Perfect second book in the series. It felt a little rushed but I still loved Astrid and Jordan. Two unlikely people finding love. I loved the first book in the series. I’m excited to see what else Ashley Herring Blake has in store. She’s one of my new favorite authors.

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing me with an e-Arc in exchange for my thoughts.

when i found out i was approved for astrid parker doesn’t lie i think i actually screamed. a follow up sapphic romance to a sapphic romance that i loved about a girl with mommy issues discovering her sexuality and a soft butch who builds things??? sign me up immediately!! this book was soooo good!! i literally did not want to put it down once i started bc the characters had sucked me into their story. astrid parker is my baby and if anyone harms even a hair on her pretty, little head they will have to deal with me.

over all, please please please read this book and continue reading the bright falls series it’s so so so good.

I enjoyed the romance a little more than Delilah's. This one I could feel a bit more chemistry between the two characters. This however was so slow. Just like Delilah Green Doesn't Care. I have a feeling that this author just writes slow books. I really don't like the spice scenes in these books. Maybe it's because I'm expecting alot more to be in them than some touching and tongue action. I just feel like the spice scenes are lacking. I loved seeing Astrid's growth in this book and I'm interested in seeing how exactly her relationship with her mother plays out. I didn't like how we were told alot of these things last minute in the book or are told when it would have been better to have seen first hand how it played out. An example of this is when we see Iris with a new person. We aren't told until way later in the book that the guy she was with originally in Delilah Green Doesn't Care broke up with each other. I'm excited to see if the next book is any better. So far these books have been enjoyable but lacking. Lacking in romance, some character development, and some plot.

I loved Delilah Green Doesn't Care and was very excited when the publisher sent me the arc of Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail. I had very high expectations and this book did not disappoint. Honestly, I loved this one even more. In DGDC I didn't particularly like Astrid, she was too uptight. I liked how her and Delilah's relationship progressed but I didn't actually like her. The 180 this book made me do though. I love Astrid, I loved seeing her character progress and learn from her mistakes. I loved seeing her come into her own. I also love seeing a wlw story where one of them is learning about their sexuality later in life. I binged this book and couldn't seem to put it down. I will definitely be rereading this one!

⚠️ Warning! ⚠️ This review probably contains spoilers! ⚠️

✔️ rivals to lovers
✔️ meet ugly
✔️ strong female friendships
✔️ a minor twist that actually made me gasp

The Good:
Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail was so much better than Delilah Green Doesn’t Care, which to means that the author is improving as they continue to write, and we love to see progress. I liked the pacing of Astrid and Jordan’s relationship, from their disastrous first meeting to their ‘collabortition’ for the cameras, to when they actually develop a friendship and feelings for each other. Both women had baggage from family and past relationships, and though they weren’t the same experience, it helped them understand one another. On a more personal note, Astrid’s relationship with her mother felt extremely relatable to me, so I was rooting for her from the get-go.

The Bad:
Why was the smut still boring?

The Ugly:
I thought the driving force for Astrid and Jordan to have their last-quarter book break-up was pretty mediocre. At least Delilah and Claire had thousands of miles keeping them apart on top of their emotional states.

*STAR BREAKDOWN*
📕 Cover: ★★★★★
📖 Story: ★★★★☆
👥 Characters: ★★★★☆
👄 Banter: ★★★☆☆
🌶️ Spice: ★★☆☆☆
🌟 Overall Rating: ★★★★☆

I really enjoyed this novel, and especially the first half. I felt that the characterizations and personalities for both Astrid and Jordan were very unique, and am completely in love with both characters. I thought their romance was also really compelling, and I enjoyed the TV show plot line. However, I was disappointed by the second half just a bit because the amazing backstories given to the characters in the first half are left out to dry without much development. I wished for more compelling healing for both characters, and wanted a bit more especially with Jordan's backstory. Will be posting about this book on my account!

Let's start this off clear and simple: I'm disappointed. I had mostly really enjoyed Delilah's book, and was looking forward to seeing Astrid develop.

The worst issue this book has is with it's method of diversifying the cast. Frequently, when characters of colour were introduced, their race was stated before anything else about them. A few times, characters had discussions of feminism or mentioned trans and non-binary characters and whenever they did that, they would speak the same way a Wikipedia article reads. These attempts, although much appreciated, were stilted and awkward and broke the flow of the entire story.

One of the major problems, for me, was Jordan. She was highly judgemental without ever analysing her own actions, quick to blow up at Astrid for minor things. The most infuriating thing Jordan did was getting upset at Astrid for doing to her the same thing she was doing to Astrid. This made for an incredibly annoying read, as the focus was very often on her and not on Astrid, which just enhanced the feel of disappointment.

This, in of itself, was also a major complaint I had: Astrid's story barely got any development despite her being the main character. All of the internal struggles she had felt contrived in order to allow more space for Jordan.

Jordan and Astrid's supposed "chemistry" was completely unconvincing. When they were in the "rivals" part of their relationship, I felt none of the tension that was supposed to be there, and since that was technically the foundation of their relationship, it made their romance difficult to root for.

I did not like the way Meredith was portrayed here at all, I feel like Jordan was quite unfair to her. Most of the newly introduced characters barely had any effect on the plot. However, the coven's characterisation was consistent to the previous book, which was nice to see.

The TV show element was highly underdeveloped -- frankly, it barely had any effect on the plot.

Overall, I'm honestly rather disappointed. I had hopes and none of them were met.

Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail was an amazing follow up to Delilah Green and I can’t wait for everyone to read it.

As someone who figured out their sexuality later in life, it meant a lot to see Astrid go through the same thing.

I wasn’t a big fan of Astrid in Delilah Green, but now she’s one of my favorite characters.

Jordan and Astrid just have so much chemistry and the spice in this book, dare I say better than Delilah Green.

I’m excited to read Iris’s book and to see how things end for this series.

Sadly, this book didn't work for me the way Delilah did. Astrid wasn't a character I even remotely liked in the first of this series. I understand a late in life coming out, but there was an open, loving, community around her of queer women and to NEVER mention it, to see no signs of it at all in the first book, and then shift in this one just didn't work. Her personality is grating, I never got a real feel for the characters, who felt very underdeveloped, and I was disconnected from the story. I understand never feeling good enough. I understand a late in life discovery-because, hello, same. BUT, I just didn't care for the book.

Mentions of cancer are VERY touchy for me, and I hated that I was blindsided by that.

Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail was an adorable follow up to Delilah Green. Astrid may have been the 'evil' stepsister, but she truly stepped out of that role with this sequel. This story follows Astrid post break up trying to find a life that isn't influenced by her mother. She meets Jordan, they get off on the wrong foot, but they find their footing as they begin to work together. I love a queer romance and this installment did not disappoint.

I enjoyed this book even more than Delilah Green and i'm not even sure how??? I think it's impossible for Ashley Herring Blake to write a book I won't love.

As someone who realized they were queer at 32, this mean the absolute world to me.

I loved Astrid Parker in 'Delilah Green Doesn't Care' and was really excited to see she was getting her own book! After her disaster of an engagement and subsequent breakup, Astrid Parker is on a mission: design the famous Everwood Inn, have it televised, and finally put herself back on the map. Having her career back on track will surely fix everything in her personal life, even her relationship with her mother, right? Our other lead, Jordan Everwood, has been heartbroken and in a rut for far too long. Recently returned to Bright Falls, she's not about to let her family's historic inn be turned into something bland and lifeless like what ever this Astrid Parker is putting together.

And then there's a fateful coffee spill.

'Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail" has plenty of things to love, starting with our two leads Astrid and Jordan meeting in the worst of ways! From there it devolves into some very fun tropes, with plenty of sexiness and emotion to hit just right. Friendship, family and found family were big parts of Delilah's book and even more so in Astrid's, between Astrid's perilously unsteady relationship with her mother and Jordan's protective family.

I really enjoyed Astrid's exploration of herself and her sexuality and that there's no immediate slapping a label on herself and moving on. The author gives her time to figure herself out, not all on the page. The romance had the chance to mostly stand on it's own outside of Astrid's newly realized sexual preferences.

I loved going back to Bright Falls and can't wait for the next installment. Five out of Five stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book was fantastic. I very much enjoyed Delilah Green Doesn't Care, and this sequel was even better! It was such a delight to be back in with these wonderful, charming and diverse characters. The plot in this sequel is cute, and hasthe right amount of head strong stubbornness to keep the anti up and then when we finally have our couple come together it's so natural and flawless! I loved it. I've already told so many people to keep an eye out for this one!

I really enjoyed this book! It took me entirely too long to read, but that's my fault, not the book's.

This book is the story of Astrid, Delilah's step-sister, and while I did really like the story, I didn't like it quite as much as I liked Delilah's book. I don't think that I can point to any one thing that lowered my rating of this one, it just wasn't quite there for me? But it is a strong 4 stars, maybe even verging on 4.5 stars?

Some things that I really liked about this story are:
-there's no gay panic when Astrid starts to have feelings for Jordan. It's more of an 'oh, huh' sort of thing, which I really appreciated
-calling out heteronormative behaviour as being homophobic
-YOUR SONG!!! I won't say more so that I don't spoil it, but honestly this is one of my favourite songs, I love it so much, and that the Ewan McGregor/Moulin Rouge version is mentioned, just did me in *swoon* (I am now listening to that version while writing this review)
-I love how Astrid's friend group is just so accepting and don't question anything. Like, oh, you've figured out this new thing about yourself, great, next.
-just about every character in this book is queer, and it doesn't seem weird. I've read a couple of books where everyone is queer and it feels really off (probably because in those ones every character was a gay man, which doesn't seem very realistic), but this didn't feel off at all. I like that there was a variety of folks, bi, lesbian, enby, it made it feel like something that could realistically happen IRL

Overall, a really solid book that I really enjoyed.

The second book in the Bright Falls series, we now get to learn more about the perpetually perfect Astrid. I loved the continued focus on found family, as well as the female friendships that drive the novel. This book doesn't have as much steam as Delilah Green Doesn't Care, and takes much longer to get to the juicy chapters, but it's well worth the wait. Can't wait for the third book!

I adored Delilah Green Doesn't Care so I had high hopes for the second book in the series and it didn't let me down. This book follows Astrid Parker, the overachiever perfectionist stepsister to Delilah Green who we met in book one. I loved the sort-of enemies to lovers story, the reality tv storyline, Astrid's later in life discovery of her sexuality when she falling for Jordan, the carpenter for the restoration Astrid is designing. And all the banter between them was so good. I can't wait for the next book in the series about Iris (and Simon, I'm guessing)!

I absolutely loved this! I adore an enemies to friends romance, and this didn’t disappoint. I love the way this author develops her characters. The renovation show premise wasn’t exactly my favorite, because it made the story seem less relatable, but I still loved the book.

Thanks to Penguin Random House for the ARC!

This book was everything I wanted and so much more. I am absolutely in love with the characters we've met in Bright Falls and I cannot recommend this series enough to anyone. Give me all the Blake books. I cannot wait to read about Iris next.

Also, *spoiler* that closet scene had me dying.

Delilah Green Doesn't Care is one of my top reads for this year. I read that book over and over and I was ELATED that Astrid was going to get her own book and that this was developing into a series. I couldn't wait to dive back into Bright Falls and Ashley Herring Blake did NOT disappoint. I loved everything about this book. I'm obsessed with AHB's writing and her ability to weave a story. This queer romance is everything my heart's wanted for yeeeears. 
After Astrid calls off her engagement, she's exerting control in every aspect of her life. She's always done exactly what's expected of her. She's finally got an amazing opportunity to design the infamous Everwood Inn and have it broadcast on TV with the show Innside America. What an opportunity! She has no intention of letting this fail. What she didn't count on is the lead carpenter and granddaughter of the owner of Everwood Inn, Jordan Everwood. 
Jordan is weaving her life back together after a huge loss. Her twin brother brings her back home, to Bright Falls to work on the renovation of their grandmother's inn. She doesn't expect to clash with the lead designer on the project. 
This is a wonderful story. I loved watching this enemies-to-lovers story unfold. Blake has a stellar ability to write amazing chemistry and such relatable characters. This story had everything I could have asked for, angst, chemistry, so much tension, a beautiful amount of spice, heartwrenching scenarios, and an HEA.

After reading this authors previous book. I knew I had to read this one. Not only does it cater to such a large demand, it also resonated with so many others. I appreciate the way this authors crafts such a beautiful story together , that both brings tears of pain and joy on to my face. The book isn’t necessarily sad at all either, but just reading about two people falling in love and the gradual progression of it makes me want to burst into tears. I adored this so much. 5/5 very happy and emotional stars!