03/04/2024
Dugan (Melt with You) underwhelms in this immature sapphic rom-com, with a cast of 20-somethings who behave like mean girl tweens. Narrator Molly McDaniel, 24, works as a barista, lives with her mom, and has put her dreams of becoming a wedding planner on hold because dreaming won’t cover her student loan payments. Mom is a soul-sucking helicopter parent who feuded with her own sister literally until the woman’s death—whereupon Molly inherits her aunt’s horse farm. The business is spiraling, but a nucleus of horse boarders remain, led by resident farrier Shani Thomas. Molly sees selling the property as a way to make quick cash; Shani, who Molly’s aunt fostered from childhood while Shani’s parents were on the road, is enraged by the prospective sale. She’s also gorgeous, which renders Molly equal parts lusty and whiny. Suspension of disbelief in the service of good tropes is no crime, and for a while the enemies-to-lovers structure carries the tale, but readers will grow frustrated as incongruities and dropped plot arcs accumulate. Meanwhile, the solution to both women’s problems feels glaringly obvious, but it takes them far longer than it takes the reader to figure things out. Shani and Molly inevitably get their happily ever after, but readers will wonder whether they deserve it. Agent: Sara Crowe, Sara Crowe Literary. (May)
