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Almost Life
Two young women meet in Paris one sultry summer in a decades-spanning tour de force about the enduring power of young love and the poignant heartbreak of missed chances—perfect for fans of One Day and Normal People.
Erica and Laure meet on the steps of the Sacré-Coeur in Paris, 1978. Erica is a student, relishing her first summer abroad before beginning university at home in England. Laure is studying for her PhD at the Sorbonne, drinking and smoking far too much, and sleeping with a married woman. The moment the two women meet, the spark is undeniable, but their encounter turns into far more than a summer of love. It is the beginning of a relationship that will define their lives and every decision they have yet to make…
Erica and Laure’s love story spans decades, marriage, children, secret trysts, and the agonizing changes—both personal and political—that might mean they can be together, after all. But when life brings them within touching distance again, will they be brave enough to seize a future together?
Beautifully capturing young love and all its complexities, Almost Life is a story of longing for the paths not taken, and the almost lives we live.
Erica and Laure meet on the steps of the Sacré-Coeur in Paris, 1978. Erica is a student, relishing her first summer abroad before beginning university at home in England. Laure is studying for her PhD at the Sorbonne, drinking and smoking far too much, and sleeping with a married woman. The moment the two women meet, the spark is undeniable, but their encounter turns into far more than a summer of love. It is the beginning of a relationship that will define their lives and every decision they have yet to make…
Erica and Laure’s love story spans decades, marriage, children, secret trysts, and the agonizing changes—both personal and political—that might mean they can be together, after all. But when life brings them within touching distance again, will they be brave enough to seize a future together?
Beautifully capturing young love and all its complexities, Almost Life is a story of longing for the paths not taken, and the almost lives we live.
Audible Audio
First published March 12, 2026
About the author
Kiran Millwood Hargrave
38 books2,823 followersKiran Millwood Hargrave is an award-winning writer whose work has been translated into over 30 languages and optioned for stage and screen. Almost Life, her third novel for adults, will be published by Picador (UK) and Summit (US) in March 2026.
Her debut adult novel The Mercies debuted at number one of the The Times bestseller list, was a top-ten Sunday Times bestseller, and was selected for the BBC Radio 2 Book Club and the Richard and Judy Summer Reads. It was a finalist for the prestigious Prix Femina in France, won a Betty Trask Award, and was called 'unquestionably the book of the 2018 London Book Fair' by The Bookseller. The Dance Tree was shortlisted for the HWA Gold Crown Award and picked for the BBC Two Between Two Covers Book Club, as well as Florence + the Machine's Between Two Books Book Club.
Between them, her children's books have won numerous awards including the Wainwright Prize, Children's Book of the Year at the British Book Awards, the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, the Historical Association Young Quills Award, and the Blackwell's Children's Book of the Year. They have been shortlisted for the Kirkus Prize, the Barnes and Noble Award, Jhalak Prize, the Little Rebels Prize, the Branford Boase Award, the Blue Peter Best Story Award, Costa Children's Book Prize, Foyles' Children's Book of the Year, and thrice-longlisted for the Carnegie Award.
Kiran lives in Oxford with her husband, the artist Tom de Freston, their daughter, cats, and usually a litter of foster kittens.
Her debut adult novel The Mercies debuted at number one of the The Times bestseller list, was a top-ten Sunday Times bestseller, and was selected for the BBC Radio 2 Book Club and the Richard and Judy Summer Reads. It was a finalist for the prestigious Prix Femina in France, won a Betty Trask Award, and was called 'unquestionably the book of the 2018 London Book Fair' by The Bookseller. The Dance Tree was shortlisted for the HWA Gold Crown Award and picked for the BBC Two Between Two Covers Book Club, as well as Florence + the Machine's Between Two Books Book Club.
Between them, her children's books have won numerous awards including the Wainwright Prize, Children's Book of the Year at the British Book Awards, the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, the Historical Association Young Quills Award, and the Blackwell's Children's Book of the Year. They have been shortlisted for the Kirkus Prize, the Barnes and Noble Award, Jhalak Prize, the Little Rebels Prize, the Branford Boase Award, the Blue Peter Best Story Award, Costa Children's Book Prize, Foyles' Children's Book of the Year, and thrice-longlisted for the Carnegie Award.
Kiran lives in Oxford with her husband, the artist Tom de Freston, their daughter, cats, and usually a litter of foster kittens.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,493 reviews
April 7, 2026
It is the condition of the heartbroken to believe no one has felt as they have, ever in the history of the world.
This was absolutely wonderful, but I feel like an open wound after finishing it. Like this book reached inside me and ripped something vital out. This is one of those rare times where I'll be returning my library book and buying my own copy.
Is this a romance? In a rudimentary sense, yes. Laure and Erica meet in 1978, on the steps of the Sacré-Coeur in Paris, and experience that rare kind of spark— inexplicable, and impossible to ignore. Yet they try their best. Years pass, bringing them together and then tearing them apart. Nothing has changed, while everything has changed. Laure and Erica frozen in the fervour of their first love, even as lovers, marriages, career changes and personal crises spin their lives off in very different directions.
I could have read it faster, but I lingered over it. I reread passages. I had that special kind of reading experience where the characters felt 100% real to me. I stayed up late to finish it, then lay awake for hours thinking about Laure and Erica, unable to calm my heart with the mantra "it's just fiction; it isn't real".
The last of her defences, weak as they were, had tumbled, and she was laid bare to it all. To Paris, to Laure, to this perfect summer.
Paris is used spectacularly here. In this book, it is a living, breathing thing, but not romanticised the way it usually is. The beauty and splendour is juxtaposed with the grime and squalor; the city of love is also the city of heartbreak.
And, alongside this, it is a historical novel following the development of gay rights from the 1970s to the 2010s, kind of in the way Boyne's The Heart's Invisible Furies was. Playing out in the background are political events, the AIDS crisis, and the fight for the legalization of gay marriage.
I've only read a handful of books that hurt like this one did. Ones that twist intense desire and passion together with melancholy, and do so effectively without seeming maudlin. I also love very much that— despite how bright Erica and Laure flare at the centre of this story —none of the other characters are treated as disposable. I think this happens a lot in romance, where anyone outside the central pair has a bit of an NPC quality. That was not the case here.
It is just absolutely lovely and heartbreaking. I can't stop thinking about it.
June 3, 2026
you never know what people are going through. for example i cannot resist reading any book compared to sally rooney
(reading for a substack post)
(review to come)
(reading for a substack post)
(review to come)
March 26, 2026
This book destroyed me!! Depending on how it will linger I might change this to 5 stars later because holy. I was completely transported into the lives of these two women. It helps that I romanticize Paris like it’s my job, so this book already got me there. Young artists living in Paris in the 70s, smoking and drinking red wine and talking about art and politics? Absolutely yes.
Yet this turned into something much more tender and hearbreaking and beautiful as it went on.
The only reason I gave it four stars is that the character growth was not fully believable to me at all times. Erica and Laure both had such strong, distinct personalities at the start and they sort of get blurred and wiped away as time goes on. And maybe that’s what life does to us but I do wish there was some remnant of a personality left, especially for Laure.
That being said, I cried multiple times during this book and feel both emotionally damaged and enlightened
Yet this turned into something much more tender and hearbreaking and beautiful as it went on.
The only reason I gave it four stars is that the character growth was not fully believable to me at all times. Erica and Laure both had such strong, distinct personalities at the start and they sort of get blurred and wiped away as time goes on. And maybe that’s what life does to us but I do wish there was some remnant of a personality left, especially for Laure.
That being said, I cried multiple times during this book and feel both emotionally damaged and enlightened
July 13, 2026
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
gosh I just love a literary 'love story' (I say that loosely) that rips my heart out
gosh I just love a literary 'love story' (I say that loosely) that rips my heart out
April 11, 2026
fuck you, erica
March 27, 2026
This stupid fucking book. This book was Normal People for people with a total lack of critical thinking skills. Author chronically addicted to telling not showing. Every slightly interpretable sentence followed up by a paragraph of explaining what it meant as if I’m 5 fucking years old. I am a GROWN WOMAN. You needed to tell me the characters were being discriminated against for being gay as if I couldn’t tell by the fact that it was Paris in the 1980s?? Did I need to have it spelled out for me that Erica was still in love with Laure for the specific reason of XYZ??? On a similar note, there were so many parts of this book that felt awkwardly inserted for the modern reader’s sake, little asides like “btw erica was insecure about her weight!“ or “btw laure was REALLY confused about why kids these days cared so much about pronouns!” which felt so unnatural and inauthentic to me. Oh my god also the THERAPY TALK in this book, it is an epidemic. People are not that well adjusted in real life or aware of the root of their own feelings it feels so ingenuine and frankly in paris even 10 years ago there is NO WAAAAY everyone was going to therapy once a week. And certainly not Laure, that inarticulate motherfucker. Be so fr
Anyway I have never read a book with a lesbian couple as its central focus which is so obsessed with men. Like there is absolutely no world in which this book passed the Bechdel test. Even in scenes when Erica’s boyfriend wasn’t being lauded as the next Messiah, even in scenes between Erica and HER LESBIAN GIRLFRIEND LAURE, ALL this woman wants to talk about is how Laure is so sexy because she’s EXACTLY LIKE A MAN and her VIOLENTLY MAN-LIKE APPEARANCE AND MANNERISMS are what makes her admirable and attractive. Keep in mind laure is fully a she/her. Masc lesbians are absolutely a thing but this felt like it went beyond that into profound man-obsession. Like if you want a boyfriend so badly just say that 😭 and god this book bangs on for so long about how erica’s boyfriend is the best writer on ERICA’S creative writing course and then erica spends her entire life rotting in his shadow it’s SOOOO DEPRESSING AND DUMB. And listen Kiran Millwood Hargrave i fucking KNOW THAT’S THE POINT. I KNOW WE’RE BEING SHOWN HOW WOMEN GIVE UP THEIR AGENCY WHEN THEY DON’T LIVE FOR THEMSELVES. But when you parrot a character who views men as the great ideal of human existence without presenting a convincing argument against that mindset, when your character’s only other option is to come crawling back to her other lover who is a woman that she views as a man, when you doom her to a life of dependence no matter which path she chooses, then all you’re really doing is amplifying that misogynistic point of view! Even the summer i turned pretty season 3 knew to give belly a year in paris alone to find herself without conrad or jeremiah!
Okay christ MOVING ON. Some other things mentioned unnecessarily frequently in this book were BREASTS, NIPPLES, and for some reason, getting sugar high?? God knows why, you are in Paris in the 1980s, you could get real drugs. Anyway this author had her characters describing their own boobs so frequently and in such unnecessary detail that I genuinely had to google the author to check that the book wasn’t written by a man. Reader, it wasn’t. It was written by a woman who used boob description as a device through which to appear deep, edgy, and french.
I did not ship the couple in this book. I hated both of the characters in the ship. I didn’t care about their relationship and I didn’t really get why they liked each other so much. I thought Laure was actually rude as fuck and then became miraculously therapyified with age in a way that didn’t feel earned. Erica was USELESS OH MY GOD never has a woman needed to be cinderella complexed more in her life, and I also don’t think being with Laure would have saved her or made her better, I think that the only thing that would have helped her is to have been single and to have learned to be independent. On the other hand other characters often blamed erica for things she really was not to blame for (and were framed as being in the right) and it felt so odd, like the author had wanted to write a complex female character without letting her actually do anything that bad.
This brings me to my next point: everything in this book felt unearned. The love, the resentment, the fights, the make-ups, the careers, the decisions made, everything. The relationships between the protagonists and their other lovers were lazily written and had no substance or real emotional evidence for why they mattered, and were held together with seemingly random parenthetical mentions of “he was her favourite person in the world” etc which just made me feel like… huh?? Since when?? And why the hell was erica fully aware that the love of her life had had a stroke and might well die and then just forgot about her for an extremely long time only to google her one day and discover she had died THREE YEARS AGO??!!! Like you spend 400 pages banging on about her but don’t bother to send a telegram to the hospital in all that time or at least check her facebook status or something???? Make it make sense bro. For fuck’s sake.
Also the time period was so lazily researched and it felt like it could have happened in any time period and was only happening in 70s and 80s Paris to make its readership fangirl about how romantic and deep it was. All the art talk and book talk also felt lazily researched, like the author was just grasping at straws trying to mention all of the limited number of poems and pieces of art she had consumed so as to appear cultured. As if both of the protagonists’ favourite art installation on earth was monet’s waterlilies. Come on.
In conclusion, this book was hollow and substanceless to me and relentlessly trying to be something it wasn’t. Splitting a 400 page book into 12 chapters like you think you’re donna tartt. Fuck off. I swear every time I put myself out there and try to enjoy just one modern lesbian novel it ends up being a massive flop. WHY DO YOU PEOPLE HATE ME?! I’M A LESBIAN! I LIKE TO READ! I WANT TO READ A GOOD LESBIAN BOOK! IS IT SO HARD TO WRITE ONE! Can no one serve a little alice walker just once?!!!
Anyhow, I will keep opening myself up to love and light despite this great betrayal. Thank you for witnessing my pain and goodnight.
Anyway I have never read a book with a lesbian couple as its central focus which is so obsessed with men. Like there is absolutely no world in which this book passed the Bechdel test. Even in scenes when Erica’s boyfriend wasn’t being lauded as the next Messiah, even in scenes between Erica and HER LESBIAN GIRLFRIEND LAURE, ALL this woman wants to talk about is how Laure is so sexy because she’s EXACTLY LIKE A MAN and her VIOLENTLY MAN-LIKE APPEARANCE AND MANNERISMS are what makes her admirable and attractive. Keep in mind laure is fully a she/her. Masc lesbians are absolutely a thing but this felt like it went beyond that into profound man-obsession. Like if you want a boyfriend so badly just say that 😭 and god this book bangs on for so long about how erica’s boyfriend is the best writer on ERICA’S creative writing course and then erica spends her entire life rotting in his shadow it’s SOOOO DEPRESSING AND DUMB. And listen Kiran Millwood Hargrave i fucking KNOW THAT’S THE POINT. I KNOW WE’RE BEING SHOWN HOW WOMEN GIVE UP THEIR AGENCY WHEN THEY DON’T LIVE FOR THEMSELVES. But when you parrot a character who views men as the great ideal of human existence without presenting a convincing argument against that mindset, when your character’s only other option is to come crawling back to her other lover who is a woman that she views as a man, when you doom her to a life of dependence no matter which path she chooses, then all you’re really doing is amplifying that misogynistic point of view! Even the summer i turned pretty season 3 knew to give belly a year in paris alone to find herself without conrad or jeremiah!
Okay christ MOVING ON. Some other things mentioned unnecessarily frequently in this book were BREASTS, NIPPLES, and for some reason, getting sugar high?? God knows why, you are in Paris in the 1980s, you could get real drugs. Anyway this author had her characters describing their own boobs so frequently and in such unnecessary detail that I genuinely had to google the author to check that the book wasn’t written by a man. Reader, it wasn’t. It was written by a woman who used boob description as a device through which to appear deep, edgy, and french.
I did not ship the couple in this book. I hated both of the characters in the ship. I didn’t care about their relationship and I didn’t really get why they liked each other so much. I thought Laure was actually rude as fuck and then became miraculously therapyified with age in a way that didn’t feel earned. Erica was USELESS OH MY GOD never has a woman needed to be cinderella complexed more in her life, and I also don’t think being with Laure would have saved her or made her better, I think that the only thing that would have helped her is to have been single and to have learned to be independent. On the other hand other characters often blamed erica for things she really was not to blame for (and were framed as being in the right) and it felt so odd, like the author had wanted to write a complex female character without letting her actually do anything that bad.
This brings me to my next point: everything in this book felt unearned. The love, the resentment, the fights, the make-ups, the careers, the decisions made, everything. The relationships between the protagonists and their other lovers were lazily written and had no substance or real emotional evidence for why they mattered, and were held together with seemingly random parenthetical mentions of “he was her favourite person in the world” etc which just made me feel like… huh?? Since when?? And why the hell was erica fully aware that the love of her life had had a stroke and might well die and then just forgot about her for an extremely long time only to google her one day and discover she had died THREE YEARS AGO??!!! Like you spend 400 pages banging on about her but don’t bother to send a telegram to the hospital in all that time or at least check her facebook status or something???? Make it make sense bro. For fuck’s sake.
Also the time period was so lazily researched and it felt like it could have happened in any time period and was only happening in 70s and 80s Paris to make its readership fangirl about how romantic and deep it was. All the art talk and book talk also felt lazily researched, like the author was just grasping at straws trying to mention all of the limited number of poems and pieces of art she had consumed so as to appear cultured. As if both of the protagonists’ favourite art installation on earth was monet’s waterlilies. Come on.
In conclusion, this book was hollow and substanceless to me and relentlessly trying to be something it wasn’t. Splitting a 400 page book into 12 chapters like you think you’re donna tartt. Fuck off. I swear every time I put myself out there and try to enjoy just one modern lesbian novel it ends up being a massive flop. WHY DO YOU PEOPLE HATE ME?! I’M A LESBIAN! I LIKE TO READ! I WANT TO READ A GOOD LESBIAN BOOK! IS IT SO HARD TO WRITE ONE! Can no one serve a little alice walker just once?!!!
Anyhow, I will keep opening myself up to love and light despite this great betrayal. Thank you for witnessing my pain and goodnight.
June 29, 2026
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5 stars)
Gosh, I don’t even fully know how to begin to describe how I feel about this book.
It’s an understatement to say that it rocked me to my core (& made me cry countless times) honestly, because this book and the whole story somehow managed to make me completely forget that I was reading about fictional characters and not something that happened in real life.
First of all, I want to say that this book shines through the way the story is told, the writing magnificent and the storytelling just as much. I could really connect to all of the characters, our mains Erica and Laure, and all the side characters like Michel, Laure’s friends or even Erica’s husband. The story is told through both, Laure’s and Erica’s POV and not gonna lie, it has been such a gift! Especially because I had my moments where I disliked Erica quite a bit and just longed to see Laure’s side and then when it happened, I felt myself fully enyoing the moments we got to see.
Since we’re already speaking about the characters, I want to dive a bit deeper into that.
First, Erica. We start off with her in her young adult years just before she enters university, and folllow her till she is in her middle age. I liked her character at the beginning, due to her being around the same stage of life as I am now, I felt like I could easily connect to her, however, as the story progressed I felt like she didn’t have quite the character growth I wished her or even expected her to have. Which, on one hand, added to the complexity of the characters as well as the realness but on the other hand, left me increasingly frustrated at times.
Then, we had Laure. Dear god, I adored her right from the beginning and let me tell you, I cried so many times reading her side of the story. I think she seemed quite arrogant at the beginning but then just had such an excellent character development and growth which just wowed me away! I kept thinming about her and Erica’s love story over the days that I read the book and found myself so immersed in her chapters and opinions in the story. I also adored her relationship with her friends, especially Michel (gosh, I adored him sooo much), but also all the others. It was so nice to see how thesy grew and struggled too and how we got glimpses of what happened to them over the years. Though, I still wish we could’ve gotten even more detail especially when the time jumps appeared in the story.
Besides, the pacing of the story was great. As I mentioned the storytelling was phenomenal and this is surely a book which I will buy as a copy for my bookshelf and to re-read in a few months when it’s officially published. I really highly recommend!!
Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for providing me with a free copy of the book in exchnage for a honest review.
Gosh, I don’t even fully know how to begin to describe how I feel about this book.
It’s an understatement to say that it rocked me to my core (& made me cry countless times) honestly, because this book and the whole story somehow managed to make me completely forget that I was reading about fictional characters and not something that happened in real life.
First of all, I want to say that this book shines through the way the story is told, the writing magnificent and the storytelling just as much. I could really connect to all of the characters, our mains Erica and Laure, and all the side characters like Michel, Laure’s friends or even Erica’s husband. The story is told through both, Laure’s and Erica’s POV and not gonna lie, it has been such a gift! Especially because I had my moments where I disliked Erica quite a bit and just longed to see Laure’s side and then when it happened, I felt myself fully enyoing the moments we got to see.
Since we’re already speaking about the characters, I want to dive a bit deeper into that.
First, Erica. We start off with her in her young adult years just before she enters university, and folllow her till she is in her middle age. I liked her character at the beginning, due to her being around the same stage of life as I am now, I felt like I could easily connect to her, however, as the story progressed I felt like she didn’t have quite the character growth I wished her or even expected her to have. Which, on one hand, added to the complexity of the characters as well as the realness but on the other hand, left me increasingly frustrated at times.
Then, we had Laure. Dear god, I adored her right from the beginning and let me tell you, I cried so many times reading her side of the story. I think she seemed quite arrogant at the beginning but then just had such an excellent character development and growth which just wowed me away! I kept thinming about her and Erica’s love story over the days that I read the book and found myself so immersed in her chapters and opinions in the story. I also adored her relationship with her friends, especially Michel (gosh, I adored him sooo much), but also all the others. It was so nice to see how thesy grew and struggled too and how we got glimpses of what happened to them over the years. Though, I still wish we could’ve gotten even more detail especially when the time jumps appeared in the story.
Besides, the pacing of the story was great. As I mentioned the storytelling was phenomenal and this is surely a book which I will buy as a copy for my bookshelf and to re-read in a few months when it’s officially published. I really highly recommend!!
Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for providing me with a free copy of the book in exchnage for a honest review.
August 19, 2025
Unbelievable. It's 2am and my face is wet with tears having been unable to put this down until I finished it. I think it's safe to say that this book really spoke to me.
For me, Almost Life was a perfect blend of A Little Life, One Day, Past Lives, Saltwater: aching, passionate, beautiful, crafted, it follows the interwoven lives of two women who meet on the steps of Sacré-Cœur in Summer 1978. What could be, what is, how long something can last, what makes something work - these are the central questions of Almost Life and captivated me wholly. Sapphic romance doesn't do this book justice: I found the depiction of Laure and Erica's connection through the years to be so beautiful and nuanced, so real, that on multiple occasions I reread whole sections so I could relive the scene and experience the emotions afresh. Alongside this, the story had dynamism and social commentary and humour and sex and depth and pace and I just never wanted it to end but couldn't rest until it did (which, on reflection, sort of parallels the plot).
big, big yes for me.
For me, Almost Life was a perfect blend of A Little Life, One Day, Past Lives, Saltwater: aching, passionate, beautiful, crafted, it follows the interwoven lives of two women who meet on the steps of Sacré-Cœur in Summer 1978. What could be, what is, how long something can last, what makes something work - these are the central questions of Almost Life and captivated me wholly. Sapphic romance doesn't do this book justice: I found the depiction of Laure and Erica's connection through the years to be so beautiful and nuanced, so real, that on multiple occasions I reread whole sections so I could relive the scene and experience the emotions afresh. Alongside this, the story had dynamism and social commentary and humour and sex and depth and pace and I just never wanted it to end but couldn't rest until it did (which, on reflection, sort of parallels the plot).
big, big yes for me.
March 16, 2026
Lesbian normal people. Quite devastating, but incredibly addictive. Though it is not the most superb novel, with certain aspects of it falling into stereotypical parts of queerness, i still recommend it if you are seeking something heavily character driven and reflective of relationships and connections.
April 15, 2026
that one brief lesbian situationship/fwb situation that defines AND haunts you for the rest of your tragic life
July 1, 2026
There’s technically nothing wrong with this, it’s well-researched and the writing’s more than decent but the story really didn’t work for me – and the ‘bury your gays’ ending was depressingly, infuriatingly predictable. It’s billed as a bittersweet, sapphic love story with a structure that echoes One Day and Linklater’s “Before” film trilogy. It revolves around two women, Laure world-weary French, lesbian radical and younger, sheltered English Erica. They meet and have a brief but intense affair in Paris in the late 1970s. Erica, who now identifies as bi, returns home to attend university, Laure is left heartbroken. As an undergrad and later graduate student Erica has relationships both with men and women before marrying posh Ant who becomes a highly successful writer. Erica’s own career languishes but she buries herself in motherhood and wifedom. Laure becomes dependent on alcohol and has a rollercoaster existence before reaching a place of peace. Over the course of decades their paths cross until they’re parted by death.
At its best languid and atmospheric I also found this overly artificial, the settings are very stock, and the characters less than convincing. Although there were some compelling glimpses of queer culture in France particularly during the overtly homophobic seventies and eighties. Laure is presented largely in stereotypical terms, there are numerous references to her mannish demeanour, her – shock, horror – love of wearing suits or gender-neutral clothing. Erica, by contrast, is depicted as classically, abundantly feminine - attitudes towards gender overall felt dated, oddly conservative. But it was the supposed lost love between Laure and Erica I found particularly hard to believe. From my perspective Erica experimented with women in her youth then fully embraced a rigidly upper middle-class brand of heteronormativity; indulging in wistful daydreams about Laure and what might have been whenever Erica’s life wasn’t going as well as expected. Laure then conveniently dies young, allowing her to remain a “beautiful memory” that Erica can revisit whenever the fancy takes her. For a supposedly queer novel, the whole endeavour felt far too close to heterosexual fantasy.
Thanks to Netgalley and Picador for an ARC
At its best languid and atmospheric I also found this overly artificial, the settings are very stock, and the characters less than convincing. Although there were some compelling glimpses of queer culture in France particularly during the overtly homophobic seventies and eighties. Laure is presented largely in stereotypical terms, there are numerous references to her mannish demeanour, her – shock, horror – love of wearing suits or gender-neutral clothing. Erica, by contrast, is depicted as classically, abundantly feminine - attitudes towards gender overall felt dated, oddly conservative. But it was the supposed lost love between Laure and Erica I found particularly hard to believe. From my perspective Erica experimented with women in her youth then fully embraced a rigidly upper middle-class brand of heteronormativity; indulging in wistful daydreams about Laure and what might have been whenever Erica’s life wasn’t going as well as expected. Laure then conveniently dies young, allowing her to remain a “beautiful memory” that Erica can revisit whenever the fancy takes her. For a supposedly queer novel, the whole endeavour felt far too close to heterosexual fantasy.
Thanks to Netgalley and Picador for an ARC
November 20, 2025
2,5 stars tbh. I have so many notes. The whole book was giving the author studied abroad in Paris and needed the world to know.
Firstly, Laure fell into such french caricatures at first and then finally had character growth. Erica on the other hand was the opposite! She fell into the typical woman who loses herself in marriage and motherhood trope but not in a well done way. Secondly, the dialogue was infuriating! Poorly done. Why was it mainly in french at first and then, until the end, all in english? Also if you're going to write in french have the decency to check if it's correct... because it wasn't...
This read like a wattpad book especially in certain descriptions. I do enjoy reading a bad book once in a while though! Reminds me how good books are good!
Firstly, Laure fell into such french caricatures at first and then finally had character growth. Erica on the other hand was the opposite! She fell into the typical woman who loses herself in marriage and motherhood trope but not in a well done way. Secondly, the dialogue was infuriating! Poorly done. Why was it mainly in french at first and then, until the end, all in english? Also if you're going to write in french have the decency to check if it's correct... because it wasn't...
This read like a wattpad book especially in certain descriptions. I do enjoy reading a bad book once in a while though! Reminds me how good books are good!
April 17, 2026
all of y’all crying about how beautiful and devastating this was has me really concerned about the current and future state of lesbian literature.
the complete lack of chemistry? the awful, one-dimensional characters? someone else already said it best in their review, but truly every facet of this book felt completely unearned. seriously could not wrap my head around why Laure is even so in love with Erica - surely you could have given her ONE redeeming quality so I could at least try and understand why you couldn’t leave each other alone.
read this book with my partner and 3/4 of the way through, they pointed out that almost every single sex scene between Laure and Erica was a fade to black situation, meanwhile we get a nice graphic depiction of her first time with Ant. we spoke too soon, though, because in the last 20 pages we got a sex scene that refers to Erica’s clit as a “hard nut” — oh, goody! and listen, I am the last person to require or even desire smut in my books but it certainly says a lot about this book that there’s little to no sexual chemistry between the two sapphic characters / very poor depictions of queer sex overall, but there was no hesitation to throw in the visual of some hetero intercourse!
Alright I’m done now. But srsly what the fuck was this book.
the complete lack of chemistry? the awful, one-dimensional characters? someone else already said it best in their review, but truly every facet of this book felt completely unearned. seriously could not wrap my head around why Laure is even so in love with Erica - surely you could have given her ONE redeeming quality so I could at least try and understand why you couldn’t leave each other alone.
read this book with my partner and 3/4 of the way through, they pointed out that almost every single sex scene between Laure and Erica was a fade to black situation, meanwhile we get a nice graphic depiction of her first time with Ant. we spoke too soon, though, because in the last 20 pages we got a sex scene that refers to Erica’s clit as a “hard nut” — oh, goody! and listen, I am the last person to require or even desire smut in my books but it certainly says a lot about this book that there’s little to no sexual chemistry between the two sapphic characters / very poor depictions of queer sex overall, but there was no hesitation to throw in the visual of some hetero intercourse!
Alright I’m done now. But srsly what the fuck was this book.
March 25, 2026
Rating: 4* of five
The Publisher Says: Two young women meet in Paris in this decades-spanning tour de force about the enduring power of young love and the poignant heartbreak of missed chances—perfect for fans of One Day and Normal People.
Erica and Laure meet on the steps of the Sacré-Coeur in Paris, 1978. Erica is a student, relishing her first summer abroad before beginning university at home in England. Laure is studying for her PhD at the Sorbonne, drinking and smoking far too much, and sleeping with a married woman. The moment the two women meet, the spark is undeniable, but their encounter turns into far more than a summer of love. It is the beginning of a relationship that will define their lives and every decision they have yet to make…
Erica and Laure’s love story spans decades, marriage, children, secret trysts, and the agonizing changes—both personal and political—that might mean they can be together, after all. But when life brings them within touching distance again, will they be brave enough to seize a future together?
Beautifully capturing young love and all its complexities, Almost Life is a story of longing for the paths not taken, and the almost lives we live.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Messy lives are so much more interesting than tidy, orderly ones. Messy for the right reasons...like being in love with two people for the usual complex, complicated reasons we humans fall in love...make for even better, more involving reading. Then there's the ultimate messiness of not being able to decide what to do about any of it. That is the most relatable thing of them all.
Of course, the emotional cost of being in two equally important relationships...well, grief and guilt and anger are spread around pretty thickly, pretty widely, and really heavily. Erica and Laure are connected but in ways that are demanding, requiring choices to be made. Erica is the one with A Plan (children, career as a novelist), so she chooses her Plan over the loose, freeing love of Laure (that will never get her one step closer to fulfilling her Plan).
Laure. Her plan for life is to love, to make love, to build around her loving chosen family of outsider misfit gay folk a nexus of happiness and support. As this story begins in 1978, I needn't tell older readers what was about to ram into the walls of the world...suffice, for those who were not there, to say that COVID was not the first deadly plague that came out of nowhere your elders faced. Laure being in the gay world of Paris feels it, bears it, as it scythes through her circle of loved ones. Erica, insulated in marriage and children, feels it less, but she feels love for Laure and the deeply conflicted happy delights and miserable lows of being a human in a family.
Author Hargrave is not going to trudge through the lives of Laure and Erica, taking us into bedrooms and kitchens and school meetings; we hop and bounce and move through their worlds, seldom seeing them together, but always connecting, and always dreaming of what might have been if....
It's a technique whose use means that a reader wanting a saga, a densely woven tapestry of emotional connections explored and explained, is not going to be satisfied. This story explores how the truly, intensely important loves in our lives crystallize us. Shaping the futire is not all that often a deliberate act, despite the mountains of books and stories that tell us we can take charge, we can direct our own life-movie. Erica meeting Laure awoke to her bisexuality, and I am here on this Earth to tell you that sexual awakening is not under the awakened's conscious control and is seldom a force for good until lots of painful lessons about emotions and plans gone awry are learned. Erica and Laure set in motion changes and processes of healing and cycles of misery and destruction in their lives. Lives lived, of course, but more interestingly roads not taken. These are the strands of Author Hargrave's story that sang and shimmered in my mind's eye.
I must say that this technique militates against deeper explorations of the women's relationship to each other. There is an inevitable sense of unsettledness, of being in motion without being headed in any particular direction, as a price exacted for seeing into the "almost lives" that pepper every person's experience—without most of us being aware of them, aware of their ghosts anyway.
I'm sure this story would ignite terrific book club discussions. It's tailor-made for the present moment of multiple inflection points converging on unknowable futures that preclude each other. Well worth your time and treasure.
The Publisher Says: Two young women meet in Paris in this decades-spanning tour de force about the enduring power of young love and the poignant heartbreak of missed chances—perfect for fans of One Day and Normal People.
Erica and Laure meet on the steps of the Sacré-Coeur in Paris, 1978. Erica is a student, relishing her first summer abroad before beginning university at home in England. Laure is studying for her PhD at the Sorbonne, drinking and smoking far too much, and sleeping with a married woman. The moment the two women meet, the spark is undeniable, but their encounter turns into far more than a summer of love. It is the beginning of a relationship that will define their lives and every decision they have yet to make…
Erica and Laure’s love story spans decades, marriage, children, secret trysts, and the agonizing changes—both personal and political—that might mean they can be together, after all. But when life brings them within touching distance again, will they be brave enough to seize a future together?
Beautifully capturing young love and all its complexities, Almost Life is a story of longing for the paths not taken, and the almost lives we live.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Messy lives are so much more interesting than tidy, orderly ones. Messy for the right reasons...like being in love with two people for the usual complex, complicated reasons we humans fall in love...make for even better, more involving reading. Then there's the ultimate messiness of not being able to decide what to do about any of it. That is the most relatable thing of them all.
Of course, the emotional cost of being in two equally important relationships...well, grief and guilt and anger are spread around pretty thickly, pretty widely, and really heavily. Erica and Laure are connected but in ways that are demanding, requiring choices to be made. Erica is the one with A Plan (children, career as a novelist), so she chooses her Plan over the loose, freeing love of Laure (that will never get her one step closer to fulfilling her Plan).
Laure. Her plan for life is to love, to make love, to build around her loving chosen family of outsider misfit gay folk a nexus of happiness and support. As this story begins in 1978, I needn't tell older readers what was about to ram into the walls of the world...suffice, for those who were not there, to say that COVID was not the first deadly plague that came out of nowhere your elders faced. Laure being in the gay world of Paris feels it, bears it, as it scythes through her circle of loved ones. Erica, insulated in marriage and children, feels it less, but she feels love for Laure and the deeply conflicted happy delights and miserable lows of being a human in a family.
Author Hargrave is not going to trudge through the lives of Laure and Erica, taking us into bedrooms and kitchens and school meetings; we hop and bounce and move through their worlds, seldom seeing them together, but always connecting, and always dreaming of what might have been if....
It's a technique whose use means that a reader wanting a saga, a densely woven tapestry of emotional connections explored and explained, is not going to be satisfied. This story explores how the truly, intensely important loves in our lives crystallize us. Shaping the futire is not all that often a deliberate act, despite the mountains of books and stories that tell us we can take charge, we can direct our own life-movie. Erica meeting Laure awoke to her bisexuality, and I am here on this Earth to tell you that sexual awakening is not under the awakened's conscious control and is seldom a force for good until lots of painful lessons about emotions and plans gone awry are learned. Erica and Laure set in motion changes and processes of healing and cycles of misery and destruction in their lives. Lives lived, of course, but more interestingly roads not taken. These are the strands of Author Hargrave's story that sang and shimmered in my mind's eye.
I must say that this technique militates against deeper explorations of the women's relationship to each other. There is an inevitable sense of unsettledness, of being in motion without being headed in any particular direction, as a price exacted for seeing into the "almost lives" that pepper every person's experience—without most of us being aware of them, aware of their ghosts anyway.
I'm sure this story would ignite terrific book club discussions. It's tailor-made for the present moment of multiple inflection points converging on unknowable futures that preclude each other. Well worth your time and treasure.
June 29, 2026
A love story between two women that spans decades. It starts as a Normal People wannabe, but it finds its own identity as the characters mature and their struggles transcend the ideals of youth. This is truly a love story that will keep you guessing until the very end whether the heroines will stay together or whether they will become each other's "one that got away".
May 22, 2026
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This book was quite a journey, and I am so glad I savored it and took my time with it. It reminded me so much of the Before movie trilogy and Sylvia Brownrigg’s “Pages for You”, two pieces of media that I LOVE. The first part is (just like in the first movie) the most romantic and “idealistic”, they’re young and free, but things kind of go downhill the further you get into the story.
I loved the prose and the fact that the author went into such detail describing every place Erica and Laure visited. I felt like I was transported to Paris, and I had so much fun Googling everything. I was overwhelmed with emotion throughout the whole book, and the side characters (especially Michel) left a lasting impact on me. I loved the care she put into crafting everyone.
I definitely felt like some of the slower parts dragged on a little bit, so i was bored at times but overall, this was a beautiful experience. I shed a few tears throughout the story, and i was completely inconsolable while reading the last two chapters. Now i am left with a total book hangover from this.
I have to end this by mentioning that I definitely see the book to film adaptation potential. Hope I get to see it someday!
This book was quite a journey, and I am so glad I savored it and took my time with it. It reminded me so much of the Before movie trilogy and Sylvia Brownrigg’s “Pages for You”, two pieces of media that I LOVE. The first part is (just like in the first movie) the most romantic and “idealistic”, they’re young and free, but things kind of go downhill the further you get into the story.
I loved the prose and the fact that the author went into such detail describing every place Erica and Laure visited. I felt like I was transported to Paris, and I had so much fun Googling everything. I was overwhelmed with emotion throughout the whole book, and the side characters (especially Michel) left a lasting impact on me. I loved the care she put into crafting everyone.
I definitely felt like some of the slower parts dragged on a little bit, so i was bored at times but overall, this was a beautiful experience. I shed a few tears throughout the story, and i was completely inconsolable while reading the last two chapters. Now i am left with a total book hangover from this.
I have to end this by mentioning that I definitely see the book to film adaptation potential. Hope I get to see it someday!
March 25, 2026
Another "lesbian Normal People" attempt that ended up being a massive disappointment. (Does this even deserve to be in the same breath as Rooney’s? I think not.)
I was expecting Almost Life to be a new favorite, but I found it repetitive, often pretentious and obnoxiously bleak. The choice to market it as a love story was misleading. Chemistry and character growth are nowhere to be found, and its reliance on overused tropes was insufferable. Maybe the connection between the two women would’ve been more believable and exciting if more time was devoted to actually exploring it, rather than excessively focusing on side characters lives too.
For anyone else underwhelmed I highly recommend another decades-spanning sapphic literary romance, Ordinary Love by Marie Rutkoski.
I was expecting Almost Life to be a new favorite, but I found it repetitive, often pretentious and obnoxiously bleak. The choice to market it as a love story was misleading. Chemistry and character growth are nowhere to be found, and its reliance on overused tropes was insufferable. Maybe the connection between the two women would’ve been more believable and exciting if more time was devoted to actually exploring it, rather than excessively focusing on side characters lives too.
For anyone else underwhelmed I highly recommend another decades-spanning sapphic literary romance, Ordinary Love by Marie Rutkoski.
May 17, 2026
a tender, bittersweet love story made up of missed chances, bad timing, and lots of yearning. full of people being messy and making the wrong choices, which i always enjoy in literary fiction. i didn’t love the ending, i thought it was trying a bit too hard to land an emotional punch. but other than that, i really enjoyed my time with this whenever i picked it up. a perfect summer read.
May 11, 2026
it was fine,other than it having 2 insufferable main characters that had no chemistry to each other, and i was not attached to anyone in this book in any way. which is unfortunate seeing i loved the concept but it was executed so badly. the cheating being brushed off is wild to me. erica kept making horrible decisions and saying/doing horrible things and getting no real consequences was wild to me !
February 13, 2026
Sometimes when you read an ARC, you get this feeling of overwhelming excitement, knowing something great awaits the reading community and once it is out into the world, it is guaranteed to become a star. Almost Life is one of those books.
Spanning decades from the late 1970s to early 2010s, Almost Life follows the intertwined lives of two women who meet on the steps of the Sacré-Cœur on a stifling hot summer day. What ensues is an honest and messy exploration of love, life, identity, motherhood, and grief. It is a dance between two souls that will define not only their lives, but those around them.
Against the political and social backdrop of the 1970s/80s, we see Laure and Erica evolve from Montmartre to Norfolk and everywhere in between. I love the vivid descriptions of locations and depiction of art in this novel, grounding and guiding readers from one moment in time to the next. The secondary characters further enrich this journey.
Yes, this is a sapphic love story. It is also complex and heartbreaking and frustrating and everything in between.
a favourite 2026 release.
out on March 24th. Thank you to summit books and simon & schuster canada.
Spanning decades from the late 1970s to early 2010s, Almost Life follows the intertwined lives of two women who meet on the steps of the Sacré-Cœur on a stifling hot summer day. What ensues is an honest and messy exploration of love, life, identity, motherhood, and grief. It is a dance between two souls that will define not only their lives, but those around them.
Against the political and social backdrop of the 1970s/80s, we see Laure and Erica evolve from Montmartre to Norfolk and everywhere in between. I love the vivid descriptions of locations and depiction of art in this novel, grounding and guiding readers from one moment in time to the next. The secondary characters further enrich this journey.
Yes, this is a sapphic love story. It is also complex and heartbreaking and frustrating and everything in between.
a favourite 2026 release.
out on March 24th. Thank you to summit books and simon & schuster canada.
April 4, 2026
it started off really strong but at the midway mark it started to feel like it was trying to be too emotionally punchy and i didn't really feel any chemistry between the two main characters
June 5, 2026
Merde! I feel like I just watched a French arthouse film.
"There were never strawberries, like those we had"
Life is weird. The "Ifs" of it all. The timings that never seem right. The millions of alternative lives we could live, if we truly dared. The regrets that leave a bitter taste and salty water from tears.
A sea of cyclic waves.... they seem all the same, and yet they are never the same. What it was, it never can be again.
It's the water kissing the sand and then retreating. Disappearing.
The reality and sadness of it all.
The art of it: how life's choices are a winding road. So many possibilities. Sometimes, the end of the road is not what we expected.
Merde.
Now I need to crawl under a blanket and read a comedy. Just to pretend.
"There were never strawberries, like those we had"
Life is weird. The "Ifs" of it all. The timings that never seem right. The millions of alternative lives we could live, if we truly dared. The regrets that leave a bitter taste and salty water from tears.
A sea of cyclic waves.... they seem all the same, and yet they are never the same. What it was, it never can be again.
It's the water kissing the sand and then retreating. Disappearing.
The reality and sadness of it all.
The art of it: how life's choices are a winding road. So many possibilities. Sometimes, the end of the road is not what we expected.
Merde.
Now I need to crawl under a blanket and read a comedy. Just to pretend.
May 14, 2026
i’ve never dnfed a book at 70% and i’ve never included a book i didn’t finish in my read, but with the BULLSHIT this book put me through i feel entitled to do just that. oh my god these characters were absolutely insufferable and dare i say, ACTUALLY HORRIBLE PEOPLE. full spoilers below
this book starts with laure and erica’s meeting, and i’m actually so invested at first! laure is a cool character, she’s hard but she’s flirty, erica is shy and anxious and open to new experiences, perhaps even questioning her sexuality as she finds herself immediately attracted to laure! the writing is gorgeous, and so i was so excited to read what could possibly be a fantastic read for me! no. they have what is essentially a 2-month fling, which is completely sex-focused, as in they are only interested in sex with each other and i have no clue why they allegedly love each other. i literally could not tell you a single reason they may be in love with each other that wasn’t physical (see: erica saying laure was hot and masculine and laure saying erica was plump). 2-month fling ends. erica goes back to england. for some fucking reason, it’s been 6 years and they’re still in love. why? i have no idea. but i’m like okay whatever, maybe they’ll get together and their love will grow and i’ll believe in this insanity. but no. they immediately jump back into being in love = having sex all the time. I LITERALLY COULD NOT TELL YOU IN WHAT WAYS OR FOR WHAT REASONS THEY EVEN LIKE EACH OTHER. ok. they’re having an affair because, shocker to no one, erica got married in these 6 years (of course she did). their affair ends when erica’s husband comes back from his book tour where he is a more successful writer than erica who dreams of being an author, yep, of course. i STILL thought let me push through and see how this story ends. next chapter, it’s been SEVEN years since their affair ended. they are nervous to see each other. genuinely, FUCK OFFFFFFF. it’s been THIRTEEN YEARS since you met, erica you are MARRIED, BOTH OF YOU GET A GRIP!!! GET A LIFE!!! HOLY SHIT. no fucking way you’re still allegedly obsessed with each other and “in love”. I. STILL. DON’T. KNOW. HOW OR WHY. THEY. LOVED. EACH. OTHER.
side note: they’re both awful people. laure is so fucking rude, and at first i thought it was some mask or facade as she was a newly introduced character to erica, but no she’s just highkey rude. she grows as a person after sobering up but it also just felt like? unrealistic? like we have no opportunity to SEE how laure ended up growing as a person, she just did. and erica, i fear i despised. (side note in the side note, i hate how the author randomly included that erica was “big” or “fat” or however erica was described, when both women on the cover are portrayed as small, and erica also only mentions this like ONCE. was there a point? lol.) michel, laure’s best friend, is portrayed to have HIV/AIDS during the crisis in the 80’s. laure tells erica that michel has aids, something that is obviously not studied enough at this time and confusing, but laure is crying as she tells erica this. her michel, her best friend, dying of aids. erica goes, “oh no… it’s contagious….” 😐 laure rightfully asks her to leave! erica leaves, her husband comes to her, their affair is over. amazing. no this whole thing was so fucking stupid i can’t believe i let myself suffer for over 2 weeks. mind you it takes me 3-4 days to read a book. its been OVER 2 WEEKS. i was in prison bro.
this book starts with laure and erica’s meeting, and i’m actually so invested at first! laure is a cool character, she’s hard but she’s flirty, erica is shy and anxious and open to new experiences, perhaps even questioning her sexuality as she finds herself immediately attracted to laure! the writing is gorgeous, and so i was so excited to read what could possibly be a fantastic read for me! no. they have what is essentially a 2-month fling, which is completely sex-focused, as in they are only interested in sex with each other and i have no clue why they allegedly love each other. i literally could not tell you a single reason they may be in love with each other that wasn’t physical (see: erica saying laure was hot and masculine and laure saying erica was plump). 2-month fling ends. erica goes back to england. for some fucking reason, it’s been 6 years and they’re still in love. why? i have no idea. but i’m like okay whatever, maybe they’ll get together and their love will grow and i’ll believe in this insanity. but no. they immediately jump back into being in love = having sex all the time. I LITERALLY COULD NOT TELL YOU IN WHAT WAYS OR FOR WHAT REASONS THEY EVEN LIKE EACH OTHER. ok. they’re having an affair because, shocker to no one, erica got married in these 6 years (of course she did). their affair ends when erica’s husband comes back from his book tour where he is a more successful writer than erica who dreams of being an author, yep, of course. i STILL thought let me push through and see how this story ends. next chapter, it’s been SEVEN years since their affair ended. they are nervous to see each other. genuinely, FUCK OFFFFFFF. it’s been THIRTEEN YEARS since you met, erica you are MARRIED, BOTH OF YOU GET A GRIP!!! GET A LIFE!!! HOLY SHIT. no fucking way you’re still allegedly obsessed with each other and “in love”. I. STILL. DON’T. KNOW. HOW OR WHY. THEY. LOVED. EACH. OTHER.
side note: they’re both awful people. laure is so fucking rude, and at first i thought it was some mask or facade as she was a newly introduced character to erica, but no she’s just highkey rude. she grows as a person after sobering up but it also just felt like? unrealistic? like we have no opportunity to SEE how laure ended up growing as a person, she just did. and erica, i fear i despised. (side note in the side note, i hate how the author randomly included that erica was “big” or “fat” or however erica was described, when both women on the cover are portrayed as small, and erica also only mentions this like ONCE. was there a point? lol.) michel, laure’s best friend, is portrayed to have HIV/AIDS during the crisis in the 80’s. laure tells erica that michel has aids, something that is obviously not studied enough at this time and confusing, but laure is crying as she tells erica this. her michel, her best friend, dying of aids. erica goes, “oh no… it’s contagious….” 😐 laure rightfully asks her to leave! erica leaves, her husband comes to her, their affair is over. amazing. no this whole thing was so fucking stupid i can’t believe i let myself suffer for over 2 weeks. mind you it takes me 3-4 days to read a book. its been OVER 2 WEEKS. i was in prison bro.
March 24, 2026
When Erica and Laure meet in a sweltering Paris summer, it's a blip in their lives—until it isn't. That blip becomes a hookup, becomes a romance, unspools into something all-consuming. But Erica is only in France for the summer, and it's 1978, and being together requires a series of choices that Erica knows will upset the direction of her life. So she goes back to England—but that's really only the beginning.
She knew she could not live how Laure and her friends lived, at the edge of things, even in Paris. [...] She didn't want to exist like that. She wanted to get married, to have children. She wanted to write novels [...]. She wanted simple joy, simple happiness, simple love. And loving Laure, even if she were a man, would not be simple. (loc. 1123*)
Erica and Laure make for such messy, complex characters—maybe at the beginning one seems more straightforward than the other, or more confident in herself, but as time goes on the lines blur. They drink too much; they make bad decisions; they make good decisions; they have friends and lovers and dramas; some of their sharp edges blur into something more palatable and some of their more endearing personality traits wither over time. For Laure in some ways the question of their relationship is simpler; she is already entrenched in queer (though they would not use the term then) life in Paris, and when Erica dreams of them being together, it is back in Paris. Laure has already set aside a need for convention. But for Erica, in the 70s and 80s and beyond...she can see multiple paths, and multiple paths that would bring her joy. Some of them are easier than others.
I'm good at forgetting the book description by the time I read a book I'm interested in, so I didn't realize right away just how much time this would cover. Theirs is not a quick story, over in a summer—theirs is one of those relationships that pulls you in and spits you back out and you wonder, time and time again, if that was the one who got away...or rather, you know that was the one who got away. And what's left is what to do with that knowledge. Very much recommended to anyone with a queer one who got away and to lovers of character-driven stories.
*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.
Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.
She knew she could not live how Laure and her friends lived, at the edge of things, even in Paris. [...] She didn't want to exist like that. She wanted to get married, to have children. She wanted to write novels [...]. She wanted simple joy, simple happiness, simple love. And loving Laure, even if she were a man, would not be simple. (loc. 1123*)
Erica and Laure make for such messy, complex characters—maybe at the beginning one seems more straightforward than the other, or more confident in herself, but as time goes on the lines blur. They drink too much; they make bad decisions; they make good decisions; they have friends and lovers and dramas; some of their sharp edges blur into something more palatable and some of their more endearing personality traits wither over time. For Laure in some ways the question of their relationship is simpler; she is already entrenched in queer (though they would not use the term then) life in Paris, and when Erica dreams of them being together, it is back in Paris. Laure has already set aside a need for convention. But for Erica, in the 70s and 80s and beyond...she can see multiple paths, and multiple paths that would bring her joy. Some of them are easier than others.
I'm good at forgetting the book description by the time I read a book I'm interested in, so I didn't realize right away just how much time this would cover. Theirs is not a quick story, over in a summer—theirs is one of those relationships that pulls you in and spits you back out and you wonder, time and time again, if that was the one who got away...or rather, you know that was the one who got away. And what's left is what to do with that knowledge. Very much recommended to anyone with a queer one who got away and to lovers of character-driven stories.
*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.
Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.
April 12, 2026
I went into this thinking it was going to be a cute, soft story about two women finding love with each other, navigating stigma and all of that. No. This was a terror story. We start with this beautiful, tight-knit found family in Paris, and then this outsider comes in and completely disrupts everything. It honestly felt like watching someone come in and slowly dismantle people’s lives one by one. We’re forced to sit there and watch as she inserts herself into everything breaking up friendships, creating emotional chaos, and leaving people to deal with the fallout. And that’s what really got me. The book tries to frame this as unrequited love, but it didn’t read that way to me at all. This felt like someone who does not respect boundaries. At every stage of her life, she keeps coming back and inserting herself into this woman’s life for her own desires, regardless of the damage it causes. Even after she gets married, even after she has kids, she’s still showing up, still disrupting, still centering herself. Meanwhile, the other woman is trying to survive escaping domestic violence, working through addiction, rebuilding her life and here comes this person again, playing house like none of that matters. It didn’t feel romantic. It felt selfish and invasive. To me, this wasn’t a love story. It was a story about someone who refuses to respect boundaries and the destruction that comes from that. I do want to shout out Michael, though the realest character in the book. Consistently gave solid advice, stayed grounded, and was the only one making sense the entire time. And of course, that’s the one y’all take out.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 10, 2026
This reminded me of Girl’s Our Age by Phoebe Thompson. A spanning, complicated (love?) story between two girls as they navigate life from a first meeting in Paris 1978 to the mid-2010s.
My main problem was that I couldn’t root for the protagonists. Their romance wasn’t toxic. But it wasn’t healthy either. It wasn’t a matter of miscommunication so much as no communication. Plus, I didn’t feel the chemistry or connection between the two other than them always being the wrong people at the wrong time.
The people around them were saints for putting up with their antiques and self-destructive behaviours that often impacted their friends too.
This is a beautiful lit fic which hit the usual beats expected for something of this nature: AIDs, family, children, societal conventions, self-discovery, ambitions, freindships.
I enjoyed it and found the writing simple yet evocative. However, the sweeping, spanning nature I mentioned (one of its draws) is also partly its downfall as it couldn’t interrogate anything too deeply. The time jumps made the reader feel disconnected from the character development and flow.
Overall, easily readable and quietly beautiful, but lacking the depth to make an impact.
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My main problem was that I couldn’t root for the protagonists. Their romance wasn’t toxic. But it wasn’t healthy either. It wasn’t a matter of miscommunication so much as no communication. Plus, I didn’t feel the chemistry or connection between the two other than them always being the wrong people at the wrong time.
The people around them were saints for putting up with their antiques and self-destructive behaviours that often impacted their friends too.
This is a beautiful lit fic which hit the usual beats expected for something of this nature: AIDs, family, children, societal conventions, self-discovery, ambitions, freindships.
I enjoyed it and found the writing simple yet evocative. However, the sweeping, spanning nature I mentioned (one of its draws) is also partly its downfall as it couldn’t interrogate anything too deeply. The time jumps made the reader feel disconnected from the character development and flow.
Overall, easily readable and quietly beautiful, but lacking the depth to make an impact.
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July 2, 2026
“Do you think we could have been that? Good partners?”
“Yes. I think so.”
Laure smiled. “I think so too.”
این کتاب درباره ی یه توریست جوون به اسم اریکا هست که تو پاریس با زنی فرانسوی به اسم لور آشنا میشه و کتاب داستان زندگی این دو زن از ۱۹۷۸ تا ۲۰۱۳ رو تعریف میکنه.
همین الان کتاب رو تموم کردم و انگار تو سینهم یه سوراخ باز شده-
خیلی خیلی دوستش داشتم، قلم نویسنده قشنگ بود، شخصیتهای پر از نقص و اشتباهات و واقعی نوشته بود، داستانی غمگین که کاری کرد از اول تا آخر کتاب همراه شخصیتهاش غمگین بشم و خیلی جدی درد بکشم، و توصیفهای زیبا و واضح.
من با تمام وجودم عاشق لیتفیکهایی هستم که توشون یه داستان عاشقانه وجود داره، کتابهایی که چندین سال، چندین دهه از زندگی یک شخصیت رو پوشش میدن، و قلم نویسندهای که به بهترین شکل ممکن عشق ابدی و خالص دو نفر به همدیگه رو نشون میده.
اریکا و لور هردوشون شخصیتهای عمیقا ناقصی بودن که یه عالمه تصمیم اشتباه گرفتن و کارهای بدی کردن و به همدیگه صدمه زدن؛ عشقشون به هم، و همچنین جوری که این عشق رو نشون دادن پرفکت و بدون مشکل نبود، ولی خدایا، جوری که نوشته شده بودن کاری کرد با تمام وجودم درکشون کنم و باهاشون همذاتپنداری کنم.
هنوز نمیدونم چه حسی درباره ی پایانش دارم، چون حقیقتا فکر نمیکردم نویسنده بخواد اون طرفی بره و اونشکلی داستان این شخصیتها رو تموم کنه.. I have to sit with it یکم.
درکل خیلی دوستش داشتم، قراره حالا حالاها درباره ی این شخصیتها و زندگیشون فکر کنم و حتما کتاب فیزیکیش رو میخرم و بعدترها که حالم یکم بهتر شد ریریدش میکنم.
“Yes. I think so.”
Laure smiled. “I think so too.”
این کتاب درباره ی یه توریست جوون به اسم اریکا هست که تو پاریس با زنی فرانسوی به اسم لور آشنا میشه و کتاب داستان زندگی این دو زن از ۱۹۷۸ تا ۲۰۱۳ رو تعریف میکنه.
همین الان کتاب رو تموم کردم و انگار تو سینهم یه سوراخ باز شده-
خیلی خیلی دوستش داشتم، قلم نویسنده قشنگ بود، شخصیتهای پر از نقص و اشتباهات و واقعی نوشته بود، داستانی غمگین که کاری کرد از اول تا آخر کتاب همراه شخصیتهاش غمگین بشم و خیلی جدی درد بکشم، و توصیفهای زیبا و واضح.
من با تمام وجودم عاشق لیتفیکهایی هستم که توشون یه داستان عاشقانه وجود داره، کتابهایی که چندین سال، چندین دهه از زندگی یک شخصیت رو پوشش میدن، و قلم نویسندهای که به بهترین شکل ممکن عشق ابدی و خالص دو نفر به همدیگه رو نشون میده.
اریکا و لور هردوشون شخصیتهای عمیقا ناقصی بودن که یه عالمه تصمیم اشتباه گرفتن و کارهای بدی کردن و به همدیگه صدمه زدن؛ عشقشون به هم، و همچنین جوری که این عشق رو نشون دادن پرفکت و بدون مشکل نبود، ولی خدایا، جوری که نوشته شده بودن کاری کرد با تمام وجودم درکشون کنم و باهاشون همذاتپنداری کنم.
هنوز نمیدونم چه حسی درباره ی پایانش دارم، چون حقیقتا فکر نمیکردم نویسنده بخواد اون طرفی بره و اونشکلی داستان این شخصیتها رو تموم کنه.. I have to sit with it یکم.
درکل خیلی دوستش داشتم، قراره حالا حالاها درباره ی این شخصیتها و زندگیشون فکر کنم و حتما کتاب فیزیکیش رو میخرم و بعدترها که حالم یکم بهتر شد ریریدش میکنم.
June 19, 2026
Almost Life by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
★★★
I enjoyed the first section of this book. It seemed like the plot dragged out after that. I became really impatient with the characters. I know a lot of people would enjoy the beauty of a built up plot and the slow well-thought out character development of Laure and Erica. However I was just so annoyed by the lack of communication between the characters.
This story spans across decades which also made the narration feel very drawn out. I feel like a lot of unnecessary things and moments occurred in the book.
The book is well-written and sophisticated, with long chapters and drawn out dialogue. This doesn’t usually fit with me as a reader. But I'm sure other readers would like this.
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★★★
I enjoyed the first section of this book. It seemed like the plot dragged out after that. I became really impatient with the characters. I know a lot of people would enjoy the beauty of a built up plot and the slow well-thought out character development of Laure and Erica. However I was just so annoyed by the lack of communication between the characters.
This story spans across decades which also made the narration feel very drawn out. I feel like a lot of unnecessary things and moments occurred in the book.
The book is well-written and sophisticated, with long chapters and drawn out dialogue. This doesn’t usually fit with me as a reader. But I'm sure other readers would like this.
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June 22, 2026
This is a love story but not a romance. At every juncture this book took its best attempt at ripping my heart out and succeeded every time. Moments of happiness were quickly chased by sadness, grief, anger, and longing and yet, for all the heartache, I could not get enough of it.
May 12, 2026
This reminded me a lot of Lily King’s Heart the Lover — Pretentious. Insufferable. Flat. Unlikeable main character with little to no redeeming qualities or growth (Erica). Chemistry and connection is pretty much non-existent and because of this the ending did absolutely nothing for me. The only parts I liked was the scene with Laure’s dad and Michael’s character.
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