I so badly wanted to like this book because of how the Southern Gothic vibes intersect with queer feminist culture. However, I left feeling slightly disappointed and underwhelmed. There are simply so many storylines and characters in this book that it is a struggle to keep up with everyone. Also, I didn't super love the narration. In my opinion, a good novel knows how to show you aspects of the story rather than just telling you everything. Even in the first 10% of the book, I felt inundated with information, character introductions, and dialogue. I just can't stop wondering if the worldbuilding and overall reading experience would have been more enjoyable if some of these aspects were more subtle. Instead of stating "I opened this store with X, who is Y's nephew" (something that it felt like occurred every paragraph), let the reader make those connections on our own.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

as much as i tried to like this book i felt there were to many characters for me to get my head around... and so many issues this book covered that i kept losing who was who.... there seemed to be so many main characters and this book spanned over so many years

Not what I expected but n enjoyable read overall. I thought the author did a great job. I recommend

Thank you Bold Strokes Bokks and NetGalley.