Delilah Green Doesn’t Care
Ashley Herring Blake
Hello, 2023!
I absolutely love to start the year off with a good book, and Delilah Green Doesn’t Care, is also my first 5 star book of the year too. For once the Goodreads algorithms got it right for me!
With the signature illustration style of cover that’s become synonymous with romantic comedy genre right now, I was drawn in by the level of effort and detail that went into this one. Compared with other covers, there is character to the design rather than what feels like a half hearted pivot on other publisher’s parts to match the current trend, and to me that boded well for what would be within its pages.
Outside of the superficial evaluation, the complex female characters within are wholly their own flawed selves, including their unlikeable moments which frame the romance between estranged photographer Delilah Green, and her step-sister’s best friend Claire Sutherland. This book is polished to a shine with believable motivations, reactions and reveals, and nods to popular romance tropes. As a whole, it feels believable and grounded when I compare it to my other top contemporary Sapphic romance — Written in the Stars (which I have somehow failed to review, but is much more on the fluff side).
Delilah Green swore she would never go back to Bright Falls—nothing is there for her but memories of a lonely childhood where she was little more than a burden to her cold and distant stepfamily. Her life is in New York, with her photography career finally gaining steam and her bed never empty. Sure, it’s a different woman every night, but that’s just fine with her.
Goodreads blurb
When Delilah’s estranged stepsister, Astrid, pressures her into photographing her wedding with a guilt trip and a five-figure check, Delilah finds herself back in the godforsaken town that she used to call home. She plans to breeze in and out, but then she sees Claire Sutherland, one of Astrid’s stuck-up besties, and decides that maybe there’s some fun (and a little retribution) to be had in Bright Falls, after all.
Having raised her eleven-year-old daughter mostly on her own while dealing with her unreliable ex and running a bookstore, Claire Sutherland depends upon a life without surprises. And Delilah Green is an unwelcome surprise…at first. Though they’ve known each other for years, they don’t really know each other—so Claire is unsettled when Delilah figures out exactly what buttons to push. When they’re forced together during a gauntlet of wedding preparations—including a plot to save Astrid from her horrible fiancé—Claire isn’t sure she has the strength to resist Delilah’s charms. Even worse, she’s starting to think she doesn’t want to…
Delilah Green is a woman with few material things and a whole lot of proverbial baggage. Her growth as a character is meaningful and will resonate with anyone who went through the awkward loner phase in their teenage years; though hers had a hefty dollop of grief mixed in. Her bravado and self-confidence come with the wisdom of reclaiming and forming an identity of one’s own — in some ways, she serves as more of an inspiration (even if, let’s be honest, from the outside her actions are kind of terrible sometimes). But that goes to show how well she is written in that, despite doing wrong, Delilah Green maybe just might care a little, and has the courage to do what others only think of doing.
Claire Sutherland, a single mom with a complicated history with her co-parent, hasn’t exactly had a golden life — but she’s made do with the cards she was handed and loves her life all the same. I cannot speak to the authenticity of her voice as a mother, but I appreciated the fact that she maintained an identity outside of motherhood by leaning on her “village”. Iris and Astrid, in particular, are also women who have made a life for themselves and make the effort to carve out space and time for their friendship without being saccharine in their affection. Loving people isn’t always easy, romantically or platonically.
The romance here is delightful to watch unfold, the surety of it doesn’t waffle on “do they/don’t they” like each other, and instead hinges on how far each is willing to go while making the discovery that they are each way in over their heads for each other while simultaneously wanting to play it off and be cool and composed. It also earns my “Certified Steamy” badge, with gorgeously written scenes that are all different from each other.
One of my small gripes with the wlw fiction I have read is authors seem to think women can have sex with each other in very limited ways and yet all of them (Delilah Green included) seem to fall into the mass market romance genre’s fallacy that once you have a human partner, toys are no longer needed. I appreciate the mention of them, but they are still used as a source of shame and embarrassment meant to garner a laugh, which I get, but man someone needs to stand up for them at some point and whomever does…they will get a lot of money. Specifically my money.
That small tirade/tangent aside, I adored this book. With petty “kill prank your local misogynist” vibes on full display, there’s more than just a Happy For Now ending for Claire and Delilah, and I look forward to reading the next in the Bright Falls series, Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail. With this review posted, you’ll see me come up for air next time once I’ve finished it.
The Little Book Witch 