The Other Women by Erin Zak
- Publisher: Bold Strokes Books, October 13th 2020
- Genre: Romance, LGBTQ+
- Format: Paperback (eARC)
- Page Count: 230 pages
- My Rating: ★★★ (3/5)
Content warnings: infidelity, mention of miscarriage, gambling addiction, mention of drugs, mention of past car accident scene, mention of parental loss, uses of ableist language
This book is heavy on infidelity but light-hearted. The flirty interactions between these two other women are cute and them entering a friendship without expectations makes the story relatively low drama.
Francesca Lopez (31, Latina, bi+) is recently dumped by Willow Carmichael (lesbian), who declared she was in love with a married woman elsewhere. Cecily Yates (bisexual), who has been with Willow for four years, and her husband Luke are separating. When Willow dumped her, too, while Cecily is on a business trip, Cecily meets bartender Francesca. The pair decides to spend the rest of Cecily’s trip together for an unforgettable weekend, not knowing about the woman they once shared.
“You realize being the other woman isn’t a bad thing, right? […] It means you’re essentially free.”
Francesca
For a book whose first half covered only about three days and the second half two, it feels oddly fast-paced and is engrossing. The main romance stems from instant attraction, but with Francesca and Cecily both surprised by it, their connection becomes a lot more believable for me. Pure physical attraction is often lost on page but since a great proportion of the book consists Francesca and Cecily talking and connecting, I understand that they need each other in a way that is not merely for a temporary release, but something more. I love how Zak incorporated subtle movements to signify great emotions between Francesca and Cecily, and I also love how they are both possibly still in rebound mode and confused about the whole situation. The one thing both women shared but not with each other was Willow. Though both believed themselves to be in love with Willow, it only took for them to meet each other to understand how wrong they were about their past lover.
Told in dual first-person point of view, there are a lot of internal dialogues on both sides as they doubt themselves and express their desires. It feels like playing a video game where the main characters have their thoughts displayed on the screen. It also feels like a recount as I keep learning about random but important facts about the characters like they just popped up as an afterthought. The story suffered a little from the narrative choice, since apart from Cecily not cursing, the two voices are mostly indistinguishable, yet I appreciate that all the thoughts have helped us understand more of what both characters are emotionally going through.
“It was sort of nice, for half a minute, acting like you were mine.”
Cecily
While Zak did an amazing job at tackling infidelity, my main issue with the story is that Willow makes absolutely no sense. There is no logical reason for her inconsistent actions, and though she is an important character, I find her motives and desires conflicting, confusing, and ambiguous. Though the overall storyline was really well-done and I whole-heartedly root for Francesca and Cecily, the story didn’t strike an emotional chord in me.
There are many wonderful secondary characters. I love how Cecily’s husband Luke was never antagonized and is mostly a very nice man. But the best side characters are probably the ridiculously handsome Max (gay), Francesca’s fellow bartender, and Armando, Francesca’s brother. Both are such a joy and radiate so much love.
You could say that The Other Women is a story of infidelity; you could also say it is of love. I think in addition to it being romance, the story is about self love, too, that being dumped like a dirty rag never means you are unlovable, but that you deserve so much more. [13 Oct 2020]
I received an e-ARC from Bold Strokes Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
