A review by finnickdeservedbetter
Iris Kelly Doesn't Date by Ashley Herring Blake

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Tropes & Themes:

- f/f pairing (lesbian x bi)
- romance author x theatre actor
- fake dating
- spicy lessons
- dating lessons
- failed one night stand
- small town
- mid-sized FMC
- anxiety rep

Spice level: low-medium
3 explicit sex scenes 

Representation
- Bi MC & multiple secondary characters
- Lesbian MC & multiple secondary characters
- 2 non-binary side characters
- Several POC side characters
- MC with Generalized Anxiety Disorder

My thoughts:

I loved it. It took me a second to warm up to Iris in Delilah Green Doesn't Care but once I did, I love her and I knew her book would be my favourite. Surprise, surprise, I was right. 

I loved seeing GAD rep. Anxiety as a whole isn't discussed a lot in fiction, especially in contemporary romance. I also liked the emphasis on it being part of Stevie, but not defining her. It's not a personal fault. It just is what it is.

Another thing I loved was the child-free by choice rep. So often (as in 9.9/10 times) a women's HEA in romance books is being married, having 2.4 kids, and living in the suburbs in a house with a white picket fence. That's fine and dandy...if that's what you want. That's not the case for so many women but those women are so rarely represented. 

Anyways, I'm stop yapping, otherwise we'll get into spoiler territory. 
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