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A review by madeline
Delilah Green Doesn't Care by Ashley Herring Blake
3.0
Delilah Green has spent most of her adult life avoiding going back to her hometown of Bright Falls, Oregon -- it's full of bad memories and a stepsister and stepmother who hate her. But her stepsister, Astrid, is getting married, and she's guilt tripped Delilah into taking the photos. As soon as Delilah arrives, she's interested in one of Astrid's best friends, Claire Sutherland. Claire's a single mom and business owner who hates a surprise, but Delilah seems like the best kind of one. When tension - about the wedding, about Delilah's relationship with her family, about Delilah's relationship with Claire - hits a breaking point, will Delilah move on? Or will she find that maybe, she does care?
My issues with this book were totally personal preference. This is a fantastic romance debut, wonderfully written and well-paced, full of interesting characters.
The thing is, I really don't mesh well with characters like Delilah, and to a lesser extent Claire, characters who are really determined to assume the worst about people as a defense mechanism and who wield their individuality and independence like swords instead of shields. It's self-sabotage to the max, how Delilah is absolutely shutting her eyes to efforts that Astrid has made through the years, telling herself her stepfamily despises her and then doing the best she can to live up to what she assumes are their low expectations of her.
And Claire does the same thing, too - her daughter's father has been a flake in the past, but it's clear that he's trying hard now. I'm not a parent, and I certainly have no experience in comforting a child who's been let down by a parent, but Claire is essentially sabotaging her daughter's relationship with her father. It was really tough for me to have both characters constantly picking the worst case scenario available and acting as though that was the only possible option.
I do really truly 100% recommend this book - I think it will be deservedly beloved by many people, and I'm really eager for Astrid's book. I just... kind of hope Josh gets one too? And I hope that future characters can treat themselves, their friends, and their romantic interests with a little more gentleness.
Thank you Berkley and NetGalley for the ARC!
CW:parental death (off-page, remembered), parental abandonment (off-page, remembered)
My issues with this book were totally personal preference. This is a fantastic romance debut, wonderfully written and well-paced, full of interesting characters.
The thing is, I really don't mesh well with characters like Delilah, and to a lesser extent Claire, characters who are really determined to assume the worst about people as a defense mechanism and who wield their individuality and independence like swords instead of shields. It's self-sabotage to the max, how Delilah is absolutely shutting her eyes to efforts that Astrid has made through the years, telling herself her stepfamily despises her and then doing the best she can to live up to what she assumes are their low expectations of her.
And Claire does the same thing, too - her daughter's father has been a flake in the past, but it's clear that he's trying hard now. I'm not a parent, and I certainly have no experience in comforting a child who's been let down by a parent, but Claire is essentially sabotaging her daughter's relationship with her father. It was really tough for me to have both characters constantly picking the worst case scenario available and acting as though that was the only possible option.
I do really truly 100% recommend this book - I think it will be deservedly beloved by many people, and I'm really eager for Astrid's book. I just... kind of hope Josh gets one too? And I hope that future characters can treat themselves, their friends, and their romantic interests with a little more gentleness.
Thank you Berkley and NetGalley for the ARC!
CW: