For Never & Always (pub. date November 28, 2023) by Helena Greer was luckily in my NetGalley queue and immediately available for me to read after I read Greer’s first romcom Season of Love (review coming in late December). The cover is gorgeous–a curvy, plus-sized woman looks from afar at a handsome, dark-haired man, so one might think it’s a traditional hetero romance, with the slight twist of having a fat female love interest. It’s so much more than that!! I’m hopeful the cover might draw some unsuspecting straight people into reading a romance that isn’t . . straight.
Set at the fictional Christmas tree farm and hotel/resort called Carrigan’s, run by a Jewish family, Hannah is a niece of the woman who started the farm (Cass) and died before the first book begins. Hannah is the general manager, helped by the handyman and cook Mr. and Mrs. Mathews, Noelle the tree farm manager, and Hannah’s cousin Miriam, artist and creative director. Hannah and Miriam spent a lot of time at Carrigan’s growing up, and were the same age as the Mathews’ son Levi, who they nicknamed Blue.
As the book begins, we know that Hannah and Blue were together at some point, but it blew up spectacularly, and Blue left to pursue a career as a chef all around the world. Hannah stayed at Carrigan’s to hold the place together during her Aunt Cass’s final illness and death. But Blue has come back, and the two can’t be in the same room together without screaming at each other, unless they find themselves in a hidden corner of the hotel and keep their mouths otherwise occupied.
Not just a comedy, Greer does a spectacular job of dealing with difficult subjects, such as anxiety that manifests similar to agoraphobia, past bullying due to homophobia, coming out when one’s sexuality doesn’t fit into a “gay or straight” box (Blue is demisexual), and dealing with complicated grief.
As Blue comes back home, now a celebrity chef from an Australian cooking show, how can he and Hannah work things out when he can’t stay at Carrigan’s, and she can’t leave? Helped by their quirky family and friends, it’s a sweet second chance romance. I loved it, and can’t wait for Greer’s third book with some of the same characters!
For Never or Always is fat positive in the best way–there are fat characters, like Hannah and Noelle, living their complicated lives without much thought of being fat. They are sexy, desired, uber-competent, vulnerable, and flawed in ways that have nothing to do with their body sizes. It’s awesome to read a book with fat characters without a plot revolving around their or other people’s conflicts about fatness. Kudos to Greer for writing this and her editor/ publishers for publishing it!
Reading While Fat 