I was excited to receive an advanced copy of Come & Get it by Kiley Reid. I really enjoyed Such a Fun Age when I read that book.
Come & Get It is a character-driven novel set at the University of Arkansas. The main character Millie is a resident advisor (RA) in a college dormitory. She meets Agatha, a traveling professor who claims to be researching weddings and wanting to interview some college students. Agatha instead is intrigued by the idea of the underclassmen and their financial habits. She ends up writing profiles of some different students for a magazine reflecting how they think about and use money. Agatha and Millie’s relationship becomes blurry and crosses the line to romantic creating a further ethical dilemma.
Unfortunately, this book just didn’t work for me. Initially I was intrigued by the path I though the book was going to take – profiling different students and their financial habits; however, this was not actually the point of the book. While I didn’t dislike anything in particular about this book, I just didn’t find myself connecting to the story. I didn’t feel drawn to the story or the characters. Agatha’s character was particularly unlikeable to me as I felt that she was taking advantage of Millie. Millie’s character was the only one that I found to be likable. I felt that this book had great potential, but the plot was lacking.

A well written, page turner about the intertwining lives of a professor and students on the campus of a southern university. Themes of money, power, sex, and racism drive the characters and the plot.
I really enjoyed reading this book and found it hard to put down. The characters are realistically flawed, making frustrating and questionable choices throughout the novel, which makes it difficult to like them (although I did care about what happened to each of them in the end). There was a carelessness with which the characters treated each other that made me reflect on the complexity of our internal lives.
Reid writes a compelling and thoughtful story about relationships with money and each other. I’d definitely recommend this book.

I suspect Reid's sophomore effort will suffer in comparison to Such a Fun Age. It's a common issue among new authors. But I did enjoy this - Reid has a particular talent for capturing the contemporary age and the newest adult generation. She is adept at finding current social issues like systemic racism and classism in the tiny and the mundane. Her characters feel real and they make me smile and sympathize though I am a good deal older than they. Entertaining and thoughtful is a welcome combination always.

Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam for the ARC of Come and Get It. I was excited about this one as I loved Kiley Reid’s debut. Similar to Such a Fun Age Reid does a fantastic job setting up characters that you truly feel like you get to know (for better or worse). Come and Get It is definitely a thought-provoking read where you explore race, class, power dynamics, and more. It’s not very plot-driven, so keep that in mind, but it is a true study of people and what makes them tick. Overall, an interesting read and one I’m glad I read.

Kiley Reid really knows how to hook you from beginning to end. I went into this book pretty blind, not knowing what I was getting myself into, my only prior knowledge was that I really liked her other book, Such a Fun Age. It was what most would call “no plot, just vibes” and I really enjoyed it. The way we follow so many characters that impact each others life in very small to very large ways. The character development and the way you learn more and more about each character’s past the farther you get was so interesting. I found myself thinking about this story whenever I had to put the book down. They only thing was, I felt the ending was very abrupt, I wanted a little bit more to wrap everyone’s story up.

*Millie voice* So I actually kind of loved it?

Between this and Rebecca, Not Becky, I’m realizing that cheugy satire and Southern women caricatures really do it for me.

Come and Get It is the opposite of dark academia with a La Croix whisper of Yellowface. It’s not plot-driven, just vibes and character (un)development by absolute messes who would be right at home in the Peach Pit unsavory women universe.

I’m nosy and judgmental, so I had a great time. If you prefer minding your own business, plots, or characters you root for, this book will likely not spark joy.

Just not as good as her first. It lost some clarity and big picture. I was really entranced and really liked a lot of the elements but the end just didn't feel so... Wrapped up in a satisfying way. I really liked the plot movement and the different POVs. It was so engaging and yet unfulfilling.

Millie (24 years old) is a senior at the University of Arkansas. She is also an RA for the Student Residences and saving up to buy her own house. Agatha Paul, 38, is a writer and visiting professor at the University. She is purportedly interviewing students at the University to write a book about “Weddings” and Millie is assigned to help her coordinate with the students. Kennedy, Tyler and Peyton are all tween/20-year old students at the University and roommates assigned to Millie’s section of the residences. This leads to some not-so-pleasant, not-at-all-smart entanglements.
Kiley Reid has done a fantastic job of portraying how juvenile tweens and twenty-somethings behave in an university setting. In fact, some of the prankish shenanigans reminded me of the boarding school novels written by Enid Blyton with contemporary shades of race, class and gender thrown in. Millie and the other RAs, while trying to be adult and responsible at most times also have their moments of getting carried away. Agatha Paul, in the midst of an estrangement from her lesbian lover is most surprising and, in my opinion, ought to have shown more restraint and maturity. I don't want to describe her actions in greater details so as to avoid spoilers.
You have to read the book against the above-mentioned background and mindset for it to become likeable and readable. The novel is entirely character driven and the characters are neither wholly likeable nor unlikeable. If you are a fan of campus-based stories or dark academia narratives, this one is for you. Not my preferred genre. I’m already seeing a lot of polarizing views on this one.
Thank you Netgalley, Penguin Group Putnam and Kiley Reid for the ARC.

Thank you to the publisher for an ARC of this novel.

I loved Reid’s first novel “Such a Fun Age” and I love a campus novel, so I would have thought this would be right up my alley. But unfortunately this just fell flat for me.

The premise is hard to explain because it very much seems that Reid is trying to go more character driven here instead of her previous novels very plot-forward tone. I definitely appreciate Reid’s desire to go more broad, to be more ambitious…but it felt like the number of characters and storylines she had going was just convoluted.

And the issue here really was that the story felt aimless for large parts - and not in a way that I didn’t know where it was going, but in ways that Reid didn’t seem sure herself where it was going.

Reid still has a lot of strength as a writer and I loved her first novel so much, and really did see enough strength in this, that I’ll definitely read what she comes out with next. But maybe with more measured expectations.

This book may appeal more to “new adults” than it did to me. The wording/writing was difficult for me to follow. I felt that it was very generational and I am definitely of the wrong generation for this book. The slang went over my head. I believe that the writer had intended a very subtle, tongue in cheek humor which I normally love but since there was so much I didn’t understand it went right over my head. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Putnam for the ARC. I am giving the book 3 stars because I honestly feel that my age was the problem.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group for allowing me to read an advanced copy of Kiley Reid's Come and Get It. This book follows Millie, an RA at the University of Arkansas, Agatha, a visiting professor and writer, and several students/residents over the course of a year. There's plenty of workplace/friendship/roommate drama, but I'd definitely say this is more of a character driven rather than plot driven novel.

I feel like I might be in the minority in that I really enjoyed the book! The characters are well written and the dialogue is so true to life. I'll also say that part of my enjoyment may have come from the fact that I'm from Northwest Arkansas and graduated from the University of Arkansas, so it was fun to see the names of places I know so well in print. I can definitely tell Kiley Reid spent some time here!

Come and Get It is definitely not going to be for everyone. I was interested in reading it after enjoying Such a Fun Age a few years ago. It is character-focused with a very strongly developed cast of characters. Kiley Reid sometimes spends time going in directions that feel off-topic, but add to the story she is telling. She comments on race, class, grief, ethics, and more. I appreciated Reid’s attention to detail when it came to describing college and living in a dorm/living with roommates in a dorm. It captured those feelings so well that I felt like I was back in college. I literally laughed out loud at some of the characters and the outright ridiculousness of what was happening. I knew this was a good book because whenever I was not reading it, I was thinking about these characters and couldn’t wait to get back to it.

CW: racism, classism, suicidal ideation, injury detail, grief, bullying, animal death

As much as I hate to admit it, I ended up DNFing this read about 45% of the way through. When I saw the title, I was excited because I enjoyed Such a Fun Age and the blurb seemed interesting. The way I understood the blurb was that Agnes offers Millie some sort of lucrative deal, but I never made it to that. I might revisit this eventually, but I just couldn't get into it.

3.5 🌟

If you lean more into a character-driven storyline but still like some tension and surprises, you’ll enjoy reading this. The pacing will frustrate readers who think this is more about secrets/twists/turns.

While I had a hard time keeping track of the ancillary characters, I did really enjoy the inner dialogue of our main POVs (Agatha, Millie, Kennedy) and how frustrated and empathetic you could be toward them at different times. It may be more accurate to describe this book as a character study on privilege, which is why the reviews so far seem to be polarizing.

Overall, I’m glad I read this and am more encouraged to check out her other work. Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you the the publisher! I LOVED Such A Fun Age and I couldn’t wait to start Come and Get It. This book has a lot of main characters and there’s no real connection to each other. It felt like a college documentary where you’re following different students and facility at random times and interactions. I was engaged but I felt the lack of plot was a bit of a speed bump. Read if you enjoy coming of age character driven novels!

Come & Get It Review

This book just really wasn’t for me. In my opinion, it was a 400 page book that could have been cut in half, and even at that had essentially no plot and way too many characters, none of which were likable. It was hard to grasp what point Reid was trying to make given that none of the characters really had a redeeming moment and all seemed very immature in their treatment of each other. I felt like the story meandered by spending so much time telling the history of several of the characters without the backstory really mattering because there wasn’t really a plot for any of the information to contribute to.

Loved Such A Fun Age so was looking forward to this but it’s just a lot of character development until the very end. I really liked the peak of this plot and the way it unfolded (it was very dramatic I could not stop reading) but until then nothing really happens and it all felt like satire to me.

I thoroughly enjoyed Kiley Reid’s newest book, Come and Get It. I feel the author has really hit her stride and I loved her writing style. I was invested in all of the characters’ stories and rooting for them all in their own ways. I would have loved a little detail into the end of Kennedy’s plot line with her mom, and to get another glimpse into Millie’s future, but those are my only small complaints. Thank you to NetGallley and the publisher for the digital ARC.

I'm having trouble forming the right things to say about this book. About a quarter of the way in, I was thinking that there really isn't any plot, it's all about the characters. And I absolutely did not care, I wish this had been so much longer, I was so completely invested in the characters and what was going on with them. 
*
To try to summarize, this takes place on a college campus -- we have a dorm RA who is saving up to buy a house, a visiting professor who is doing research for a book, and a handful of students who live in the dorm. They each have their own things, their own struggles, and are just trying to do their best, but that doesn't always work out.
 *
Kiley Reid writes people SO WELL. The dialogue is so real, the awkwardness that comes up in some situations, the people talking over each other, misunderstandings. It was so believable, so real. And these women were complex and flawed, and they made bad decisions but you still wanted to root for them. 
*
Instead of plot, this is focused on characters and themes, and there's so much to unpack here. It deals with race, socioeconomic status, sexuality, and grief. Just as real as the characters are, so are the microaggressions, and I can 100% believe these situations happening. (The convo about the twins was hysterical)
*
If you enjoy character-driven novels, this is so well done, and I cannot recommend enough.
 *
Trigger warnings: racism, suicidal thoughts, pet death

I really wanted to like this book but it was not for me. I kept waiting for something to happen and it was very anticlimactic. I didn’t like any of the relationships between the characters. I felt like there was a lot happening but at the same time nothing.