Things I loved:
The slow-and-steady recovering of a high-achieving perfectionist who has never figured out how to lose. Laine was so frustrating for me at times, and I think it's partially because she's deeply relatable (in a way I hate to admit!). She is so caught up in her own insecurities that she struggles to see what's happening around her and misses some really critical insights into the lives of friends and family. I loved seeing her work to build back her own self-confidence in a truly sustainable way.

Zoe. Zoe is fantastic, and if anything, I feel like she's too forgiving and gracious when I would probably stay petty! But I do love that for her.

Queer found family. The Queer Mountaineers are so good, and I loved seeing a best friend really come through in the third act.

The struggling family business in a small town. This is one of the few real overlaps I can judge in my own life and it hit very close to home. Having grown up in the ever-present shadow of my family's fourth-generation greenhouse/florist, I really appreciated seeing Zoe's inability to separate her complicated grief from her own career ambitions and her stubborn refusal to feel shame for the patchwork ways a small business holds itself together (hey, we used a potato masher to strip the leaves from rose stems for cut-flower vases, so I see your plastic-wine-bins and stand in solidarity). It's hard to convey just how much you can love something that also feels like a massive burden and how quickly you will cut out anyone who says a word against it because it's YOURS. I loved this.

Things I didn't love:
I really wish there had been a conversation related to sexual health in this - the absence was noticeable for me in the opening blind-folded threesome. I really appreciate when authors shows how to have an affirming and non-stigmatizing conversation about sexual health and STI history before oral, in particular, and that doesn't get page time here.

The sub-plot with her dad. I love the family's backstory, to a point, but my patience for lovesick-in-grief when it involved some fairly profound parental neglect came up short. 

Ugh, Rachel. Just, Rachel.

Ultimately, I zipped right through this and really enjoyed the central romance, even if a few beats didn't really work for me.