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Karola – :
***free ARC
The whole story is somewhat beautiful. After the loss of her husband, Stella is in a downward spiral. Nothing is lifting her spirits up. Thanks to her niece who moved in with her, she has something like a regular life again. But why must her niece be in contact with Elizabeth, even be friends with her? She and Elizabeth aren‘t on good speaking terms, she even thinks they dislike each other. But Elizabeth is nothing but nice and helpful. It takes some time until Stella realizes that she has to change her way of thinking and living. With the help of friends and family she finds her way out of that black hole and starts living again, up to the fullest.
Some parts of this book are a little depressing, but in the end it‘s ok and it really is a part of the journey.
Sagacious Sapphic – :
Middle Age | Coming Out | Slow Burn | Grief | Enemies to Lovers | Cops/Lawyers
Stella is grieving the traumatic loss of her husband. She’s middle aged, lives alone, and can’t get out of bed before afternoon most days. Her complicated feelings about her late husband leave a trail of grief, guilt, and anger everywhere she goes. She cannot understand why anyone would choose to spend time with her or be around. She feels burdensome and like she should just be okay. Throughout the story I find Stella relatable, infuriating, frustrating, and fearful. It’s hard to trust anyone when your life has been shaken to the core.
Liz Murphy, a former colleague of Stella, just keeps showing up. At first Stella cannot really understand why. It takes a lot of patient intervention by Stella’s niece to get her to see the truth. Liz is divorced, with grown children, and lonely. She works a difficult job with the LAPD and doesn’t have any personal relationships with people who understand the demands, stressors, and traumas of her job. She knows Stella is struggling and just wants to help and feel close to her. Liz is unbelievably patient with Stella, and holds on to hope for as long as she can.
Liz knows what she wants, but she’s afraid to push Stella too hard and scare her away.
Stella figures out why she’s always been drawn to Captain Murphy, but she doesn’t want to lose her friendship by asking for more.
The story is simple in action, complex in emotion, and lets the reader linger in the MCs feelings.
Stella’s niece Addie plays a significant role in this story and I love her story line. I absolutely want to read a spinoff that gives us more of Addie’s story. She moves in with her Aunt Stella in Los Angeles leaving behind her small town family. Addie has a couple secrets of her own though, and I loved how her life intertwined with our MCs.
I was provided an advanced reader copy by Ylva Publishing in exchange for an honest review.
CE Cline (verified owner) – :
A stunning later in life coming out story with a protagonist you grieve with, cheer for, and want to shake by the shoulders. Read it in a day because I couldn’t put in down. Looking forward to the forthcoming novels from Waters because this was an exceptional debut.
Ana Leamaro – :
***free ARC
Mental Health is a real issue and a more frequent problem that keeps being underestimated. So I had some expectations regarding this book but I was disappointed. It’s a confusing and in my opinion only skin deep when talking about depression. Why was she depressed? At the beginning we thought it was because she lost her husband, but then we realized that she didn’t love him, he was not a nice guy and they were unhappy. When we reach the end of the story we finally realize the depression comes from the fact that she wasn’t happy all her life because she didn’t accept her sexual orientation and always took the easiest road. So this was in fact an existential crises triggered by her husband’s death but not because of it.
The narrative is confusing, it jumps from one idea to the other and at some point you can’t even empathize with Stella because you’re wondering why is she depressed? And is she depressed or just lazy? The book becomes boring and uninteresting. 3 stars for the effort.