Man's Best Friend was a really interesting and engaging read. I appreciated the character exploration and would read more from Lyttle.

Man's Best Friend follows El, a late-20s failed actress living in NYC who abandons her current life for the allure of a luxurious lifestyle with Bryce, a wealthy but mysterious man. As El becomes entrenched in Bryce's world, one that she had only dipped a toe into as a child, she faces unsettling and surreal events that force her to confront the dark truths about him and herself.

I love complicated stories involving complicated women, and I can totally see what this book wanted to do—woman who has always been a doormat to others in her life finds her inner strength, determination, and viciousness to finally take ownership of the world she deserves—but, for me, it missed the mark in almost every way.

I feel in order to make this storyline work there must be depth. Depth to the characters, their motivations, their inner turmoils. Depth to the metaphors introduced (what was up with the first chapter and the dogs throughout?? again, didn't do what it wanted). And depth to how the book connects with the reader. But, El and her journey remained largely superficial throughout.

More so, this book reminded me of why You is so successful. Here, you also have a man obsessed with making/keeping a woman as "his". BUT, Joe Goldberg is wildly attractive, charming, and super intelligent, so we as audience members have to work past his enviable "It guy" qualities to understand none of that matters because he is evil, a murderer, and a psychopath. In Man's Best Friend, Bryce is just a loser. He's rich beyond comprehension, but is unattractive (even to El), desperate, and weak. Major incel vibes. Ew.

Less than positive review aside, I like the premise of the book. With deeper character development and a more nuanced exploration of its themes, Alana B. Lytle has the potential to craft a truly compelling narrative. I hope her future works show more rigor and critical analysis, as I believe she can deliver a story that fully realizes its ambitious goals.

I really enjoyed this book! Interesting premise, beautiful prose, would definitely recommend to friends/family.

This was an interesting read, I don’t really get how the title connected to the story. The main character was obsessed with being a part of the in crowd and having money but meets someone who may or may not be someone who hurts others but she chooses to ignore it.

I liked the story for most of this book, even if it was a little too centered on the protagonist's spiraling thoughts (I got especially fatigued of all the moments when her reactions should shift rapidly between love and hate because of how the book explained the evolution in depth instead of just, idk, showing us the dichotomy through dialogue and action). The ending lost me, though, because suddenly our protagonist acts like a different person with different goals than what I understood them to be for the first 7/8 of the narrative. It was a turn that COULD have worked with more time and more careful attention paid in the writing, but as it stands, it did NOT work for me.

2.5/5

This book was good. I enjoyed the story and got connected to the main character. She wanted so much to be somebody that she got mixed up with the wrong man, thinking he could make her feel special. She gave up her job, apartment, and friends to be with this man. She accepted his marriage proposal. But as time went on there were too many questionable things that she learned about him. She eventually broke free of him. I would recommend this book. Thank you for the opportunity to read it.

A serviceable if slightly uninspired thriller. I think mainly it fell a little flat because it was marketed as The Talented Mr Ripley meets Nightbitch. And like.... that's my jam. However, it reminded me more of a slightly more offbeat Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors. Which was another book that I thought was fine but not overwhelmingly good.

El is a 29 year old failing actress and all she wants is a better life. One day, she meets Bryce, a wealthy guy in finance with a trust fund. Bryce falls head-over-heels for El and within weeks, they move in together. El does not love Bryce but, maybe she could? She enjoys his company, likes the intimacy and loves having someone she can claim, but love? Not so much. El wants "the good life" and she may be willing to settle to get her piece. Soon after moving in with Bryce, he proposes and El discovers her friend has been found dead under mysterious circumstances. El also discovers that Bryce may have a past connection to her friend, one in which he's lying about, so she goes on the hunt for answers.

Will El find the answers she's looking for and will they deter her from the life she wants to claim for herself? Is Bryce really who he says he is? Does finding the truth even matter?

My thoughts:
I enjoyed this VERY FAST read! It held my attention and I really liked El! She may or may not be a little bit of a narcissist? Nevertheless, El was very likable. A nice, easy thriller.

Synopsis: Failed actress El wants to be on the inside. Surrounded by money and privilege, El meets clingy, walking-red-flag Bryce, who works in finance and slowly takes away El’s independence.

What I liked: I can tell Alana Lytle is a talented writer. The writing style kept me engaged, although I wouldn’t necessarily categorize it as a classic thriller. The most page-turning moments were with El and Bryce’s relationship; I wanted to see what would unravel. Man’s Best Friend definitely has potential — after a heavy proofread.

What I disliked: The plot and flow were a bit all over the place, and the characters were all unlikeable. (It’s not necessarily a turnoff if a character is unlikeable, but at least make them interesting enough for the reader to care about continuing to read.) There was minimal character development, and a large chunk of the writing went to describing where the characters were or background info that didn’t really matter for the plot.

This book is for you if… you want to read about rich, connected, privileged people doing bad things. The book is described as The Talented Mr. Ripley meets Nightbitch, but I haven’t read either. I’d say this is like Gossip Girl meets You meets Saltburn.

Thank you to #NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of #MansBestFriend.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Selling Pitch:
If Colleen Hoover tried to write Sally Rooney’s version of the first season of You.

On my do not read list.

Pre-reading:
I don’t know anything about this book other than that NetGalley promoted it to me and I love unhinged women, but all the early reviews are trashing it, so I am afraid. Wait, I remember they sold me this as The Talented Mr. Ripley meets Night Bitch. Haven’t seen Ripley, but I have seen Saltburn, and I ate that shit up. Also enjoyed parts of Night Bitch, but I really hate magic as explanation.

Thick of it:
It’s the way my mouth just dropped because I thought this was about a lady and this is about a dog. (It’s not. It is about a lady.)

It’s already giving Grey Dog, and I’m not sure I’m gonna like this. It is similar to Night Bitch. (Only in this first chapter which primed me to read a very different book from what we got.)

Wait, so like does the dog die because no.

It reads like wannabe Sally Rooney.

I’m bored.

I can fix him!

I’m bored. El is grating.

Obsession really is so appealing.

Are dogs turning into people?

I love Carmen Maria Machado.

It’s reminding me of that apartment book- no one knows us or something. (It is a variation on that book.)

I am BORED.

What is going on with the dogs?

Did Bryce turn into a dog and kill Anna? I’m so confused. (You can blame my assumptions on not reading blurbs, but also books should be self-evident in my opinion.)

That feels lifted from Fleabag. (Hot Priest, hot priest.)

And that feels ripped from Sally Rooney.

The one thing this book is doing well is being diverse without hitting you over the head with it.

Emma is scum.

If I DNFed books, I’ve hit that point. Nothing has happened. We’re 65% through.

What is going on with these dogs? I’m not even sure how to add it to my summary because it’s like weird little one-liners.

My extraordinary girl feels like a dog tag. (Probably the point but-)

I mean, I’m a Capricorn and he has money, so I understand that decision, but go off, girlypop. You’re so quirky, so unique, such an enigma. She reads like a dime-a-dozen Aquarius.

Sweet home Alabama, ain’t it? (It ain’t.)

Why did I think this was lit fic horror? This is generic thriller.

Just some Verity bullshit.

Are they gonna try and sell us on some romance between her and Ansel? This is stupid. (They are.)

Her inner prosecutor gives Anastasia’s inner goddess.

Not to defend a nice guy because I would never defend men, and especially not a cop, but all this dude did was be forced to share his teenage bedroom by his mother, help her with a murder investigation, let her drop by unannounced, feed, shelter, and clothe her, and interpret those solicited interactions as interest like any sane individual. Like he’s already got a dead mom. He didn’t deserve to be done this dirty.

El reads like that TikTok girl who’s like very normal-sized and is like POV going out with your friend who always brings up how extremely small she is.

That was shit.

Post-reading:
I don’t know how I got it in my mind that this was lit fic horror. Oh wait, that’s what it was sold to me as. It is not. It is the most generic, obvious thriller you’ve ever read to the point that you’ve probably read it before. The bit about the dogs is incoherent and should’ve been a separate book.

It ticks so many bad and lazy writing boxes.
There are far too many characters. The audience will not keep track of them nor care about them. They have no personalities. It uses prophetic dreams which will always be a sin to me. It gives you information after the fact so you’re forced to watch the story unfold in starts and stops rather than giving you clues to play detective with.

El is unlikable and not in a fun way. The book is deeply unfeminist but it’s written in a way that feels like it’s supposed to be a slam dunk, rah-rah feminist call to arms. It makes me wanna defend men, and that’s gross.

It reads like an author revenge fantasy. Someone called miss girl a dog at one point and she was like um, let me show you why women should reclaim the thankless job of loyalty to our masters. But like also let me Gone Girl this bitch because I’m just so cool and big brain.

And it’s frustrating because there’s something there. If this had leaned into the magical realism, heavy-handed people as dogs metaphor ala Night Bitch or Shark Heart, we would’ve had a book. Instead, this feels like a shitty thriller with some one-liners dropped in that the author thinks are absolute bars, but they don’t have any chance to land because the story they’re situated in reads like watching paint dry.

It’s just so boring. There’s nothing to carry this. There’s no snappy dialogue. There’s no romantic relationship. There’s no female friendships. There’s no artsy literary bits. There’s no horror.

And it doesn’t feel new. It feels like it’s trying to be Fleabag and Sally Rooney, but it doesn’t have the insight or talent to do that. It’s so similar to the first season of You with Beck and Peach.

I think what’s most offensive to me about this book is that it goes out of its way to have a character in the publishing industry criticize thrillers as a whole for being exactly the same, and thinking that they’re so unique while this book does exactly that! You can just tell it thinks so highly of itself, but you’ve definitely read this storyline before. Don’t waste your time.

Who should read this:
No one?
Rich bitch, messy friendship revenge thriller girlies

Do I want to reread this:
Not even a little bit

Similar books:
* No One Knows Us Here by Rebecca Kelly-generic thriller, oh no, my love interest whodunnit
* One of Those Faces by Elle Grawl-generic thriller, oh no, my love interest whodunnit
* Verity by Colleen Hoover-generic thriller, oh no, my love interest whodunnit
* Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney-character study, messy friendships
* Conversations with Friends Sally Rooney-character study, messy friendships
* Piglet by Lottie Hazel-character study, marrying rich will fix my messy life
* Fireworks Every Night by Beth Raymer-character study, marrying rich will fix my messy life
* Social Engagement by Avery Carpenter Forrey-character study, marrying rich will fix my messy life
* How to Kill a Guy in Ten Ways by Eve Kellman-revenge thriller
* Fruit of the Dead by Rachel Lyon-character study, teenage ennui means I should blow my life up
* Sirens and Muses by Antonia Angress-academia, character study, messy friendships

Many thanks to NetGalley and Putnam for providing me with an eARC of Man's Best Friend in exchange for my honest review!

When you compare a book to both The Talented Mr. Ripley and Nightbitch, it will automatically draw me in before I even read the first page (I haven't read Nightbitch, but it's on my TBR pile, and I'm a massive fan of the 1999 film adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley). The cover is great, too. Unfortunately, this fails to grip me all that deeply. The characters, including El, are just so vapid as they sink themselves into partying and drugs, and it's not even being executed in an interesting manner. It simply comes off as cliched, failing to get me invested in the unlikable characters. The second half of the plot does engage me a little more than the first half, but still, it's not much of an improvement. Once I reach the ambiguous ending, I'm left to blandly shrug at the forgettable narrative I just pushed myself through.

Overall, I'm officially rating Man's Best Friend two out of five stars. Oh well, I'm still glad I gave it a shot.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Putnam for the e-arc!

So reading the synopsis I was like yes, this is totally me - I haven't read The Talented Mr. Ripley (but enjoyed salt burn I think ??) and I liked nightbitch (minus the no quotation marks over dialogue thing) so may be I had my hopes too high? I in no way thought this was a bad book but it definitely wasn't a thriller? I think I was expecting it to be something else? Normally I like books about shitty rich people? The ending was super confusing too?

A story that pushes the reader to question the nature of luxury and the sacrifices we make to attain it. While the narrative occasionally feels disjointed, the suspense keeps readers engaged. Thought provoking.
Many thanks to PENGUIN GROUP Putnam and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Honestly, I don't know what the point of this novel was. The book kept moving, but nothing was really happening. I thought from the description there would be some suspense or heart-pumping thrills, but it just... didn't. The main character, El, isn't likeable or relatable, she's just annoying, trying to find a way back into her rich friend's lives. Yeah, she's still friends with Julia but it's really on the outskirts of Julia's life... and Anna didn't even tell El that she moved to Paris and changed her phone number. El just keeps focusing on the close friendships they had as teenagers, and really, she doesn't even like Anna.

When El initially sees Bryce behind the pool house at Julia's birthday party, she had ran from him. But somehow he came to have her driver's license, so she agrees to meet him. Although he isn't really her type, she starts dating him, and he quickly becomes a walking red flag. Literally everything he does SCREAMS abusive relationship. He calls or texts multiple times a day just to make sure she's still there and hasn't run away. When she tells him she's staying at her own apartment for the second night in a row, he "surprises" her by showing up. He watches her on the security camera and puts a GPS tracking app on her phone so he always knows where she is. He isolates her from her friends and family. Just... everything he does is a no. Why is she even staying?? Oh yeah, because he's rich and she wants to live in his world... plus, she no longer has to work, so that's a bonus.

All in all, this book had the potential to be great, but the writing just wasn't there. The transitions from one section or chapter to another were harsh, the plot didn't have any depth, and there were no redeemable characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam Books for a digital copy for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.

Man’s Best Friend
Written by Alana B. Lytle
Published by Penguin Group Putnam
Release Date May 14, 2024

Yikes, I normally will give a book every possible chance to keep my interest even if just for the first half of the book. Yet this one just could not do it. If I had to choose my favorite part it would be the premise/prologue. The story dragged on slowly, made little sense, had characters that were very unlikeable with the protagonist all over the place emotionally. The author seemed to want the reader to believe one thing yet made El look so selfish and stuck up that that is the only thing you really get out of it. I would certainly read something else by Lytle and see how that goes in the future.

2.5 stars rounded to 3


Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Wha…what just happened?! What was this?! I’m so confused…

El went to NYU to study acting, in hopes of becoming an actress. She’s now 30 and it still hasn’t happened, so she’s giving up. She seems to be content working at a bakery until she meets Bryce and falls in love with his money and privilege.

This story just did not make sense to me at all. The characters are unlikable, the story itself was quite boring. The prologue, although intriguing, had nothing to do with the overall story. Although, following through on the prologue probably would have made for better reading.

I finished the book, but nothing happened and I did not see the point.

A missed opportunity to write a book from a dog’s perspective. I wish it had more dog connection than the title suggests, and more of that subplot than comes to be in the novel. El is a mess. The book was a bit slow for me. I had a hard time getting into it but glad I finished.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC

While the synopsis of this book initially intrigued me and seemed like something I would enjoy, I regret to say that it did not meet my expectations. It is important to note that personal reading preferences play a significant role in our enjoyment of a book, and unfortunately, Man's Best Friend did not align with my particular tastes. While I acknowledge the author's talent and the effort put into crafting this story, it simply did not resonate with me on a personal level. I believe that there will be readers who will appreciate and enjoy Man's Best Friend for its unique qualities I appreciate the opportunity to read and review this book in exchange for my honest review,

El is in her early thirties living paycheck to paycheck in NYC, she just gave up on her dream of becoming an actress. After his dad revealed he had a second family and would move with them instead of living with El and her mom, she has struggled to feel enough. When she spends a year in a private school she befriends Julia and Anna, two heiresses who have a lifestyle El could only dream of. Until one day she meets Bryce, a rich but a bit weird guy who offers her everything she could ever want on a silver platter. El's intuition says to be careful but likes feeling chosen.

This book was very well written, the pace was great which made me read it in a couple days. I'm taking off a star because I didn't love how it ended, I wish it was better explained.

I did enjoy reading this and I loved the hot mess that is El, our MC. I loved seeing through her eyes in this book and catching myself relating to her perspective of situations and having to step back and take a second to think through -- how reliable is this? Is this really what's happening? I liked the writing and would be interested in reading something else by this author but it didn't stand out as a must-read for me personally. I think I raced to the ending hoping for something major to occur that caught me off guard but I did predict some of the ending, so it didn't pay off in a big way as I thought it might, but I still had a fun time getting there.

I think the connection to the dog subplot is tenuous, definitely not direct. *SPOILERS* It was mainly foreshadowing for this theme of turning the pet/owner relationship on its head. I also so badly wanted a better character arc for El but also respect the decision the author chose for her, it does still make for an interesting ending, albeit a little anti-climatic.

Overall I did enjoy reading it but may not recommend for big thriller readers, as it may not be compelling enough for you.