full review & post: https://www.instagram.com/p/CaxczObvAh3/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

y'all can we just get a bit of commotion for the absolute bangers we are being blessed with when it comes to adult queer romance these days??? my god

delilah green was no different. an absolute rock-steady romcom with a holistic plot including: girl-gang-unites-over-shared-hatred-of-shitty-man, navigation & healing of familial trauma, immediately loveable characters throughout, non-toxic sacrifices, authentic conflict resolution, and page after page that had me full-out smirking or tearing up and everything in between🥲

what i love about queer adult romances these days is that they so often go beyond the romance - friendships and/or familial relationships are explored and see growth themselves. more often than not i find them a lot more holistic than cishet contemp romances while still delivering a romance arc that is relatable and powerful and sweet and 🥵🥵

needless to say i *highly* recommend this and cannot wait for the next book in the series following astrid!

I received an advanced copy of Delilah Green Doesn’t Care through Netgalley so I could share my review with you!

Content Warning: Toxic relationship between side characters (challenged), and past parental death

Delilah Green never wanted to return to Bright Falls, the hometown where her lonely childhood played out. She left for a reason- to pursue her career as a photographer in New York- and has never looked back. But, when she receives an offer to photograph her step-sister’s wedding for enough money to solve her financial woes for months, Delilah can hardly refuse. Astrid and Delilah have never been the best of sisters, but Delilah thinks she can put up with her step-sister’s controlling attitude and clique of stuck-up friends long enough to take some wedding photos. What Delilah wasn’t expecting was to catch feelings for one of Astrid’s bridesmaids, sweet and intelligent Claire. This wedding will be more complicated than anyone could’ve expected, and Delilah will have to fight to keep up her aloof sister act, no matter how she feels about Claire.

You can get your copy of Delilah Green Doesn’t Care on February 22nd from Berkley Publishing!

I loved this book so much! The romance was perfectly paced and balanced with fantastic humor. I think that Ashley Herring Blake just might be my new favorite adult romance author, and I don’t know how I am going to make myself wait for the next book in the Bright Falls series to come out in November!

My Recommendation-
Delilah Green Doesn’t Care is an absolute must-read for fans of romance novels! If you loved One Last Stop, you need to grab a copy of this book ASAP, as I just know you will devour it like I did!

This was adorably fun, a little spicy and just the right amount of emotional. I loved this from start to finish. Delilah Green is a character I care very much about now, but I was so pleased to find myself in other characters as well. This book is a beautiful ride of healing, romance, and life.

I loved loved LOVED this book! The romance was obviously the center, but I felt like it was balanced out with so many other aspects of the leading ladies lives. It was such a good balance of so many different pieces of their lives that it kept the book interesting and moving along where other rom-coms would tend to drag. I loved seeing the character development and getting to know more about each of the characters, side included!

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book! The title and this beautiful cover drew me in and i was excited to read this book! I will be recommending this book to others for readers advisory.

Okay, this book is so cute! I love a grumpy/sunshine romance and this was exactly that. It was giving "Count Your Lucky Stars" by @alexandriabellefleur vibes and I was HERE FOR IT!

This was more than just a romance. It deals with estranged siblings reuniting, a family with divorced parents and shared custody, a toxic relationship (not the main couple though lol), and other topics that were important for the characters' development. It was really well done and I cannot wait for the second book, "Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail" coming Nov. 22!

Thanks to @netgalley and @berkleypub for providing me with the e-arc.

This book was genuinely so good. Both Mcs were so easy to love and I rlly liked how their relationship progressed.
All the characters made me smile and laugh and giggle like a crazy person and don't even get me started on the tension between Delilah and Claire. The plot and the dialogue were so addicting that it took me less than a day to finish the thing.

Delilah Green hoped she'd never return to Bright Falls, Oregon. But as a photographer struggling to make ends meet while breaking into the art scene, she can't turn down a hefty paycheck to shoot her stepsister's wedding. As soon as she arrives, Delilah finds herself drawn to Claire, a hot single mom and one of her stepsister's best friends. All Delilah wanted was to survive the two weeks in her hometown and leave forever, but something about Bright Falls — and Claire — make it hard to leave.

Delilah and Claire are such different and complex characters, and their chemistry is undeniable! This steamy romance also has a lot of thoughtful conversations about friendship, reckoning with difficult childhoods, and letting love in. I had a blast visiting Bright Falls through Delilah and Claire's eyes, and I can't wait to find out what happens to Astrid in book 2!

This book was very cute and spicy!
I loved that the main characters had an easy time communicating with each other- I hate when the conflict in romances is the lack of communication..yawn.
I really enjoyed this LGBTQA positive romance and recommend it to those looking for something cute with a blend of family drama added in.

This was a sweet and steamy romance in the realm of second-chance, with a lot of heart and feelings involved. Delilah is a strong main character, and her relationship to Claire is organic and heartfelt.

Delilah is a edgy photographer from NYC, photographer Queer people in water being her go to subject. But she has been hired for two weeks to photograph all the ins and outs of her estranged step-sisters wedding. Ending up back in Bright Falls wasn't exactly something she wanted to do but she can't pass up the payday. She bumps into Claire a single mom or a pre-teen and the best friend of Delilah's sister Astrid. Claire has been in a dating rut lately, dealing with an pre-teen and the sudden reappearance of her Dad have put her in a weird place. She unknowingly hits on Delilah in a bar before realizing it's her best friends sister and quickly falls for her. They try to keep their fling a secret but the two grow closer as the two weeks Delilah is in town slowly tick away.

This was a super adorable Queer romance. The relationship between the two characters was believable and didn't feel forced at all. I love the potential for more books featuring Queer characters in the future from this author and I can't wait for the sequel featuring Astrid.

I've decided to DNF this book at the 50% mark. I made great progress through the first third of the book and enjoyed the budding relationship between Claire and Delilah, but I've been struggling since. I feel like there has been zero character growth and zero advancement in plot. Delilah is unlikeable and very juvenile. I just feel like for being a female-female potential relationship it feels very hetero in how it is written. It's really just not for me.

There is no love lost between Delilah Green and her miniscule home town, Bright Falls. She fled when she was eighteen and barely looked back, preferring to spend her time pursuing her artistic dreams in Manhattan. Delilah was orphaned at ten and left in the care of her stepmother, a woman who isn’t precisely evil, but certainly lacks empathy. Delilah has returned to Bright Falls periodically for events with her stepfamily, but she really regrets having committed to a two week visit to photograph her stepsister Astrid’s wedding festivities. Astrid defines high-strung, and they’ve never been close, but the fee is too good to pass up.

Claire Sutherland took a different path – she had a baby right out of high school with her then-boyfriend, who didn’t exactly step up. Her ex has ducked in and out of their lives for years, and Claire has been her daughter’s rock, providing a loving and stable home. Along with the support of her mother and two best friends, Iris and Astrid, Claire has created a great life for her kid. Ruby is a headstrong pre-teen just starting to rebel, and Claire has enough on her plate without a force of nature like Delilah blowing into town.

The mutual attraction is instant, but Claire knows it can’t go anywhere. She and Iris have concerns about Astrid, and Claire knows Astrid would see any connection with Delilah as a betrayal. The stepsisters aren’t on good terms, and Claire doesn’t want to rock the boat. Meanwhile, all Delilah can think about is how much she could rock Claire’s world.

I loved this book so much! Delilah is a character you might recognize – she’s emotionally closed-off due to her childhood trauma, but she just needs to feel safe to let herself love someone. I adored her, she’s such a softy underneath all that thorny pain. This is kind of a grumpy/sunshine romance, as Delilah is a hedgehog type while Claire is all teddy bear. Claire only really lets herself unleash hell when her daughter is involved, and that’s totally fair game. The romance hits well; both characters are willing to entertain the attraction but neither is really ready for love until they have to confront the possibility. They both also go on a journey to discover where they are in life: Claire has to let go a little bit, and try to forgive and move forward, where Delilah has to accept the past and get on with her life, with the understanding that she isn’t really alone.

There is a lot to love about this book: the posse of queer besties, Delilah’s one liners, and wedding blunders galore. The representation is great – Delilah is a lesbian and Claire is bi, and both perspectives really ring true. The secondary characters are pretty strong, and the other plotlines all work really well. While a lot of B-plots feel like they’re only there to take up space, all of the events of this book feel natural and causal. I particularly adored Astrid, who is maybe not so loveable, but really needs to be loved. Her dynamic with Delilah is great, and I’m excited for the rest of the series. The next book will follow Astrid, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it.

One thing that doesn’t really fit the story is Iris, long-time friend of Delilah and Astrid. She has really great chemistry with Delilah – they’re both somewhat catty people! – but she doesn’t really vibe with the two women she has been friends with for years. Iris, Astrid and Claire are supposed to have been inseparable since they were children, but Iris doesn’t actually seem to like Astrid, and she basically just bounces jokes off Claire like she’s a wall. Generally, I didn’t buy the three of them as friends. None of them really seems to like each other, or even have much in common. Their bond isn’t really well established, which makes it difficult to see the three of them as the author intends. While this is my only problem with the book, it does make a difference, since the friendship between these three is a huge part of the plot.

Other than that, however, I enjoyed the book very much. Delilah Green Doesn’t Care is a delightful story of two women finding love where they least expect it, and I highly recommend it.

Delilah Green Doesn't Care is a delighful rom-com full of some of my favorite tropes. The chemistry between the main character and love interest had me swooning. I couldn't put this one down and I recommend it for fans of Love and Other Disasters by Anita Kelly, One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston, and The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun.

Nothing makes me happier than cute gay romcoms and boy did this book deliver. You've got Delilah who is a tatted up grungy queen with a idgaf attitude matched with a sweet as pie bisexual single mom who's entire aesthetic is plus size vintage. I separately I love both of these characters but together they make a great power couple. This book is the perfect combination of sweet and angsty and spicy. If you're looking for a sweet sapphic romcom this is the book for you!

(Tiktok Review Coming)

*Thank you Berkley Publishing and Netgalley for the eARC of this book*

“Delilah Green Doesn’t Care” - @ashleyhblake

💁🏼‍♀️SYNOPSIS: Delilah swore she’d never go back to Bright Falls, where she has terrible childhood memories, but she must return to photograph her sisters wedding - and may find love along the way.

💁🏼‍♀️REVIEW: This was the sapphic romance I didn’t know I needed! WOW, I simply loved this entire story!

Delilah is more of a hardass; doesn’t take relationships seriously, in for one night stands, but this changes when she meets Claire, one of her sister’s bridesmaids. The problem is Delilah has a rocky relationship with her sister, so as a result of this relationship, she’ll have to keep things with Claire quiet.

I loved Claire and Delilah. Their romance was done perfectly, and I appreciated the bisexual representation in Claire. I really loved her daughter as well, who plays a big part in Claire’s life and the decisions that she makes.

I also loved the complicated relationship with Delilah and her sister, Astrid. I know I’ve had a complicated relationship with my own, and families can be complex, so I loved watching their story unfold and the growth that came from it.

It could have been a little shorter, but it was still a pure, feel-good delight. This will definitely be in my top romances this year. You should give it a read!

💁🏼‍♀️VERDICT: 4.5 STARS ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

🎶SONG REC: “L.O.V.E.” - Ashlee Simpson

Thank you to @berkleypub @berkleyromance and @netgalley for a copy of this one. It’s out now!

While cute, it didn’t have enough character development or plot to hold my interest for long, and I was disappointed at the lack of diversity within Blake’s story. There was not a identifiable POC character with lines in this whole book, and that lack of representation spoke volumes for me.

I was left also disappointed with Claire and Delilahs chemistry, it absolutely could have been more developed then what was delivered, and honestly I only became a fan of Delilah during the last two chapters. I get the grumpy lesbian archetype, but she needed a depth of character that just was not given enough time to develop. That being said I understand that this book was marketed as a fun romance and on that front I did enjoy the premise of Wedding pranks and female friendships.

Cute! Lovely lesbian romance between an aspiring photographer estranged from her adopted family and a single mum who hasn't been able to put herself first due to an unreliable ex and a preteen daughter. I really enjoyed how this book dealt with the different ways people deal with shared trauma and different kinds of parental failings, and the way it made the queer experience a focus of the plot. The spice is really well written as well, and doesn't get repetitive or unbelievable.

<i>Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley publishing group for the ARC!</i>

I want more sapphic contemporary romances! I appreciated a lot about this one, though I did find myself more compelled by the relationship between Delilah and her sister Astrid than the romance itself. It's bold to start with a one night stand that is not with the love interest, and I really liked that about it, it's a really sexually charged book! That said, I think the book took a little longer for me to read than most; for whatever reason I did not find myself fully swept up in the storytelling.

It was cute romance. Loved the representation in it. Especially it's rare to find good romances LGBTQ themes. So I this was really cute and one a lot of people are going to want to read.