Coming of age need not always be during the teens. Exploring
oneself, finding who you are and being assertive about your needs and
personhood can happen at any point in life. While this one might be considered
a slow-burn toaster oven romance, it is so not that. It is a story about coming
into one’s own, albeit close to the thirties.
Cameron Hansen has been with Ryan for four years and
is engaged to him. When Ryan got a position in London, she moved from Seattle
with him. The relationship between Cam and Ryan suffers from routine and lack
of effort leaving Cam not completely satisfied or happy. An ex-journalistic
student, Cam has given up words and joins a law firm as an accounts office
assistant and also joins the company football team. Iris Miller works in
operations in the same firm. She’d been in Dubai for a few weeks and when she
returns she sees Cam in the changing room getting ready for football practise. Iris
had a bad break-up in the past when her girlfriend cheated on her. Following
that, Iris went on an uncontrolled spree of hook-ups and one-night stands
leaving many broken and bitter hearts in her wake. Newly reformed and
determinedly single, Iris is nevertheless intrigued by Cam and the two women
start getting to know each other. They find more things in common, including
poetry and books, and enjoy each other’s company. When the quick-building
friendship moves into an attraction and not-entirely-platonic zone, things
unravel.
Rather than slow burn, this is a very well-paced build-up of
a relationship. We loved the conversations and interactions between Cam and
Iris as they were getting to know each other. The building attraction and unconscious
falling for each other was so well done that we found our heart thudding with
anticipation. We simultaneously wanted to race ahead to know how it unfolds and
wanted to slow down and savour the feelings so well written and described. To enjoy
the process of falling in love.
However, after the almost-kiss and subsequent reveal of the
attraction, Iris went downhill for us. After that point, the onus of saving and
building the relationship was put entirely on Cam with Iris’ only contribution
(if you want to call it that) being putting a distance, running away and never
expressing her feelings. Given that Iris believed that her lack of
communicating played a big part in the demise of her previous relationship,
this continuing non-communication was mystifying. In the second half, Cam is
the one taking chances, talking about where she is, expressing feelings,
reaching out, going out on a limb, taking chances, making leaps of faith
despite being alone in the whole process. In fact, Iris cruelly throws Cam’s
confidences about her past actions and vulnerabilities in Cam’s face and
demands decisive actions from Cam while offering nothing in return. Through it
all (and even in the first half) Cam remains constant – whether it was standing
up for Iris when they were getting to know each other and as friends to being
honest about her feelings later. We would have liked Cam to have a partner more
worthy of her than Iris is.
We like that both, Cam and Ryan are grey in their
relationship together. Cam’s existential ennui exacerbated by a humdrum
relationship is very convincingly written.
The latter part of the book didn’t appeal to us but we still
thoroughly enjoyed it. As a book about coming of age it is fantastic, as a
romance, we’d have like a more loving partner to Cam. But on the whole, a good
read.
⭐⭐⭐☆★
