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.

Come and Get It is a great slice-of-life book that follows a couple of different characters. We have Millie, an RA dedicated to her job and dedicated to making money and achieving specific goals. We also have Agatha who is an author and meets Millie when she arrives at the dorm where Millie is an RA to interview some students for her next book. Adjacent to Millie and Agatha we have college students, lovers, friends, and family. While the book follows around these characters, there is a low level dread that creeps throughout the book which kept me hooked to the story.

I spent some time in Fayetteville Arkansas where this book takes place and it was like being back there. The characters visit spots I've been like Puritan and Onyx and Agatha even tells someone that the sushi in Arkansas is not as bad as you think -- which is something I've always said!

If you like reading stories about complicated characters in complicated situations, then this book is for you. I will say that some of the characters sounded similar in they way they spoke, but there are still distinct traits to each person.

I hate to say this because I enjoyed her last book, but I was unable to finish this. It was well written and there was a plot but the paragraphs of unnecessary details made me uninterested in finishing the book.

I love Kiley Reid’s writing style- she knows how to make you say “what the…?!” on many pages and Come & Get It did not disappoint. This book really captured the different ways people are raised and what they find socially acceptable. I really enjoyed reading the character perspectives! Somebody explain to me how Colette became my favorite character with the funniest line in the book, LOL! I could have kept reading about these people for days. Where did they end up?! That’s how I know I liked the book. My only gripe is there was way too much left to read “between the lines” Too many ways to interpret each conversation for me. BUT still very intriguing, interesting and definitely worth a read. Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC! ❤️

In Kiley Reid’s highly anticipated new novel, Come and Get It, readers are introduced to Mille Cousins, a senior resident assistant at the University of Arkansas. Millie is focused and organized, determined to graduate, land a great job, and buy a house. But when visiting professor and writer Agatha Paul offers Millie a unique opportunity to earn some extra cash, she jumps at the chance. Millie’s hustle, optimistic and naïve in its execution, puts her future in jeopardy.
A unique cast of characters fill out a tension-filled story about consumption, money, and questionable choices. The authors use of alternating perspectives convincingly brings the reader into the intimate journey of these varied and diverse characters as they battle with insecurity, self-doubt, and all the consequences they encounter – including rancorous dorm pranks. Reid’s nuanced portrait of these characters depict real and true illustrations of white privilege and power, and questions how money can tilt the scales. True to form, Reid continues to bring subtle, astutely accurate illustrations of race and power in a way that feels achingly true. A delightful, contemplative read.

Kiley Reid is back with the long-awaited follow-up to her popular debut, Such a Fun Age. Come and Get It employs the same impressive character work as Reid's first novel, but this one is a bit more meandering and character-driven in structure as it follows a larger group of young and not-quite-as-young women living in and around the dorms at the University of Arkansas. While some readers may be initially turned off by the longer and less plot-driven work, I found the storytelling exquisite and Reid's eye for detail absolutely astounding. (And this coming from a reader who loves herself a plotty book.) An easy five-star read for me, though I see how it may be polarizing, especially to big fans of Such a Fun Age who are anticipating a similar experience.