I was a great fan of Kiley Reid's previous release. It was so out of what I usually read, and yet it engraved in my memory in a way that I couldn't not celebrate a new work.

This one is also as good to read, but I'd say it's more like a 3.5 than a full 4 stars.

I'm not sure why the year was relevant to whoever did the official summary, but the story takes place in the University of Arkansas, told from the points of view of three different women: Agatha, a nonfiction author who is there as a visiting professor as she tries to write a new book and deal with a breakup, Millie, who is about to graduate and took the job as a resident assistant with the promise of being promoted to director, and Kennedy, who is one of the students Millie is in charge of but faces such a big trauma from her previous university, she can't get herself together. Agatha realizes the dorm residents could be a great theme to work on and, with Millie's help, infiltrates the building to get to know them better.

It's a pleasant reading, although certain themes were far from it. Trigger warning for depression, suicide, death of pets. But even despite that, it's a page turner. That said, even while I avidly advanced, I wasn't really sure of the point of the story. Maybe because this is not my usual genre of book, I'm not as prepared to see it, but I would many times wonder where the author wanted to go with it. Then, I was a little frustrated that suddenly it focused a lot on romance. This isn't a romance book, it's not about the thrills or the cheering for a couple or the swooning. From the start, the romance is pretty messy, actually. It's made to be messy, and it is messy. But it made me wonder if that's where Reid wanted to get, debate that one romance. I guess it's valid, there is a lot of questions to be made about it. But even for that, I'd say the book failed as we reach the end and that was it. So I'll be honest, I either didn't understand the point or I just didn't like how it was developed.

Kennedy's story is probably the one that had the best arc but I fail to see why it's even there to be honest. Nevertheless, it was the one that made me more curious about how it would end up.

I have trouble classifying the ending. It was overall okay. At the same time, it made me think of the expectations for what the story would explore and see that it never really got there. It might be kind of silly, but as an example, the house Millie wanted to buy, did I miss anything there? Was it from another book? To the last page it made me think it had more to it. I didn't want to read other reviews to get more information so not to be influenced, so it could be that. Also, some aspects of the consequences felt at the same time underwhelming and exaggerated. They made us fear for most of the book that something super bad would happen and when something kind of bad does happen to them, it didn't seem fair. So there is how I was lightly disappointed. Reid did so well with closing her previous book, but this one, I can't describe it that way.

In any case, what comes to me is that this is a great book to read, so I will recommend it around, but it's not that solid a plot to think about.



Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

Thank you Penguin Putnam for an eARC of this highly anticipated second book from Kiley Reid! Wow, I really enjoyed this book -- I would have to say I think I like it better than her debut, Such a Fun Age.

Set in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Come and Get It follows the lives of women in various stages of life in this quaint college town (college students, a 'super senior' RA, and a visiting professor). She chronicles both the mundanities and the challenges these women face while broaching a uniquely new chapter of their lives, with identity, friendships, love, coming of age, & more. This is definitely a character-driven story, and by the time the plot all came to a head and these characters lives began to intersect more and more, I came to appreciate the time and attention Reid took in building out each of the characters: they all have rich back stories and complex personalities that make you root for them while at times still cringe with secondhand embarrassment. As someone who went to a school not entirely dissimilar to a big southern university, I found Reid's depiction of this collegiate bubble brilliant, hilarious at times, and insanely accurate. It was a wild ride and felt like looking back on my college years from 2012-2016. Reid does such a great job capturing the thought processes/dialogues of young twenty somethings, and juxtaposed against what would be considered more 'mature' characters, she makes an interesting point about what it really means to be an "adult," and ultimately asks: are we all really that different? It's pure, authentic, and super creative. Highly recommend!

I loved the authors debut and was very excited to start this. Ultimately it felt like a story about nothing. I dnf’d at 20% after trying repeatedly to sit with the story and attempt to be pulled in but I couldn’t do it. I’d try the author again but this is a pass from me.

I had high hopes going into this novel after really enjoying Kiley Reid's debut novel. I overall thought the novel lacked plot and a consistent trail to keep me as the reader hooked. Reid is a master at forming realistic characters and dialogue between characters felt real and conversational in a way that is hard for many authors to master. While the overall plot missed the mark for me, I'm still excited and invested in what else Kiley Reid will bring to the table in the future.
The aspect of dorm life especially from the perspective of the RA's was a great backdrop for the story. I almost wished the novel would have taken hold of one of the subplots a little harder as the focus-either Agatha and Millie's controversial relationship or the prank schemes and how they emotionally and physically affected relational dynamics in the dorms. "Such a Fun Age" had such a driven focus with the set up of Emira encountering a severe act of racism and the dynamics between her and Alix as they work through ther aftermath. I wasn't quite sure where this novel was trying to take me and many of the elements of the story (eg. Agatha's writing career, Kennedy's relationship with her mom, the racial aspects of the girls in the dorm) ultimately fell to the wayside and felt unresolved by the end of the story.

I will be posting a Youtube video and Goodreads review shortly. I will link the relevant pages as soon as the reviews are public.

One of my most anticipated books of the year did NOT disappoint.

[Thank you @putnam & @prhaudio for my copies! COME AND GET IT is out Jan 30.]

I was recently discussing character- vs. plot-driven novels with a friend, and I came to the conclusion that my brain gravitates towards book with a strong plot, BUT I will happily listen to a 15-hour-long plotless novel if the writing and character development is strong enough.

COME AND GET IT is not plotless. But its plot is woven around the intricate, beautiful character development in a way that felt like a slow burn.

The first 30% is mostly character-driven, including a lot of backstory, similar to the beginning of SUCH A FUN AGE. Also similar to her first novel, I think the characters in COME AND GET IT exist in the perfect gray area between likable and unlikable; you love them, you root for them, you want them to make good decisions, but you also know they’re not going to, so you hate them a little, too. And by the last 20%, when the plot has arrived in full force, you cannot stop reading to find out what messy shit they’re about to do.

A college campus is the PERFECT place for all that messiness to unfold. Through her characters, Reid explores race, gender, sexuality, and class inside the microcosm of a dorm. One of my favorite plot lines also explores the raw desire of wanting to be liked by your peers. College-aged characters are always so intriguing to me because their newfound independence is complicated by insecurities from their past and a lack of understanding of how to exist in the world. Kiley Reid tapped into those feelings so beautifully in a way I think a lot of people will relate to.

This was my first five star read of the year (I think I technically read it in 2023 but whatever, I’m counting it) and I’d love to discuss once others have picked it up!

Read this if you enjoyed Curtis Sittenfeld’s book PREP! Also, they are very different books, but I think if you liked the campus setting and the tone of I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS FOR YOU, you’ll like this as well.

Fascinating new book from Reid. It's a very character driven novel about a group of women in a college town in varying life stages, age groups and backgrounds. I found all of the characters so interesting and compelling. There is not an intricate plot going on here, things come to head in a well crafted way, but what has been keeping you reading this whole time is just wanting to know what each character is going to do next.

This one is just vibes. It's the vibes that the girles need in 2024.

I thought about DNFing this book so many times. You get a superficial view of a lot of characters none of whom seem terribly interesting. Each character feels more like a set of demographics rather than an individual. It is about a writer who makes a lot of judgments about people based on very little actual knowledge. The romance between two of the characters is very lifeless, mostly about the logistics and timing of answering emails and who pays for things. For some reason I finished this book and it wasn’t unpleasant but I couldn’t really recommend it. If you were a college student in the 20teens,,were an RA in a dorm or went to University of Arkansas that would probably increase your interest in this book. I would read from Kiley Reid again.
Thanks to NetGalley and Putnam for the e-arc of this book.

3.5 stars!
I think this was a fun and funny character driven novel. A coming of age about some RA’s and some undergrads in a southern university. I found myself genuinely laughing out loud at times and thought it had some interesting moments with money, choices, and the inherit recklessness of youth. We once again see some purposefully cringey moments. The characters were real and authentic portrayals. I felt like there was something deeper I should be understanding about this book that I was just not. It seemed to lack forward momentum in plot at times but maybe that was intentional and due to it being a tapestry of different characters and perspectives. Overall it was an enjoyable reading experience.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

If you liked Kiley Reid's first novel, you won't be disappointed in this followup. I did, and I wasn't. (I hope that makes sense.) Again, it's a character study more than a beginning-middle-end narrative, and it flips between characters with only tangentially related storylines at times. But each one was interesting, and they all work harmoniously together.

Reid has a pitch perfect ear for dialogue that brings the characters to life. I want to characterize her style as compassionate satire, because as a member of the world she's talking about I cringed at how accurately she depicted the absurdities of these women and the awfulness of their choices. I think her skill lies in making every character relatable, letting you see a bit of your own worst qualities in a way that makes the characters easier to hate and love and understand.

Following her excellent debut, Such a Fun Age, Kiley Reid doubles down on her style of cringe-inducing, zeitgeist-y storytelling of modern women and their relationships in Come and Get It. The unique setting of a dorm of misfits at the University of Arkansas was a great backdrop against which to explore race, class, sexuality, grief, and growing up. I alternated between speed-reading my way through the most uncomfortable, awkward conversations, and wanting to soak in every last painful detail. This will not be for everyone, but I think everyone can recognize some of their worst parts of themselves in one of the characters.

Great for fans of GIRLS (tv), Booksmart (movie) and Bama Rush GRWM videos (TikTok).

This book is definitely more of a character study than anything else, with not much plot happening (or when the plot does happen, it happens really slowly). It's very slow, focusing on a handful of main characters and setting up their backgrounds, which in turn allows us as readers to understand their motivations and why they act the way they do. From the first forty or so pages, I had no idea what I was getting into and it felt like a bit of a drag, but once it gets going, it gets going. Not necessarily in a plot way, but in a "I really got to know these characters and want to see how their stories play out" way. It's a character study about privilege and race and money, all in the backdrop of a college setting, and while it was a slow start, I really enjoyed it by the end. All of the characters are both relatable and unrelatable, which I didn't think was possible until reading this book.

I didn't know what I was getting into with this one, as the description is pretty vague on themes and details. But this is a book that will stay with me for a long time. The characters, the theme of how one tiny misjudgement or bad call can truly affect your entire life as you know it, and the strength of the writing are all huge reasons to pick up this book. And even though it's about college students, it's not YA. We can all recognize ourselves in at least one of these women.

This book started out super slow but I definitely understand setting up the background and introducing us to the characters. It certainly picked up around the middle but I was kind of disappointed at the ending!

3.5 - Come & Get It is a character study that peels back the curtain on college life and examines how privilege, race, money, desire, etc. inform the choices of a cast of characters.

It’s literary fiction/satire. To get the most out of this book, you have to accept the fact that nothing really “happens.” There’s no plot, no character development, and no real story arc to follow. Instead, we’re invited to simply watch these characters go through a semester of college.

I think the characterization and the sense of place were done really well. The characters all felt like real people despite being unlikable and not growing whatsoever by the end. But maybe that’s like real life and therefore part of the point.

I’ve had to process this book for a couple days before submitting a review. I thoroughly enjoyed the character development and energetic dialogue throughout the beginning portion of the book. All the way up until about 80% in, I couldn’t figure out why it didn’t have a higher rating. Then everything that transpired after the dorm room incident left me kind of baffled and wanting more. I’m still a fan of Kiley Reid’s work, but the denouement of, Come & Get It, was unsatisfying for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam Books for providing an Advanced Readers Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A resident assistant in charge of a female dorm is caught up in a consuming love affair when a series of unlikely events occur. Every character has a compelling back story, and they are all relatable. In a relationship situation that I have always found easy to judge, judgement does not come easy in this set of circumstances.

Great story and the book would be awesome for discussion groups.

I was really excited to receive an ARC of Kiley Reid’s newest book.

Come and Get It follows multiple students and one teacher at the University of Arkansas in 2017. There’s Millie, the RA at Belgrade dormitory, who has big dreams after taking a year off to help her mother. There’s Kennedy, a transfer student who’s having a hard time adjusting to life at a new school. There’s Tyler, a student who shares a suite with Kennedy who loves dogs and has a big personality. Last, there’s Agatha, a writer and visiting professor from Chicago who takes an interest in the way money is handled by these students.

This story is more character driven than plot driven. In this case, I found myself wanting more plot than it gave us. The characters are well fleshed out, especially Agatha and Millie, but at times I felt like this book was a bit aimless and directionless. I am glad the ending didn’t go the stereotypical way and did something fresh with the events that do occur though.

Overall, I liked this book, but expected something a bit different from this story.

Thank you to Netgalley and Putnam Books for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

You see white privilege, white savior-like behavior, mental health is addressed. Oh and let me not forget the issue of morally grey characters. There’s classism too. I enjoyed it. But let’s get back to the morally grey character behaviors. They were everywhere, and the crazy part is how subtle some of the behavior is until you start tying things together. Kiley makes you think about social injustices without you even knowing it. This book sets the stage for some good discussions.

I personally enjoyed this book very much. It's very character driven, and there isn't a distinct plot but it was still completely engrossed and engaged. It made me think... a lot. While I can't say I related to the characters, I certainly learned from them.

This was a quick, entertaining read centered around a college dorm and an icky transactional professor-student relationship. It's been too long since I've read Reid's debut to be able to honestly compare them, unfortunately, and I think my taste in books has also changed since then. I generally love a book with intersecting POVs and little character studies. However, it didn't feel like there wasn't quite enough substance to this book outside of witty dialogue and clever descriptions. I expected it to be a bit darker based on the blurb, and I think I would have enjoyed that more. There were certainly heavy topics, but they weren't explored deeply enough. The writing was very enjoyable and made me laugh out loud a few times. Here are two of my favorite, slightly absurd character descriptions:

"Kennedy couldn't quite explain it but Simi and her backpack looked alike. And it wasn't just her backpack. She looked like Peyton's backpack, too."

"Her body was practical and businesslike, somehow resembling a bicycle or golf club."

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC, all opinions are my own.