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

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It falls into so many plot contrivances to make sure that the leads don't notice each other acting and reacting a certain way to a situation. There is Stevie's nonbinary friend I guess, but they lack any depth and are also introduced as an identity checkbox, and those identities also apparently make them "the single coolest person Stevie knew").

Yes, even Astrid—who, by the way, gives off such extreme Lemon Breeland vibes that I’ve since had to go back and rewatch a few episodes of Hart of Dixie. I loved the sentimental value of the epilogue- ending with how the series started with Claire and Delilah’s HEA. One difference that I did notice, and appreciate, was that she finally realized that she can just say “her” or use the character’s name when writing scenes between two women instead of constantly saying “the other woman.most of the time when someone was revealed as queer, it added nothing to the progression of the story. James, and Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea (Little, Brown), and the adult romance novels Delilah Green Doesn't Care and Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail (Berkley).

this wasn't a perfect book, but what it was was cute and frustrating and angsty and OHMYGODTHESECHARACTERSARESOSTUPIDPLEASEJUSTTALKTOEACHOTHER.

Many of their conversations felt out of place, not fitting the moment, as if AHB needed them there to further the plot. 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. As the two women play the part of a happy couple, lines start to blur, and they're left wondering who will make the real first move. Her best friends are all coupled up, her siblings have partners that are perfect for them, and her parents are still blissfully married. This is minor, but I am pretty certain either Iris or Stevie said they were allergic to strawberries earlier on in the book, and then later in the book, they both eat strawberry pie.

My main critique of this book is that it seemed like Blake had a checklist of every single marginalized identity while writing this and there was someone holding a gun to her head and threatening to pull the trigger if she didn’t mention at least several of them per page.Because the fantasy (or heightened reality) of people helping each other process their traumas while finding love is one I can wholeheartedly support. I love a bit of Shakespeare interjected into my fiction (and have seen quite a few genderswapped Shakespeare productions and they just slap) so it just intrigues me so much and I wish I could see Stevie on the stage. From the very first chapter of Delilah Green Doesn’t Care(2022), I wanted to spend as much time as possible with Delilah Green, Claire Sutherland, Iris Kelly, Astrid Parker, and anyone else to whom Blake would introduce me.