We start in the present day with Samantha, an ER doctor, who is being sued. The hospital is providing a lawyer, who turns out to be the woman Samantha had a relationship with in college – Kirby.
A large chunk of the book takes place in 1993, when the pair originally fall for each other in their early twenties. Some of this has a stereotypical homophobic parental trend, but it isn’t done in an overly dramatic way. I enjoyed that we got to know the characters a little in the present day before we made the cut back to their origin story and I liked that we got to see the beginning and the end of the relationship journey at that point.
We don’t spend anytime with them as a couple in the present day except for the epilogue which is a bit of a shame, but nonetheless I felt like the pacing was about right as they explored getting to know each other again. It’s nice to have older characters in wlw fiction. I enjoyed the maturity of the discussions when they reconciled and in the present day discussions around the lawsuit. The tonal difference between the present day and the past to illustrate how both women had grown in themselves was also done really well.
I’d recommend this to any wlw romance fans. It’s structure makes for an interesting read, especially as by not having a traditional chronological structure it escapes the 90% breakup.
I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
LGBTQ+ Reader 