In her second adult romance, Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail, Ashley Herring Blake expertly employs humor and angst to set two lost women on a rocky path to happily ever after. After a devastating divorce and a memorable incident in which she might have set fire to one of her custom-made cabinets while on a job, Jordan Everwood returns home at the request of her twin brother to be lead carpenter on the renovation of their family's ancestral home, the Everwood Inn. To boost her similarly floundering interior design business, Astrid Parker signs on as lead designer for an episode of Innside America.
Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail opens the morning of the first day of filming with a meet-disaster. Jordan accidentally spills coffee all over Astrid's immaculate ivory dress at a coffee shop, an omen of things to come. Astrid's overreaction turns into a horribly awkward moment when they see each other on set and realize they'll have to work together on a project with high stakes for both of them. Astrid has a modern design planned for the inn--luxe but lacking personality--while Jordan has decades of memories of the historic building and soon makes her own plans more suited to the inn's character.
If love and hate are opposite sides of the same coin, the two women soon flip it, even though neither of them is sure if Astrid is queer. "What the hell was she thinking? She wasn't going there even if Astrid ended up as queer as a glitter-covered unicorn." This book is funny, with lots of situational humor and wisecracking friends, but it's Blake's (Delilah Green Doesn't Care) insightful depiction of Astrid's self-discovery that will make this book resonate with queer readers. Stifled by her overbearing mother's heteronormative expectations, Astrid has dated--and just broken an engagement with--only the most boring of men. She isn't ready to give herself a label, but the moment when Astrid declares her feelings to Jordan is a revelation in more ways than one.
Both women are at inflection points personally and professionally, and the author adeptly balances their individual and romantic arcs. It's not all about Astrid; Jordan heals emotionally and both of them step into their own dazzling professional futures. For fans of renovation shows, found family, stolen kisses and the occasional crude joke, Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail is a literary success. --Suzanne Krohn, librarian and freelance reviewer
Shelf Talker: A carpenter and an interior designer renovate their way to happily ever after in this funny and insightful queer romance.