I loved this! Spot on depictions of being a 20-something working in media in New York City, and the pull between your dreams and your roots that can occur. Also a much-needed and appreciated messy lesbian story and Black lesbian main character. The narrator did a great job of creating a distinct ensemble of characters.

**Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

This one is a hard one for me to review. I'm happy I read it. The stories of queer, black women are two far and few between. My only hangup is that I didn't really care for the characters. That being said, I could see it being very important to other readers and thus it absolutely has a place on library shelves.

Although this wasn’t personally for me, I think this book was a beautiful story and the narrator was really good.

Seamlessly authentic and entertaining. Poignant and timely and not predictable like it could've been. Tembe's writing is poignant and sexy. I would definitely recommend it to friends, especially nyc friends, and I think it makes a great contemporary read that people will love. I can be nit-picky about writing, so I do wish it was a little bit more edited. Like the TWO times "the silence was defeaning" was used took me out of the story to eyeroll at the lack of creativity (and that the editors let that slide). It takes away from Tembe's skill and considering she's a debut author I think it's very important to ensure people remember her talent and not any tropes. I really hope those lines are edited by the time the book is released (in one other moment the main character's grandmother is described as having "a way of looking at me and seeing right through me" that was also a little uninspired, but not as UGH as the "defeaning" moment) Early on, I was bothered that the preview walks you through too much of the plot, but I was pleasantly surprised by the second half of the book that so many things didn't take the turn I thought they would. I was also surprised that I didn't FEEL like I thought I would, my attitude towards characters kept shifting. All in all, I thought the book was great! The authors dive into relationships is so real and vulnerable. Also, audiobook reader deserves an award, they were FANTASTIC.

Firstly, I’d like to thank Harper Audio, for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was drawn to this book because of the subject matter, and while I truly enjoyed Tembe's writing style, the exploration of desirability in the queer community and being Black in media felt flat and left me wanting a lot more. I also would have loved to see Mickey take more accountability for her actions. I feel like Jasmine and Grandma Anna were good voices of reason for her, but we don't really get to see her actually implement their advice. That to me is a missed opportunity. Though, Homebodies was not for me, I would be open to reading more work from this author especially a queer romance if they ever decided to write one.

The narration for this book was fantastic. I really liked the voice actor, and really felt the main characters emotions come through from the audiobook which was fantastic. The book itself, I found to be pretty average. The narrative voice felt a bit too disaffected for me, given the heightened stakes of the story. I definitely wouldn't go so far as to call the book bad, but I also wouldn't call it fantastic and wouldn't recommend it to my followers.