I liked this book, and all the things it was and wasn’t.
Was: a sapphic, small town, reunited after many years but not in a “we used to date and I have alwayssssssss loooooooooovvvedddddddd youuuuuuuuu I haveeee alwayssss loved you I have etc” type of way. Multiple female friends! Satisfying takedown you know is coming because this is fiction, not real life, and rich people haven’t stacked the deck everywhere.
Wasn’t: a barrel of baggage (not a thing I want! ymmv!)–there’s a frisson of it, but it’s one type and Delilah is going to be forced to deal with it by the end of the book, obviously. Claire has her own type of baggage but he is an ex-husband and not going to figure too prominently because this is mostly Delilah’s book and they’re the ones on the cover so there’s no het sex allowed.
I also think this is going to be a series of sapphic books in small towns, which is a genre I did not know I needed until now.
But back to the plot: it’s not THAT much of a secret, but clearly since we aren’t going to finish the book hating the wicked stepsister Astrid there must be a series of miscommunications that left our two sisters cold towards one another. Scenes like this always remind me of the reveal in 30 Rock that Tina Fey wasn’t the victim of bullying but the bully herself, with her biting commentary and sarcastic put-downs. And while not quite the same thing here–Delilah was struggling, and her stepmother was not the parent she needed–there’s compassion and understanding between the two sisters by the end of the novel which feels earnt.
I’m actually? sort of interested in reading more to see how their relationship develops. And also to see how Astrid puts back her love life after the terrible fiance (hint it’s with a lady).
