This book is very much my thing. It has chosen (step)mother issues, characters making bad decisions because they're afraid they might be incapable of loving people they clearly love, ambiance, references/retellings of story beats that were formative to me, a sapphic subplot, and (at a few points) Tudor monarchy drama vibes. In fact, I was so worked up after this that I couldn't wind down and go to sleep. I give this a very high rating. Just be aware that some of that could be because I'm unreasonably fond of many parts of it's premise. Not all of it though, the execution had to be a winner too to work for me this well.