Short version: untruthful marketing and a whole lot of cheating made this story very disappointing.

A scatter of deeper thoughts:
- First of all, this absolutely shouldn't be considered a sequel or even a companion novel to Last Night At The Telegraph Club. There is very little reference to that book, very little comparison. We don't get to see the places or people we saw in LNATTC and how they've changed all these decades later. We just get one small article added near the end that tells us where Kath and Lily are now. That's it.
- Even the "this book shows what it's like for queer people when gay marriage is officially allowed in the states" isn't really true. It gets mentioned at the beginning and that's about it.
- We follow Aria as she spends time at her grandmother Joan's place her last summer before college. She hangs out with Joan's gardner and her friends, which are all queer.
- it felt nice knowing that almost ever character was queer and at different stages of figuring out exactly who they are and who they can tell.
- I really liked Joan and Aria's relationship with her. Although I didn't get why Aria calls her Joan and not grandma or something similar. Felt really odd.
- I enjoy reading about messy imperfect characters, but there's a limit to how messy someone can be. And cheating and thinking that's fine, not learning and being sorry for it is where the line gets drawn.
- many people have said Malinda Lo's writing is exquisite. At times I do agree. Especially in moments of deep emotion. But at other times I didn't really like the writing, especially during descriptions or objects or places. It was simple in a way that made no sense (like a house described only as white and a hat described only as orange... That doesn't help me visualise them at all).