Yerba Buena is a book. By which I mean, I read it, but I didn’t really feel any particularly strong way about it. It’s Nina LaCour! I was expecting to love this! But in the end? It was a book. That’s about all I can say.

Part of this may just be I was expecting something of a different book than I got, for whatever reason (I don’t even remember why anymore). What it turned out to be was a genre that I… don’t dislike, per se, but isn’t my favourite. And even Nina LaCour couldn’t save me then.

This is a book of very little plot. It’s about two women’s lives as they slowly trudge forwards onto the point at which they meet. That’s it. Now, of all the authors, you might have thought Nina LaCour could still make that interesting. I thought it too. And yet.

It’s kind of hard to say just what was the issue here. The writing was as beautiful as usual, with LaCour. That wasn’t it. Perhaps it was the combination of the lack of plot (a fact which could have been forgiven but for this next bit) and the sheer blandness of the characters. It’s only been two days since I read this and yet I cannot tell you a thing of note about them. They slipped from my mind as soon as I finished the book. I barely even remember their names.

This, ultimately, is my lasting impression of the book—if you can even call it that. It’s forgettable. It’s 300 pages of somewhat diverting reading, but nothing sticks. Which is probably the most disappointing part of the book. I could have stood it if it had been memorable, if not great.

But instead, this.

I was sucked into this book instantly because of the punchy writing style. There are lots of short sentences that create a really good rhythm and what's even better, I cared about the characters right off the bat. It was a little hard at the beginning to remember who was who, as you had to remember not just these two girls but also the names of the side characters in each half of the story.

The blurb is trying to sell this as a romance, so you would expect the two characters to meet early on in the novel, but they don't. As a result, you spend approximately 50% of the book waiting for these two stories to converge and when they do, the relationship seems a little bit insta-love. I found it harder to care then, because this is a situation that I can't personally relate to, but I think it depends on the reader's own background and experiences how they will feel about this character dynamic.

After this fateful meeting, the second half of the book was a little less interesting and I am not sure if this was the author's intention, but we see a couple of scene where these characters, even at the pinnacle of their love story do not communicate very well. I'm not entirely sure that a relationship could remain strong when one of the characters is forced to go no-contact for a period of time quite early on (I thought that this was for a month, but it's later mentioned in the text that it was actually two).

Overall this was a great read with a very strong sense of visual, almost cinematic, where the masterful descriptions of spaces and colour really brought these locations and atmospheres to life.
Also as far as themes are concerned, people looking for queer stories that are not *about* queerness will be very satisfied with this book.

something happens quite early on in the narrative that just prevented me from being able to 'believe' in what i was reading. in other words, this thing that happens made it so that i was unable to suspend my disbelief and become fully immerse in the author's story. this thing is just utterly ridiculous. think riverdale levels of unlikely. the writing, which borders on being pretty, came across as trying. it's a pity because back in the day i quite liked lacour's books. maybe older teens will be able to like this more than i was.

what a lovely, tender story.

the writing is simple, yet full of emotion. the characters are compelling enough, because while at first i did not care much about them, i got invested in their stories as the novel went on. the atmosphere is melancholic and hopeful, and it made me feel so vulnerable sometimes. i really like how the author captures certain feelings and experiences someone in their 20's would go through, because it resonated with me and i related to the characters a lot. i also like the narrative style and the focus of the story— not romance! there is a muted quality to the storytelling, and it enhanced the emotions that i felt.

so i had a really pleasant reading experience. i'd recommend it to people in their 20's who have no idea what they're doing (this is me saying i'm recommending it to all my friends lol)

A distinctly female story about finding your place in the world, told through two different voices, Sara and Emilie.

The book wasn’t what I was expecting but I still enjoyed it very much.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my feedback.

I don't know what I was expecting when I picked up this book but this wasn't very enjoyable. I found myself rereading the synopsis to see if I missed something. This felt very bland, also I like that it's very easy to get into.

Nina LaCour perfectly captures the essence of being in your mid- to late-twenties, especially when it comes to Emilie. There's something incredibly heartening about reading about a character's reluctance to decide what direction her future should take her. There's one scene in particular where Emilie invites her friends over for a dinner party, and realises that she doesn't quite own enough glasses or plates. It expresses her sense of impermience in her life, not wanting to truly decorate her studio flat because it's not quite 'perfect.' She thinks there will be a moment in the distant future where she realises that it's 'time' to grow roots and become a real grown-up, and yet as the plot develops she comes to realise that she's already been living in that moment, and now simply lives in an undecorated flat. I think it's true for a lot of millenials who are currently living paycheck-by-paycheck, in rented apartments we're not allowed to keep pets in or replace badly stained carpets, that we're simply waiting for life to reach a point where we're allowed to be the people we've aspired to be since we were children. As a child, we dream of having a house and a career, but adulthood is never quite the same in reality.

I loved the slow development of Emilie and Sara's relationship. After reading a few more typical 'romance' novels, where the main characters meet within the first couple pages and rarely spend scenes apart, it's nice to see a much slower progression, where Emilie and Sara are developed as individuals before they are as a couple. There's chemistry between them, but more than that there's understanding. And it's not the 'love at first sight' kind; there are mistakes and there is miscommunication, but thankfully it's the kind of miscommunication we, as the reader, can understand and see the logic in because of the depth of characterisation. They feel real to me, pushing past the limitations of tropes and stereotypes and into the complications of what our pasts and the secrets we keep can alter the self.

LaCour's writing is descriptive, setting scenes in swathes of bold colours, intricate floral arrangements, and distinctive tastes. Considering their professions, it suits the characters' narrations and the pacing of the story.

All in all, this is a book I would recommend to anyone looking for adult sapphic/wlw fiction. The story isn't particularly groundbreaking, but there's a familiarity to it that feels like coming home and finally being seen.

Yerba Buena is a story about two women growing up and finding each other, and the weight of trauma and your own choices. Sara runs away from home aged sixteen, escaping a difficult home life but not having an easy escape. Years later, she's a successful bartender, and she meets Emilie, a woman arranging flowers at the restaurant Yerba Buena. Emilie is adrift, stuck doing her degree for years without certainty or a plan. Over time, they come together and are drawn apart, both dealing with where they are in their lives and where they've come from.

From the cover and description, I expected something quite different to this book: more of a romance than what it is, which is an at times heavy exploration of two women growing up. It covers topics like sexual assault and drug addiction, and Sara's story in particular is full of trauma and difficult choices. In contrast, Emilie's character arc is much more focused on finding yourself, with a slightly unbelievable turn as she gets into flipping houses. I thought the moments of miscommunication between the protagonists were well done, teasing out their differences and personalities, and the ambiguous ending worked quite well, though it wasn't how I thought the book would end.

This is a book that doesn't shy away from some dark moments, whilst also exploring growing up and finding yourself, and having a love story running underneath. However, I didn't quite connect with the book, feeling like not much was happening at times, and Emilie's story was often frustrating, so it perhaps wasn't the one for me.

The front cover of this book is so stunning, This was my first book by Nina LaCour and I will definitely be reading some more from her. The writing was good and the story was emotive and raw. There are some tough issues discussed within this book so just be aware of that but overall I enjoyed it.

I wanted to love this book, because the synopsis sounded great. Unfortunately, there were no trigger warnings at the beggining, and I feel like there should have been some. There are sexual assaults and forced prostitution, and the way it was written was too triggering for me. I DNF this book.
It might be a good book otherwise, but I'm not able to keep going.

3.5 stars.
This is a good contemporary literary fiction novel about two women as they grow up from their teens to late twenties, and how their paths cross. The book does a great job of establishing these two characters, their storylines and personalities in a relatively short space of time and it was easy to feel invested in their stories and lives. The first half of the book I found really easy to read and fly through, and I liked both Sara and Emelie a lot. The second half I also found quick to read, but I found the dialogue became a bit trite and not believable as to how people really speak to each other (at one point Sara returns to her hometown and meets her childhood friends and their dialogue was so weird and clunky I thought it was a dream sequence). There's also a house-flipping plot to this book which just seemed to be portrayed as an unrealistically easy job/way to make easy money? I've watched far too much Grand Designs to believe that.

The relationship between the two women was nice but there wasn't really enough time spent with that relationship to make me truly invested in it, and it didn't feel hugely romantic for being a romantic relationship.

So yeah, nice to read but not something that's going to stick with me. Special shout out to the gorgeous cover though, I wish I liked this book more just so I could enjoy that cover on my shelves.

Angsty, sapphic read for winter.

I’ll start this by saying I’m a huge Nina LaCour fan. Her writing is always so poetic and beautifully descriptive so I was really looking forward to this.

This story completely lived up to that. It’s emotive and gripping, something you can easily work through in a single evening.

Now, this may not be for everyone. There’s definite trigger warnings apparent the whole way through such as: sexual assault of minors, prostitution of minors, drug addiction, and mentions of suicide attempts. Saying that this book is heavy, and emotive and the overall theme of this story is bettering yourself from tragic pasts.

I found myself really rooting for the bettering of their futures, for their healing and moving forward considering the pasts they were dealt.

Most of the novel focuses on their adulthood, though the story follows them from ages of 14-28.

I did find it slightly hard to like one of the characters in particular, I think this is intentional on the authors part but I did at times find myself groaning at immature/crappy behaviour especially when it arose in adulthood. However this made me all the more interested to see how she grew in future chapters.

If you’re looking for an angsty, emotive, sapphic story of perseverance then this is for you.

Whilst the romance is there it is by no means the central focus of this novel, more a slight addition to the story of their futures, rounding things out well.

All in all another beautiful read from Nina LaCour.