By Meghan Mazzaferro
Content warnings: cancer, emotional abuse, toxic relationships, alcohol, grief, death of a parent, homophobia, infidelity
Raised by a demanding mother and holding herself to an impossible standard, Astrid’s last chance at the life she’s supposed to have is by designing a sleek, modern upgrade for a historic inn on a home improvement show. Unfortunately for Astrid, Jordan, the owner’s granddaughter and the head carpenter on the project, doesn’t like sleek and modern at all, and fights her on every design decision she pitches. After a bit of interior design sabotage, and no small amount of attraction, Astrid and Jordan strike a deal that will help them both get what they want. But as feelings develop between the two, the line between what’s right and what they want starts to blur, and it seems like what they both might be looking for is each other.
Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail is the second book in the Bright Falls series. Once I started this book, I couldn’t put it down. The characters felt incredibly real, the plot was interesting, I enjoyed all the home renovation shenanigans, and the romance was powerful and moving. This book is a great addition to the Bright Falls series, bringing back all the girls I met and loved in Delilah Green Doesn’t Care, and it will stick with me for a long time.
Astrid could have been a really difficult character to connect with, but Delilah Green did a really good job of setting her up as a complex, three-dimensional character, and this book’s exploration of her character felt natural. Her growth and personal journey away from this cold, unfeeling character into a woman who pursues the things she loves and fights for the things that make her happy was really powerful. Seeing her explore her bisexuality was also really beautiful to read about. I absolutely loved Astrid, and I think I loved Jordan even more. Her journey, her particular relationship fears and the ways she needs to learn to trust while also fighting for her voice in a relationship really hit home for me. Honestly, everything about this book hit home for me.
On a less personal note, I enjoyed the home renovation plot of this book. I’ve always loved home renovation shows (I mean, who hasn’t found themselves sucked into six hours of Love It or List It?), and I feel like the book did a really good job of translating that type of TV to book format. The camera crews added a fun tension, and the stakes for both Astrid and Jordan felt real. There was a valid reason for each of them to need the show to succeed, and they make decisions that they both feel are in their best interest even as they start to realize they may want different things, and it was a really interesting way to add tension to the story without falling into the miscommunication trope. Each character grew into themselves on both their romantic and interior design journeys and overall, I feel like the plot was really strong and strengthened and complicated the romance between Astrid and Jordan.
Overall, this book wowed me. It will stick with me for a long time, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in reading a powerful romance with an interesting and unique plot and an amazing cast of characters.
Thank you, Penguin Random House Canada, for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.