Discovering Nicola is the third installment in the  series and it can be read as a standalone. I know this because I didn’t read the first book, Meeting Millie, and I have perimenopause brain, so I don’t remember any of the finer details of Tempting Olivia, even though it was one of my top reads of 2024.

The story starts months after Geeta Sachdeva’s left her husband, because she was desperately lonely as an empty nester married to a workaholic, and she wants a vibrant life full of fun, new experiences, and sex. Of course, now she’s desperately lonely and afraid of how much she’s disappointed her family. The last thing she needs is having Nicola Albright, her longtime nemesis and mother of her daughter’s best friend, as a new neighbour who’s moved down the street after her own divorce.

Nicola and Geeta couldn’t be more opposite. Nicola is a career-focused perfectionist, at the top of her field as a lawyer, and she holds most people at arm’s length, including her family. Geeta spent more than three decades as a stay-at-home wife and mum, showing love to everyone around her (except Nicola, of course). Whenever they’re around each other, Nicola winds up the affable Geeta with her dismissive attitude and the cold and micromanaging way Nicola acts with her daughter Charlotte, who is warm and lovely, if a bit clumsy and absentminded. Meanwhile, Nicola can’t understand how someone as bright as Geeta could find fulfillment in running a household instead of having a career.

Nicola is shocked one day when she stumbles upon the typically sunny Geeta crying on a park bench, and she surprises both of them by stopping to provide Geeta some comfort and company. This sets off an unlikely friendship that doesn’t take too long to reach the bedroom. Their lives are too complicated for more than a fling, but they each start to develop very real, very scary feelings. Can they risk being honest with themselves, each other, and their families at this stage in their lives?

Although I have a hit-or-miss relationship with enemies-to-lovers romances, I’m a big fan of the enemies-to-friends-to-lovers subtype, and this is a perfect example of that. Geeta and Nicola truly can’t stand to be in the same room together at the beginning of the story. However, once Nicola understands how deeply unhappy Geeta is and they start sharing parts of themselves with each other, respect and understanding builds in a way that I found really satisfying. The chemistry crackles on the page as they shift from friendship to fling, because Nicola is delighted to learn that Geeta is no pushover. This chemistry often makes their banter very fun, for example after Nicola takes photos for Geeta’s dating profile:

Geeta stroked the screen and burst out laughing. Dark eyes stared back with intentions and a smile that was similar to Nicola’s.

“I look as if I want to kill you.”

Nicola inclined her head closer. Warmer. “I’m used to that.”

“From me or everyone?” Geeta said, in the small space between them.

“The best ones are from you,” Nicola murmured.

Although both leads have a distinct arc, with Geeta’s focusing on building a new life based on her wants and needs, Nicola’s was especially moving for me. She’s used to getting her way in the courtroom and the office, exuding competence and power in every area of her life, even down to the way she walks. And yet, something about Geeta gets under her skin and has ever since they met 15 years prior. Early in the story, we learn:

[Nicola] was forged of pragmatism, proficiency and ambition. But with Geeta, it was like she became someone else. The woman’s mere presence questioned her, holding up a mirror so that Nicola flinched and didn’t like what she saw.

As Nicola reveals piece after piece of herself, Geeta is surprised to learn that she’s thoughtful, interesting, and passionate—far more complex than the powerful, one-dimensional persona Geeta’s clashed with for so long. Given how guarded Nicola is at the beginning of the story, I was gripped by her evolution into true vulnerability as she finds home in someone else for the first time in her life. Watching Nicola come to terms with a possible rejection, the likes of which she’s never experienced, delivered a gorgeous tension that I felt in my body, and I slowed my reading pace in the last quarter to savour it.

As much as I adore Nicola and her arc, it’s important to note that I also wanted to shake the shit out of her, because of how she treats Charlotte earlier in the novel.

I had no idea how much I needed to read this book, largely because both leads are in their mid-fifties, which is so damn rare to see in a sapphic romance. I love reading romances about women of all ages, but it was refreshing and affirming to see Nicola and Geeta discuss the lies women were told about being able to have it all, or the things they have to do to keep their bodies working well in menopause, like exercise, dietary changes, and hormone therapy. These are all things I’m already dealing with in my mid-40s, so I was nodding along in those discussions. Even more, I identified with both of them as they had vivid, bittersweet memories of their children when they were tiny, knowing they couldn’t return to those versions of their kids because time keeps marching forward. It all just hit different than when I read a romance with people in their 20s or early 30s.

One final important note: Discovering Nicola feels grounded in 2025 in a couple of small moments. I recently participated in a panel with sapphic romance authors and they were asked if or how they’re reflecting the current times in their writing, given the threats to the LGBTQ community and our literature. As a reader, this book hit a good balance for me. For example, Nicola has a friend at work who she’s known for decades and he’s gay. He expresses a concern that as much as there’s been progress for queer people, “some days it feels like it could all flip back.” At another point, Geeta and Nicola are holding hands in public and Geeta thinks about how grateful she is to live somewhere progressive. Writing and reading queer romance has always been a radical act, even if it hasn’t felt as urgent in recent years. And while I don’t want to read about queer suffering right now, it’s still important to remember the world we live in and that living authentically is not something we can take for granted.

I was excited about this book when I heard about it, but I am still floored by how much I loved Discovering Nicola. Even before I finished it, I went back to reread favourite scenes because I already needed to experience them all over again. I’m also thrilled that the epilogue does the series justice, making me want to read Meeting Millie for the first time and reread Tempting Olivia. Not only has this gone to the “Faves” folder on my Kindle, but I will be buying it in paperback, because I can’t imagine not having this book in my life.

Want to hear my audio review of Discovering Nicola? Check out this episode of my podcast, Queerly Recommended.