Iris Kelly has been unlucky in love. Stevie Scott has been too anxious to meet someone new after the end of a six-year relationship. Did I mention she's still friends with her ex... and her ex's new girlfriend? A chance encounter in a bar (that leads to the world's worst one night stand) leads these two women on a journey of discovery unlike anything I've read by another author. 

Ashley Herring Blake has a way of writing women in a way that never fails to make me feel deep feelings and make realizations about myself and my own life. I related to Stevie immediately and found pieces of myself in her character so easily. Stevie's struggles with anxiety, while more pronounced than my own, felt so real and grounded to me. As a pair, Stevie and Iris fit so well together that I teared up when they confessed their love for each other.

Both Iris and Stevie struggle with their loved ones deciding that they know best what the women need, despite the women's own feelings on the matter. Iris' family and friends continuously tell her she needs to be with someone, that she's not happy. Stevie's best friend Ren and friend/ex-girlfriend Vanessa both have firm ideas of what Stevie should do with her life. While all these opinions clearly come from a place of love, Iris and Stevie both learn that they need to be able to control their own lives, rather than other people making decisions for them.

Out of the three Bright Falls books, Astrid's is still and will always be my favorite. However, Blake's characters have firmly placed themselves in my heart and soul and I cannot wait to read more of her work.