4.5 stars
CBR16 Sweet Books: New (author and series)
CBR16 Book Bingo: Pride
Delilah Green grew up in Bright Falls, in the care of her wealthy, but emotionally cold stepmother (after her father died), and never managed to forge a connection to her always perfect stepsister Astrid either. Astrid had her two best friends, Claire and Iris, and more than once Delilah overheard them saying mean things about her. When she got the chance, she left Bright Falls for New York and has rarely been back since. She lives for her photography, and after many years, her career finally seems to be taking off.
But now Astrid is getting married and insists on having Delilah be the wedding photographer. The promise of a very large paycheck and heaping on a fair amount of emotional blackmail means Delilah can’t really say no. Imagine her surprise, when on her first night back, she’s propositioned at the local bar by none other than Astrid’s BFF Claire, who doesn’t even recognise Delilah at first. Suddenly the next few weeks before the wedding are looking more entertaining, and if she manages to piss off Astrid by seducing her friend, so much the better.
Claire Sutherland has been a single mother for most of her eleven-year-old daughter’s life. The girl’s father has proven unreliable and is more often than not away. So Claire runs the Bright Falls bookstore and tries to provide stability and order to both her daughter’s and her own life. She doesn’t like the man her best friend is engaged to, and really needs to get laid. So she takes a challenge from her friend Iris to approach an interesting-looking woman at the bar, and is rather shocked when she realises it’s Delilah that she’s hit on.
While Claire tries to resist Delilah, spending more time with her as an adult shows Claire that while they grew up in the same town, and Claire and Iris spent a lot of time in the same house as Delilah and Astrid, they never really knew Delilah, and certainly not who she has made herself into after she left town. Since the guy Astrid is marrying is absolutely awful, Claire, Iris and Delilah agree to team up to make Astrid come to her senses and call off the wedding, which obviously means spending more time together during the wedding preparations. What’s the harm in spending some alone time with Delilah at night as well?
Full review on my blog.