TRUST AND SAFETY

A Millennial couple settles down in a ramshackle country house that just might be their dream home—if they can commit to a dream.

Rosie and Jordan’s fixer-upper in New York’s Hudson Valley seems too Instagrammable to be true. Recent transplants from Brooklyn, the newlyweds are eager to partake in the pleasures of country living…as long as they’re clean, instant, and aesthetically curated. Rosie and Jordan aren’t received with the warm small-town welcome they’d imagined. “I’m sorry, but is everyone in this town gay and poly? Did we miss a memo?” Jordan asks when they’re once again socially sidelined. Rosie is an indecisive do-gooder who pins all happiness on the move, and Jordan is a tech bro who’s constantly either removing AirPods or rushing to carry out his wife’s changing whims. When the move doesn’t go according to plan, they decide to rent the house’s outbuilding to earn some money. The moldy shack is rebranded as a “shabby chic cottage,” and Jordan and Rosie become landlords to Dylan and Lark. The new tenants woodwork and pickle and quilt, effortlessly embodying a life that Rosie mistook for a lifestyle. Dylan and Lark are queer, kind, and endlessly capable. As the couples become more intertwined, Rosie is jostled out of her passivity. The image of Lark and Dylan cobbling together a world of friends and lovers, cold woods and hard work has Rosie spellbound. Does she really want to leave her old life behind, or does she just like the pretty picture? Rosie’s thought processes are interesting, but some of the characters around her lack depth. Her husband and mother-in-law are particularly cartoonish, spewing microaggressions in a way that feels over the top. Still, the relationship between Rosie and Dylan is enthralling. Blackett and Gleichman skillfully capture the way a single look from the right person can make you embarrassed about every choice you’ve ever made.

A fast, fun read that invites you to change your life (or at least quit Instagram).