It was hard to imagine that a second book could live up to the humor, heat, romance, and emotion of Delilah Green Doesn't Care, but Ashley Herring Blake can pretty much do anything. It's a challenge to take someone who was a minor villain throughout most of the first book and turn them into someone whose delicate emotions and deep fears are real and painful and joyful and present, but it happened almost instantly. Twists in the story made me gasp, love scenes made me blush, I'd read it again and again. Excellent.

loved loved loved how this was more of a slowburn than delilah green. also the way their meet cute actually turned into a meet disaster was so hilarious. i actually went through this entire book while i was waiting in line for rides at disneyland i was obsessed. i loved how astrid finally got the courage to embrace what truly makes her halpy with some of jordans help and how jordan was able tk realize hkw she deserved better ad her own “destiny.” alsoo the descriptions of the remodel were so good i usually dont bother paying attention to stuff like that but i could vividly pocture what each of the rooms looked like.

I read “Delilah Green Doesn’t Care” earlier this year and absolutely loved it. So when I found out Astrid was getting a book I immediately added it to my tbr! Thanks to NetGalley I got an ARC and let me tell you I was not disappointed. After reading “Delilah Green Doesn't Care” I wanted Astrid to have a happy ending and I’m so glad she did. I fell in love with Jordan immediately, she was so relatable to me. I have to admit anything home improvement wise loses my interest but, Ashley Herring Blake was able to keep my attention, and I can’t wait to pick up “Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date”!!

Astrid Parker still reeling from a breakup with her former fiancée, she lands a job to help her raise her prospects in her decorating business when she literally runs into Jordan Everwood and a cupful of coffee. This inauspicious beginning is truly the start of something anyway. Working together to restore the Everwood Inn Jordan's family's inn the two women manage to find a space to meet to accomplish their goals, for Astrid it's a way for her to boost her business and for Jordan it's a way to help bring success back to her family's inn. Both women are dealing with things from their past, for Astrid it's the failure of her engagement and her overbearing mother and Jordan it's a loss of a previous relationship. I liked both characters both Astrid and Jordan were lovely people. Astrid was very buttoned up and restrained but that came about because she was being kept back by society's expectations, her mother's expectations and her desire to be what other people expected and not look for what she wanted out of life. Jordan hampered by her loss still felt more reachable because she was not locked into some one else's expectations but instead was hoping to find something. This was a lovely romance with characters that you wanted to find each other and the happiness that they were missing in their lives.

This was such a fun read. I recently finished Delilah Green Doesn’t Care and knew I would love this one just as much. The writing is compelling and made me laugh aloud. I will definitely be purchasing copies for the library!

I had so much fun with this book! Its prequel is one of my fav romance novels ever, so I had high hopes for this one. & while it didn't quite compare to [book:Delilah Green Doesn't Care|54756850], I still really enjoyed myself. I wish there had been a bit more time for the romance to develop, but the author still made me cry like, 2 whole times. (What is an Ashley Herring Blake novel without crying multiple times??) Overall, really enjoyed myself, & I can't wait to see what happens in the 3rd book!

How lucky are we to receive two Ashley Herring Blake novels in one year? DELILAH GREEN DOESN'T CARE was a truly fantastic release earlier in 2022, and the next in the series does not disappoint. Astrid and Jordan have a charming enemies to lovers romance that is really believable -- I love this trope, but many authors lean in too hard & have the antagonism be so intense (or so petty) that it's hard to believe it could turn into romance at the drop of a hat. Blake realizes that the struggle is never with the other person at all -- really, the source of all the characters' banter and prickliness comes from within. I was so charmed by Jordan's vulnerability (hidden beneath her grumpy mess of an exterior) and Astrid's churning anxiety (which, as for so many of us, stems from a messy web of causes rather than one Big Trauma). Do I detect the set-up for a third novel about Iris & Simon and possibly even a fourth with Josh (and Natasha?!)? Let's keep our fingers crossed!

It is a delight to be back in Bright Falls amongst the coven of close knit friends.
This time it’s Astrid’s story and she confusingly finds herself falling for a female carpenter on a big-deal televised renovation where she is the lead designer.
Lots of pining and swoon worthy declarations, plus one of my favorite grand gestures I have ever read. I can’t wait for Iris’s turn next year.

I loved Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail just as much (maybe more, I keep going back and forth) as Delilah Green Doesn’t Care. The cast from Bright Falls returns, this time adding the Jordan and Everwood family as new characters.

Although this could be read as a standalone, having the familiar characters return from book one is so great. It’s nice to get updates from beloved characters and the scene is set for what will be in store for Iris’ book.

The dedication, ‘For everyone who figured it out a little later in life’, had me tearing up and really set the tone for the way Astrid’s arc was handled. I enjoyed watching Astrid grow as a character and loved the way her coming to terms with her new attraction was handled.

Astrid and Jordan’s relationship is a delightful rollercoaster of tension. I think Jordan’s characterization was great, and I felt like I was falling for her alongside Astrid. For a romance book I’d consider it a slower burn but worth the wait!

Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for sending me the eARC for review consideration, however all opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed Astrid in Delilah Green Doesn't Care, and was so excited to see that she got her own book! That being said, I felt like Astrid didn't shine as brightly in Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail? I don't know what it was, but something was missing in this book for me and I just felt really let down.. I felt like a lot of this book was more tell than show, and I wanted to see more out of Astrid? I just felt like there wasn't a lot of character growth, I think...

Delilah Green Doesn't Care took us all by storm last year for a good reason. I thought that there was no way the second book could possibly meet up to it, but, for me, Astrid Parker Doesn't Care surpassed even Delilah Green. Did it help that there were several She-Ra references and that Astrid and Jordan are totally Adora and Catra without, you know, being in space? Yes, yes, it did. But I also love how seamlessly Blake manages to fit themes of romance, trauma, abandonment, and friendship into one book. It was truly a delight to read - so much so that I read it all in one day. I have a feeling this will be one of my top books of 2022.

A great next installment in the Bright Falls series! I loved Astrid and Jordan's character development; it was so nice seeing them grow as individuals in their professional and personal lives, and also together as a couple. Astrid's desire for perfection and to please her mother personally struck close to home for me. I think readers will appreciate her internal struggle to become the best version of herself that is different from what's expected of her. Ashley Herring Blake is a phenomenal writer and I look forward to reading Iris' story!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I loved the first book in the series, and while this one wasn't quite as strong, I still enjoyed it. It was nice to check in on Claire & Delilah, and I wish there'd been a bit more of them in this one. It's the same style of generally good, funny, sexy & romantic queer love.

I am absolutely over the moon for this book. Astrid and Jordan picked up my heart and ran away with it in an Instant upon their very first meeting. They are messy and wild and sexy and funny as hell. I want to see this renovation I want to stay at this Inn I want to live in the world of this book. What an incredible addition to the series that only leaves you wanting more and more from this group of found family!

I've been on a sapphic kick this month and Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail by Ashley Herring Blake is going down as one of my favorites! Designer Astrid Parker and carpenter Jordan Everwood get off on the wrong foot when they first meet and struggle to put differences aside as they work together on a reality tv show to renovate Jordan's grandmother's inn.

From a meet disaster to secretly working together, I loved the way that Astrid and Jordan clashed and then came together. Astrid is a character who now has a special place in my heart because there were so many parts of her arc and journey that resonated with me. Meeting Jordan is the catalyst that sets Astrid off on a journey of exploring her bisexuality and learning to go after all of the things she wanted in life. She transforms from someone who was brittle and breaking under the pressures of a future she never asked for to someone daring to take risks, and I loved how take charge she was in pursuing Jordan.

Jordan is equally special—a character who is struggling to let go of feelings of inadequacy after being left by a partner who made her feel less than what she is. Her path of recognizing that she is worthy of love, that her talents deserve to be celebrated, that she is someone worth fighting for and believing in, really hit me in the heart.

Add in a supportive queer friend group, the perfect balance of humor and levity to contrast the real human emotions at the core, and some truly delicious sexual tension—and this was a winner for me all around. It was a book that I never wanted to put down when I was reading it, and it has me so excited to go back and read the first book in the series (Delilah Green Doesn't Care).

This book publishes in November and I can't wait to have a physical copy for my shelves. AHB has a helpful list of CWs on her website to check out before you dive in.

Another fantastic queer novel from Ashley Herring Blake. I didn't think I liked romance novels until I started reading hers. They're fun, sweet, sexy, and engaging.

I was ecstatic to get the chance to even apply for this book, as I had just recently finished (or more accurately, devoured) Delilah Green. Similarly, I read this title in just under 24 hours.

Astrid's tale is one that doesn't feel as if it's drawing out the world, rather it feels as if it's building on a place that was missing from the first book. As I finished Delilah, I knew I wanted more from her friend's stories. Astrid's story felt right into that place.

I was concerned the queerness with Astrid would feel inauthentic with her history, but its as exactly the opposite. As someone who came into their queer identity later in life than most, I feel deeply connected to her in a way I didn't with Delilah (even though I loved that book just as much).

I also found the callbacks to Delilah were strong and well placed, as were the small hints of foreshadowing that seem to point to Iris's upcoming story (which I can only hope will have a pink cover so the trilogy is bi).

A small note is that there are small grammar errors (but it is an ARC, of course), and I found that the text messages needed some reformatting for clarity.

Besides that, Blake does a wonderful job at creating characters who are equally aware and fully unaware of what they want or need. It was great representation and the story flies by. Totally recommend, and thank you again to Berkley for giving me a chance to read and review!

3.5 this truly took me forever to read and was putting me in a slump. I just don’t care about Astrid. I did like that she came out later in life because I did too so I really connected to her in that way but otherwise idk. The smut level was spicy and I think it was even better than Delilah so I’m glad I read it but it wasn’t my favorite.

just finished this ARC !! super cute follow up to delilah green doesn’t care, but i felt like it was missing something. in the first book we had both delilah & claire as well as the drama with astrid and her then fiancé, but this time it felt like we only focused on astrid and jordan. still loved and recommend but it’s not an instant 5 star read like the last one was for me. excited to hear that the next installment is all about Iris !!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This book was EVERYTHING I wanted. I was hooked from the first chapter. This was one of my most anticipated reads of this year after absolutely loving Delilah Green Doesn't Care and it did not disappoint.

Astrid, an uptight, high-strung perfectionist is hired to do an interior design job for the Everwood Inn, one that's going to be featured on a reality TV show. This is especially important for her to get right, as her career is in a bit of a slump.

Enter Jordan Everwood, granddaughter of Pru Everwood, the owner of the inn, and lead carpenter on the project. She's trying to get her life back together after it completely fell apart, and having to deal with Astrid (especially after their first encounter) is definitely challenging.

The tension between Astrid and Jordan was immaculate, and their banter was amazing. I was already looking forward to a book about Astrid, because I relate to her (maybe a little bit too much), but Jordan's character was such as nice surprise. I loved both of them so much. I was so invested in their story that I was (not infrequently) talking to the book (and sometimes yelling).

Plus, the other character's were featured nicely. It was good to read a bit about Delilah and Claire again, and now I'm also really excited for Iris' book.