i was excited to read this book since i really enjoyed Kiley Reid’s Such A Fun Age. this one was a bit different but it was like a guilty pleasure… i am not one to love reality TV but a lot of this was really like watching True Life: I’m an RA or something, but with juicy drama. i’m a big fan of campus life and loved living in a dorm at another SEC school (Go Dawgs!), so there was a lot of nostalgia here too. there were a ton of characters to keep up with but i thought it worked very well. it took me a while to get hooked on the story (i started it about a month ago and didn’t have much time to get into it over the holidays but picked it back up yesterday and couldn’t put it down); there was a lot of weaving back and forth with the timeline and i had to go back several times to figure out what was going on. i ended up really enjoying it though; i thought Reid did a great job with the characters, their drama and their snark. thank you netgalley and penguin group putnam for this ARC!

Millie, a senior RA, wants to graduate, get a job and buy a home. When Agatha, a visiting professor, offers Millie an unusual opportunity, she jumps at the chance. Her side hustle quickly becomes jeopardized by new friends, dorm pranks and illicit intrigue.

Unclear what this book is actually about. It is a pretty quick read, with likeable, relatable characters, but nothing actually happens. There is no plot, just a bunch of stories about different women living on a college campus. There are also a bunch of macro and microaggressions throughout the book, but they aren't actually addressed by the author.

Thank You NetGalley and Penguin for the free e-galley.

Publication Date: 1/30/24

Kiley Reid's sophomore novel is such a slam dunk that I can barely review it. Frankly, I think publishing did her dirty with the marketing of her first novel, which was set up as a searing literary commentary on race relations when it was actually sharp-as-hell contemporary fiction. (SUCH A FUN AGE got constant comps to LUSTER by Raven Leilani -- both books are great, but they're doing very different things in different genres! It turns out smart, young, Black women can write books about smart, young, Black women in totally different ways...on purpose.) In COME AND GET IT, I would say that we're once again in the realm of contemporary fiction (or even women's fiction, to use a term that has fallen out of favor) and absolutely killing it. Reid's take on race and class at a Southern state school is just impeccable, and I shrieked with laughter throughout. The characters are TERRIBLE and compelling, and I wanted to read about them behaving badly for a million more hours. But Reid isn't without heart--I ached for poor Kennedy, whose anxiety was absolutely brutal to read, and Millie, whose love affair with her own sense of being capable, competent, and grown, leads her to make so many poor decisions. And AGATHA! What a TERROR who takes shirking responsibility to an entirely new level. The hero of this book is Colette, who consistently made me cry-laugh and was somehow both actively bullying a college student AND the only character with a consistent moral compass. Oh man, I already want to reread this book just to laugh at so many razor-sharp lines. ("And she'll graduate with a major in like...petroleum. ... And she'll fall into a deep sleep under a little wooden sign that says like...I don't know...'Live, laugh, police.' is seared into my brain.)

I love this book - a page turner. One of the reasons I love Kiley Reid’s books is because they read like “chick lit” but you leave with a much deeper and profound knowledge of the human condition amidst the difficult, messy lives we all live.

Kiley Reid does it again with her masterful writing style! I love how the story is character driven, but I find the plot, not nearly as strong as her previous book. I definitely wanted a bit more, as I expected, more twists like “ such a fun age.”

Loved the author’s first novel, Such a Fun Age. And, in this one, there is a lot of the same micro aggression cringe that was in the first. However, this novel was more disjointed and hard to follow initially and didn’t quite give me tge same satisfaction reading. Although, the style and messiness made it feel very lifelike.

For fans of Such A Fun Age, Kiley Reid’s newest novel, Come and Get It, comes out later this month! I don’t think there’s a book I’ve seen on more 2024 anticipated releases lists, so let’s get into it:

Now, I absolutely loved Such A Fun Age. It made my 5-star reads list the year it came out. CAGI is a pretty sharp divergence in terms of setting and tone and was not at all what I was expecting from Reid’s sophomore effort.

Come And Get It is a campus novel, written multiple POV style, in which a visiting professor, a resident assistant, and a trio of mismatched dormmates collide. It’s clear from the opening chapters that a conflict is building and it’s a slow, tense burn until the clusterf*ck of a crescendo. It’s a subtle study in power imbalances and human indiscretion.

Two special things I admire about Reid’s writing:

💫 She is the master of writing cringe. My face looked like this 😬 the whole way through, in a good way. Her scenes are riddled with microaggressions, social awkwardness, and missteps that feel so visceral and make you want to burrow your head underground.

💫 Her dialogue is so true to real life. It’s fast paced and shows you so much more about her characters than a narrative voice could tell you. I felt like I was sitting cross legged on a dorm room bed, eavesdropping on real conversations.

Overall, I ended up enjoying this and it’s satisfying to see an author try something different and show off a broader range of skills. But I do wonder/fear how this will be received for readers expecting SAFA. I would categorize SAFA as contemporary fiction… CAGI leans hard into literary fiction. SAFA is more plot-driven… CAGI is more character driven (and there are A LOT of characters). If you’re open to quieter books like Real Life by Brandon Taylor or Normal People by Sally Rooney, I think you’ll like this.

Read this if:
✔️You loved Real Life by Brandon Taylor
✔️You, like me, have a weird obsession with those GRWM vlogs from the University of Alabama sorority women
✔️Your genre of choice is literary fiction and/or campus novel

after reading this books description, I thought this would be an interesting plot. i was wrong. this book was not good. i really had to push myself to get through this. for such a character driven book, there was no plot and i didn’t understand the point of this book. the writing is excellent but the author sometimes tried a bit too hard and i had a difficult time understanding what exactly was happening.

thank you NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons/Penquin Random House for an advanced copy of this book.

Nobody writes characters like Kiley Reid. Each person she writes is dynamic and memorable. I still remember the characters in Such a Fun Age as if they were old friends. I think I’ll carry the characters in Come and Get it with the same admiration. As I was reading this book, I kept wanting to know more. I became invested in each person and couldn’t wait to see how their stories connected and what I could learn from these characters.

Since this a very character driven book, it does lack a strong plot, but that’s ok. It’s literary in nature but that doesn’t mean that it dry. The writing is excellent. The dialogue is smart and I think this is a well done book. A compulsive read that really explores the depth of race and privilege against the backdrop of higher education.

Those who enjoyed Real Life by Brandon Taylor will really enjoy this one!

Reid is tackling many themes here, the biggest two being money and accidental grief. While I enjoyed parts of this book (it ended up in the "it was okay" rating to me), and definitely the last 10%, I wished Reid had distilled her focus to one of the major themes and fewer characters.

I kept waiting to see how everything would come together, how the action would pick up, or understand why she was introducing so many threads and characters. And some of it comes together in the end. But not enough, in my opinion, which left me feeling that it was too meandering and sprawling.

I read this for book club, so I think there will be plenty to discuss with a group! And I'll continue to be interested in seeing what Reid writes in the future.

Thank you NetGalley, Kiley Reid, and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for providing me with an ARC of Come & Get It.

I’ve had my eyes on this book for quite some time because of the cover. It looked interesting and I was intrigued on reading it. Unfortunately, I’m rating this book 3 stars. Come & Get It does not appeal to my senses. I found it lacking in emotional depth; the stories didn’t move me, and the characters failed to capture my interest. I skimmed a lot within these pages. The narrative fell short of creating a meaningful connection, making it a less enjoyable read for me.

While I found myself really interested in the events of the book and in the lives of the characters, there was no real plot to the novel. It felt more like a portrait of a college dorm in the south, and maybe that was the point of the book. But there was no real plot propelling the book forward. I think the writing style itself was well done (and I enjoyed the audiobook's narrator a lot). I just wish there was an actual plot or that it was made clearer to the reader.

Kiley Reid is one of the very few modern writers who writes like people speak - it's part of what makes her books so readable. Also, she so excellently delves into her characters complexity without it feeling dense or overdone; it's portrayed just like people actually are, faults and all. This book is a little bit slice of life (up until the climax) and it's so fun to dig into such different characters living such different lives. However, when everything hit the fan, I felt the characters' anxiety as if it were my own. Both Such a Fun Age and Come and Get It are such layered books - you can read everything at the surface, but Reid is writing a pointed commentary on so many of our modern issues just underneath. It's worth the effort to dive just a little deeper when reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP PUTNAM/G. P. Putnam’s Sons for the ARC!

I enjoyed Reid's debut Such A Fun Age so I've been anxiously awaiting her newest novel Come And Get It! One of my most anticipated reads of 2024, I am glad I started the year off reading this one.
Reid is a very intentional writer. I found Come And Get It to be very character driven and the characters really stole the story. As we are introduced to each character, a sense of unease and excitement took over. This felt like I was watching a Real World episode on MTV and the drama was plentiful! Her writing is so good I really felt like I knew these characters and that I lived just down the hall!

I've seen a few critiques of this book stating that there is a lack of plot in this book and I heavily disagree. This book is a deep look at classism, privilege, race, and micro aggressions. All of this comes crashing together at the end in a very dramatic and shocking way.

This book was wild and I urge readers to pick it up with an open mind a willingness to dig deep and to embrace the roller coaster of emotions. If you've ever lived in a college dorm so much of this will be relatable to you. Thank you Reid for starting my year of reading on a strong note!

Overview: Agatha's life is falling apart, so when she gets an offer to guest lecture for a year at the University of Arkansas, she takes the leap of faith. It's a fresh start and will hopefully offer new inspiration for her next book. Millie is a second time senior after taking a year off to care for her mom and an RA in a dorm few are excited to work in. Unlike her fellow RAs, she cares deeply about her job and saving up money for a house downpayment. Within the dorm, there's on suite that stands out. Kennedy has transferred to Arkansas after things went horribly wrong at her Iowa school, and she struggles to adjust. Tyler is a social butterfly with a typical mean streak, and Payton only wants the dishes out of the communal sink by morning. While seemingly unrelated, all of their lives intertwine to somewhat devastating effect. Overall: 5

Characters: 5 We spend the first part of the book getting to know the major players within their own lives. You'll spend a little while wondering what all these people have to do with one another, but if you can be patient, the payoff is great. Told in third person, the book mainly focuses on Agatha, Millie, and Kennedy's point of view with Tyler, her friends Casey and Jenna, and Payton getting filled in by their interactions with the other girls and Agatha's spying or "research". This ends up being a very effective way to tell the story because each POV character has such a unique perspective.

The specifics of the characters are where the richness of the book comes from, and I don't want to diminish that experience, so I'm just going to speak on it broadly. Reid excels in getting us to understand and empathize with the motivations and actions of each character when we're looking through their eyes but then does a fantastic job of flipping the perspective around and allowing you to see the flaws that exist within each characters. Even the ones that seem angled as characters we're not supposed to like have a real humanity that still pulls at your heartstrings. The development here is remarkable, and they play off each other so well.

Plot: 5 It's hard to talk about what this book is about except for summarizing it as a bunch of confused, lost people at one small town college. There's definitely a major moment at the end where tension is ratcheted up to a ten and all the tiny bad choices pile on top of each other to spell disaster. It's satisfying to watch all of the small moments from earlier in the book collide and bring all these seemingly separate characters together, but it definitely takes patience and investment in the individual characters themselves to get there. I read it in two days, though, so it's definitely interesting and will grab your attention if you trust that Reid is going somewhere.

The payoff of the book is remarkable and somewhat haunting, though. At its core, Come and Get It is about how we all make choices that seem tiny and inconsequential on our end. A note quickly dashed off, an easy dismissal that doesn't get a single thought, the wrong moment to finally decide to chill out. You might not know the consequences immediately or ever, but your small choices can have massive repercussions in others lives. We see those cause and effects ripple through this small community.

Writing: 5 I was already a huge fan of Kiley Reid from Such a Fun Age, and this book did not disappoint. I actually think I liked it a little more. Reid ups the complexity and sets more plates spinning in the air to bring together in the end than Such a Fun Age that primarily focuses on two characters. There is plenty of connective tissue, though, between the books in themes handling privilege, class, racism, and the question around inappropriate age and power dynamics, but they manifest in a completely unique way in Come and Get It. Reid packs a lot into these pages without ever weighing down the prose, and it comes together to create a truly breathtaking final image.

On a quick final note on the ending, this isn't a direct spoiler but could maybe be viewed that way, I really like the balance that Reid found. There are consequences and things fall apart, but there is a lingering note of hope and possibility there as well. There's a pathway for these characters to get back to what they really want, and they're not left stripped of everything they've worked for, which is a place that too many literary fiction books like to leave their messy cast.

The first thing I thought when I finished this book was, “people are going to hate this, aren’t they?” Nothing much happens in it, almost none of the characters are particularly likable, and the folks who enjoy a no-plot-just-vibes situation will be sad to learn that the vibes are mostly tense, cringy, and anxiety-inducing.

But I LOVED this! Even though I knew we were heading towards a massive crash, I could not turn away! I had to know exactly what would happen, how bad it would get, and how it would turn out in the end. I delighted in disliking the frustrating aspects of these characters and enjoyed the more nuanced aspects of their personalities.

I also found the book to be quite funny — I laughed out loud *multiple* times, which is rare for me. So even though I was tense and anxious, worried about what would happen, I had a hell of a good time along the way.

I do urge folks to check content warnings for this, because I can’t say that this is one of those books where the story itself will make sitting through the triggering content worth it, even if it was for me. (In particular, there is a lot of suicidal ideation.)

I keep trying to find faults in this book, but I just don’t have any. I am 100% the target audience because I enjoyed every second. And I’m certainly glad I did!

I can’t fully explain it, but this book is literary bravo in the best way. If you feel front end is slow, know it’s really (like a southern charm season set in a college dorm) all build for what is a messy explosive season finale. I was a big fan of Kiley Reid’s last book Such a Fun Age and therefore went in with high expectations that were fully exceeded. Thanks @netgalley for my advanced copy, publishing 1/30!

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Kiley Reid's "Come and Get It" is an exploration of ambition, desire, and consequences set against the backdrop of the University of Arkansas in 2017. Senior resident assistant Millie Cousins is offered an unusual opportunity by visiting professor Agatha Paul, leading her down a path of odd friendships, vengeful pranks, and illicit intrigue. Reid's fresh and intimate prose paints a captivating portrait of desire, consumption, and the perils of unrestrained pursuit. The novel promises to be a thought-provoking and engaging read, showcasing Reid's talent for storytelling and her keen understanding of contemporary dilemmas.

This book had SO much going on, but at the same time nothing really happened. We got a ton of details on all of the main characters and there were a ton. There were so many character that I had a hard time discerning between them and got a little confused at times. I felt so bogged down in details that when something actually happened it was almost hard to realize it, or more weight was put on an event that doesn't seem like a big deal. With a disappointing ending, this just wasn't the book for me. 2.5 stars.

Summary: Primarily set at the University of Arkansas, Come and Get It follows Millie, a resident assistant, Agatha, a professor, and a group of students living on Millie's floor. Like Reid's debut novel, this book examines themes of race and money.

Review: This book is hard for me to wrap my thoughts around. It is very slow-paced, with multiple instances of over-description and extended backstories on the characters that didn't seem to serve much purpose. Strangely, despite not having much plot to it, the book keep me intrigued and I was curious to see what happened to the characters. I also enjoyed Reid's pointed commentary on the racial and socioeconomic dynamics portrayed in the story.

After sitting on it for a few days, I still found myself thinking about the characters and themes. Had it been edited down a bit, I think this would've been a really stand-out book.