Natasha is a mess. A very specific type of queer mess. She’s a therapist, and if she’s being honest, she would have a lot to say to herself if she was one of her own clients. As is, she’s finally moving out of the place she’s been sharing with her ex even since they broke up, continuing to be flatmates in the time since, moving out as Georgia wants to move her current girlfriend in instead.
Then she meets a girl at work, kind of. Margot comes in to one of her teaching classes that she does on the side, coming in for a taster session for people thinking of going into being therapists. They run into each other again and hit it off, and Margot ends up being a bright spot in Natasha’s life, giving her something to look forward to when she wants to get away from the professional and personal mess of the rest of it. Not really structured as a romance novel, Tell Me Everything is more a slice of life following Natasha as she tries to get her shit together. Between her ex, her friends, her job and her family, everything is a bit more complicated and a bit less pleasant that it needs to be and than it probably should be.
A weird side thing that was interesting for me in this one is that it’s set in Brighton, Sussex. Apart from being a UK setting as opposed to so many US or Canadian (hi Katia) set romances that I’ve been reading, Brighton is known as a haven for queer people. But that’s not how I remember it, for me it’s the other thing it’s known for, old people. My grandparents lived there my entire life, so I am very familiar with it, but not for the reasons anyone involved here is. Whilst I have strong memories of Brighton Beach, they don’t involve lying looking at the stars and then kissing a pretty girl, they involve parents, family that didn’t have my back. So there’s something pretty cathartic to read about it through the lens, to see the Brighton that queer people get to love, even if Natasha makes a fucking mess of it some of the time.