If All That Matters
was a deep-dive blow-by-blow of pregnancy, this one is a deep-dive into being a
new single mother.
Avery Nichols works in a publishing house in Brooklyn and
hosts a podcast. She’s been single for a while but keen on having a baby
(babies, ideally). On a visit back home her mother takes her to a brewery for
dinner – really a thinly veiled excuse for her to reconnect with Casey Van
Dyke, also a single lesbian. Avery and Casey used to be in high school together
sixteen years back, but their social worlds didn’t intersect – except for
Avery’s friend verbally bullying Casey. Avery is interested but that meeting
comes to naught. Two years later, Casey runs into Avery with a six-month-old
baby, Lisbet. Casey is crazy about babies and she is upper excited to see
Lisbet and makes it a point to weave herself into Avery’s life to spend time
with the baby. Avery is struggling with all the downsides of having a baby –
sleepless nights, reduced productivity and a roommate fleeing. Aided by Casey,
Avery comes to the realisation that working from home and shifting town is the
best option for her. Avery proposes this at work and her proposal is accepted,
so she moves into her parents’ (first house and then close by). Between her mom
and Casey, Avery has more than enough support and help for Lisbet and life
would be good except that Avery dreams of returning to Brooklyn since she is a
city girl.
This is a long – a very long – book which barely touches the
romance. Avery and Casey are both lovely ladies but the concentration is on
Casey’s excitement about Lisbet and the developing friendship between Avery and
Casey. Every once in a while, Meagher seems to remember that this is also about
the two women and throws in a small line or para about a maybe attraction
between them. This one could surely have done with more banked fires and
longing to make it a fantastic romance. But it doesn’t. In fact, the
differences between the two are pointed out in more detail. Also there are a
number of meandering paths that lead nowhere – like the time Avery has a story
idea and takes a photograph of a dancing lady, the whole thing with Casey’s
parents (individually and as a couple), the Tara track. It is only the skill of
Meagher that kept us reading till the end. Admittedly the writing flows but
really goes nowhere. We’d have liked romance and heat in this and writing both really
well is so much within Meagher’s capabilities.
All in all, this one has been rather disappointing.
⭐⭐
