The Other Family by Cheyenne Blue
Blue Books and Iron Foundary, 2026
Danika Evershed opens her door to a stranger, and her world falls apart.
For the past year, she has been struggling to accept the sudden death of her husband Chris. Her responsibilities to her eight year old daughter Camille keep her grounded, just barely, but grief and insomnia have taken a heavy toll. Then a woman close to her own age appears, claiming that Chris had been her partner for the past nine years, including fathering a daughter a few months older than Cami.
Danika doesn’t want to believe Kim Varga’s story. She can scarcely imagine that her beloved husband would have orchestrated such a massive betrayal. The evidence is overwhelming, though. For nine years Chris led a double life, spending two weeks each month with each woman and child.
How can the two widows possibly adjust to such an impossible scenario? Each would like to pretend the other does not exist, but that’s not really an option, especially as Cami and Bella bond and it becomes abundantly clear that they truly are sisters. Cautiously Kim and Danika move from co-existence to friendship and then beyond, as they begin to recognize their mutual attraction.
The premise for The Other Family is perhaps far-fetched, but once the reader accepts the literal duplicity of Chris Evershed, the rest of the book feels inevitable. As usual, Cheyenne Blue portrays the gradual development of Danika’s and Kim’s relationship with delicacy and insight. The sub-title, “A slow burn Sapphic romance”, is extremely apt. I felt that the pace fit the characters and their situation. For one thing, both Kim and Danika are devoted to their daughters, and they’re always aware of the girls’ proximity—as well as concerned about how Cami and Bella might feel about their mothers becoming romantically involved.
I write explicit erotic romance, and like reading it too, but I still found The Other Family arousing and satisfying. Ms. Blue can pack more passion into a kiss than many authors offer in a full-out love scene.
Many aspects of the book delighted me: the complex and subtle play of emotions; the women’s warm and supportive relationships with their parents and their female friends; the lively and realistic portrayal of the two daughters; the snapshots of the Australian countryside when the families go off on holiday together; the total acceptance of queer partnerships and non-traditional families. I particularly liked the fact that Ms. Blue did not make a huge issue out of the fact that Danika had no previous lesbian experience. Love has to do with individuals, not genders. When you’re deeply connected to another person, expressing that physically becomes natural. Danika is brave, allowing herself to express her attraction to another woman, but this is not one of those horrific “straight to gay” tropes.
My one complaint about The Other Family is that Danika and Kim were not as different from one another as I would have liked. The chapters of the novel alternate between the two, but I found that they didn’t have really distinctive voices. Sometimes I needed to go back to the start of a chapter to remind myself who was the current POV character.
Of course, this might be somewhat deliberate. This is not an “opposites attract” story. In some sense, we can believe that Chris would have chosen women who had significant similarities for his two partners.
In any case, this issue did not significantly detract from my overall satisfaction with The Other Family. If you enjoy lesbian romance—and if you have a bit of patience—I think you’ll enjoy it.