Social Engagement is a master class in complexity and lingual layering. Each word was carefully selected, and each sentence constructed for a nuanced impact I have rarely found in text.

The book opens with the bride reflecting on her failed marriage, the failed wedding that occurred 7 hours ago. The rest of the book is experienced through reflection, the examination of the carefully edited facade of the couple's lives told through social media posts.

One of my favorite aspects of this book is the main character's job vs the main character's life. Callies career focuses on natural body disposal, utilizing science to leave as little impact on the world with your corpse. In essence, erasing a person. In her life, Callie curates every moment, saves it, highlights it, posts it for the world to see. Making sure no moment is lost, Every moment cataloged forever, immortalizes it for a crowd of unknown followers. That juxtaposition, layers with what she hides from the photos, the wealth disparity she lives in, her eating disorder, her fascination with the space she does and doesn't take up.

**SPOILERS** Another thing Forrey does that I adore is the end is not tie the ending up in a nice neat bow. The Social Engagment is a reflection on our lives, on our constructed narratives of reality and connection. The end leaves us to reflect, what is next, how did this help, how am I different?

The one complaint that I have in this book is that while I fell in love with the world, I did not fall in love with the characters. Perhaps that was on purpose. Instead of vivid, beating characters, each seems to be a blank piece of paper, a foggy mirror you can place your friend's face on. However, had the world selection and world-building not been as good as it was, I would have put the book down due to this loss of connection with the characters.

Thank you #netgalley and #marinerbooks for this free audio arc in exchange for an honest review.

I found Social Engagement to be a perfectly pleasant story of it's kind - not as biting as some, not as fluffy as others. The tone of the blurb didn't quite seem to match with the tone of the actual book, but I adjusted eventually.

Thank you to Avery Carpenter Forrey and NetGalley for this audio ARC!

oof, let me start with what I liked about this. i really enjoyed the narrator, I thought she did an amazing job personifying (to me) a very like woe is me, new york millennial who is very into her social media presence.

certainly you can see that I didn't enjoy this book at all, I just found the callie to be frustratingly annoying.

It's not you it's me. I might have liked this book if I was still in my 20's. I thought this was a great example of the hoopla one might go through when they are in their 20's and every weekend is filled with another wedding. Unfortunately, I did not like any of the characters and was dissatisfied with the ending.

I'm not sure what I think about this book. At first I found all the characters to be a little confusing (maybe because I listened to it rather than read it?) Once I got everyone straight in my mind the book went a little smoother, although there were a lot of different threads of the story--it would go back in time and then jump forward again almost seamlessly. But the ending was the most confusing for me--was the author trying to comment on Callie finally finding her voice by speaking up to Ollie at her wedding and ruining her 6 hour marriage? Did her father really have an affair with her "second mother"? Or was this just a story about friendship between Virginia and herself? I'm not sure. Of course that may not be the most important part of this book...it is kind of entertaining to sit back and watch Callie's life implode--and the question is what will she do next?

Between the heavy vocal fry of the audiobook narrator, and the incomplete naval gazing of the novel's narrator, this one was a total miss for me. So many unanswered questions by the time it ended, but given the shallow character development, I really didn't care.

OUT MAY 23, 2023!

Forrey's debut is gripping from the first page. Delving into the social-media frenzy of modern weddings, this book explores friendship, relationships, class, and wealth with a piercing eye toward authenticity in a world governed by curation. As I read, I felt compelled to nod along or underline each word because Forrey's language often captured exactly how I think about various aspects of life as a late-twenties person navigating complex relationships that either aren't serving us or force self-reflection. I found it incredibly hard to put down because I felt so seen by it.

This book, in many ways, felt like a manifestation of a moment in an interview with Stephanie Danler where she said that life is a series of micro-movements that add up to a big moment(s) (paraphrasing here). From the opening scene, we know that Callie's marriage lasted mere hours and then we spend the novel scrolling through her camera roll as she tries to pinpoint where it went so wrong. I think this is a unique storytelling device but also speaks to something greater, which is the fact that many things don't happen in a vacuum, rather a series of steps and missteps get us from point A to point B and sometimes that means lost friendships, damaged friendships, broken trust, and broken relationships. When we lose someone, we wonder "how in the world did that happen?" And then we attempt to go back and connect the dots and make sense of the loss. But the thesis of this book seems to be, no matter how much we zoom in and dissect in hindsight, we often can't see it coming because we're too caught up in ourselves.

While this book felt distinct in its tone and outlook, I think fans of Jennifer Close will enjoy this one.

I loved the authors writing style. I loved the plot and characters challenges. I struggle with box that have incomplete (in my mind) endings. This is a great story but not the best fit for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy of this title. Kunstlers in Paradise begins with the Jewish Kunstler family fleeing Austria at the beginning of the second World War. They land in Hollywood, where they assimilate into the community of the movie industry. Most of the story is told in flashback by the main character to her grandson who is visiting her when COVID hits, and his two-week stay turns into many months. This is a solid generational tale without sensationalistic Holocaust prose, and the characters are shown with flaws. A solid story.