This book really intrigued me from the very beginning. I will admit that it took me a little while to become interested enough in the story that I wanted to keep reading for large periods of time, but I did reach that point. After a few chapters, I became invested in Elinor's story and I couldn't put the book down until I finished. It wasn't one of my favorites, but definitely a book I would recommend to someone who likes analyzing how media and other technology play a role in our lives today.

I found this book difficult to read. I had high hopes- it sounded like a fun read but, I was disappointed. I was unable to relate to the characters and I disliked all of them. They all seemed silly and lack-luster but not enough to be satiric. There was not enough character development for the book to be satisfying. Overall, this book is not a pick for me.

I struggled to make it through almost 4 chapters of this book. I didn’t feel a connection to the characters or story.

I really felt for Elinor and many of the situations she found herself in resonated with me. I did find myself wishing she would stand up for herself more and some of her friends didn't really seem to have her feelings in mind when saying and doing things.

This book had an interesting premise, but definitely wasn’t a must read. The main character, Elinor, comes off as whiney and annoying. The writing was fairly hard to follow; I could tell that Harrington wanted the reader to step inside of Elinor’s brain via her social media presence, but it could have been done so much better. Honestly, I felt like there wasn’t a solid point to this book other than an entertaining read, and it fell short of that. I don’t think I would recommend this book.

Book was funny and witty; however, I did find Eleanor, the main character, a bit dull.

Charming but thin — well written and witty take on youthful big city life work and romance in the age of internet labor

I realize this is a novel about millennials, but the characters were too annoying to function. While I thought some of the storytelling was quite creative (excellent integration of social media into a manuscript), I simply couldn't care about the protagonist or her 'struggle.' This was a definite DNF and I would not look for other books by the same author.

I just couldn't get on board with this one. I felt like the writing was trying to be almost experimental and lit-fic, without the plot and characters to back it up. The characters were incredibly unlikable and not quite compelling enough to make up for it, and I find some of the discussions around various topics like food and relationships a bit problematic.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me this ARC in exchange for a review.

This book is marketed as a book that should hit so close to home for me - a millennial went to college for journalism and now works at a Buzzfeed like company. And you know what? She's really good at writing material that goes viral! Is she compromising her values by doing this?

The description of this book, particularly on Goodreads, is incredibly misleading. Is this book meant to be a satire of millennials and how they're viewed? This book is not about a woman who goes to work for a Buzzfeed like company - it's about a woman who cannot get over a breakup with her terrible ex, and who happens to get a job at a company.

So here are my thoughts laid out easily:
1. If you are going to have website addresses in your book, buy the domain and have them go to your book's site or author's site. It should be part of your marketing campaign.

2. I've never worked at a start up, though I do have friends that do, and for the most part, this "we aren't going to give you any guidelines, new person" seems to be satire in the book, but this book isn't advertised as a satire. The nepotism in this book I buy.

3. The mentorship plot line and the older journalist plot line could have had some depth. They felt flat and forced and absolutely ridiculous.

4. Pick a POV? The "perhaps the reader" thrown in occasionally is jarring and isn't earned.

5. There's no growth in the main character at all. I got to the end of the book, flipped the page expecting more, and was actually genuinely shocked that it was over. What was the major drama? What did she learn from it? What did she gain? The description makes it sound like she starts debating if NYC is worth it, but honestly, nothing in her life has value except her worthless ex. She doesn't even have the cliched growth of "I have found my path alone!" ......though I think that's the vibe we are supposed to get.

6. Female friendships. I am so sick of books portraying women as not being ale to have female friendships with actual merit and depth. The main character only has faux friends, including her "best friend" who reminds me of friends I dropped in my early 20s for being fake as can be. None of the friendships felt real. Is it the fault of the MC who has no depth? IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE A SATIRE OF MILLENNIALS?

I genuinely do not get the point of this book and what it's trying to accomplish.

***
Netgalley arc. read for 24in48. Full review to come later this week.

I apologize for the low rating. The book is probable a fine book. But I disliked it strongly. It is a modern day Bridget Jones Diary. Only instead of counting how many fags she smokes, Elinor counts how much she spends on cabs. I did not like the characters or the setting, the plot was okay.

Received an advanced copy in exchange for a fair review.

This book frustrated me in exactly the ways I expected as soon as I saw it compared to “The Assistants,” one of my least favorite reads of 2016. Add it to the sub-genre of fiction about poverty-stricken millennials in New York City with no substantial ambitions or sense of irony. Young women keep writing these books and they don’t quite work for me as satire so I wonder if they actually know people like this.

But let me start with what Sociable does right -- Harrington accurately skewers editors and corporate heads of journalism outfits. I have been in meetings where someone shows me a slideshow and says a lot of words about what they want from the reporting team and when they put the laser pointer away none of us have any idea what they want. The scenes of entitled white men talking about viral content and the big picture with no action requested of their employees are on point.

For the young female characters, Harrington does too much telling and not showing. She deploys a third person limited narrative style, from the point of view of Elinor, a 20-something working as a nanny who gets a job at a startup Buzzfeed wannabe website, but then breaks the fourth wall to observe something wryly about Elinor in long info-dumps or quick asides. I feel like these are things I should be learning about the main character organically but I’m just not.

There is also no audience surrogate in this so-called comedy of manners which occasionally strikes a Jane Austen tone. Elinor is self-involved and an occasional trainwreck and so is every other person she interacts with except one minor character who pops in for a few scenes and I wanted to cling to her and never let her go. No one actually listens to their friends. No one has a sincere conversation. Every few pages Harrington hammers home that everyone is always on their phones and then criticizing people for being on their phones only to turn to their own phones again with no sense of irony.

As a millennial reading a book by a millennial about millennials, particularly about the media industry, I grew frustrated quickly with the unlikeability of everyone in this book. With no one to root for and a disjointed narrative style, Sociable becomes a slog and more things jump out to irritate. The ending fell flat with no one appearing to change or learn anything about themselves which left me feeling like I'd wasted my time reading about people I didn't like.

Fabulous book. Thoroughly loved. Highly recommend!

I really wanted to like this. I was in love with the description, but it fell short for me. I felt a total disconnect between myself and the characters, and I couldn't really even make myself like them. I won't knock this title publicly (other than here), but it definitely wasn't for me. Wonderful concept, but I'm 34, and this was like something I would have read when I was 19. Couldn't get behind any aspect of this book, unfortunately.

I received an advanced copy from Net Galley in exchange for a honest review. "Sociable" is possibly not for every reader since it is a light satire, I felt about the online Journalism world. Especially start-ups. I think Elinor was supposed to be unlikeable from the start. Very insecure in herself, flaky to others, and didn't think about her actions on others until after it actually happened. But there are parts that made her a bit relatable.

It's very true that social media is a place where you only shows the highlights, a place to showcase think pieces, and people can voice their own opinions from hiding behind technology. It still happens today every time you use social media. People can show a brand of themselves even when their real life is full of unexpected and awkward moments. "Sociable" may put some readers off with the lead character and her actions, but it stayed true about its themes.

This just seemed silly to me. I couldn't finish it.

Sociable tries to do something admirable: get you to care about unlikeable people in uncomfortable situations. While I don't doubt the irreverent tone the author was striving for, or the importance of communication, identity, and culture in the age of social media, the book falls flat.

The writing is adequate and the story is interesting. It was not enough to hook me, or even get me to finish.

Elinor is a young up-and-coming writer who finds herself working for a social media journalism website. She balances the demands of her new career with the five and take of old and new relationships. When people begin to grow apart, but perhaps one party doesn’t realize it- and how it all shakes down.

I don’t know if it is because I read a few other books in the last few months about social media and the curated life vs real life or whatever…and I kept comparing those two books to Sociable, but I think I decided that Sociable was just not for me. I found the characters to be unlikable, they were superficial and ridiculous. I think it had a relevant and interesting concept, but it wasn’t executed well. It was a quick, easy read and there were a few humorous moments I enjoyed…but there was nothing really memorable about the book and I didn’t really care for the writing style.

Bottom Line: I cant really recommend this book. I gave it two stars, but very meh for me. I would recommend reading Hello, Sunshine or My Not So Perfect Life over this.

**I received a copy of Sociable from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are of my own.**

This was an easy, light read, but just didn’t do much for me. Every time you’d think Elinor would experience some character growth, and therefore I might start to root for her, she would backslide into pathetic habits. There also was no real resolution to her work conflicts, she had better ideas than her mentors but it was never thoroughly addressed, which could have been developed more. It felt like the book just ended because it was time, and therefore several things were unresolved to me, and not in a good way. Thank you to NetGalley for an electronic ARC of this book.