Scan barcode
A review by zephyr42
After the Wedding by Courtney Milan
4.0
I've been reading through Courtney Milan's work for several years now, and I am always bolstered by her stories. I rarely wait until I'm in a specific mood to reach for them. They're always what I need.
Her books have consistently told stories of people who have been silenced, dismissed, or marginalized, crafting narratives to provide justice and compassion. This one takes a step further, demonstrating how people who grow to care for each other should lift the other up and use their respective privilege for the other's benefit. This isn't what you might expect from a forced marriage story, beginning with ambivalence or outright hostility. There's a fierce loyalty in both of them for people who are used as pawns, and rather than it coming out in anger at each other, they give each other what the world (specifically, the people who have power over them) has denied them: confidence, trust, and agency.
I loved reading this book. It was a welcome transportation from daily stress, but it was more than an escape. It was an edification and an encouragement to do better, not just for my own benefit but for others'.
Thank you, Courtney Milan, for the ARC of your excellent book. I've already pre-ordered it and recommended the hell out of it to everyone I wasn't already furiously texting about it over the weekend.
Her books have consistently told stories of people who have been silenced, dismissed, or marginalized, crafting narratives to provide justice and compassion. This one takes a step further, demonstrating how people who grow to care for each other should lift the other up and use their respective privilege for the other's benefit. This isn't what you might expect from a forced marriage story, beginning with ambivalence or outright hostility. There's a fierce loyalty in both of them for people who are used as pawns, and rather than it coming out in anger at each other, they give each other what the world (specifically, the people who have power over them) has denied them: confidence, trust, and agency.
I loved reading this book. It was a welcome transportation from daily stress, but it was more than an escape. It was an edification and an encouragement to do better, not just for my own benefit but for others'.
Thank you, Courtney Milan, for the ARC of your excellent book. I've already pre-ordered it and recommended the hell out of it to everyone I wasn't already furiously texting about it over the weekend.