'She could not, it occurs to me, have left me standing beneath a canopy of wilting magnolia blossoms: the flowers would have been gone by the end of May. We must have stood under the magnolia tree weeks before, and said entirely different things as we stood on the limp brown petals, and somehow through the alchemy of memory the two occasions had melded together in my mind.'

I really enjoyed Briarley, by Aster Glenn Gray, an M/M WWI retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but the author's latest, Ashlin & Olivia, hit me right where I live. It's described as "an F/F second chance romance about two artists in love," and while that's not inaccurate, it really doesn't do justice to how deep the book dives into female friendships, which are often shown as either Heavenly Creatures level obsessive or something sweet you outgrow before giving your real attention to guys. (In fact I think there's only one named male character in the whole story, which is refreshing.) Ashlin and Olivia meet in a seventh-grade art class when Ashlin transfers in, and then meet again much later when Olivia travels to Florence for a week to study Renaissance art in college. The book is cleverly structured with chapters alternating between the present and the past, so as we see more and more of what happened between the two girls, we also realize -- along with Olivia -- that what really happened and what they both remember as having happened are very different. It's the same way you see more and more, the longer you look at a painting, or the way underlying sketches and painted-out parts can be revealed by oil paints deteriorating. (The metaphors used in the book itself include the difference between classical Greek structures as they're displayed then and now, and the restoration of the Sistine Ceiling.) Both girls are talented and their ambitious drives are powerful but muffled, and they take refuge in each other as much as they do in Art (which definitely needs the capital A there). In a more conventional novel, the jealousy they both feel over Olivia spending time with other people wouldn't be connected to love, and their friendship would quietly wither and be one of those things you mourn before putting childish (AKA non boy-related) things away. But when the two girls -- now young women, who have been to high school and college and made other friends but never forgotten each other -- meet again, they're able to _talk._ It's painful and halting and often embarrassing, but both of them are determined to salvage the connection they had so long ago. They loved each other then, and they never stopped loving each other. -- Now THAT, my friends, is new, or at least it's new to me (granted it has been actual decades since I was anywhere near the target market for YA books and I haven't done a lot of reading in the field since then). This book doesn't follow the typical Young Girls in Intense Friendships plotline I'm used to (one of the books it reminded me of, a little, was Deborah Hautzig's Hey Dollface from 1978) and it also doesn't follow a typical romance plotline either. There's a lot of physical attraction, which I appreciated, and affection, but there's no tidy resolution leading to an HEA, just because there are no neatly wrapped up HEAs in life itself. This is a book about how starting over is a new beginning, too; second chances are also first chances, just further on in experience and time. In this book, true love, like art, isn't easy, and is often as painful as it is ecstatically rewarding, but is also always worth it.

But on a more personal level, WHAM, this book _got me_. The author is really good at portraying the intense bubble that all very close friendships can become, especially ones between teenage girls -- or at least the culture loves to portray it that way -- but she's also good at showing the conflict& between those bubbles where everything is Serious and Shared, and relationships that are less intense but more relaxed and not focused on intensely shared passions. Olivia does love Ashlin, and she's talented and driven too, but she also wants to have fun, and this isn't presented as something frivolous or shameful on her part, but just part of life. Her friends aren't evil, and they react to Ashlin naturally. Ashlin's haughty and removed persona rests on past damage (which is revealed in a REALLY heartbreaking moment) and she withdraws further and further into Art to try to compensate for the disappointments of real life, which of course just damages her more. I identified with Ashlin's Very Serious Pronouncements so much that it hurt, but I also felt Olivia's longing for happiness and love of pop culture, and anxiety about balancing her passion and the regular daily things she loved. (I basically had Ashlin's background of artistic boho parents who bounced around every year or two, so I was just like, OH BABY. I KNOW. I KNOW.) Another new thing here is we're not encouraged to take Ashlin's side against Olivia, or vice versa, or blame Olivia's friends, or even blame Ashlin or Olivia for what happened in the past. Olivia's ready to throw everything to the wind for Ashlin to the extent it alarms her friends, her parents, and Ashlin, and I kept thinking that in a lot of ways, this book is about _balance:_ between life and art, work and joy, even love and obsession. OH HOW I WISH I had had it to read as a thirteen-year-old (the other book I really feel that way about is Pamela Dean's Juniper Gentian and Rosemary). If to love something is to truly _see_ it, this book is about being committed to seeing as clearly as possible.

I read the romance and YA genres for comforting, compassionate depictions of appealing characters and how they navigate the shifting depths of interpersonal relationships. Ashlin and Olivia delivers on both, and made for great plane reading during a recent trip.

Half of the story is told in flashbacks, and feels like a classic middle-grade novel (though I appreciate the the author has taken the trouble to make the story feel like it's actually set in the early 2010s). The other half of the story, set in the present, deepens our perspective on the past events as we see Olivia reflect on her past, and provides a happy ending to what would otherwise be a bittersweet story.

Aster Glenn Gray has a talent for writing thoughtful, deeply earnest, and human characters who are passionate about their interests, and who reflect on their values and what they want in life. I'm happy to have meet Ashlin and Olivia, to see the qualities they bring out in each other, and enjoy their second chance adventure in Florence.

Olivia is on a one-week trip to Florence with her college class when she spots someone she hasn’t seen in seven years – Ashlin, who was her best friend when they were both thirteen, before that relationship came to a disastrous end. She can’t resist approaching her, though she’s nervous about whether Ashlin will still be mad at her.

From then on, the story alternates chapters from when Ashlin and Olivia were both thirteen, and in the present day when they’re both 21. At first it feels very cozy and idyllic, but it soon becomes clear that that’s a reflection of how Olivia idolized Ashlin. The depiction of what it feels like to be 13 and have a friend who’s your entire world and who understands you like no one ever has before, and how you create a two-person reality together, is incredibly vivid. And so is the depiction of the downside of that, and the intensity of being 13 in general.

There’s nothing melodramatically tragic going on – just ordinary pain and ordinary joy – but it’s intense in a way that captures the intensity of those particular experiences. If you’ve ever experienced social anxiety or had a bad experience trying to introduce a new friend to old friends, you will relate.

It’s a romance, and a very believable, sensual one at that, but a bit of an unconventional one in that its main concerns are slightly to the side of the usual concerns of romance. (Perception, memory, a specific set of real-life experiences – there’s a moment involving crushed magnolias that is just brilliant.) The ending is more romance-conventional than the rest of the book, and I could have used it being either more open-ended or for it to be longer.

A lovely story and one that I think many readers could really relate to.

Ashlin and Olivia were best friends for one year in junior high but then Ashlin moved away unexpectedly right after they’d had a falling out. Now several years have passed and Olivia is in college and on a weeklong trip to Florence with her Renaissance 101 class. When who should she see but Ashlin. It’s a shock to both young women but they agree to meet up the next morning. And soon enough, they’re meeting up whenever Olivia isn’t with her class.

The story is interspersed with flashbacks to when they first met in art class and how their friendship evolved over that year. In both past and present, they have a super intense friendship. It’s only once they’ve reconnected as adults that Olivia realizes she’s actually in love with Ashlin. But she has no idea how Ashlin feels about her or if Ashlin is interested in women. So there’s a good deal of angst and longing, which always feeds my soul.

We experience Ashlin as Olivia does, never getting her perspective and she’s often a bit of a mystery with how closed off she can be. Yet it’s clear she does deeply care about Olivia. They have to work through what happened in the past—oh the drama of junior high emotions!—as well as figure out their potential future. I was there for every single bit of it. The romance is a slow, slow, slow burn (they kiss at the end) that is almost secondary to the nature of their friendship but it made sense given their past connection, what tore them apart, and the way forced proximity can separate you from reality for a while. It ends on a very hopeful note with an HFN.

One of the highlights for me was the way they discussed art. Some of their theories were above me but I didn’t feel it was in a pretentious way—I simply don’t feel the need to make certain connections with art but I loved that they did. I was fascinated particularly about the connections they made about fanart and fanfic. It made me miss all my old art classes.

I honestly don't know. It's very well written, the prose is sparkling, and both the middle school and college characters are true to life. But the romance itself was just... I loathed - absolutely loathed - the LI. For most of this book I wanted it to be a HEA because the protagonist learned she's much better off without her. That said, I loathed the LI, which is a completely new experience for me. I'm not sure this was a choice on the author's part, but either way it provided compelling reading.

Ashlin and Olivia become friends in junior high, and it's a super intense friendship. Did you have any super intense friendships in junior high? Did you find a person who had read that book you loved that no one else had read--and who loved it in the same way you did? Or a person whom you could share an idea with, and they would **get it** and expand on it in a way that surprised and delighted you? That person is Ashlin, for Olivia.

But in intense friendships, expectations can be very high, and yet people are just people, and kids in particular are still learning how to be in relationships with others. In that space misunderstandings, hurt feelings, and downright cruelty can happen. Super intense friendships can end exceptionally badly. But sometimes--maybe--the roots of the friendship are still alive, and something can grow anew.

The story follows both Ashlin and Olivia as children and as young adults who meet up by chance in Florence. If you were Ashlin, could you forgive Olivia? If you were Olivia, would you want to reconnect with Ashlin? Give it a read and see what you think.

This was a great read, Gray accurately captures the awkwardness of junior high, and has a refreshing portrayal of how confusing it can be to fall in love.

I loved the depth of conversation in this book. These characters are energised by their ideas and it is as attractive to the reader as they find it in each other. The ending is a HEA but is a bit abrupt. It cries out for a sequel.

Let me start saying that I'm not the biggest fan of YA/NA, but once in a while there are some stories like this one that resonates with me. And even though it was on the shorter side, to me, it gave plenty of time to connect and empathise with the MC, in both their past and present.

It was delightful to see the young friendship/love, I mean, the flashbacks sometimes made me want to slap some sense in them, but can someone blame a 12/13yo of being dense, rude and/or self centred on occasion? I couldn't, I was the same.

Oh, and even though at their age now love can be recklessly dangerous (to one's heart), it would've been a shame if they didn't end together somewhat.

Now hear me out, this novela is begging for a sequel, and so am I. I'd love so much to revisit them in their late 20s, their 30s. To see how much they grew together and faced life's hardships. Well... assuming they are each other's forever person, which I hope they are. Anyway, pretty please?