Tailor-Made

Bespoke tailor Grace Henderson stumbles through the opening half of this romance, which includes trans and genderfluid characters but seems to be mostly written for a cis audience. Grace is only into ultrafemme lesbians—or so she thinks, until she falls for androgynous bike messenger Dakota Lane, a rising star in the modeling world. An idealized version of Brooklyn sets the stage for their sweet romance, and several stereotypical characters appear throughout the novel to teach Grace life lessons. Somewhat excessive internal narration moves the story along; Dakota briefly deals with a modeling challenge and a quick visit from a wayward relative, while Grace designs custom suits and overthinks everything else. The world of clothing design is vividly rendered, and the conflicts with families (on both sides) who don’t entirely approve are well-conceived. As Grace comes to realize and expand her limited understanding of gender, she eventually opens her heart, but a little less mystery around Dakota’s gender identity would have made this a stronger book. (Dec.)