Finished another book for Sapphic Book Bingo: No Rings Attached, by Rachel Lacey. Per usual, this is my spoiler-free review for anyone who might be considering reading it for themselves or whatever.
If you want a quicker summary than what's down below, um. The book's all right! I guess! It's easier for me to recommend it as an examination of one person's battle with anxiety than as a full-on romance, but whatever!
Story Premise
Lia Harris is about to return to her home city of London in order to attend her brother's wedding. Although she's happy for him, she's not looking forward to dealing with her parents; she's currently single, and not only is her mom probably going to give her shit about it, her mom's also probably going to try to set her up with her ex. It doesn't help that Lia is self-conscious about being single, anyway, with all her friends and relatives finding their SOs.
Fortunately, Lia's best friend Rosie has an idea: Lia can take Rosie's other best friend, Grace, to be her fake date for the weekend. Unfortunately, Grace is something of a loner, averse to weddings and romantic relationships in general, and she has a history of flaking out on things. In spite of this, Grace somewhat reluctantly agrees to the plan; after all, Grace is very fond of Rosie and has long been jealous/curious of the other person who managed to become her best friend.
As Grace and Lia get to know each other better while faking a relationship with each other, Grace happens to receive an unexpected email that dredges up some awful memories she thought she had left behind. Now, she has to decide whether it's worth returning to America with Lia in order to find some closure for herself...
The nuances of queerness
When I try to think about what set this book apart from the others I've read so far, I think what stands out to me is that, for once, the important cast is mostly queer. And not just lesbians; Lia herself is bi, and Grace lives with a gay guy.
This may not be that big a deal to sapphic readers, but I think it's a contributing factor for me feeling more comfortable with the writing. It was an indication that the author, too, is of a queerer mindset than the other authors I've read, not just a "lesbian" mindset, and I think that comes through in other areas of the writing as well. Being more skeptical of the importance of biological family, being more accepting of the choices people make in regards to their relationships. Healthier ideas about relationships in general... Well, except for the fact that one of the leads is a huge mess.
The Romance
It... had its ups and downs for me. There's some sweet moments, to be sure. But there was one big issue that held me back from indulging myself in the more positive aspects of it, and that was the fact that Grace is always holding Lia at arm's length.
This isn't a discredit to the story. This story is largely about Grace, why she has the problems she has, and how she eventually learns to overcome them (messily). I think it'd be fair to argue that the story is not so much about romance, but more about trauma, and how it can interfere with all of a person's relationships. It just happens to make this point by showing how it impacts a romance in particular.
But since it is still structured as a romance as well, it gets hard to read sometimes. It feels weirdly unbalanced that Lia doesn't have her own personal problems to resolve (other than wanting to be with someone). Lia also shows more patience towards Grace than I would have to someone who treated me the same way, and I can't say that this aspect of the relationship was healthy. I thought it was clear that Lia had her own emotional needs but was putting Grace ahead of her own, and it was frustrating watching this in action.
The Mystery/Intrigue
This is a recurring section of my reviews to cover the "what will happen next!?" factor of the book. Though I'm starting to wonder about the usefulness of this section, because once again there wasn't really a whole lot of that here. But I feel like it wasn't for lack of trying.
The structure of chapters is odd--a chapter will often cover several events that each would have had their own dedicated chapter in most other books I've read, only to end at seemingly random points. Sometimes this happens anti-climactically, but other times, it will feel like a bit of conversation is shoved in for the sake of turning the end of the chapter into a quasi-cliffhanger. It's just conjecture, but I can't help but wonder if the chapters were always written with the idea that they would end at whatever point felt the most similar to a cliffhanger, and that was how a chapter was defined.
But there just wasn't a lot in the story to lend itself to moments like that. Most of the cliffhangers are just characters suddenly being impulsive. There is really only one plot point up for question throughout the entire book, and while it's resolved in an interesting way, it wasn't something where I was anticipating what was going to happen when it was resolved. The rest of the book was just the gradual development of Lia and Grace's relationship, and I had no real reason to assume it was going to be anything other than that.
Also the last big cliffhanger in the book is the result of a deus ex machina. It was... odd, to say the least.
It kinda sounds like you didn't really enjoy it.
Well... I dunno. Looking at the structure of the book as a whole, I can't say I think it's impressive, due to the aspects of the romance and (lack of) intrigue I already described. But... I think there's something to be said for the overall feeling of the book and the characters in it. There are a lot of individual moments in the book that are just nice. There's also a lot of relatable feelings in the book, including, sometimes especially the deep, chaotic anxiety experienced by Grace.
I have my own preferences and expectations for stories, and my own hangups about certain topics. But I can't honestly fault the book for taking the focus that it does, or how it handles that focus. Sometimes relationships do be this messy. Sometimes it's frustrating to read, but that's because it feels real. It may not offer many answers, but it also doesn't need to.
It could be that my standards have been lowered enough by One Walk in Winter that I'm hesitant to say I just didn't like it overall. It could be due to the internalized politeness and self-doubt that comes from my own Grace-level bad personal history and associated anxieties that I'm not comfortable with saying I disliked it. But I know I read this book to help comfort me after I was overwhelmed by trying to get through Gideon the Ninth, and it succeeded at helping me feel like I was mostly safe for a while.
Conclusion
Mmm... I'd say it's either average or above average. There was nothing objectionable in the book aside from things associated with my personal preferences, and there were many sentiments expressed in it that I thought were refreshing to see. I'm just not sure I'd recommend the book on the basis of the romance, instead suggesting you go into it for the sake of reading a story of someone who's struggling with making connections with people because she'd rather run before show any kind of vulnerability, and see how she eventually overcomes that.
And even then I'd warn against using it as a guideline to help yourself with that kind of thing, since honestly a lot of it comes down to coincidence. But it can still feel like its own kind of triumph.
P.S. No Rings Attached is actually book #2 in the "Ms. Right" series. The "Rosie" mentioned in the story premise is even a protagonist from the first book. This book can be read as a standalone, and in fact that's what I did, I didn't read the first book. But I'm kinda wondering how it would've changed the experience to be familiar with Rosie's story, since she's a pretty major character in this one.