While I didn't like this sequel as much as the first book, it was still an enjoyable read. It took a while for me to get into the plot, but it still ended up being a sweet romance that i really enjoyed

Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail is the second in the series by Ashley Herring Blake. I absolutely loved the first book, Delilah Green Doesn’t Care so I was incredibly excited to get an ARC copy from @netgalley, and it DELIVERED!

If you read the first book in the series you know that Astrid Parker’s engagement to her fiancé ended before they made it to the altar. Since then, Astrid has been focusing on her job to keep her mind distracted from her perceived failure of a relationship. When she gets the opportunity to renovate the local Everwood Inn for the hit renovation tv show, Innside America, she sees it as an opportunity to boost her struggling business, and finally get her mother’s approval.

Enter Jordan Everwood, granddaughter of Pru Everwood, owner of the Everwood Inn. Jordan is fresh off a heartbreak when her twin brother convinces her to come back to their hometown to be the lead carpenter during the renovation. She’s reluctant, but her life has just exploded and she wants to make sure the renovation is done in the best interest of her grandmother.

As you may have guessed there’s tension. Jordan wants to preserve the character and charm that makes the Everwood Inn special, but Astrid has a vision of minimal and modern. This conflict is noticed by the host of Innside America and they suggest Jordan and Astrid play up the tension to boost ratings.

Along the way the tension between Jordan and Astrid turns into romance but I don’t want to share too much. This book comes out to the general public on November 22. Be sure to get yourself a copy!

CONTENT WARNING: mention of death, grief, mention of undiagnosed parental mental illness, mention of cancer

I was really looking forward to this book, especially after falling in love with book 1 in the series. Astrid was the uptight, high-strung character with a toxic relationship with her mother, and consequently has some serious mommy issues, and I was dying to see all of that unravel in this book. And let me tell you, Blake didn’t let me down.

The book starts out with quite possibly the worst meeting between Astrid and Jordan that could ever happen, and it sets the tone for their interactions at first. It brings out a side of Astrid that is strongly reminiscent of her mother, and she starts to realize some things about herself that she doesn’t like.

Watching Astrid slowly unwind was my favorite part of the book. Since we already get to see a hint of the side of her that she hides in the previous book, I was really hoping to see more of it. And we got to see that slowly over the course of this story. It was intriguing to see how Jordan brought that out in her, especially since I knew that there was no way that Astrid could possibly stay wound up that tightly forever. But it was still painful to see her doubt herself so much, especially when she came off as so confident in all the previous interactions. In addition, there’s the social pressure from her mother that has pushed her into a heteronormative lifestyle and not even allowed her to deviate an inch from that, not giving her the freedom to even consider that she might not be fully straight.

On the other hand, Jordan was another interesting character. She’s still reeling after losing her wife, even after going through therapy, and has so many issues. There’s a boatload of grief, and self-doubt that affects every aspect of her life including her work and other relationships. Even so, I loved the way that she set a boundary with Astrid, regardless of the sexual attraction and tension between them.

The plot kept me intrigued, since both Jordan and Astrid have quite a lot on the line. However, the attraction between the two of them felt natural. I loved the banter and the way that they interact with each other, as well as the appearance of the coven, although I definitely would have liked to see more of Delilah and Claire, since Iris kind of steals the show, which makes sense, because it’s clearly setting it up for her story which comes next. When the spicy scenes arrived, they were absolutely fantastic. Blake writes them beautifully and they were hot as hell.

Overall, this was a fantastic romance with plenty of humor sprinkled in. I was sucked into the story right from the start, swept away on a romantic tide between two unlikely love interests who somehow made it work in the most beautiful way, while solving their problems both individually and together. I’m on the edge of my seat for the last book in this series!

This is one for the baby queers, the ones who are finding a way to themselves through others' expectations and needs. It's beautiful and swoony and settling. Spending time at the Everwood Inn with Astrid and Jordan is like coming home. Peaking in on the Bright Falls 'coven' was like being welcomed into the family. Now that I've finished, I find myself I desperately wanting Jordan's tarot deck and Natasha's necklace. But more so, I want to go back and read it all again. ASTRID PARKER DOESN'T FAIL is the kind of romance that feels like a path forward, one where you learn something about the world, and about yourself.

A very fun follow-up to Blake's romance novel Delilah Green Doesn't Care! I adored getting a chance to learn more about Astrid and see her relationship with Jordan blossom. It didn't land quite as well for me as Delilah Green did, but I still enjoyed it thoroughly. Eagerly awaiting the threequel about Iris!

I LOVED Delilah's story, but I think I loved Astrid's even MORE.

I cannot wait to share my thoughts with you, I will be sharing my review for GLOSS Book Club, and will update the link here when it's posted. If you love found family, DIY house projects and those who find their sexuality a little bit later in life this book is for you, it is everything! Ashley Herring Blake has made herself a MUST-READ author for me, and I need more readers to have read this one to be able to gush about it together!

This was a fantastic read. After reading the first book, I wasn't sure how a romance with Astrid would work out, but I'm glad I was proven wrong. Even though the first few chapters were a bit slow, by the time I got to the middle I couldn't put the book down. And I'm glad I didn't. If you are looking for a rivals to lovers, adorable LGBT romance this is a great book for you.

Unfortunately, I had to put the book down after chapter 2 -- death of a previous partner seems to be a pretty big topic discussed, and that's just too much of a trigger for me.

I wasn't very impressed with the two chapters I DID read. Perhaps it gets better or just needs a bit of editing. Books that are all expository with limited dialogue, and books that tell you about a character instead of showing you, just aren't my cup of tea. The writing style kind of reminds me of an inexperienced Wattpad author.

I love Astrid. I loved her in the last book, and I loved her in this one. Whenever someone assumed that Astrid was a good bitch, I would say, ‘stop being mean to Astrid.’ This was a problem when meeting the love interest because they didn’t meet nicely, and she made assumptions about Astrid from the beginning. I only started warming up to her when she started being nicer to Astrid.

I adored this book! Astrid's journey to find her sexuality and her own identity apart from her mother and her anxiety were beautifully drawn. Jordan was sexy, fascinating, and her own journey was compelling. I love this series!

2.5 ⭐️ Meh, it's no Delilah Green Doesn't Care.


WHAT TO EXPECT:
- Meet-ugly
- 'Rivals' to lovers
- Hot, strong-willed carpenter
- Beautiful, perfectionist designer
- Workplace romance
- Opposites attract
- Forced Proximity
- Slow Burn
- Sexual self-discovery
- Found family

*Releases November 22, 2022


Summary:

After her failed engagement last year, Astrid Parker has been focusing on her career. However, along with her love life and relationship with her mother, the business could be better. So when Pru Everwood asks her to be the designer for the Everwood Inn's renovation that will be broadcasted on a popular home improvement show, Astrid knows this is her best shot at fixing all of her problems.

However, Jordan Everwood literally crashes into Astrid Parker's life and throws everything off course. Jordan is Pru's granddaughter, the lead carpenter for the inn's renovations, and a woman healing a broken heart. She also happens to hate Astrid's design plan and will do anything to preserve the history of her family's inn.

Jordan's life is in shambles, and Astrid's is barely hanging by a thread. The tension between these two is thick. But somewhere along the way, their dislike turns into something more, and Jordan learns to open her heart again while Astrid learns how to fight for the life she truly wants.



My Thoughts:

The story had its moments, but it didn't captivate me the way I expected or wanted it to. I often was bored and found myself skimming through some of the inner dialogue and descriptions about halfway through.


What I liked:

- The sex scenes. These were steamy! I especially loved seeing how patient Jordan was with Astrid and how she helped her along, but also how Astrid took it upon herself to give herself a bit of sex-ed and not entirely rely upon Jordan's guidance.

- Astrid's character growth. Not only does she discover her sexuality, but she also unravels a lot of the toxic behaviors in her relationship with her mother. I appreciated her standing up to her mom in the end by setting boundaries, and how the story between them is open-ended but leaves on a positive note with Astrid's mother recognizing she has some things to work on.

- I appreciated that there were consequences to the lies that were told. Obviously, since this is a romance, there is a HEA. But I was really happy the characters had to struggle/suffer in a realistic manner before finally getting their happy ending.


What I disliked:

- Okay, so this will be hard for me to fulling put into words, but something about the flow of the story and development didn't feel natural. It was like I was being told things that were happening, and I accepted them but didn't quite believe it.

- There was also the matter of the characters having extremely skewed opinions/beliefs that didn't fully make sense. While I could see where they got them from, I also didn't quite understand how they came to that conclusion. For example, I don't agree with what Meredith did to Jordan, but I also don't understand how Jordan couldn't see Meredith's reasoning for leaving. There was also no deep dive into it. We were just told matter-of-factly that Meredith left Jordan and Jordan was hurt.

- I didn't feel the chemistry between Astrid and Jordan. Tensions? Yes. But chemistry? No. I don't really know why, but their relationship felt forced.

- We don't really know much about Jordan outside of her previous relationship. Everything about her in this book centers on the loss of her wife, and while I understand that is a very key event for her character, I would have liked to have known more about her outside of it. Not exploring that just makes her feel like a 2-dimensional character.

- In Delilah's book, the side characters play a bigger role than they did in this book. I guess I just missed them

- Meredith's main purpose in the story to further the conflict was annoying. When she first shows up, I knew this would be the conflict, and I hated every minute leading up to it. Of course, she played a big role in Jordan's emotional and personal growth in the story, but I found it annoying that she was important enough to bring about a confrontation and then dip out.


Overall, Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail had some enjoyable moments, but it fell flat for me. I really was disappointed and don't know if I ever care to continue with Iris' story next. We'll see.


Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review! As always, all opinions are my own.

This was an enjoyable contemporary fantasy. Ultimately I enjoyed Delilah Green Doesn't Care a bit more than this one, as I felt the overall plot and writing hung together better. I thought that the romance was pretty convincing in this one, and I liked that there were real consequences for the main characters as a result of their lies. For me, the most compelling element was Astrid's growth as a person and her ability to stand up for herself to her mother. I appreciate that the book leaves a window of hope for Astrid repairing her relationship with her mother, while acknowledging that her mother is the one who needs to do the work and change her ways in order to be a part of her daughter's life. I would have liked a little bit more of a relationship to be seen in this book between Astrid and Delilah, as I think that would be an important part of Astrid's journey to understanding her relationship with her mother and to knowing herself better. I found the constant rallying cry of EVERYONE'S QUEER HOORAY to be a bit try-hard. It felt like the author wanted to write the word "queer" as many times as she possibly could, in a way that came across as tokenizing and/or rainbow-washing. I don't know any queer people that talk about themselves like that. And I found the obvious name-dropping of other queer romance books to be a bit over the top. My final quibble is the extent to which the set-up for the next book is being so CLEARLY broadcast that it makes me wonder if it's even worth reading it, since it I already know how it ends. That being said, I thought that the relationship worked well and the sex scenes were well-written.

I loved this as much (if not more) than Delilah Green and that's saying something because Delilah was one of my favorite books of the last 5 years. The new POV was great and I loved seeing the backstories. Seeing Delilah and Astrid's relationship grow was amazing as well and something I was really hoping for after reading Delilah, 5 stars, a new fav!

Knowing how much I enjoyed the first book, I was a little nervous about starting the second. But in spite of the wildly different perspectives, I immediately adored the new POVs and their arc, which was utterly delightful and just tricky enough that I was never quite sure what was going to happen next.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the bright falls series, but I LOVED Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail. I enjoyed the characters backstories and chemistry. I also loved that we saw Delilah and Astrid’s relationship grow and mature. In a nutshell, this was an enjoyable, quick read that inspired me to unexpectedly buy tarot cards

After breaking up with her fiance in "Delilah Green Doesn't Care," ice queen Astrid Parker is struggling to regain her footing. Her interior design business is faltering, her uber-judgmental mother is looming larger than ever, and her nerves are frayed. Which almost explains her struggles to remain polite, aloof, and professional around Jordan Sherwood, the lead carpenter on the historic inn renovation project that is the key to securing Astrid's success and her mother's approval.

The Sherwood Inn has been in Jordan's family for generations and in her own heart for decades. She's recovering from heartbreak and grief and can't seem to do anything right anymore, but she can keep the inn from getting modernized into blandness by the predictably uptight Astrid.

A little light sabotage and a few power struggles raise more than the resident ghost at the inn in this enemies-to-lovers romance that features a later-in-life queer awakening and the excellent ride-or-die friends from the first book. Even though it has allllll the right vibes and backstories to appeal to me (historic inn! hot carpenter chick! perfectionist unraveling! implementing healthy boundaries!) the story and development just didn't flow for me. I'll definitely still check out Iris's story coming in book 3, though!

Loved it. Astrid and Jordan were a great pair and I really appreciated seeing a grown woman figure out her sexuality. The expanding relationship with Delilah was great, the HGTV like setting was super fun, and I cannot wait for Iris’s installment in the series.

I haven’t had a chance to read the first book in the Bright Falls series, but this one was amazing as both a stand-alone and as a story that gave more insight into the characters we see/will see more of in the other books. This book had a perfect combination of romance, friendship, and work, and it flowed so well. All of the details really added to the story without being overwhelming, and the pacing felt really great.

After reading the first book in the Bright Falls world, I didn't expect to enjoy one about Astrid but I was pleasantly surprised! I loved how this book dealt with realizing things about yourself and your sexuality later in life and how accepting and loving Astrid's community is. I did wish for more character development; I wanted to know more about Jordan, outside of her previous relationship. The end also felt fairly quick. But overall, this was a fun, cute read and I'm looking forward to the next trip to Bright Falls.

Some how, this book is even better than the first! I thoroughly enjoyed the dynamic and struggles of the main characters. Loved them being forced to work together, and their development with previous characters. It was such a rewarding experience to read.