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A review by kp_hobbitreads
Delilah Green Doesn't Care by Ashley Herring Blake
4.0
#1 Delilah Green Doesn't Care: ★★★★☆ | 4 stars
I'll be honest, I was definitely expecting a romance with some banter and wedding shenanigans with some heartfelt moments mixed in. What I got was an emotional gut punch that had me all in my feelings. But, it was still a great book.
Our romance centers around Delilah Green who moves to New York as soon as she turns 18 to get away from her emotionally distant stepfamily. She is pressured to come back to Bright Falls to photograph her stepsisters wedding by a combination of guilt and a huge pay day. While she's home, she falls for Claire Sutherland, her sister's best friend and the girl who helped her realize she liked girls.
And, while this book is definitely a romance; the relationship between Claire and Delilah is the central story. This book also has a lot to say about sibling and parental relationships and friendships. There are heavy themes of grief and loneliness. Delilah had lost both her parents by age 10 - and that colored a lot of her perception of the world. Claire is a single mother who regularly deals with her child's father bailing when it gets too tough. And, the book doesn't shy away from talking about how those repeat experiences affect both Claire and her daughter. Claire has two best friends - and Delilah realizes she has none. This book is full of yearning - for romantic love, for platonic love, for connection, for support from a parent. It's both incredibly emotional and quite lovely.
Three Thoughts:
1. The way Astrid, Iris, and Claire treated Delilah as a kid was really awful, and I don't think it was sufficiently addressed. I don't care that they were kids - they were cruel to a child who was grieving and felt abandoned by everyone. Iris especially owes her an apology.
2. I thought the dynamic between Claire, her daughter, and her ex was especially well done. And, personally it was a little hard to read at times because it felt so authentic.
3. Delilah using Claire's picture in her show after their on page discussion of consent felt especially odd. It would have been nice for there to have been a line where Claire gives the okay.
Ultimately this book was really great. But, I am completely over this trend of authors not giving readers an epilogue. The end of this book definitely feels like a HFN rather than an HEA. (which I know still meets the requirements for a romance, but I don't like it). And, I know from the sneak peak that we get to see these character's again in Astrid's story (which I will, of course, be reading), but I shouldn't have to read another book to feel like these two are going to live happily ever after.
content warnings: death of a parent (in the past), heavy themes of grief and loneliness, trauma, toxic/controlling relationships (side characters), cancer mention, parental abandonment, emotionally distant parent, cheating (past relationship), sex (on page)
I'll be honest, I was definitely expecting a romance with some banter and wedding shenanigans with some heartfelt moments mixed in. What I got was an emotional gut punch that had me all in my feelings. But, it was still a great book.
Our romance centers around Delilah Green who moves to New York as soon as she turns 18 to get away from her emotionally distant stepfamily. She is pressured to come back to Bright Falls to photograph her stepsisters wedding by a combination of guilt and a huge pay day. While she's home, she falls for Claire Sutherland, her sister's best friend and the girl who helped her realize she liked girls.
And, while this book is definitely a romance; the relationship between Claire and Delilah is the central story. This book also has a lot to say about sibling and parental relationships and friendships. There are heavy themes of grief and loneliness. Delilah had lost both her parents by age 10 - and that colored a lot of her perception of the world. Claire is a single mother who regularly deals with her child's father bailing when it gets too tough. And, the book doesn't shy away from talking about how those repeat experiences affect both Claire and her daughter. Claire has two best friends - and Delilah realizes she has none. This book is full of yearning - for romantic love, for platonic love, for connection, for support from a parent. It's both incredibly emotional and quite lovely.
Three Thoughts:
1. The way Astrid, Iris, and Claire treated Delilah as a kid was really awful, and I don't think it was sufficiently addressed. I don't care that they were kids - they were cruel to a child who was grieving and felt abandoned by everyone. Iris especially owes her an apology.
2. I thought the dynamic between Claire, her daughter, and her ex was especially well done. And, personally it was a little hard to read at times because it felt so authentic.
3. Delilah using Claire's picture in her show after their on page discussion of consent felt especially odd. It would have been nice for there to have been a line where Claire gives the okay.
Ultimately this book was really great. But, I am completely over this trend of authors not giving readers an epilogue. The end of this book definitely feels like a HFN rather than an HEA. (which I know still meets the requirements for a romance, but I don't like it). And, I know from the sneak peak that we get to see these character's again in Astrid's story (which I will, of course, be reading), but I shouldn't have to read another book to feel like these two are going to live happily ever after.
content warnings: death of a parent (in the past), heavy themes of grief and loneliness, trauma, toxic/controlling relationships (side characters), cancer mention, parental abandonment, emotionally distant parent, cheating (past relationship), sex (on page)