Review: Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake

Last month I took a break from fantasy to read queer romance books, and I found so many great new reads! One of which was Delilah Green Doesn’t Care, a contemporary romance retelling of Cinderella that focuses on Cinderella’s relationship with her stepfamily. This fairytale retelling is perfect for those who enjoy messy family relationships and angst with a touch of comedy.

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Blurb

Delilah Green swore she would never go back to Bright Falls—nothing is there for her but memories of a lonely childhood where she was little more than a burden to her cold and distant stepfamily. Her life is in New York, with her photography career finally gaining steam and her bed never empty. Sure, it’s a different woman every night, but that’s just fine with her.

When Delilah’s estranged stepsister, Astrid, pressures her into photographing her wedding with a guilt trip and a five-figure check, Delilah finds herself back in the godforsaken town that she used to call home. She plans to breeze in and out, but then she sees Claire Sutherland, one of Astrid’s stuck-up besties, and decides that maybe there’s some fun (and a little retribution) to be had in Bright Falls, after all.

Having raised her eleven-year-old daughter mostly on her own while dealing with her unreliable ex and running a bookstore, Claire Sutherland depends upon a life without surprises. And Delilah Green is an unwelcome surprise…at first. Though they’ve known each other for years, they don’t really know each other—so Claire is unsettled when Delilah figures out exactly what buttons to push. When they’re forced together during a gauntlet of wedding preparations—including a plot to save Astrid from her horrible fiancé—Claire isn’t sure she has the strength to resist Delilah’s charms. Even worse, she’s starting to think she doesn’t want to…

Review of Delilah Green Doesn’t Care

• Format: audiobook
• Medium paced
• Character-driven
• Dual POV
• Lesbian and bisexual MCs
• Sapphic Cinderella retelling (if the evil stepsister wasn’t so evil)
• Exploration of trauma’s effect on relationships

I was actually very happy with the author’s take on Cinderella. Instead of focusing on the original tale’s plotline, Delilah Green Doesn’t Care focuses on how “Cinderella’s” relationship with her stepfamily was damaged by the death of her father. This new perspective humanizes Cinderella’s stepfamily as well as Cinderella herself while exploring grief, trauma, and family.

Characters

Delilah, whose backstory was inspired by Cinderella, is far from the meek girl from the fairytale. She’s prickly, queer, and set on revenge. When her stepsister, Astrid, hires her as a photographer for her wedding, Delilah has no intention of forgiving and forgetting. If she has to go back to the people that shunned her after her father died, then she’s at least going to cause some pain while she’s at it.

Personally, I loved this angry take on Cinderella. Delilah could be hard to love at times, but that’s what made her more real. Delilah’s troubled relationship with her stepfamily also brought up questions on how perspective could change a story. Delilah believed her stepsister was the evil one, but Astrid thought the same about her. In the end, neither of them was perfect. They both experienced trauma at a young age and had no guidance on how to manage their reactions. Delilah Green Doesn’t Care is equal parts a sapphic romance and a story about two estranged sisters learning how to love each other by acknowledging each others’ trauma.

She’d spent years perfecting the art of avoidance, of protection, of never letting Astrid see how much Delilah was hurting. If eyes were the window into the soul, Delilah’s had long been shuttered.

Ashley Herring Blake, “Delilah Green Doesn’t Care”

When Delilah returns to Bright Falls and sees Claire, she plans to seduce Astrid’s best friend in order to get revenge. I was worried that witnessing Delilah manipulate Claire would ruin the romance for me, but I actually enjoyed the tension it created. Delilah messing with Claire was wrong in a way that was sexy and funny.

Equally important as Delilah is the other main character, Claire, the bisexual single mother torn between her best friend and Delilah. Of all the characters, Claire was the easiest to love. She always put others first, even to her own detriment. I loved seeing her learning to put herself first sometimes. Also, I liked getting to know her daughter, Ruby. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about reading a romance with a kid involved, but I definitely enjoyed seeing a relationship bloom between Delilah and Ruby.

There was only one character I didn’t like that wasn’t supposed to be an antagonist. Astrid’s other best friend, Iris, has a brash personality that I didn’t personally enjoy. For instance, at the beginning of the book, she pushes Claire to get someone’s number at a bar because she hadn’t dated or had sex for a while. I really don’t like the “get your friend laid because they haven’t had sex in ‘too long'” trope. Part of Claire’s journey throughout the book was learning to put herself first sometimes, which would have been a much better reason for Iris to encourage Claire to start dating again. She could have just pointed out that Claire didn’t take time to do things that were for herself instead of shaming Claire for not having sex.

But overall, I really enjoyed getting to know all the characters and their complex relationships with each other. Delilah Green Doesn’t Care is definitely a great story to read if you like messy, imperfect characters that you still want to get a happy ending.

Style and Tone

I’ve seen Delilah Green Doesn’t Care categorized as a romcom, but I personally wouldn’t call it that. While there were some funny moments, the narrative has a serious and often uncomfortable tone that was appropriate for the themes present. The book addresses death, grief, and trauma, which aren’t topics that should be taken lightly. At times listening to the story felt almost painful but in a good way.

I also think the dual POV was perfect for this book. It gave the characters more complex roles than protagonist vs. antagonist because the story presented them from two different perspectives. Actions that one character perceived as malicious were seen as perfectly justified from another perspective.

Audiobook Narrator

I enjoyed listening to the narrator of the story. Her voices for each of the characters were distinct enough that I was never confused, but the voice for Ruby, Claire’s child, irritated me. It was jarring to hear an adult voice try to imitate a child’s voice, which I don’t think was the narrator’s fault. I had the same issue with the audiobook narration of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin.

Other than Ruby’s voice, I thought all the voices for the characters were fitting. Most of the time I wasn’t even thinking about the voices because I was so immersed in the narration.

You’ll Like This Book if You Enjoy…

• Found family
• Grumpy x sunshine
• Relationships between sisters
• ANGST with some comedy

Where to find Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake

Have you read Delilah Green Doesn’t Care? Let’s chat in the comments!