Has okay queer rep and i did enjoy the ride, however it hasn’t stuck as much as i thought it would. It kept my attention more than i thought, but it didnt have any tangible takeaways for me

small town romances are always so good and i loved this one too! i always love sapphic romances and the workplace rival aspect made it perfect. i was so excited for astrid’s book since the first novel.

What a great sequel to Delilah Green Doesn't Care. I did eagerly await this publication, and it just didn't disappoint. I loved the storyline of Astrid.

After reading and enjoying Delilah Green Doesn't Care I was eagerly anticipating Astrid's story. Astrid had such a character arc in the previous book, going from this standoffish uptight woman marrying an absolute jerk to finally softening and letting her friends and family into her life. She's still got a lot of those high maintenance traits in Astrid Parker (she reminds me a little of Monica from Friends) but she also genuinely cares for and would do anything for those she loves. Seeing her discovering herself and her sexuality was a pleasure to read about, and not something I see all that often.

I really liked the dynamics between Astrid and Jordan. Jordan exudes a confidence that Astrid wishes she had. She's effortless where Astrid tries so hard to be perfect and put together and seeing her unravel around Jordan was great. Their banter and antagonism to genuine affection felt realistic and genuine.

Great sequel to Delilah Green. The women of Bright Falls have completely stolen my heart.

After absolutely loving the first book, Astrid's story became a very highly anticipated read of mine and what a delightful, stunning romance this was! Delilah's is still definitely my favourite but this was so fun, I can't wait for Iris'!

I had to dnf this at around 50% I couldn’t connect with the characters and their relationship was pretty infuriating

"She's Astrid, she's just Jordan"

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

I absolutely loved "Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail"! Ashley Herring Blake has crafted a delightful romantic comedy that had me laughing out loud and swooning in equal measure.

The story follows Astrid, an interior designer who is given the opportunity to work on a high-profile renovation project for a popular home makeover show. But when she clashes with Jordan, the lead carpenter for the renovation, their initial dislike for each other turns into something unexpected and exciting.

I was completely hooked by the tension between Astrid and Jordan, and I adored the way their relationship developed throughout the book. Blake has a real talent for creating characters that feel authentic and relatable, and I found myself rooting for Astrid and Jordan all the way.

Overall, "Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail" is a fun, romantic, and thoroughly enjoyable read. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves a good rom-com!

I don't know if the problem is me or the book. From the very first page I found it unconvincing and trying too hard to be Bailey or Henry.

This was fun. I thought it fell short compared to Delilah Green, but was still entertaining and cute. I found the writing a bit... Odd at points? A bit clunky perhaps. But it does what it says on the tin-a cute, lighthearted, steamy queer romance.

I loved this one so so much! I loved that we got to follow Astrid and see a side of her that we never saw in Delilah Green Doesn't Care. I found myself quickly loving her character and her development in this one.

Ashley Herring Blake writes realistic and relatable characters who you just want to hold and shake at the same time. I loved the rivals-to-lovers aspect and I just adore Astrid and Jordan!

I cannot wait for the next book in this series!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

We are back in Bright Falls! I really enjoyed book 1 in this series, and book 2 was another fun read. I’ve seen some reviews where people found the MCs hard to relate to, and for me that’s what is so unique about AHB’s books! The MCs are NOT perfect, they are fully imperfect and thus even that much more relatable and multi-dimensional. I can’t wait for the next book!

After the absolute hit that was Delilah Green Doesn't Care, I was extremely excited to get my hands on the second book in the series. Unfortunately, it seems Ashley Herring Blake didn't quite manage to capture that special little something that made Delilah and Claire's story so great.

Astrid Parker hates failure. So, fresh of a broken engagement and with a meddling mother on her heels, it only seems natural to throw herself into her career as an interior designer. When a local historical inn is going to be featured on a renovation television show, Astrid does everything to become the lead designer on the project so she can impress the famous host with her skills. Enter Jordan Everwood, granddaughter of the inn's owner, lead carpenter for the renovation, and completely unimpressed by Astrid and her redesign. Their constant clashes are gold for the show, and their dislike for each other just keeps growing. But while they're sabotaging the other one's plans, they also get to know each other. And suddenly it's not so easy to keep up the dislike when the cameras are rolling.

Well. Where to begin? Overall there's nothing really awful about this book. The writing is exquisite. I quite enjoyed parts of the story. But Jordan's endless sabotaging started to feel mean quite quickly and I had a hard time believing Astrid would just push all of that aside because of (at first) a meaningless fling. On top of that, I was a little bit disappointed in the characters. None of them, both main and side characters, seemed quite as developed as in the previous book. There's a real disconnect between the backstory for each character and their personality. At certain points, it felt like the backstory WAS the personality.

And this may seem like a small issue, but it really started to pop out more and more along the way: for a book that constantly hammers on gender diversity (characters introducing themselves with their pronouns, the repetition of "women and nonbinary people", etc.), it was really disappointing to barely have the word 'lesbian' in the book. One of the main characters is a lesbian! Use the word!

This book didn't really work for me, mainly because I maybe sympathized a bit too much with Astrid right from the very start. The way she and Jordan meet was, I think, meant to make you dislike Astrid a little bit, but I was totally on her side. Which in turn caused me to feel a lot of frustration during their next few encounters. I never really had that moment where it clicked for me that these two were heading for a HEA, so by the end I was just feeling meh about the whole thing.

A major thing that I did like, was the fact that in Astrid we get a MC who has believed herself to be straight her entire life and then suddenly realises that she's actually bisexual. I feel like that's still quite a rare character to get in queer romance, so that was nice.

All in all, I didn't quite love this book the way I had hoped, but it was still a nice read. And it certainly hasn't put me off reading the next book in the series. I just hope AHB returns to form with that one.

Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail is the sequel to Delilah Green Doesn’t Care. It can be read as a standalone romance but there’s a lot of continuity between Delilah and Astrid’s books that would help the reader.

This book focuses on Astrid Parker and Jordan Everwood, the new-in-town carpenter/ granddaughter of the innkeeper of the project Astrid is hired to design. Astrid and Jordan’s first meeting was such a great disaster-meet cute! They totally got off on the wrong foot and it set them up so well as rivals. I enjoyed watching Astrid discover who she is as a late bloomer whilst helping Jordan claim her own ambitions. I believed their relationship will be everlasting and the ending was very satisfying.

With this second book in the Bright Falls series, Ashley Herring Blake has moved firmly into autobuy status for me. I loved Delilah Green, bit Astrid Parker? I needed this book.

It is so, so well done. I love this little community, the friendships and the way these women support each other to learn and grow. I love that no one made Astrid question herself, they just supported her however she needed.

The book follows Astrid, uptight interior designer, and Jordan, grumpy carpenter, as they work to renovate the Everwood Inn whilst being filmed for a TV show. After an incredibly rocky start, they get trapped into an enemies dynamic on screen that neither actually feels comfortable in. As they get to know each other, argue and compromise, these two women both find something they weren't looking for.

They make a great couple. They are both struggling with different things but they take ownership of that. Jordan helps Astrid to really look at the life she is building so that she can become brave enough to change it. Astrid helps Jordan to feel loved and worthy again.

This is a great book. The exploration of sexuality and knowing yourself better as you get older is really, really well done. I think there are a lot of readers who can relate to the journeys both women go on and it's really comforting and validating to see them reflected so positively throughout this book. As we get older we change, and we get to learn to trust ourselves and let ourselves be who we really are. That doesn't come without stress or discomfort, but it's worth it - what a lovely contect for a love story ❤️

The relationship between Astrid and her mum was a really complex and interesting one, I also loved the plot and adored the romance. The mixed pov is an absolute favourite of mine especially in romance books. Overall ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

in the second book of the series we follow astrid as she is wading through life after her dramatic break up from her trash ex-fiancé spencer. she feels under so much pressure to prove herself (mostly stemming from her mothers constant nitpicking). but, she does have the love and support from her amazing friends, and step-sister delilah!

jordan is also going through it- an ex-wife and also trying to keep the heritage of a building that’s been in her family for years, alive.

you will have guessed from the blurb, there is a little enemies to lovers moment! i absolutely loved delilah green, and i feel i didn’t fall in love with this one in the same way. i really liked the sub-plots but there was something missing from the main romance for me.

still, i cannot wait for book 3 of the series!

3.5 stars.

I loved the first book in this series, and am generally a fan of these quasi-sequels that feature previously established characters, and I was excited for this one knowing that it would focus on Astrid as I wanted to know more about her character. This entry in the Bright Falls saga was... fine. I definitely didn't like it as much as the first book, the characters didn't sparkle as much, and the conflicts seemed both predictable and preventable. I still enjoyed the ensemble cast and will pick up the next book when it comes out.

(Many thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the eARC.)

If you know me then you know delilah green doesn't care was my favourite romance of 2022.
I was able to get an arc of this book on netgally and from little brown. But for some reason I kept putting off reading it.
I think it's because it had a lot to live up to and boy it did!

Astrid Parker doesn't fail had such a different vibe from delilah green doesn't care.
This book was all about finding yourself.
Finding out your sexuality, finding out who you are and also finding out what makes you happy.

This book would have probably helped me out when I was first discovering myself and I'm so glad that books like these exist.

I must say I absolutely ate up the scenes delilah was in as I am completely in love with her!
(Jordan is a close second)

I would highly recommend Ashley herring Blakes books and I cannot wait for iris kelly doesn't date.

Fantastic romance. This series has my heart and it is truly the best. Highly recommend it for fans of swoon-worthy romance. Check it out and prepare to be swept away.

I absolutely loved this! I adore an enemies to friends romance, and this didn’t disappoint. I love the way this author develops her characters