Sedating Elaine is billed on NetGalley as a humorous novel, but, although it has its entertaining moments, I didn't find the book as a whole to be very funny. The plot concerns lonely, depressed Frances, a woman with both abandonment issues and guilt about her past. A new girlfriend, wealthy, exuberant Elaine, bursts into Frances's life, and proves to be too much in every way. When Frances needs some time to herself, she slips a little something into Elaine's cinnamon latte to get her to shut up. Needless to say, this strategy backfires.

This novel, which is sort of like Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine but with lesbians, starts out strong but fizzles toward the end, when minor characters become the author's mouthpieces for long-winded observations about life and love. Frances is also too pitiful to be effective as a comic heroine. Still, I read this novel in two days, and enjoyed most of it.

I received an electronic pre-publication copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated in any way.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the early copy of this one in exchange for a review.

Frances is tired of her annoying girlfriend Elaine and has plans to sedate her for a few days so she can use Elaine’s money to pay off some debt she has with her dealer.

This is an interesting and dark premise, but I don’t think the book delivered for me. I got bored with the flashbacks and a lot of the storyline. The characters were both very unlikable. I would t recommend this unless you really enjoy unlikeable characters.

Frances hasn't gotten over her last break-up or grief from her childhood, and when her rich, hyper, besotted girlfriend Elaine moves in with her and her drug dealer comes to collect her massive debt, she does what anyone would do: sedate Elaine. Reminiscent of High Fidelity and French Exit, Dawn Winter gives us a quirky, farcical, coming of age story for our time. Winter deftly explores issues of depression, self-medication and escape, abandonment, self-sabotage, and forgiveness, all under the guise of an absurdist plot that is more dark and less comedy. Frances is a compelling protagonist, trying to deal with life by not dealing with it, running away from her problems instead of dealing with it, getting by on good enough until it's not enough either -- and who hasn't done that? Every plot point comes full circle, but a little too neatly. By the denouement, Elaine becomes one of the most interesting characters, showing much more depth than we're led to believe, and it's a shame she is out cold for most of the story. I was glad some parts didn't get as dark as they could have, but overall, the characters and plot weren't as wild as they could have been given the zany premise.

Frances is all kinds of messed up. She’s drunk more than sober, dysfunctional, and unreliable. She’s me in college.

She invites her girlfriend (who she hates!) to live with her to use her to pay off her drug dealer. The whole plan goes wrong when she ends up sedating Elaine before getting the money. Now she has a pissed off torture happy drug dealer looking for her.

I think Dawn WInter did a bang up job with this novel. At some points it does feel a little redundant. Like what more could you possibly complain about?? But, it also touched on some heavy trauma and mother-daughter relationship woes.

If you love women behaving badly (who doesn’t?) then this is sure to make you L O L.

Sedating Elaine is a fast paced yet enthralling read. I devoured this book from start to finish in one sitting. Initially I thought Elaine would be the main interest of this story, solely based on the title of the book, but boy was I way off. I quite literally had one of those aha moments when it came full circle of why Dawn chose the title for her debut book.
While there is a lot packed into this tiny book I felt Dawn found a unique way to tackle how complex relationships have become in our current social landscapes as a society. I believe everyone will find a little piece of themselves in Frances which will make this book relatable for most readers.
Thank you to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review! I cannot wait to see what else in store for Dawn Winter’s future!

The premise of this book was intriguing and unique but unfortunately didn’t meet my expectations. With Frances struggling to keep her composure over Elaine’s sudden infiltration of her personal space, I wanted to learn more about the dynamic between these two but felt as if Winter veered off-course too quick to get a firm grasp of the situation.

With that being said, both characters weren’t that likable or relatable for me, and the situations that Frances found herself in were a bit annoying. I usually like troubled characters, but Frances seemed to lean more towards the dramatic side.

Now to the plot…it would come to a halt on several occasions when Frances would flashback to her childhood and past relationship as she tried to reconstruct the path that had led her to where she is today. I didn’t enjoy this as much as I should have, as it didn’t feel developed enough to make it a cohesive part of the story. I tried to care about her inner turmoil and sad upbringing but was more invested in Elaine and how she was doing throughout the book.

The story was ultimately about Frances’ journey of self-actualization and learning to let go, or coming to terms with her past. Through her choices in “sedating Elaine,” she was unknowingly able to finally work through and address some emotional trauma in order to open up and finally accept someone into her life.

After my initial harsh criticism, this was still a fun and quick read. So if you’re looking for something with a darker edge and find unpleasant characters interesting to read about, definitely give this one a go.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.