A review by carefulfearanddeaddevotion
Delilah Green Doesn't Care by Ashley Herring Blake

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

 I fear that every relationship in this book (Astrid/Iris/Claire, Delilah/Astrid, Delilah/Ruby) was more interesting than Delilah/Claire. Especially Delilah/Astrid. During any Delilah/Claire scenes, I found myself wishing for another Delilah/Astrid scene instead. Their relationship was much more compelling imo. I would have enjoyed the book much more had their relationship been the focus instead of Claire/Delilah.

Sadly, I didn't much like any of the characters besides Astrid (well, okay, I guess this is unfair. I didn't hate the characters. I was just disappointed. I almost liked them, and then they went and acted like assholes). Iris is a mean little bitch. Delilah is...I guess more complicated, but still, she has such malicious intent towards Astrid for like basically no reason. Astrid was never mean to her when they were kids, she was also just another grieving kid who didn't know how to reach out to her sister.

Claire was mostly fine(and by this I mean, that I didn't really give a shit about her either way), except in her treatment of Josh. Like I get that there is a history there that I don't know, but from what we're told (and especially, shown), it wasn't that bad, so I guess I found her reactions to him disproportionate. She was just like incredibly mean to him. And like half the reason for it was that every time he showed back up she slept with him and then he left and that devasted both her and Ruby. Like, okay, some personal accountability pls. It was just really hard to buy him as this irresponsible untrustworthy person. I found HER really selfish and controlling re: Ruby. Like ok, I've heard many times that IM immature and irresponsible so I guess I might have projected more onto Josh than Claire, but I guess I didn't really see what was so wrong about letting your ELEVEN YEAR OLD kid, who you haven't seen in two years, stay up until 10 (one hour past her bedtime and on a weekend) to watch a kid-friendly movie. Like? Idk Claire just came off as really controlling and annoying. And also the hijacking of the camping trip really pissed me off and I totally get why Josh (who, frankly, reacted much more maturely than you'd think, based on his supposed characterization) was annoyed.

Having said all that, I did enjoy the book overall, the writing was on a much higher level than most other romances I've read, the plot was fun, if a little lacking in the execution department, and I read the book into the early hours of the morning, which is why it's an almost 4 star read. Also, it's gay, which automatically bumps it up by 1 star. 

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