fine, but nothing amazing and while it wasn't the best book I've read this year, I thoroughly enjoyed the story and Allegra's journey.

While not specifically stated on page, it definitely reads like Allegra could be neurodivergent- she isn't always the best socially in terms of understanding social cues and etiquettes and the best thing to say, and she also likes order and routine, and if these are messed up, she can get very upset. I felt for Allegra as she sought to understand the '5 people in your life' saying, and how she reached out to those she admired in the desire to learn from them.

I was iffy about Tristan developing a close relationship with Allegra at first, considering how he had acted towards her but I actually grew to really like their friendship and how we leaned more about Tristan, his 'Rooster' identity and how he was striving to be more, and how Allegra helped him do this.

I loved the father-daughter relationship in this too and Allegra's bond with Pops was just so, so lovely though I'm biased as I am also very close to my dad so I love reading similar. Sometimes a girl just needs her dad, and it was this type of scene near the end that brought me to tears. Pops was a wonderful character, odd in his own way exactly like Allegra but totally accepting of the type of person she was.

There were moments in this that were hard to read due to a myriad of reasons from Allegra's experience of self harm when she was younger, to even the awkward and second hand embarrassment a reader could feel when she was committing a social faux pas. I loved Allegra's job as a still life model, and this control over her body, and the way she was able to see parts of herself in others work was just so interesting to read.

I'd definitely recommend this book, and would also recommend the audiobook if people had access to it as it was a great listen.