Iris Kelly Doesn't Date: A swoon-worthy, laugh-out-loud queer romcom

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It was such a delight to see Delilah, Claire, Astrid, and Jordan again; I adore the centrality of friendship and queer community in this series. Once again I wish I’d listened to the first book because as much as I loved it, I regret not hearing a book choke-full of Delilah Green. She holds a Master’s degree in teaching and loves coffee, arranging her books by color, and cold weather.

The sheer amount of Deja Vu that I had felt from reading these characters pulled back and forth between themselves made me care very little about the romantic climax of the book ( surprise surprise, there is a big romantic gesture where one of them travels a long way to confess their undying love after helping them with their career [see: the first two books]). Iris, burned by her past two relationships and a lifetime of being seen as just a hookup, has sworn off dating. She is begged by her ex/friend to play the lead in a "queered up production of Much Ado" because they know that she will sell seats as a big name in the scene (she's big enough to sell out a theatre but not to be offered any other roles? And that brings us to Delilah Green, the town of Bright Falls, and their creator, Ashley Herring Blake.I’ll still give at least another book by this author a try, (the first chapter of the snipet in the back of this one made me curious) but it might be a case of one worked for me, and ultimately I don’t mesh well as a reader for her. I felt the representation was great and loved how the author addressed that being an actor and dealing with anxiety are not mutually exclusive and that playing a part can be an escape for those who suffer from anxiety to get out of their own head and take on a new persona. Blake balances the sibling tension between Delilah and Astrid with the main romance plot between Delilah and Claire, all the while developing the setting of Bright Falls, Oregon. I was so happy inside these pages: I know I'll go back to them every time I need a story that will only bring me comfort, and show me happy, honest growth.

Bc I was pretty let down by Astrid’s book, and I was deeply bummed to feel similarly abt this one, too.Here is one example of how unnaturally she incorporates part of a character’s identity: “…two gay men—one of them trans—played Hero and Claudio. I fall In love with adult romance because of Ashley Herring Blake , and to be honest , that's the best that happened in two years.