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biblio_gabriella's review
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
I know this book will appeal to a lot of readers, but sadly, I wasn’t one of them. Perhaps I just don’t vibe with the type of humor in this book. This book also employed many stereotypes that I personally don’t care for.
My favorite aspects of the book, by a landslide, were the setting and the side characters. I loved the concept of Rosebrook as an eco-friendly, accessible, LGBTQ+-inclusive village I loved Evan Fox’s (one of the MCs in The Duchess and the Dreamer, which I haven’t read) enthusiasm for the Rosebrook community and for making the world a better place. I appreciated the diversity of Rosebrook’s residents, for example: a woman in a wheelchair who’s given proper agency, a trans man whose backstory isn’t revealed unless he gives explicit permission to do so, a mother with PTSD learning to embrace her love life, several queer couples, etc. The MCs’ fathers (one of whom is gay!) are sweet, wholesome men who deserve the world. There are even some mentions of historical queer romances that I loved and wanted to know much more about!
Unfortunately, the beautiful setting and lovely side characters couldn’t save the romance for me. Ashling O’Rourke (23, lesbian) and Steff “Archie” Archer (36, lesbian) are forced to collaborate on Rosebrook’s administrative duties while Evan and her partner Clementine are away. When Ash was new to Rosebrook, Archie asked her to "make the tea like a good little secretary" (ugh!) and the two have butted heads ever since. Ash is mostly sweet and lovable, but I found that she didn’t have much personality. Archie was definitely my least favorite of the two, and I can’t say I ever liked her much. Archie is constantly condescending toward Ash in both her thoughts and actions, and it got really old after a while. These condescending thoughts also got repetitive: How many times did we have to be reminded of their age difference? How many times did Archie mentally dismiss Ash due to her lack of romantic experience and sheltered background, while never having had a serious romance herself? There’s one part of the book where Ash thinks of Archie as mature, and that made me laugh because so many of Archie’s actions are evidence to the contrary. The protags also play mind games with each other (Ash flirting with another character to make Archie jealous, Archie lying about her actions to appear less invested than she really is), which I didn’t like at all. The romance gets slightly better as the story goes on, but the end of the book, I still had no faith that Ash and Archie could stay together long-term.
There were also two very random chapters featuring Evan’s and Clementine’s POVs — one near the beginning and one near the end. Chapter Two even opens with a very explicit sex scene between Evan and Clementine, which was, um…an interesting choice. I’m not against having multiple couples’ POVs in a romance novel (I think this is done well in Unrivaled by Radclyffe, in which the other couple’s POVs are integrated well throughout the entire book), but I don’t think the ones in this book are necessary at all.
Tl;dr: I can tell Jenny Frame is a great writer and I adored the Rosebrook setting. However, I felt nothing for the romance except for some flickers of annoyance.
other content warnings: divorce (side characters, past), mentions of PTSD, mentions of war, parental rejection
I received an ARC from Bold Strokes Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
My favorite aspects of the book, by a landslide, were the setting and the side characters. I loved the concept of Rosebrook as an eco-friendly, accessible, LGBTQ+-inclusive village I loved Evan Fox’s (one of the MCs in The Duchess and the Dreamer, which I haven’t read) enthusiasm for the Rosebrook community and for making the world a better place. I appreciated the diversity of Rosebrook’s residents, for example: a woman in a wheelchair who’s given proper agency, a trans man whose backstory isn’t revealed unless he gives explicit permission to do so, a mother with PTSD learning to embrace her love life, several queer couples, etc. The MCs’ fathers (one of whom is gay!) are sweet, wholesome men who deserve the world. There are even some mentions of historical queer romances that I loved and wanted to know much more about!
Unfortunately, the beautiful setting and lovely side characters couldn’t save the romance for me. Ashling O’Rourke (23, lesbian) and Steff “Archie” Archer (36, lesbian) are forced to collaborate on Rosebrook’s administrative duties while Evan and her partner Clementine are away. When Ash was new to Rosebrook, Archie asked her to "make the tea like a good little secretary" (ugh!) and the two have butted heads ever since. Ash is mostly sweet and lovable, but I found that she didn’t have much personality. Archie was definitely my least favorite of the two, and I can’t say I ever liked her much. Archie is constantly condescending toward Ash in both her thoughts and actions, and it got really old after a while. These condescending thoughts also got repetitive: How many times did we have to be reminded of their age difference? How many times did Archie mentally dismiss Ash due to her lack of romantic experience and sheltered background, while never having had a serious romance herself? There’s one part of the book where Ash thinks of Archie as mature, and that made me laugh because so many of Archie’s actions are evidence to the contrary. The protags also play mind games with each other (Ash flirting with another character to make Archie jealous, Archie lying about her actions to appear less invested than she really is), which I didn’t like at all. The romance gets slightly better as the story goes on, but the end of the book, I still had no faith that Ash and Archie could stay together long-term.
There were also two very random chapters featuring Evan’s and Clementine’s POVs — one near the beginning and one near the end. Chapter Two even opens with a very explicit sex scene between Evan and Clementine, which was, um…an interesting choice. I’m not against having multiple couples’ POVs in a romance novel (I think this is done well in Unrivaled by Radclyffe, in which the other couple’s POVs are integrated well throughout the entire book), but I don’t think the ones in this book are necessary at all.
Tl;dr: I can tell Jenny Frame is a great writer and I adored the Rosebrook setting. However, I felt nothing for the romance except for some flickers of annoyance.
other content warnings: divorce (side characters, past), mentions of PTSD, mentions of war, parental rejection
I received an ARC from Bold Strokes Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Homophobia, Terminal illness, Transphobia, and Death of parent
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