I enjoyed their last book but felt like it had a slightly forced twist and was glad that wasn't present in this one. In this book, no one was a great person but it was interesting to read them muddle though. I think a lot of people in cities have thought of escape in the last few years of this never-ending pandemic and this couple takes the plunge with no skills or idea what they are doing. Is upstate NY as exciting as it sounds? Yes, but not in the way I think they would anticipate.

I liked the book a lot! I would not want to be friends with or even know any of these people but I think we have all encountered them at some point.

This book has incredible reviews and is rated extremely high on Goodreads. With that being said this one is not for me. It’s well written but I could not connect with a single character. It seems as if I’m in the minority with this one though!

Huge thank you to Dutton and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
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Reading this book made me feel SO UNCOMFORTABLE. None of the characters were likable. And they unfortunately reminded me of exaggerated versions of myself or people I know! But I kept on reading for those reasons too.

Summary

This book is about a newly married couple, Rosie and Jordan, who live in New York City. Rosie feels unsatisfied by her life in the city and escapes by scrolling through Instagram. She falls in love with the idea of moving to upstate New York and living a simpler more authentic life. The pair pay too much for an old house that needs major renovations. Rosie and Jordan both lose their jobs the week they close on the house.

To make ends meet, they rent a small, old building on their property to a queer couple Dylan and Lark. As Rosie does her best to embrace her new location, she gets increasingly involved in her tenants' lives.

Our anxious narrator

At the core of this book are Rosie's competing desires for safety and excitement, leaving her constantly dissatisfied. She desperately wants to be liked and accepts the unkind ways she is treated by others without complaint. She is also incredibly socially anxious. The way she dissects every interaction and puts herself down is immediately recognizable by anyone who has ever suffered from anxiety.

Throughout the novel Rosie always thinks there is a more perfect life out there for her. She just needs to buy the right thing (or house) to get there. This coupled with her Instagram obsession is an interesting critique of how young people are managing a declining quality of life alongside rising expectations of what their lives should look on social media.

The queer polycule

This book so accurately captures the mess and beauty of what it can be be part of a small circle of queer friends, where everyone has dated or is ethically, openly dating each other.

Even though Dylan and Lark's circle of friends does some not particularly nice things, they have many more moments of generosity and emotional maturity. Most of them are polyamorous. This makes Jordan confused and Rosie curious. But their relationships have the solid communication, trust and lack of jealousy that are at the core of polyamory.

This book also has almost no homophobia or transphobia. The story is about other things. This I so appreciate!

Recommendation

I struggled with giving this book a star rating as I think the characters (especially Rosie) were very well-written.

There is a plot twist later on in the book that I thought took the book in an unrealistic direction. It kept turning even more towards absurdity as I finished the final chapters. This pulled me out of identifying strongly with the characters into seeing it more as a parable than something that might have actually happened.

It's a quick read, so I think it is worth picking up ... especially if you've ever fantasized about moving from the city to a small town somewhere!

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for providing this ARC for my voluntary and honest review!

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” This thought provoking Mary Oliver verse was the catalyst for the MCs ditching their life in the city for rural, upstate New York, where their lives become increasingly intertwined within a polycule. Trust & Safety was incredibly readable and felt very current. Although, the MCs’ relationship made very little sense to me; it seemed to be an incredibly toxic partnership only based in their mutual love of Oreos and reality television. The main character is messy and complex which makes them - along with their decisions - overwhelmingly very, very frustrating. Almost none of the characters were likable to me, which was a bit challenging but, despite that, I kept wanting to read on.

Nice book, well written. I disliked almost every character in this but at th same time I kinda felt for them too. Thanks for the arc

This story captured my attention from the first few pages. It's creative, and the writing is easy to follow. I wanted to see what happened to this newly married couple. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I think this book will do very well with a bunch of age groups.

A funny take on tech taking over our lives and privileged millennial longing for a “simpler life”.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect after reading the intriguing premise and ended up enjoying this quite a bit - the writing was clever, flowed well, and there were plenty of surprises. There was a great balance of moments that made me laugh, cringe, and roll my eyes. None of the characters are particularly likable but still I found myself rooting for Rosie to get it together!

Thank you to Dutton and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

I unfortunatley DNF’d this, I love the plot and premise but I found the characters very unlikeable. The beginning was interesting, but I wasn’t invested in these characters (dealbreaker for me but I get not everyone is like that!)

This novel had a strong beginning and then the plot just unraveled into a nothing burger. Jordan has to be the most unlikeable character on planet earth lol Rosie & Dylan's budding roman also started off strong but then tapered into useless plot points. By the time we get to the true reveal of Dylan's motives, I was left feeling nothing. The ending felt a little out of character for Rosie and did not come full circle.

Very good. Funny and nicely written with lots of twists that kept me on the edge of my seat. Highly recommend

I was really intrigued by the synopsis of this book, however I’m not sure that it matched my expectations. I found that despite this book only taking me 3 days to read it felt much longer.

I wasn’t invested in the characters and I didn’t feel the need to jump back in and keep reading until i hit about chapter 18 then I felt like i gained some momentum.

At the beginning we are introduced to the family friend - the way in which it had been described I assumed that it would be a major part of this book especially with the link between houses. However whilst at some points it was great for comic relief, I found that more often than not it took away from the flow.



The characters due to their actions/personalities weren’t exactly likeable - I was really rooting for Rosie to have a breakthrough and get the life she truly wanted however any growth she had made was quickly reversed.
As much as I want to feel bad for Rosie, I’m not sure I can. 



Dylan, Lark, Hank, Sasha, Callie and the child - I adored this group, until we found out what they had done and their true identities and motivation came to light. 
I think I would have much preferred to read this book from their POV rather than Rosie and Jordan’s.

With that being said the plot twist, had me audibly gasping! 


Some of my favourite scenes in this book are: the swim/sauna, Rosie learning how to be a farm hand, swimmrs and the donor pages, the dinner before Bridey and Jordan arrived.



I think that this book would be a great book club book as there are so many topics for an engaging discussion - I think that anyone who reads this will have their own opinions on what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’/ ‘good’ or ‘bad’.

I look forward to adding this to our collection and recommending it to readers.


Lastly thank you for allowing me to read this early.

So funny, sly and wicked! I breezed through this with one eye closed because it made me laugh and cringe all at the same time. Such a great sendup of the absurd ways people live (especially Brooklyn people!)

Hilarious and messy. Made me want to move to historic lesbian house in the Hudson Valley, or at least buy a fancy Japanese potato peeler. Read in under 24 hours.