I rated this 4 stars but I’m still digesting this book.

There’s a lot to digest in this book! There are a lot of different storylines that are woven together and all tie to one incident but I feel like I’ll be compiling my thoughts for a while!

Loved the subtle nod to Kacey Musgraves’s Christmas album.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

This is a difficult book to review. While the characters were so vivid and detailed, I had a challenging time connecting each piece of the story together. There were times, especially during the beginning of the book, where it felt more like interconnected stories than a novel. And although it did come together in the end, I struggled in the first half to even understand who the main character of the book was.

I do really like Kiley Reid’s writing style and there were many parts with wonderful insights and thoughts on college life as well as status and class, but it took me awhile to finish mostly due to the lack of plot in the first half. Again, I loved the character studies and their back stories but it was hard to bring it all together.

And thank you Netgalley for another advanced copy. I always love the chance to preview a book that I’m excited about.

I was beyond excited to get an ARC of a new book by Kiley Reid, the author of "Such a Fun Age". It is a campus novel, sort of coming of age story. Unfortunately, "Come and Get It" did not entirely strike a chord with me. Here are the reasons why:

- It is 100% character-driven book. There is almost no plot in here. Under ordinary circumstances this is totally my cup of tea, but I guess this book is somewhat extraordinary in this regard.
- The dialogues read very YA. I am in my twenties and really did not care to read through the student gossip. I can't see a mature reader meaningfully connecting with the plot or characters.
- This book is pretentious in a simplistic way. For example, characters constantly do something random like going for a shopping trip to Target as a therapy or talking about dogs all the time and those little behavioral patterns are supposed to tell us a lot about them without saying much. Clever, you might say. But is it really so?

All in all, the story still delivered a decent commentary on racism, microaggressions, class, power and money. It is not a forgettable book but based on the mixed reviews I have seen so far, this will not land well with majority of the readers. As for myself, I am still trying to pinpoint whether the author has overdone this book or did way too little with it.

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘊𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬.

Kiley Reid is SUCH a talented writer.

This book had me feeling so uncomfy. Everyone was doing things just a little bit sketch. The characters were real and problematic and the whole time you’re like noooooo whhhhhyyyyyyy stoooop 😂.

In a few different interviews, Reid said she was drawn towards hyper realistic, almost awkward dialogue and inner monologue. And we totally get that in this book.

This jumps around to a few different characters, and if I remember correctly from a Q&A I watched with the author, the topic of money was a conversation between her and her editor in Such a Fun Age, and how they didn’t like how much she was using like, dollar amounts with Emira, which is wild because that character was a recent college graduate and in her early/mid 20’s and money was constantly in the forefront of her mind like actual people that age.

And now Reid has a book where one of the main focuses is undergrads and the way they talk about money. But really that’s just the START of this book’s story 😂.

One criticism was I feel like it took awhile to figure out where the story was going. I got to like 60/70% and I was like okay, what are we doing.

I liked Millie, despite her making some questionable decisions. And Agatha 👀. Ma’am 😂.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this. The author, like I said, is a very talented writer. The ending was WILD, and after it was over I was like damn, and had a serious book hangover. This would make the perfect book club book, there’s a LOT to unpack here. I feel like it needs two read-throughs and some discussion 😂.

Thank you @putnambooks and @netgalley for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I thoroughly enjoyed Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid, giving it a five-star rating. Naturally, I was excited to receive an advance reader copy (ARC) of Come and Get It. However, my enthusiasm turned to disappointment upon reading it. The book features numerous characters, which could be fine, but unfortunately, they all come across as rather dull. While there is plenty of information about each character, the lack of excitement in their individual storylines is glaring. The narrative would have greatly benefited from a more focused approach, concentrating on fewer characters and delving deeper into their stories for a more engaging experience.

I loved the characters in this book. They felt well-developed and by the end of the book, I felt like Agatha, Kennedy, and Millie (and in some ways Tyler, Casey, and Jenna) were all people I could have known in my own life.

This book was a coming of age novel in many ways with each Kennedy, Millie, and Agatha trying to figure out how they had gotten to these points in their lives and what they were going to do next. How they were going to redefine themselves in these moments. Although all of them were on very different trajectories, I loved that they were all tied together by physical proximity: the dorms. I also really enjoyed the focus on female characters and their very distinct personalities.

This was my first read by Kiley Reid and definitely will not be my last.

This was a very character driven story but I found the plot lacking. I enjoyed the start of this but then became bored because nothing was happening. I kept reading and waiting for things to take off but it took too long to reach that point and by that time I just wasn't invested in the story anymore.

Wow. This was really intriguing and thought provoking. It touches on a lot of sensitive topics and focuses them all within the microcosm of a college dorm. Like Reid's other book, "Such a Fun Age," she has a way of writing in a really believable and engaging way while creating a commentary on a lot of intersectional issues. A major one on this book was power dynamics within social circles and Co workers and how the ethical lines sometimes get confusing when work and life overlap in so many areas. Very interesting and uncomfortable portrayals of privilege, racism, mental health problems (including suicidal ideation), consent, and money accessibility. Well done.

i think everyone who loved such a fun age will be really let down but this one. ultimately nothing of note happens since there isn’t even a plot. very character driven which i like but honestly none of them were overly fascinating or relatable. i did feel very nostalgic toward the college dorm life but like?? do people really do these things?? i feel like as i write this it may even be like 2.5 rounded up.

I wonder how I would have perceived this book had I not read, and loved, Reed's first book, Such a Fun Age. I loved Such a Fun Age so incredibly much, and my expectations for this were pretty high. Unfortunately, Come and Get it didn't quite do it for me. I was honestly just completely confused about where this book was going for probably the first 80% of it - there was a lot of character and world building and, and it was just never clear where this was all going. And in the end, all this build up just sort of fell flat - the stakes never really felt all that important, and it ultimately felt like the incidents would just be a blip in these characters lives. I ended it feeling very underwhelmed.

While I really enjoyed the early character work in this, that was really all I enjoyed about reading this book. It felt at the beginning like really vivd characters were being created in an interesting setting. As the novel dragged on with very little plot though, the characters were not enough to hold my attention. You weren't learning more about the characters, and when you were it didn't feel like it fit what was already portrayed. Then as the plot did start to happen, it was just bad. I also personally felt that the suicide plotline was handled distatefully.

Millie is a senior resident assistant at the University of Arkansas. She just wants to save money, get a job, and buy a house. When she meets Agatha Paul, a writer and visiting professor, she’s offered an unusual opportunity that she jumps on.

I enjoyed this so much more than Such A Fun Age; don’t get me wrong though, I loved that one as well, but this was my favorite! I loved the college dorm setting and the discrepancy between Millie as an older RA and the students. I got a kick out of their conversations and the entire journalism aspect. Despite the humor, there were some deep issues within the plot but they is still a majorly entertaining story that I really connected with.

Come and Get It comes out 1/9.

The lives of several individuals intersect at the University of Arkansas: Millie Cousins, an RA with dreams of life after graduation and home ownership, Agatha Paul, a visiting professor and writer, and Kennedy, a new transfer student struggling to connect with her suitemates.

There are some interesting themes of money and influence, and a thoughtful exploration at the role of an RA in a campus dorm. Aside from that, this book wasn't really for me. It had too much going on, with so many side characters and names to keep track of, that it actually lessened the overall impact. I found the ending to be unsatisfying.

This was definitely not my type of book- it was mostly a character-driven plot. So if you enjoy that, you will most definitely like this!

The book follows quite a number of characters all centering around a dorm at the University of Arkansas. A lot of the book is getting to know them both before and right after entering the dorm. I was ready to DNF the book after about 60% into the book, but the catalyst for the “major event” toward the end of the book occurred and hooked me enough to keep reading.

All of the characters in this book are unlikeable to some degree, some a lot more than others. There are such cringey moments, but that is the point.

Essentially, this book was just watching a slow moving train wreck that I was mildly interested in.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an e copy of this book. This review was left voluntarily.

I gave this book 2.5 stars but rounded up to 3.

The main thing that sticks out to me about this book is how clunky it feels at the beginning and how nothing really happens for the majority of it. I appreciate that Kiley Reid tried something very different than her previous book, but I think a lot of readers will be disappointed.

There are a few sets of main characters in this book: Millie, an RA, Agatha, a professor, and a trio of students who live together in a dorm. These characters interact in different, often immature ways which makes sense because they are all in their 20s besides Agatha. The story kind of jumps around until you’re about 20% into it and things start to make more sense (at least that was my experience).

There are a lot of themes floating around: racism, classism, popularity, self-esteem/confidence, etc. There is somehow too much and not enough going on in this book. I’m interested to see what others think once it’s published.

Thank you Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was not my usual genre but I picked it up because I heard great things about Reid’s book Such a Fun Age. I was very pleasantly surprised. From the first chapter, I was hooked by interview of the three girls, just the way Agatha was. Throughout the book I was intrigued by the dynamics between each character, in addition to the ways they were similar and different. It helped that I am usually drawn to an academic setting.

A lot of the negative things I’m seeing in reviews are things that I actually liked about the book. I liked that it didn’t have much plot for 60% of the book, instead letting the interesting character dynamics carry the novel. A lot of it was characters, even the main ones, judging each other and laughing at each other and I liked how satirical that was and how it made even Agatha and Millie morally gray. The switching between the characters with their separate stories didn’t bother me; it made me wonder how their stories would all intersect at the end.

Reid’s writing style is refreshing. It shows that purple prose is not necessary to have a literary novel, and a matter-of-fact style can actually be better for some stories.

My main qualm that I immediately identify after finishing the book is the lack of closure regarding Agatha and Kennedy. I think they needed that.

I really love the way Kiley Reid writes. It is very matter of fact. No unnecessary words.

I was a fan of ‘Such a Fun Age’ but had more trouble getting into this one. I had no idea what was really going on for the first half of the book. By the time the plot is materialized—it felt like the book was almost over. And I say this as someone who loves books where nothing happens. It just didn’t quite work for me.

First of all, thank you so much to the publisher for my eARC!

Wow - I really liked this one! I went into it blindly and am so glad I did. The first half was a littleee slow but I could easily see the potential and kept pushing through. Around 60%, things really started to pick up. Kiley Reid is a wonderful author. I can't wait to see what others think of this. It's a perfect example of a character-driven novel; much less plot-heavy than Such A Fun Age, IMO.

Release date: January 30, 2024!

As she eavesdrops on the conversations of college girls, Agatha becomes sort of intoxicated by what she hears, and Kiley Reid manages to extend that feeling to the reader. With shifting perspectives and multiple timelines, it takes time to see the ultimate collision course taking shape, but the chapters breeze by and the ending is worth it.

I was pretty lukewarm on Such a Fun Age, but I decided to give this one a go anyway. But ultimately, I feel pretty similarly about this one: not bad but not for me. If you really loved SaFA, I think you’ll probably like this one too — Kiley Reid is very good at what she does — but at the end of the day, what she does is train-wreck plots, and those make me want to run away instead of drawing me in.

It’s impossible not to compare Reid’s two books to one another, and if I’m being honest, I think SaFA is a stronger book. It’s more of a focused, electric train wreck, whereas this book is more like several different trains on different tracks all headed toward each other, but with more to keep track of and a murkier outcome. Adding that complexity put a damper on the impact, IMO. I also felt less compelled by these characters, but that could also be a symptom of the “a little too much going on” thing too.

People will be watching this book for prize noms after SaFA’s Booker nod, but tbh, I would be surprised to see her there this year.