It’s hard to read a book in 2 sittings that’s mainly character based and doesn’t drive the story with cliffhangers or huge plot twists, but I devoured this book.

If you want huge characters arcs then this book isn’t for you. Kiley Reid does a good job at creating characters that serve to help demonstrate the underlying social commentary at the heart of the story. In this book, it’s the concept of “fun money”; the expendable income we have that we can do anything with. With characters that deserve fun money but don’t have any, those who use theirs for control, those who have no concept for it, and those who save it, Reid paints a poignant portrait of small town America.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a fair review.

kiley reid somehow found a way to make a quiet novel about dorm room politics riveting. her writing feels like a masterclass in writing vivid characters & smooth, illuminating dialogue. you can practically see her MFA from the university of iowa being put to work. only a devout plotter can make such seemingly inconsequential details flow together like this.

I love Kiley Reid's work and I love a character driven story which Come and Get It is. This book takes a close look at post-college life in and around a college town and all the characters are so relatable. I don't think I liked this one as much as her first book but this was quite an exciting ride and I read it quickly, in two or three sittings.
Highly recommend this book.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my review.

Come and Get It by Kiley Reid was interesting, confusing, and I had to read it to the end.
I had previously read Such A Fun Age by this author. I liked that one better. I thought it had more depth.
Still not sure what the title refers to!?!
Come and Get It takes place on a college campus. You meet several students, an RA and a writer.
The writer tries to get attitudes and opinions from a few students on weddings for a book. When she finds that she's not really interested in the subject, she switches gears. She already gathered some comments from the students about money and their relationships with it.
So, without giving anything away, this story revolves around money.
I didn't realize that as I read. After I finished the book, I saw money as the thread that runs through the story and the characters' lives.
However, I had trouble telling the characters apart. I hate that in a book.
So, I give it 3-1/2 stars. Maybe if you are a college student or a recent, you might enjoy it more than I did.

I went to the University of Arkansas, so i of course was extremely excited to read Come and Get It. I enjoyed its discussion of race, class, and power dynamics in relationships. It was definitely true to the sociopolitical landscape UARK was when I was there. I do think it’s exploration of the above themes didn’t go quite deep enough for me, and the novel did lose its way once or twice, but i still felt it was an enjoyable read!

I really loved this. Kiley Reid has such a skilled way of creating characters and situations that are familiar and relatable, and in finding the drama in everyday situations. Even though I am way past my college days, I really enjoyed this book. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoy a story that can bring me back to certain places or times in my own experience, and that is one of the main reasons I liked this book. I was transported back to my early college days, living in the chaotic dorm with dozens of other young women. Some of the feelings that the novel evoked were positive, and some of the novel made me so, so happy that my college days are behind me.

Millie is an RA in a University of Arkansas dorm. When Professor and author Agatha Paul offers to pay Millie to allow her to eavesdrop on some of the residents for writing material, she agrees. They begin an entanglement with some of the college residents that ends in a very messy, dramatic climax. All the characters in the book make terrible decisions and it is hard to root for any of them.

The story includes commentary on the impact (or lack of) wealth, racial issues, and LGBTQ+ relationships.

Don’t get put off by the slower pace - just live in the moment of these twenty-something women.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you Putnam for my Netgalley copy of COME & GET IT by Kiley Reid, out on 1/9/24!

After reading and loving SUCH A FUN AGE a few years ago, I had to request Kiley Reid’s latest novel. It is a fresh and provocative novel about a residential assistant and her messy entanglement with a queer professor writing about money and three unruly students at the University of Arkansas.

Millie, our RA, wants to graduate, get a job and buy a house after taking a gap year to take care of her mother with glaucoma. She comes in cahoots with Agatha Paul, a visiting professor from New York taking a break from her spouse who is on her health insurance and who has very different ideas about what to spend money on, causing a clash in their relationship. Agatha starts to write about marriage through focus groups, but when she meets the girls in the dorm, she changes her writing to money, class and the power it brings.

The book leads up to one destructive moment where all the characters collide. To be honest, I thought the build-up would lead to something more…. If you’re looking for plot, I don’t think this is the book for you. But this book is very nuanced in its writing about identity. This is a quiet campus novel about class and race differences. It’s smart, quippy and full of observations and details that help you understand each character.

It kind of feels like an extension of her first novel - but it’s smarter and delves deeper into the ideas through quiet examination. The reading experience reminded me of how I felt when reading On Beauty by Zadie Smith. Agatha and Millie are very complex characters - I wish the other characters were fleshed out a little more. The insights on how money differences in a relationship can lead to resentment were spot-on. And the ruminations on grief were powerful. There is a part on pleasure deprivation that was very interesting. I really liked this book - it’s the slowest I’ve read a novel in awhile because I didn’t want to skip a single detail. They all allude to the inner workings of each character in a fascinating way. Definitely keep your eyes peeled for this release. A fabulous sophomore novel from Reid.

wow - what a funky little read. definitely bizarre but i honestly loved it. the plot is so haywire but the writing supports it beautifully. in a less talented writer it’s bizarreness would feel like a hot mess, but she nails the tone perfectly. i’m into this and am excited to keep reading her books.

thanks to netgalley & the publisher for this book in exchange for an honest review.

Hello messy college drama! When I saw Kiley Reid was coming out with a new book I jumped at the chance to read it due to my love for “Such A Fun Age” and this did not disappoint. Once I picked this up I could not put it down! I read it in one sitting. I really enjoy the way Reid is able to discuss serious topics in her writing without it seeming forced or unnatural. The vibes of this book were amazing. The characters were well developed. I was worried about the amount of characters at first but I ended up enjoying it. I loved the university setting and I found the RA aspect to be extremely interesting. If you are looking for an entertaining read that you will fly though look no further than “Come & Get It.” I cannot wait to see what Kiley Reid comes out with next!

I really loved the author's debut, and was hoping to love this too. Unfortunately, I think the execution left a lot to be desired.

While the novel had a lot of interesting themes and dynamics, I don't think they ever coalesced into coherent insights or commentary. The plot also moved very slowly. In that way, I suppose this might've been intended to be a character study, but I didn't find any of the characters or their relationships compelling enough for it to be a strong character study either.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me
with an ARC of this title!
(4.5 stars) This is EXACTLY I was hoping for from Kiley Reid,
and the type of story I love to read.
I'm a huge fan of the way that Reid spins low-to-medium-
stakes drama in a way that feels suspenseful and intimate.
These characters (the main 3 at least) felt so fleshed out with
subtle yet distinct flaws and redeeming qualities.
Spoilers ahead:
I was SO surprised to find how much Agatha took on a villain
role for me. The more I read, the more I questioned her
intentions, and by the end I resented her deeply. It was clear
to me from the beginning that she would cause a shit storm,
but I didn't know just how deep her ignorance would run.
loved the way Reid painted a portrait of "well-intentioned
white woman syndrome" in Such A Fun Age- she somehow
did it again with more precision and much tinier strokes.
Selfishly, I do wish we got more detail on all the lesbian sex. I
understand why we didn't but... you know.

I found this stronger than Reid's first title, and that's not a criticism of the first book because I enjoyed it as well, and they aren't dissimilar but I felt what I enjoyed in Such a Fun Age was more present in Come and Get it while what I didn't enjoy was scarce. Sense of place is incredibly strong, as is the characterization. Maybe it's because I went to a very similar school in a similar state, but I felt like I was THERE the whole read. Really enjoyable.

I wasn’t entirely sure what to think of this book. It was a little all over the place and some threads came together, but some were just left dangling. I’m just as confused at the end of the story as I was at the beginning and partway through. I feel like it wasn’t terribly cohesive and I would have like that better if it were.

Overall, an uneven second novel.

There's a lot of social critique here--sororities, how to build Black wealth, power in academia, but the characters don't feel deep enough to carry it, as much as I would have liked them to be able to do so.

I was so excited to see Kiley Reid's new book come out and was jumping at the chance to read it. I loved the beginning, but it quickly fell flat for me. I didn't enjoy most of the characters and honestly most of the book had no plot. Just an eh from me on this one.

I absolutely loved Such a Fun Age. It was biting and insightful and sharp. When I saw that Reid had another novel I was over the moon excited to read it, and the blurb seemed to offer lots of potential - as did the opening scenes. They seemed like the perfect setup for another look at racism and sexism and the hot mess that is the world. Unfortunately the unflinching commentary of the first novel seems to be missing here and that absence made it a very different read for me.

This one felt like it was written by a different author... The tone and tenor were completely different. There's nothing wrong with an author mixing things up of course, but it just didn't resonate with me at all. Perhaps if I hadn't loved the style and voice of the first so much I might have approached this one differently, but I found myself disappointed and irritated by the banality of the college students rather than slapped across the face by it as I was with the treatment of race in Fun Age. I didn't enjoy reading this one the way I did the earlier book, and found myself struggling from very early on.

Phenomenal second novel by Kiley Reid! I absolutely loved Such a Fun Age and I wasn’t sure if anything could top that but this sure did. I loved the changing perspectives and all the intricacies in each of their personalities. I cannot wait to see what comes next from this author.

this was SO GOOD. I didn't think that Kiley Reid would be able to follow up Such a Fun Age with a book I loved nearly as much and then... this.
I saw the criticism for this story that there is no plot, and I was like, no worries, I don't mind a book that's more character driven.
look into my eyes. come closer. there is absolutely no plot in this book. zero. so prepare for that.
the characters are so outstanding and real-feeling that of course there's no plot. this is just the documentation of the lives of real people. literally the realest people. the dialogue and the mannerisms and everything in this book feels plucked from a college campus. Kiley Reid has such a firm grasp on people and life and i just LOVED this book

I jumped at the chance to read "Come and Get It" given how much I'd thoroughly enjoyed Reid's debut novel "Such a Fun Age" but... this was not it.

The entire novel reads like an entire different author wrote it, from the overflow of surface-level characters, the overdone Southern dialogue, and the lack of a central plot or focus. Even the primary characters like Millie Cousins, the RA at the University of Arkansas, and Agatha Paul, the writer and professor who she meets, feel so poorly fleshed out over the course of the story. The opening pages were far from promising, starting with Agatha interviewing a handful of female college students at the Belgrade dorm Millie works at about their perspectives on weddings, and failed to recover from there. The ensuing events and backstories feel uncentered and haphazardly put together, with no real conclusion or purpose.

This is such a disappointing review to write given how strong of an author Kiley Reid has previously shown herself to be.