the author should just rename this sad abused lesbians: the novel in order to truly capture the essence of what this book is.

over the course of slightly more than 200 pages there are multiple instances of abuse, multiple hospital stays, a shooting, a heart attack, three marriages, two divorces, a few deaths and a handful of breakups.

coming around again spans nigh on 70 years (yes really) and alternates chapters between the two leads; karma, an out hippie lesbian and jane, a (semi)closeted christian lesbian. the chapters generally involve things happening in their lives and to the people around them, and as one of the main characters even points out in the penultimate chapter, karma and jane barely know each other after the entirety of the book and close to twenty years after they first met. the book left me feeling the same way; i barely knew these characters, their personalities or their wants. it’s a book that honestly lacks on every front and when your characters go back and forth on basic ideals it may be necessary to ensure that the idea you want on the page is actually there.

it’s not necessarily a bad book (though it’s not great) but it lacks depth and substance and seems both languid and rushed at the same time, and not in the good way.

content warning: sexual abuse, paedophilia, murder, violence, drug addiction

wow this was a tough tough read, and one with a somewhat open ended conclusion, but it’s a story that i honestly absolutely loved.

i loved that sadie would’ve done absolutely anything for mattie. i loved that sadie might be out there taking down sexual predators and saving countless kids.

the format was also super interesting as well but i wasn’t overly sold on it.

honestly felt like i must have been reading a different book to everyone else. this was utterly mediocre in every way and i’m not understanding the rating it currently has.