SOMETHING ABOUT HER

Two young women are drawn together into a budding romance and must overcome hurdles to be together.

When Maya, a Londoner, and Aisling, from County Clare, meet at a poetry club in Edinburgh, the two students are instantly attracted to one another. While Aisling has known she was a lesbian since a childhood friendship turned into a teenage relationship, Maya has just started dating her longtime crush, Ethan. The two young women grapple with their feelings separately—Maya questioning this sudden attraction to a woman and Aisling unclear of where she stands—as their friendship deepens. But once Maya ends things with Ethan to pursue a relationship, Aisling must confront the abuse she's endured from her conservative Catholic mother, who caught her with her girlfriend as a teen and continues to torment her emotionally and physically. While Taylor has a keen eye for building intimacy between characters, the plot quickly becomes predictable. What's more, set in 2013 and 2014, the novel lacks a broader context; Taylor stays focused tightly on Maya and Aisling and their families without interrogating how they fit into Irish and British culture. This is particularly disappointing in the case of Aisling and her mother's fraught relationship, which could have been the basis for an examination of Ireland's changing identity.

Absent broader considerations, this is a standard-issue romance that will give casual readers what they want.