an unnamed 30-year-old queer woman begins dating an unnamed 50-year-old choreographer after meeting him at an artist residency. what begins as a fling turns into something more intense & sometimes sinister, as the narrator begins to question her wants, desires, and sense of self & independence. the second half this book had me tearing thru pages after a bit of a slower start, & the final chapter really tied the novel together in a way that made me gasp. a very very impressive debut novel i highly recommend!

“Little Rabbit” is a debut novel by Alyssa Songsiridej. The book tells the story of a 30-year-old writer who begins a fraught sexual relationship with a 51-year-old choreographer. The novel explores themes of power dynamics, kink, and artistic drive

**Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.**

So this was a really interesting read and one that will have me thinking for a very long time. In this book we meet 30 year old C who enters into a partnership with a choreographer who is 21 years her senior and so begins a tale of emotional and sexual exploration.
“Little Rabbit” as she is called loses herself in the choreographer and the physical attraction she has for him and they have for each other.
Their sexual journey starts out as something dangerous and fun and slowly turns into something debasing and demeaning. She loses herself time and again trying to form herself into what she thinks he wants. In the end only when she realizes the truth, does their relationship really begin.
Overall this was an incredibly enlightening book that brought up a lot of thoughts and feeling for me.
Really strong debut outing and would be a great book-club book because it will generate a lot of great discussion.

A sexy, short, fascinating look at a somewhat inappropriate relationship between a queer 30-something women and a 50-something straight man. The prose is beautiful, and the politics interesting. I loved this little book.

Another pretty good book about a young artist getting sucked in by an older man, in this case, a queer writer and a choreographer. Unfortunately, this just didn't stand out compared to other books I've read with the same relationship dynamic, though it was not a bad book. If the premise sounds interesting, I'd recommend it. But if you've read a lot of this book type before, it's nothing special and I found the characters hard to care about. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Sex, desire, and autonomy drip from the pages of our guest author, Alyssa Songsiridej's debut novel, LITTLE RABBIT. We explore this body of work as she reveals to us how she longed to bring forth a novel where female characters allowed themselves to be pulled under by their desire without being damaged by their male love interest. A 30 year-old queer and burgeoning writer begins to unearth the many aspects of her sexuality when she becomes involved in a sexual relationship with a choreographer in his 50s. This awakening collides with resistance from her roommate's expectations and questions of loyalty and friendship with Rabbit's newly drawn boundaries.

This is a well written book, with some fine lines and a few well-conceived set pieces. That said, try as I might I found neither the characters, nor their situations, nor the overall narrative engaging enough to arouse or hold my curiosity and attention. As a consequence, it doesn't seem fair to write much more of a review, apart from encouraging inquisitive readers to give the book a try.

Little Rabbit is a strange book. Following the relationship between a young queer woman and an older and experienced man, the story thrives in the questions and the lingering spaces. I found myself surprised to be onboard every decision the writer made, even if I also judged the characters and their actions. The narrator and the choreographer are engaging characters and while their dynamic is at times toxic, it's never only that. The narrator is never simply his muse or his girlfriend, even if she finds herself disturbed by these notions throughout the book. In the end, their relationship is as complex as any relationship; there's the good and the bad, and lots of shades of grey. It's a lovely book, probing into uncomfortable places and refusing to judge on what's right, wrong, straight, or queer.

I initially learned about Little Rabbit after a friend of mine had posted a photo of the book on Instagram after she had received an ARC of the novel. I know we're taught to not judge a book by its cover, but there was something about the cover art that immediately captured my attention. I knew it was the type of book I had to read right away, and after I received my own ARC from NetGalley, this initial hunch felt all the more justified.

Little Rabbit is a wonderful, new take on a story that may seem overplayed when originally reading the description for the novel. The characters felt vibrant, flawed, and alive, and I loved how the entire story was paced throughout the book. Alyssa Songsiridej is a gifted writer who was able to navigate several difficult topics with ease and nuance in Little Rabbit. The book is equally dark and electric, and it completely pulls you into the narrative with each turn of the page. It's the type of story that sticks with you, that makes you think and question the way you think, and that continues to come back to you time and time again.

What a brilliant piece of fiction. I cannot recommend this enough.

Wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow
This might be my favorite book of the year
I got into it quick because the prose is so beautiful and the plot slipped away quickly. But I was hooked when I realized how relatable the protagonist was, how believable, how authentic in her shortcomings.
I'm immediately suspicious of books about writers, but as a writer and a reader, I must admit I enjoy them with a special kind of appreciation. This book follows, honestly, two complicated relationships, but it's never as simple as toxicity. Everything toes the line. The interactions are so thoughtful. The spicy scenes aren't cringe. The power dynamics, Lord. I am so captivated by this book.

Vapid and unconvincing stuff, with echoes of other work and an old-fashioned feel. Was hoping for something more innovative.

Little Rabbit is a book about an unnamed thirty year old woman and her relationship with a much older man. Power dynamics are largely at play within the relationship to the point where it is expectedly unbalanced and uncomfortable.

Going into this book, I thought I was going to read a character driven novel that dissects power dynamic in BDSM and age gap relationships. Instead, I pulled myself through a novel with a flat narrative and no discernible reason for being. This book was not for me. I don’t understand the author’s intention. The characters felt stiff and unchanging throughout.

I think the relationship between the main character and her roommate was infinitely more interesting than that of the main character and the choreographer, but unfortunately it was overshadowed by constant discussion of weekend plans.

There were some good lines in this story. The author obviously is capable of writing a good and thoughtful story. I just don’t think this is it.

Wonderfully strange book. Although I read this pretty quickly, and I think the author is very talented (I loved her short stories), I found this absurd. At times extremely heavy-handed and cringeworthy (I didn't think the sex writing was very good), but all in all, it was more complex than most other books with unlikable female narrators nowadays. It read like an ambitious, intellectually more rigorous version of 50 shades of Grey. I read somewhere that the author wanted to write a book where a woman "lusts all the way after a man" without it wrecking her life, and she kind of executed that, though I think the argument at the heart of the narrative is detrimental to its plot and writing. The ending felt forced. The parts between Annie and the protagonist are much more vivid, realistic, and interesting than the parts with the choreographer – but perhaps that was the whole point. There are some gems in here, but you have to dig for them.

~ ARC provided through NetGalley ~

"little rabbit" is the newest installment in a surge of books exploring the messy relationships of women in their late twenties. the protagonist in this novel is a writer living in somerville who gets wrapped up in a complex relationship with an older dance choreographer. I loved living in the mind of this character and exploring her interiority as she tried to figure out what it means to be queer, millennial, and creative. the author, alyssa songsiridej, withholds important details like the protagonist's name and race for much of the novel, which I found to be an interesting choice, especially given how all female protagonists in this niche of literary fiction are all extremely white (i.e. frances from "conversations with friends", eve from "acts of service", anna from "a very nice girl"). having an asian american protagonist adds a different layer to this novel, especially around its conversation of power and dominance in the bedroom. overall, while this is not my favorite messy relationship novel, I found it's conversation around romantic versus companionate relationships and queerness to be totally worthwhile.

Sophisticated and provocative, Little Rabbit explores an unnamed narrator's search to find herself while simultaneously losing herself in the wildly intense, all-consuming attentions of a powerful older man.

This is not, on the surface, an original story. In fact, you could say that the trope of a younger woman with a powerful older man is a played-out cliche. But Alyssa Songsiridej's exploration of power dynamics feels unique and special by virtue of the specifics of her characters and the way this story unfolds. Our narrator in this case is a barely-30-year-old biracial writer who identifies as queer. She doesn't like the 51-year-old choreographer when she initially meets him at an artists' residency, but finds herself drawn to him when he invites her to one of his performances months later. Little Rabbit is about the evolution of their relationship, but it is also about the disintegration of the narrator's relationship with her roommate and best friend, Annie. Although they have never been lovers, she and Annie have shared everything else since meeting in college. Annie is concerned about the narrator's relationship with the choreographer, questioning how a woman who identifies as queer could become involved in such an imbalanced relationship with an older man.

There are no easy answers, for the narrator or for the reader. Little Rabbit is an intoxicating, riveting dissection of the self, exploring the line between healthy and harmful sexual relationships, the vast spectrum of erotic love, the fluidity of identity and sexuality, and the ways art imitate life -- and vice versa. Just as tender as it is shocking, this is a book I'll be thinking about for a long time.

I was really impressed by this book. I thought it really pulled off what a good literary novel/character study can do well. I was very much sucked in to Rabbit's life and her relationship with the Choreographer. The friendship with Annie was equally fascinating. I think this is a really successful examination of what life can be like at this age, when you're trying to figure out who you are and where you're going. The relationship with the Choreographer starts out kind of icky-feeling because of the age and wealth gaps and the overall power dynamics. However, Songsiridej does an excellent job of interrogating those power dynamics through her characters' sexual and romantic relationship. This is done to a lesser extent in the friendship with Annie, where class and racial differences are under examination. I thought it was all done really well and I was so intrigued by the main character as a person. I didn't really know what to expect going in and I was very much impressed. I'll be looking for more work by this author in the future. Also, love the cover. Whether this would play well at my library, I'm less certain. If I had a request for it, I'd be happy to purchase it, but otherwise I can't justify spending the money, literary fiction of this kind just doesn't go out much here, unfortunately.

let's call it a book about the attritive force of queerness and race--how the protagonist finds herself in a relationship that replicates the cruelty and abuses of power of her closest friendships, but that becomes safe(r) in the thrall of a white and heterosexual coupling. the writing is just fine, technically speaking.

I am always drawn to character-driven novels about complex characters striving to discover who they are and what they want. This novel has these themes as well as the character’s connections to herself, her older partner, and herself. At times it was hard for me to read out of discomfort with topics but I think I was supposed to feel that way (does that make sense)? The writing is wonderful and I look forward to more from this author. Thanks to Bloomsbury for the advanced copy. I’m glad I read this one.

A younger woman (our unnamed narrator), an older man. She is a queer writer, a new comer as such. He is a talented, wealthy and successful choreographer. They meet at an artists residency in Maine and it is not a meeting of the minds. She finds him irritating and loud and he finds her wary and serious. When they meet again, he extends an invitation to his company’s dance performance. Not only is she drawn to accept the invitation but is also drawn to him. Soon she will traveling to the Berkshires or to New York City to spend weekends with him.
Her friend Annie ( queer as well) is confused as to the attraction and why she is ensnared in this relationship. Although Annie and our narrator are not lovers, they have traveled life’s path together. With this sudden change, the friends relationship becomes strained.
This sets the tone of what is to come. The drama, sexiness, anguish, devotion and the boundless territory that is canvased. The questions on how we identify ourselves, how we have lived, who and what we think and feel about our bodies and ourselves, what is true love and what is desire become the blocks on which this story is built.
Alyssa Songsiridej has a written a debut novel that is intriguing and spellbinding.
Thank you’s to NetGalley, the author and Bloomsbury for an ARC in exchange for an honest book review.

A young woman become involved with a much older man a choreographer.As their relationship intensifies and those around them are shocked the story takes you on a wild ride. of emotions.This is the authors debut novel she is very talented and I will be looking forward to her next book.#netgalley #bloomsbury