Delilah Green Doesn't Care by Ashley Herring Blake Series: Bright Falls #1
Published by Penguin on February 22, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, Fiction / Romance / LGBTQ+ / General, Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy
Pages: 400
Format: Paperback
A clever and steamy queer romantic comedy about taking chances and accepting love—with all its complications.
Delilah Green swore she would never go back to Bright Falls—nothing is there for her but memories of a lonely childhood where she was little more than a burden to her cold and distant stepfamily. Her life is in New York, with her photography career finally gaining steam and her bed never empty. Sure, it’s a different woman every night, but that’s just fine with her.
When Delilah’s estranged stepsister, Astrid, pressures her into photographing her wedding with a guilt trip and a five-figure check, Delilah finds herself back in the godforsaken town that she used to call home. She plans to breeze in and out, but then she sees Claire Sutherland, one of Astrid’s stuck-up besties, and decides that maybe there’s some fun (and a little retribution) to be had in Bright Falls, after all.
Having raised her eleven-year-old daughter mostly on her own while dealing with her unreliable ex and running a bookstore, Claire Sutherland depends upon a life without surprises. And Delilah Green is an unwelcome surprise…at first. Though they’ve known each other for years, they don’t really know each other—so Claire is unsettled when Delilah figures out exactly what buttons to push. When they’re forced together during a gauntlet of wedding preparations—including a plot to save Astrid from her horrible fiancé—Claire isn’t sure she has the strength to resist Delilah’s charms. Even worse, she’s starting to think she doesn’t want to...
Okay, for some reason I did not read these books “in order.” I know since the books are romances, reading them in order isn’t required, but I’m a weird little bean who likes to read them in order. But for this series, I bought Delilah Green Doesn’t Care before moving in with my grandma and all my books being in boxes. When I bought Astrid Green Doesn’t Fail, I didn’t feel like finding rummaging through all those boxes to find the first book.
Now with reading Delilah Green Doesn’t Care, I’m glad I read them this way because I’m not sure I would’ve read Astrid’s tale if I read this one first. Yes, I get that Astrid was just as screwed up by Isabel Parker-Green as Delilah but as someone who also felt out of place in her hometown and like she didn’t fit in with her family. I relate much more to Delilah and thought that Astrid had a bit more to apologize for than Delilah. Again, they’re both screwed by their mother/stepmother, but the difference is is that Astrid had other people in her life who actually cared for her, while Delilah doesn’t. Yes, we find out that Astrid tried to include her, but to be honest it was only a few months (I think two) after her father’s abrupt death. She’s not exactly going to be forthcoming. By the time she was, Astrid, Claire, and Iris had already made it known they didn’t want to hang around the “ghoul of Wisteria house.”
Anyway, my feelings around Delilah and Astrid’s relationship is complicated as it does all go back to Isabel. But to the actual book, this was so stinking adorable, I just cannot!!
I love Claire, she’s such a bright bubbly person who truly wants everyone around her to be happy. I’m not sure if I know people like that in real life, although I would love to. I’m so cynical, I need someone like Claire to remind me there’s good in the world. The whole relationship between Delilah and Claire was well written and unfolded in such a natural way.
I’ve already started re-reading Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail, and I’m excited to see what happens. I vaguely remember the book but it’s been a while, and I’ve slept since then.
I’ve done that myself. With some series it doesn’t matter (like the Walsh girls), and some it does. There’s one medieval trilogy I’ve never finished because I read two in the wrong order and can never get into the middle one!