Mar 2024: yeah i loved this book and also hated it. so good but so frustrating. 

Aug 2024: I loved this book and hated it in equal measure, which is to say this is one of my favourites of the year. 

It is a frustrating read as the MC Sophie navigates adulthood and grief over the loss of her mother, while also dealing with complicated feelings about her long-time close friend, new girlfriend, and recent ex. While Sophie certainly engages in some self-sabotage herself (would it be a lit-fic about a twenty-something without it?), most of these frustrations come from the people she trusts, the secrecy and backstabbing and gaslighting as they claim to want the best for her. This betrayal of trust is the most devastating part of this book and the most infuriating.

With all the messiness around these young people and their relationships, the underlying story gets buried for much of the book but the author expertly brings it back to make clear that at its core, this is a story about mothers and loss and grief, albeit with all this “growing up” in the middle.

Sophie’s story is one of grief not only for those she’s lost but also the version of her life she shared with them, and all the parts of that life that she’s nostalgic for in order to bring a bit of that magic back.

I can’t say that I was thrilled with the ending or agree with many of the characters’ choices but what a heartfelt, equally painful and joyful story that I’ll be thinking of for a long time.