Delilah Green Doesn't Care by Ashley Herring Blake

Intro

Delilah Green has always wanted casual. As a struggling photographer in New York, she doesn’t have time for anything serious and is just fine with the daily routine of hooking up with women in bars and apartments, and then abruptly leaving the next morning. Claire Sutherland has way too much going on in her life. As a single mom who got pregnant at 19 and now has an eleven year old daughter with an un reliable ex boyfriend  as Ruby’s dad, she always puts her family first. But when Delilah gets hired by her estranged stepsister Astrid to be the photographer for Astrid’s wedding, she can’t say no to the huge sum of money. As much as she hates her hometown, Astrid, and Astrid’s insufferable mother Isabel who was married to Delilah’s dad before he died, and became Delilah’s only guardian since her mother died when Delilah was three. But when she is back at a bar in her hometown, she meets Claire, Astrid’s childhood best friend who unknowingly hits on her without realizing Delilah is the girl she and Astrid and their other friend Iris all gossiped about and ignored when they were kids. Astrid comes to the bar and introduces them, and while Claire does her best to try to forget about Delilah because it would be a horrible idea to take interest in your best friend’s sister, Delilah makes a bet to Astrid that she will get Claire to sleep with her before Astrid’s wedding in two weeks. When they are all together at events for the wedding, what started as a bet and Claire trying to get her mind off Delilah turns into more longing and want that both women are desperately trying to ignore. And when Delilah has to share a hotel room with Claire, they can no longer ignore the feeling and everything explodes, except they have to keep what they are doing a secret, since there is no way Astrid can know. And with Ruby and Josh always leaving and never keeping his promises, Claire’s life is way too busy for someone new. But as Claire and Delilah’s feelings progress and they get to know each other more, they realize even though it might be impossible, they find themselves wanting to include each other in their lives, no matter how busy and stressful they are.

How I came across the book

I originally got this book at the Ripped Bodice in New York last summer and this book and later the other books in the series was the thing that made me want to start reviewing books and gave me the idea of actually sharing my thoughts with people. this summer, i decided to review it for pride month since it is my favorite queer book and i loved re-reading it.

Books by the author/In the series

Delilah Green Doesn’t Care is the first book in the Bright Falls Series, along with the second book, Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail, and the third book, Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date.

The Good

• When Delilah and Claire meet in the bar for the first time and Claire hasn’t yet figured out who Delilah is or that she’s queer so Delilah comes up behind her and WHISPERS IN HER EAR SEDUCTIVELY THAT SHE IS QUEER AND CLAIRE SOFTLY BREATHES WHILE DELILAH’S LIP IS BRUSHING HER EAR

• I really admire Delilah’s deep decidication and ambition for her photography career because it is evident she wants to pursue her dream and would choose photography over anything else even if it doesn’t pay well and she is struggling to find an agent

• At wisteria house when Delilah sees the only photo of her on the wall is a family photo with her father and she starts getting nervous and dizzy and Claire doesn’t let go of her arm and just stays with her even though she could have left with Astrid

• AT THE HOTEL WHEN ASTRID ONLY BOOKED 3 ROOMS AND NOT A ROOM FOR DELILAH AND CLAIRE SAYS THAT DELILAH CAN STAY IN HER ROOM

• Before Claire and Delilah’s first kiss Delilah is explaining to Claire how she got started in photography because of her heartbreak and she’s never told anyone that before and Claire listens so patiently and when Delilah tells Claire that she was the inspiration for her photos Claire explains that she had just slept with Josh again who had left and Ruby was crying once again, and Delilah apologizes for being there even though it happened a long time ago and I love the way they respond to each other with such care and understanding and their first kiss is soft and sweet with them asking for permission to touch each other in places and it is really important that the author values consent and care in this book and Blake’s writing is so detailed and slow meaning I feel like i am going through a blur of a movie scene when I read this and I appreciate so much how much effort and descriptive language is put in to the characters trying to truly understand each other

• I really appreciate how Blake writes the perfect level of romance while also incorporating the complex backstories of both women to strengthen the story and their relationship

• It’s really special how even though Iris and Claire have their doubts about Spencer and have been plotting against Astrid the whole story, they are still Astrid’s best friends and when Astrid and Spencer break up they automatically comfort her and are there for her and give lots of support even though Astrid doesn’t really know what she wants yet, her best friends are willing to be with her through all of it and it shows just how important it is to have people you can be yourself around and who will be there whenever you need them and support you no matter what

• When Claire sees Delilah reading Astrid’s journals and they start talking about their childhood and Claire is just listening to Delilah talking about herself and being supportive and Iove how they want to stick around for each other and support each other and don’t just leave when things get hard

• WHEN ASTRID CATCHES CLAIRE AND DELILAH MAKING OUT IN HER CHILDHOOD BEDROOM ON HER BED

• When Josh takes Ruby and Claire to the house he built in winter lake and says he’s serious this time and wants them to be a family

• How Astrid and Delilah finally apologize to each other at Delilah’s art show about the way they treated each other as kids and as adults and put their past behind them because they both want to be sisters for once

• WHEN CLAIRE AND DELILAH FINALLY HAVE THE TALK ABOUT WHAT THEY ARE AND AGREE TO BE TOGETHER AND DELILAH IS GOING TO MOVE TO BRIGHT FALLS FOR CLAIRE

• The final chapter when Astrid, Claire, Delilah, and Iris are all sitting around a table and drinking and laughing and Delilah has finally gotten the life that she wants after being unhappy for so long

the bad

• At wisteria house Astrid’s fiance Spencer who everyone hates tells her he needs champagne and to “help a guy out,” has the audacity to call her babe like she belongs to him AND THEN watches her go just looking at her AND CALLS HER A GOOD GIRL and Delilah says she thinks he means woman because Astrid is a woman and ew he’s just so creepy and there’s a reason all of Astrid’s friends hate him

• SPENCER LOOKS AT CLAIRE’S CHEST UGH HE IS ENGAGED HE SHOULD KNOW BETTER BUT CLEARLY HE DOESNT AND HE’S AN ASSHOLE

• I HATE how Spencer just always controls Astrid and only likes her for her looks and doesn’t even care about her feelings such as at the dinner at wisteria house when the question of family comes up Astrid says they aren’t in a rush but Spencer COMPLETELY ignores her and says they are going to have three boys once they move to Seattle and settle down

• Delilah demands at the dinner with Astrid and her friends for Astrid to tell her all the juicy details about Spencer but Astrid’s smile visibly fades and everyone notices and she is so ambitious and she shouldn’t have to force herself into a marriage with a creepy possesive guy just because he gives her everything she wants if he doesn’t make her feel loved

• How Isabel treats Astrid after her breakup is just absolutely horrible and she doesn’t even care about Astrid’s feelings only that Astrid is perfect and successful so it can boost Isabel’s own reputation

Who else would like this

Fans of queer love and an exciting and complex (and smutty) lesbian romance that explores how people navigate love while handling their own adult lives with super interesting backstories and character development that will make it impossible to put the book down

Rating

10/10 This was the first queer romance book that I ever read and it was so amazing that I literally did not put the book down until I finished it and I spent a whole entire day binge reading it.