5 stars for the writing style. 4 stars for the story.

thank you to the Publisher and Netgalley for my early copy of this book,

I have never read a book that depicts bad decisions and frustrating characters in a more beautiful and stylistic manner, James Gregor really has a gift for writing.

Richard is the main character. A gay man living in New York and experiencing writers block while depending on his graduate funding. Richard is a hot mess who doesn't have any aspect of his life figured out.

Anne is his classmate who offers to "help" him in return for his company. Anne is living off of dad's money and is able to wine and dine Richard. Richard, wanting to be part of the of an exclusive world, allows Anne to do so and begins a relationship and codependency with her.

At the same time, Richard meets Blake through an online dating site, Blake is stable, caring, smart, and for some random ass reason, likes Richard.

Richard goes between having half ass relationships with both Anne and Blake while being obsessed with his friend Patrick.

Im telling you, Richard is a hot mess. a very not likable person, and not a good friend, Bf, student,

I've read a lot of reviews giving this book a low rating because they didn't like Richard, and that's actually why. loved this book. A main character doesn't have to be likable, If a book can make me want to shake a character for them to wake up then in my view, the author did his job of making me feel something, even if its anger and frustration.

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book.*

Richard is a bisexual 20-something grad student lagging behind on deadlines for his doctorate at uni. Living in New York, feeling lonely, and struggling with writer's block, he is befriended his brilliant fellow scholar Anne. She helps him with his papers, takes him to expensive restaurants and they become sort of lovers. Sort of, because Richard is an absolut idiot and incredibly unlikeable. He is like Hamlet, unable to make a decision, but so much more whiney about everything. Anne is also a controlling, manipulative and insufferably annoying character, buying attention and sex in exchange for her help.

When he meets Blake the lawyer via a dating app, he starts to lead two lives, *SPOILER* culminating in Richard promising to both Blake and Anne that they'd move in together. Madness and chaos is about to unfold and Richard will still think he's the victim and the good guy in all of this. It's terrible and oddly satisfying to see how a character walks into his doom with his eyes wide open...

Yet many of Richard's problems rang true for me, especially in connection to post-grad life at university, lack of motivation and financial pressures. The novel was also well written and I read it fairly quickly...the story unfolded and you keep watching even though you know an accident is about to happen. It also made me nervous and unhappy in many instances because I was far too emotionally involved and got angry about Richard...

3 Stars because Richard is an insufferable asshole and he doesn't deserve that ending.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

While Gregor's writing is very eloquent and honestly very engaging, the protagonist of this book ruined it for me. Richard was very unlikeable and strung along Anne for his own selfish means. I found it very hard to get past this and disliked the book immensely because of this character.

I had moderate expectations for this book, but I actually found it insufferable. The main character, Richard, is behind on his doctorate deadlines and is facing a loss of funding. However, this book is written in third person but the vocabulary is so robust that it doesn’t make sense that this isn’t from Richard’s point of view. The vocabulary use and tone comes across as haughty, elitist, and pretentious because it’s written from Richard’s tone but in third person. The writing was so difficult to follow, that it was hardly worth finishing.

Also, I really disagree with how Richard, who defines himself as gay, is written as a character. His character came across as gay until he met the right woman, which is so many levels of inconsiderate and insensitive i won’t even get into it here. Straight characters aren’t written as straight until the meet the right person of their same gender. It would be a different matter if Richard was written as a character who is discovering himself or if he was bisexual, but I just can’t condone this representation of a gay man who “becomes straight” for the right woman.

Although I really, really wanted to like this book, I just couldn’t.

The writing stood out the most for me in this book. While Richard might not be a heroic main character and has his failings, he does live an interesting life. Some of the decisions he makes are frustrating, but you can see why he does the things that he does. The book has vivid descriptions - of New York, of dating in the modern era, of going through troubled times. It was delightful to read. The only thing that I wish the book more of was romance - although Richard is caught between two relationships, neither of them are romantic. So, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who wants to read about a passionate love triangle as the description might suggest, but I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read a brilliantly written novel about life in the city and the strange complications of relationships.

Rating: 2/5
Queer: yep!
ARC: I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Summary: A whiny gay man, Richard, disregards other peoples' feelings and somehow manages to get two people interested in him.

Review:

I reaaaaaaaaaaally wanted to like this, but I couldn't get into it. Richard was a hard main character to like, to be honest, and felt sort of like they were discounting bisexuality. I don't know. It didn't sit well with me. Also, Richard felt like the embodiment of all things baby boomers hate about millennials (which frustrates me, because that's not an accurate representation at all).

I feel as though Anne deserves so much better, and didn't deserve to be exploited.

Anne's the reason this gets 2 stars and not 1.

Interesting. Gay man realises he might be bi, or is at least willing to sleep with anyone to get what he wants. Very unlikeable and frustrating main character who cannot seem to conduct even one healthy balanced relationship. The tension building was good, and the dialogue and atmosphere in some tense scenes. Ugh so frustrating though I just wanted to shake him by the shoulders!

I got this from Netgalley on exchange for an honest review so this is that.

Going Dutch was kinda hard to get into but I did like the story. It was actually set up really well, I actually didn't realize it was being set up and all of a sudden I was in the middle of it. It was weird and at times uncomfortable but funny also. The characters were relatable and diverse.

The author has a gift for writing and describing awkward emotions. the writing is enough to keep you hooked.

An incredible exploration of identity and desire. Beautifully written, this book grapples with the struggle to reconcile what we think we want with what we really want - and what happens when we don't know the answer to either.

One of my favorite aspects of this book was how well James Gregor integrated New York City into the narrative. It was almost as if New York City was a character in the book and as a millennial who is a life long New Yorker the city descriptions/integration really stood out to me. The main character, Richard, is often depicted as selfish and self-destructive which made him seem thoroughly unlikeable in my opinion. But it also seemed that this selfishness might result from a bout of depression and self-uncertainty. And that's exactly why I enjoyed this book. I'm not interested in always reading about the good guy, in order to become someone who better understands others we sometimes need to see the world through the perspectives of those who we consider selfish or those who are suffering. Even if they seem unlikeable, or even irredeemable the story is still important.

I really liked the premise, I thought this would be a fun, and different read. I found the main character to be very unlikable. He had potential, but turned out to be very selfish, and completely deluded. The writing was great though! I thought the other really did a great job with the dialog, etc. Just Richard was so off putting. He would take no responsibility for how crappy he would treat people. I liked Anne, his fellow doctoral candidate, but was hoping she would stick up for herself when it came to Richard.

I had high hopes for this novel based on the synopsis, but I felt that this story fell short of its expectations. It is about a gay (bi?) man in NYC who is searching for love.

Richard, the main character, I found insufferable at times. He represented all the annoying things said about millennials these days. He has a lack of work ethic, doesn't cook, and all around is a touch useless; dependent on others to buy him dinner etc. The main crux of the story is his love triangle between himself, another man, and another woman. The execution of all three meeting was beautifully written and I literally felt myself cringing. I wanted to read on. But overall, his choices or avoidance of making a firm choice irritated me to no end. His flaws were a bit much for me at times and I love a good bumbling flawed character, but the execution of him in some situations at times felt stilted.

Overall, an enjoyable read that could have been more polished for it to be more exceptional and a bit more funny as well.

Thank you to NetGalley/Simon & Schuster for my copy and honest review.

I had high hopes for this book based on the description, but I was sorely disappointed. The writing style was very eloquent, almost to a fault. I felt like this highlighted all of the worst parts of what people think of millennial lifestyles. Richard was extremely annoying and whiny, wasting his fellowship money on unnecessary things. I almost didn't finish this, but I was able to push through it.

*Book received through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Unfortunately, like many of the other reviewers, I found this book insufferable. The characters were annoying and made bad, selfish decisions, and the writing was extremely pretentious which is the one thing that I truly cannot stand in a novel. I can forgive a lot but that just made me want to quit a quarter of the way through. Really wanted to like this one and was excited to give it a shot.

Received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

A story about a gay man trying to find love in a big city and discovering more about himself as time . A little slow at parts but it was still able to keep my attention until the end. It gave a pretty cool and insightful look into the gay male community as well. i felt like I was actually there. There is some sex but not erotica levels of graphic. There was one specific scene where all 3 main characters met for the first time and it was so excellently written. I could feel the tension. overall a pretty enjoyable book that could have been trimmed down a little.

The protagonist is extremely unlike able and that makes this novel unbearable to read. Do not pass go. Do not recommend. I had high hopes for this because gay romance needs to be written about more. But it failed me.

This book is what makes Millennials look bad: pretentious, faux intellectual, bemoaning their empty bank accounts, and snorting cocaine. No thank you.

I recieved an ecopy of this book "Going Dutch* by James Gregor in exchange for my honest review.

Um. I'll start off by saying I usually enjoy and actively look for LGBTQ books. This book was not for me sadly.

First the good. The writing is very proficient and well executed. The plot had a solid pace and was easy to follow. Anne was lovely .

The not good. I have no desire to reread this book again. I enjoy a large vocabulary as much as anyone but some of the words seemed to be used just for the sake of using them. Richard ....not likeable. When you think of him sour lemon face happens.

As a debut offering I'm sure it will find an audience.

I wanted to not like this book, and I wouldn't say that I *did* like it, but I did finish it despite struggling to care at various points about Richard and his whining and complete disregard for other people's feelings. On the one hand, I feel for poor Anne, of whom I suspect being vaguely desperate, but on the other hand, I think there is something satisfying about choosing the relationship in which you don't feel as if you're lacking.
Also, the author tried very hard to be clever, which was annoying but manageable.