thank you to netgally and the publisher for an arc

this was a sweet sapphic historical. it took me a while to get into, though. for like the entire first half, I just didn't . . . care. part of this was probably because I didn't feel like the reader got to know jo very well at all through the entire book. the premise was not my favorite either. when I requested the arc, I didn't fully understand how stressful the circumstances of the story would be, much more stressful than I prefer the plots of my romances to be. the vibes weren't tense, but the situations were, and I didn't like that. one thing I did really like was the lack of a third act breakup.

cws: moderate sexual content, grief, pregnancy, mentions of death in childbirth