Twenty-two-year-old aspiring writer Edith (“Eddie”) Miller and her best friend Rose have always done everything together—from climbing trees and sneaking bottles of wine, to extensive kissing practice. But Rose has started talking about marriage, and Eddie is horrified. Why can’t they continue as they always have?
Then Eddie meets charming, renowned poet Nash Nicholson––a rival of Lord Byron, if he does say so himself––and he welcomes her into his world of eccentric artists and boundary-breaking visionaries. When Eddie receives an invitation to Nash’s crumbling Gothic estate in the countryside, promising inspiration (and time to finish her novel, a long-held dream), she eagerly agrees. But the pure hedonism and debauchery that ensues isn’t exactly what she had in mind, and Eddie soon finds herself torn between her complicated feelings for Rose and her equally complicated dynamic with Nash, whose increasingly bad behavior doesn’t match up to her vision for her literary hero.
Will Eddie be forced to choose between her friendship with Rose and her literary dreams––or will she be able to write her own happily ever after?
Release Date: Mar 21, 2023
Heat Level: Unknown
Publisher: Macmillan
Imprint: St. Martin’s Press
Price: $11.99
Loudly queer historical romance, yes please.
Except this one collapsed for me before I could get past twenty-five percent. What killed it for me? The characters themselves. The main characters are two women in their twenties, almost on the shelf, and oblivious to the fact they are in love with each other. I wanted to try and follow their journey but found myself annoyed with how they behaved and treated each other.
The first part of the story I did manage to get through only spoke to Eddie’s POV. She’s the tomboy with a love for storytelling, a hatred for anything that involves society, and with a radical bent. I wanted to love Eddie Miller so much, but her easy dismissal and selfish mentality turned me off so fast. Her treatment of the people she alludes to care about is awful, and ultimately, she’s as bad as the poet she idolizes.
Her love interest, Rose Li, who I never got to experience from a POV perspective, at first seemed a good foil for Eddie. Though it was quickly realized that whenever Rose or Eddie were put in an element that they dislike, they turned into worse versions of themselves and weren’t afraid to embarrass the other openly.
Ultimately, this could be a case where this book is more a YA/NA audience, and I’m just getting too old for those types of stories. I totally get rebellious characters and won’t dismiss that those of the merchant class may have had more freedom than those in higher social circles. Though I couldn’t get over my personal dislikes of the characters, others may enjoy this unconventional story with plenty of diversity and LGBTQ representation.
~ Landra
Amazon | iBooks | B&N | Kobo | Google Play