e-Audio, 11:37:14
Narrated by: Kristen DiMercurio
Release Date: November 22, 2022
Published by: Books on Tape
Read from: November 22-26, 2022
Bright Falls, #2
Source: PRH Audio (I received the audio copy of this book from PRH Audio in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
TW: Past Divorce, Strained Relationship with a parent, Gaslighting past partner
For Readers Interested In: Contemporary Romance, Realistic Fiction, LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian), HGTV, AdultAn interior designer who is never without the perfect plan learns to renovate her love life without one in this new romantic comedy by Ashley Herring Blake, author of Delilah Green Doesn’t Care.
For Astrid Parker, failure is unacceptable. Ever since she broke up with her fiancé a year ago, she’s been focused on her career–her friends might say she’s obsessed, but she knows she’s just driven. When Pru Everwood asks her to be the designer for the Everwood Inn’s renovation, which will be featured on a popular HGTV show, Innside America, Astrid is thrilled. Not only will the project distract her from her failed engagement and help her struggling business, but her perpetually displeased mother might finally give her a nod of approval.
However, Astrid never planned on Jordan Everwood, Pru’s granddaughter and the lead carpenter for the renovation, who despises every modern design decision Astrid makes. Jordan is determined to preserve the history of her family’s inn, particularly as the rest of her life is in shambles. When that determination turns into some light sabotage to ruffle Astrid’s perfect little feathers, the showrunners ask them to play up the tension. But somewhere along the way, their dislike for each other evolves into something quite different, and Astrid must decide what success truly means. Is she going to pursue the life that she’s expected to lead or the one that she wants?
*MY THOUGHTS*
When I heard that this book was going to be a thing, I was a little upset. Because I was not a fan of Astrid in the first book. But I know that just because she was rude, it didn’t make her any less deserving of love. So I decided to give her a chance…. And although she was a lot more mellow at the end of this, it took a rando lady who was also mean to get her there.
Ok so let’s start with the characters. I disliked everyone in this book besides the twin bro and the grandma. Neither of which are the main characters lol They were the most mellow and knew how to talk to people. Like the book opens with Astrid mad at Jordan because they ran into each other and had an accident. And like she was mad at the wrong things. Like she was mad at her dress, not at the fact that that shit was probably hot. She didn’t even mention that lol It was weird. I thought she got what she deserved when she saw who Jordan was. BUT Jordan was also terrible. She kept saying it wasn’t personal and stuff like that, but man, it really felt that way. Especially since neither one of them wanted to talk about anything. And then when they did, Jordan never really said exactly how much it meant to her. She always just beat around the bush about things. And y’all know nothing boils my blood more than miscommunication. And speaking of that, I was really pissed at the way they were doing Astrid. Like she was following what Simon told her. I don’t understand why nobody was mad at him?! Like why was this her fault? And I got mad at her because when they showed the first sign of disagreement, she should have quit, if nothing else to save face. I know she wanted that exposure, but man, this whole thing just was stupid.
The writing style of this was just ok. I didn’t like this one nearly as much as I liked Delilah Green. If I hadn’t been so mad at the characters, I think I would have enjoyed it more. I would have enjoyed it more if there was more about the legend of the house or the tarot reading. But I felt like that was left out to make sure that Astrid was in the wrong in the way she was planning. This annoyed me because it felt like things were happening to further the plot? If that makes sense. Because so much of this book would have worked if they had just talked.
The romance was weird. I know this was an enemies to lovers romance, but this was a little weird. I never got the clear line of them crossing from enemies to lovers. It just seemed they were attracted to each other and then they began to hate each other less and less. But it was never really clear when that line was crossed. I think I wanted more of a definition. I think it’s because I’m not one who likes enemies to lovers books, so that actual line was needed for me. And even when they were finally together, Jordan didn’t trust that woman. She only had to see one person and listen to what she was saying to have everything come falling down. Like if that’s all it took, for someone you claim you don’t even like, what’s going to happen when it’s someone else that you can actually tolerate? Idk, that just rubbed me the wrong way. (And let’s not just talk about the fact that she was a terrible person and TRASH for what she did in the end. Because babyyyyyy I will be here all day.)
The ending was also just ok to me. There isn’t any background to the tarot that they keep talking about, so it just seemed weird that it kept being used in the surface level. I wanted to know more about her doing and why she started and why it was important to her. Like it was just casually slipped in there. And yes I know that there’s the reason she started it in there but there’s no explanation and the whole thing is merely mentioned. But I wanted more. Especially if it’s used in the grand gesture. I thought it needed more than what it was given. The epilogue was cute and I was glad it gave a little checkin with the characters. Expecially Astrid because I felt really bad with the way things ended for her. Even as someone who wasn’t a fan of her, I didn’t care for how things happened for her.
This book wasn’t as good as the first, but it did help me get interested in the other characters. Which I realized might have been the plan when I saw that there was Iris’ book coming out next year. But she was always my favorite character, so I was already excited. But I am super excited to see what’s going to happen. Hopefully their book is more like Delilah’s.
Overall, I give this
Rating on Goodreads and Storygraph is 4