I love a campus setting in a novel - I made so many connections to my own college and dorm life experience, including connections to money and that time in my life that I didn't have a great understanding of back then.

I'm a fan of Such a Fun Age. In that book, I was drawn in from the events in the first chapter. It's instantly compelling. Come and Get It is a slower ride. But both are introspective reads with characters that are thought out and well written.

My first five-star read of 2024! I loved this book but I know it won’t be for everyone. This is for the people who love character development and moral gray areas and don’t mind an open-ended plotline or two.

The book is essentially three separate character studies that occasionally intersect. Reid crafts characters with heart and humor and delights in putting them in impossible situations. She masterfully builds tension, while also providing a solid background to explain why characters are making their decisions, even as the reader you can see it will end in disaster. I wish I knew how she pulled it off!

My first through after finishing Come and Get It was that this won’t be a book for everyone, but the people who love it are REALLY going to love it. I fall into the love it category, and I’m super excited to discuss why.

Kiley Reid is incredible at building a clear portrait with vivid, sometimes humorous, descriptions of characters. Come and Get It does not have a very clear plot; instead, it relies on the development of three main characters - and a handful of minor characters - to strong the novel along. Each of these characters are flawed, and some are straight up unlikable…yet each one fits into the ongoing narrative of life at college.

It almost felt like I was reading three separate vignettes that tied together through the minor characters they all interacted with and the shared setting, and it was a really effective way to tell a story where there isn’t really a central plot bringing everything together.

I love the way Reid writes; it’s at times quite funny and wry, while also having many moments of deeper reflection and complexity. The character focus made me feel intimately involved in the events of the story, even when the events were seemingly small or insignificant.

There were some loose ends I wanted more closure on, and some moments that felt a bit over the top and/or unnecessary. For those reasons, this is more in the 4 star range for me than a 5 star.

Basically, if you’re a fan of character-driven stories that feel a bit meandering in terms of plot, this would be a great fit for you. If you need a bit more of a straight forward storyline, I could see this boring or frustrating you. Me personally, I am thrilled to be in the group of folks this was perfect for & I will be eagerly awaiting Reid’s next book!

4.25 stars. I’m aware this is getting mixed reviews, but I don’t really get why. I loved it! It’s both character driven and highly readable, and I found it compelling from start to finish.

It is mostly set in a dorm at University of Arkansas and follows a professor, an RA, and some students there as a way to explore dynamics of race and wealth. The characters each felt real to me, and I loved that she explored those topics through subtle interactions and micro-aggressions, rather than beating us over the head with the themes.

I think my enjoyment of this also stems from my college experience. I lived in a dorm all 4 years, was on financial aid, and worked jobs on campus. I was surrounded kids who came from both a lot more and a lot less money than me, and yet in some way living in the same dorms and eating the same dining hall food helped equalize us. I spent a lot of time thinking and money and different people’s relationships to it. All that to say, I was fascinated by Reid’s exploration of this topic.

If you don’t like character driven books or you’re completely bored by the beginning of this, it might just not be the right book for you. But if those themes sound interesting to you at all, pick this one up!

Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam for the free copy in exchange for my honest review.

Wanted to love this one but was slower than I’d hoped. Explored the dynamics of college, relationships, friendships, and dorm life but would have preferred deeper connections to the character and a stronger plot. Okay read.

(4.5 stars rounded up) As a person who works on a college campus, I LOVED THIS. There were a lot of characters that we followed, but for me, it didn't feel like overkill. I felt that each character had a purpose in driving the story forward and each characters' actions resulted in adding to the growing conflicts between them. Ultimately, this was a wonderful coming of age and character driven story that revolved around the inner conflicts of a college dorm.

Really enjoyed the writing and the concept. Such a unique idea to provide social commentary on college students and employees and how everything is amplified in that environment. I think for me personally I needed the plot to head in some sort of direction but this was almost completely character driven.

I really enjoyed Such a Fun Age when it came out, so I was excited to read Come and Get It…and it’s a bit of a falter. Reid’s sharp prose and solid characterization flails in the complete absence of plot - a plotless novel isn’t bad, but there was a lot of tension and nothing happening. Such a Fun Age was more focused, while Come and Get It stumbles in its own vagueness.

COME AND GET IT by Kiley Reid (author of Such A Fun Age) is about wealth- or lack thereof- among female college students living in a dorm, and how far they will go to get it. This is a purely character driven novel and even though the writing is fantastic, nothing really happens, so I had a hard time connecting with this read. It may appeal more to readers who prefer character stories. Thank NetGalley and Penguin for my earc.

This book was a bit weird, and I don't mean it in a bad way. It's mostly character-driven, which I love, but at the same time felt all over the place. On this book, we are introduced to some characters who go to the University of Arkansas, who then end up connecting with each other. I enjoyed the writing a lot, which made read this book fairly fast. The storytelling didn't drag at all, I just felt a bit lost along the way. The ending was a bit off too. I feel like I got interested on the characters and then, everything ended without much consequence. I don't know. I would still recommend it just for the writing and I will definitely read the author's future books, but this one just wasn't for me.

3.75/5 I’m a bit of a sucker for campus novels, and this one was getting mixed reviews from my bookstore coworkers, so I had to give it a try. It was a pretty easy read which didn’t take a long time. And it’s undoubtedly funny at times. Throughout, though, there are moments when the dialogue and the description doesn’t match up, and the writing feels a bit unpolished. I feel like the best section was the long one about Agatha, the adult in the book. I enjoyed some of the “nest of vipers” dorm intrigue, but it was a too rambling for the climax to be effective. Interesting, but I’m not sure the students were believable.

This is a story about the outsized impacts of small choices.  In 2017, Millie is entering her senior year at the University of Arkansas.  After taking time off to care for her mother when she was diagnosed with glaucoma, Mille has returned to her job as a residential assistant.  Older than her fellow students, she often feels like she does not fit in and is disappointed that she has been placed in an undesirable dorm.  But she decides to make the best of it and stay focused on her goals — graduate, get a job, and, perhaps unusual for a college senior, buy a house, if she can save enough money.

Early in the school year, Millie's boss asks her to help Agatha Paul, a visiting professor and a writer who is working on a book about weddings and wants to interview current students.  Millie arranges for Agatha to meet with three students in her dorm.  In Agatha's conversations with the students, she realizes that there is a much more interesting story than weddings — one focused on the students' relationship with money.  When Millie later runs into Agatha, she ends up offering to help Agatha interview more students at her dorm.  This fateful encounter sets off a series of events that sets both Millie and Agatha off on surprising courses — and changes the directions of both of their lives in ways neither could have expected at the start of the school year.  

This book was excellent.  It creates rich and nuanced character studies in Millie, Agatha, and Kennedy, one of the students in Millie's dorm who has a surprising connection to Agatha, as well as other students and RAs.  The author excels at revealing elements of characters’ back stories that make not just the other characters in the book but the reader as well reconsider the first character's choices and how they present themselves to others. 

The author also deftly captures how small choices can have the most significant impacts, often sending one's life in an entirely different direction.  I particularly appreciated Millie's evolution from the ultimate rule follower to someone who finds herself breaking the rules in ways she convinces herself are harmless — and the unexpected impacts of that evolution.  Finally, the book is an interesting and thoughtful examination of money and the explicit and subtle ways it can shape relationships and how one moves through the world. 

Very highly recommended.

Come & Get It by Kiley Reid

This book is among the most anticipated of 2024 and for good reason. WOW! It started as a slow burn for me, but when it accelerated I was caught off guard and then blown away. The characters, primarily college students from the University of Arkansas, and descriptions of their dorm life are relatable and the dialogue is impressively believable. There’s a lot of tension and bad behavior (the RA’s! the visiting professor!), the kind where I watched characters make terrible decisions and gasped NO! 😱
I can’t wait for more people to read this so I have someone to talk to about it! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Coming 1/30/2024

Thank you to @NetGalley and @PutnamBooks for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Come and Get It will make you uncomfy so if you are looking for a feel good read or a book where the characters are black and white, look elsewhere. If you want shades of gray, complicated and complex characters, then this book will be for you. Like her last novel, Such a Fun Age, this book is provocative and will lend itself to lots of interesting discussions.

Thank you to G.P. Putnam's Sons and Netgalley for the electronic advanced copy of this much anticipated book.

DNF after the first 50 pages, it was beyond dull and wordy. After reviewing other reviews on goodreads and seeing the lack of love it’s not worth it to force myself to continue

4.5

Setting: Arkansas
Rep: Black queer protagonist; white lesbian protagonist

I picked this up based on the blurb and the hype and I enjoyed Reid's last book, and I was stoked to realize while reading that this is a queer book with a side focus on the budding relationship between Agatha and Millie. I loved their dynamic; I loved them as individual characters; I pitied and related to Kennedy (unfortunately) and I happily would have read more.

Will update with link to full review post closer to pub date! I enjoyed the characters in this book, but I felt like the plot was a bit lacking. I do enjoy stories taking place on a college campus, and I liked seeing all of the relationships play out. I think if you enjoy in depth character studies/character driven via plot driven novels then you’d really enjoy this one though!

Thanks @netgalley and @putnambooks for the advanced copy and @librofm for the audiobook!

Synopsis: The lives of three college students, a resident assistant, and a professor become entangled in unexpected ways during a semester at the University of Arkansas.

Thoughts: This was a very well written character-driven story. Following the lives of college students, it focused heavily on life in a dormitory. I would definitely classify it as coming of age, and it explored female friendships extensively. That being said, the plot was pretty slow up until the very end of the book. I would recommend this one for anyone who really likes character driven storylines and also enjoys college as a setting. I had both the ebook and audio, and I definitely preferred this one on audio, as the narrator brought the characters to life really well and there was a lot of dialogue.

Read this if you like:
🐷 college
🐷 character-driven stories
🐷 coming of age stories

I really enjoyed Such a Fun Age when it came out, so I was excited to read Come and Get It…and it’s a bit of a falter. Reid’s sharp prose and solid characterization flails in the complete absence of plot - a plotless novel isn’t bad, but there was a lot of tension and nothing happening. Such a Fun Age was more focused, while Come and Get It stumbles in its own vagueness.

It has lots of great elements: set in a university residence, it follows Millie, an RA with big plans; Agatha, a journalist and visiting professor; and Kennedy, a transfer student trying to get away from her biggest mistake. But there isn’t really any substance at all, and it needs something.

Kiley Reid’s novel revolves around a visiting professor at the University of Arkansas and the dorm students she is tangentially involved with as part of her research. It doesn’t shy away from focusing on the ugliness and messiness prevalent in society.

Come and Get It is primarily character driven fiction touching on issues of race, class, selfishness, and bad decisions. A few of the characters are simply detestable in a people-are-really-like-that way. Others are heartbreakingly damaged and ruled by their insecurities. As in real life, the broken are no match for the predatory.

The story unfolds slowly and in a seemingly disjointed way, but ultimately reaches a crescendo where the pieces come together. This is an interesting read reflective of real life, including issues related to mental health and societal norms. Plot driven readers may be disappointed, but those drawn in by character studies will find this book to be a satisfying read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

Come and Get It is a book written by Kiley Reid and is told in the voices of a professor, an RA, and a student, all at University of Arkansas. Each character has their own story, and at the same time they are all entangled together to different degrees. This story talks about grief, wealth, disparities between individuals, racism, friendship, and writing.
This is the second book that I have read by this author, and I really enjoyed it! There were parts that I found hard (trigger warning for animal death and discussion of self harm,) and I also wish things were a little more resolved by the end of the book, but sometimes that’s how life is! I definitely recommend this book. Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher and author of this book for a free ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.