This book gives sexy vibes throughout, it is enjoyable. However, it felt a bit under-edit and I think the execution can be better. Not so much of a storyline but I believe that's intentional. I often find it confusing and wanted to find answers. Unfortunately I found Dino's reappearance not making sense, and the ending linking to the book title slightly contrived.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc.

This is a dazzling, raw, and unfiltered fever dream.
Soft Core follows a sex worker navigating the disappearance of her boyfriend. But don’t expect a thriller.
Instead, it unfolds as a hypnotic stream of consciousness, slice of life where memory, desire, and survival blur into an intimate, unreliable narration.

I'd recommend it to readers who are drawn to introspective storytelling over plot.

This is a messy book - gloriously, intentionally, messy - like life, and love, itself. First, I must say that Newell can write: her prose is zippy and smart; she knows how to use similes and metaphors so that they illuminate her writing: 'they wore their fantasies like girdles, an everyday secret' - catching that sense of restriction and liberation, of what's hidden beneath the surface, behind the mendacities of social identity; or the layered used of 'soft core' from its sex work category to the perfume worn by Baby in its heart-shaped bottle - to the importance of vulnerability as the only true basis for intimacy.

I'm always fascinated by books that explore sex work and the corollaries of power, consumption, gender and the gaze. But the best look beyond the surface of what it means to be, here, a stripper or a dancer (I'm thinking of [book:No Touching|57732481] which plays in a similar space) so that the club or, later, the BDSM house are sites of revelation beyond their surface and literal function.

With wonderful textual control, we follow Ruth through love, friendship, desperation and breakdown. We're never quite sure how far we can believe her, especially as she starts seeing Dino in all the men she meets, and there's a ramping of tension in the last quarter or so of the book that had me feverishly turning the pages.

And where we end up - no spoilers - is an ending that is also a beginning and an opening. I loved, loved, loved this book and have immediately put Newell's debut, [book:Oola|30199417], on my TBR.

Many thanks to 4th Estate for an ARC via NetGalley - I'll be surprised if this isn't one of my books of 2025!

Soft Core by Brittany Newell captures an endearingly flawed character well and the writing is vivid and fresh.

Ruth is a stripper called baby, she’s living in a shared flat with her drug dealer ex boyfriend dino, when all of a sudden he goes missing. While waiting for Dino to come back to her, she makes a new friend who turns out to be connected to someone she knows.

I’m not 100% sure this book was written for the likes of me. That being said I have thought about it since finishing and for the most part I did enjoy it. I’m just not sure if that’s because it’s left so open and I didn’t get the answers I wanted or because it’s stuck with me more than I thought it would.

It’s a bit like a fever dream, I’m not sure what was real, what wasn’t, what actually happened and what didn’t.

If you don’t mind a book that leaves everything to your interpretation then you will love this, but for me I need them questions answered.

Thank you so much to @netgalley and @4thestatebooks for giving me the opportunity to read this for an honest review.

3.5 stars
I did enjoy this, although I do think the marketing is very misleading. It's not a 'hunt' for her missing ex boyfriend. It's a slice of life stream of consciousness style literary fiction. I liked reading from her pov as I do like an unhinged narrator. I just thought as the book kept going on that it got a bit lazy and sloppy. Do NOT read this book if you can't handle loose ends when it comes to plot, as this book has a LOT of that. If you go into this book with the right expectations, I think you'll enjoy it. A 20 something woman dealing with being lost and grief and the tribulations of sex work.

don't go into this expecting any sort of self-reflection. this book falls exclusively into the category of vibes, no plot, no emotional growth. unfortunately, that made it very much not for me.

Started good but then didn't really seem to go anywhere... Nothing happens but yeah the vibes. Nothing happens but yeah the vibes

Newell's writing is lush and vivid and stark. Sometimes I wanted to look away, but found myself compulsively reading because I needed to know where it was going. Baby meanders a lot, there's the background mystery of Dino's disappearance, but there's no urgency to this plot line. And it's as much about all the other sex workers Baby meets - a tapestry of their lives - as it is about Baby herself. This book is not for readers who need to be driven by plot, but if you like vibes, juxtaposition and frankness, then 'Soft Core' is for you.

Not quite what I expected and didn't really pick up a pace in the way I wanted it to. The writing style is what engaged me. It's also the main reason I stuck with it. In terms of plot, it felt a bit flat and circular. On the plus side, I appreciate a raw but tender look at working in clubs and what that means for the inner life of our protagonist.

This book is a flourescent bubblegum cocktail mixed by an unreliable narrator served in a glittering downward spiral.
I loved every second of it - the blend of graphic descriptions and characters not meant to be dainty make it honest and all the more beautifully flawed.

Started well but then didn't really seem to go anywhere enjoyed the read and the journey but didn't do anything for me. I obviously missed something.

While reading it my thoughts kept running away somewhere, I often got distracted which is due to the fact that this book was simply not interesting, nothing really happened. I didn't like Ruth. I don't know, maybe it's just my personal feeling, maybe others will like it more.

I wanted to love this one so much, but it just fell short for me unfortunately. It's not the worst book out there, but it isn't a favourite of mine. The story is intriguing but the way it is written wasn't for me.

Soft Core by Brittany Newell took me on a journey that I wasn’t entirely expecting, but ultimately, I found myself enjoying it more than I initially anticipated. This novel is a slow burner, one that starts off at a steady pace and gradually builds, which was a bit of a shift for me in terms of how I expected the story to unfold. While there were moments where the pace seemed to drag, overall it was worth it.

This is a book that might not immediately grab you but has a quiet, reflective charm that grows on you as the story progresses. It isn’t without its flaws—chiefly the dragging pace at times—but it ultimately delivers a solid, heartfelt experience.

Fast-paced book that had me engaged from page 1. Highly entertaining

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Soft Core by Brittany Newell was not quite the book I thought it would be, a fact not helped by its rather misleading blurb. Soft Core is a beautifully written, character driven piece that is very much vibes over plot. It’s a decent into both San Francisco’s seedier underbelly and a young women’s abject loneliness. Whilst I can appreciate what Newell was doing I’m not sure this one was for me, but that said I’ve not doubt this will be enjoyed by many others.

Soft Core follows Ruthie, or Baby, through her life in San Francisco. She lives with her ex Dino, a larger than life drug dealer who enjoys the freedom of cross dressing at home. For work Ruthie becomes Baby at a local strip club. Following Dino’s disappearance Ruthie tries to fill her time and in doing so embarks on another job at a nearby BDSM club. Through these jobs Ruthie meets a variety of characters who come to shape her life in different ways.

Soft Core is written in beautiful, lyrical prose, at times it’s almost dreamy whilst in others we are subjected to the brutal realities of Ruthie’s hallucinations, and the depths of her loneliness. Ruthie seems to be an unreliable narrator, not helped by the loose way in which past merges with present at times. It was hard to know whether what she was seeing was real or part of her hallucinations and desperate hope for what she wanted. Having finished I’m still left wondering if it was Dino that came back not, I suspect it wasn’t and I’m hoping that’s not a spoiler!

I feel like maybe I missed something with this one, a deeper meaning, beyond the bitter sting of loneliness and isolation, that I didn’t see. It’s the funny type of book that gets under your skin, that you want to finish both for it to be over but to see what might happen next. It wasn’t quite for me and yet I still think it was one I’ll remember.

Ruth is living with her drug dealer ex-boyfriend Dino and dancing at a strip club as Baby Blue. One day Dino disappears without a trace. Ruth is bereft, she didn’t realise quite how intertwined their lives were, how much she had come to rely on him. She sees him everywhere but he never seems to come home.

The synopsis is a touch misleading, she does not go looking for Dino. His vanishing looms large over everything. Ruth starts working at a BDSM dungeon and receives emails from someone named Nobody. She makes friends with Ophelia, a dominatrix from her new job and is slightly unnerved by a new girl at the club, Emeline.

I found this a little slow to start, the first third was… I don’t want to say a slog but it did take me a while to get through. It picks up! And is very compelling. I do wish there had been a little more resolution towards the end though. Some loose ends didn’t feel like they should not have been left loose? But I am nosy. Tell me everything!

I was so excited to get a review copy of this! It's fast-paced and keeps you guessing, wondering what Baby will uncover next. Truly entertaining.

Thank you to NetGalley and 4th Estate and William Collins for the ARC!

4 stars!

I only started this yesterday and I devoured this. 🤌🤌🤌 the writing of various things just....yesss. I loved how people were written. The description of people's bellies, the atmosphere, the details added to bring you into the world of Baby/Ruth

Loved this although I was expecting a more bigger reaction to Dino but I guess this also is a deep look into peoples loneliness and how they deal with it, and how they let people treat them. I loved reading about Ruth and how she was and how she spoke about people. It was fascinating to be in this world and to also witness a character go through so many side quests and motions but also it didn't seem like too much happened, and yet I was locked in.

The ending, just....the whole imagery in my head, and the way it's written, stunning. So happy to have read this and also find the work of Brittany Newell.