The title of this book is clever, because this book does in fact deal with a lot of serious topics. It can sometimes feel like the book is almost a little detached from some of these issues, as main character Edie is able to delude herself into believing or ignoring just about anything outside of her pursuits. It's one of those stories that makes you cringe a little, even as you can't quite stop reading.

This debut novel can fit into many genres: mystery, romance, general fiction…there’s a lot going on in a short amount of time. The author has so many excellent plot points but I was left hoping for maybe fewer ideas with the selected one or two to be more fully developed as Emily J. Smith is clearly an excellent author! The overall story is the FMCs best friend is accused of murder and she may need to testify—but is she on his behalf or not after doing her own investigative work throughout the book!

Read if you like//content warnings:
—gender studies//feminism
—LGBTQ+ rep//gender fluid relationships
—mental health rep
—fertility struggles
—drug addiction//overdose
—domestic abuse & sexual assault
—murder//suicide

Overall, this is a good debut novel and I’m grateful to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for this honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

📚 ARC BOOK REVIEW 📚

Nothing Serious By Emily J. Smith
Publication Date: February 18, 2025
Publisher: William Morrow

📚MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨
(Rounded Up To 5⭐)

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for this #gifted e-ARC and to William Morrow #partner for the physical book in exchange for my honest review!

📚MY REVIEW:

Nothing Serious by Emily J. Smith is one of those books that's labeled as multiple genres and leaves me wondering what exactly I'll find in the pages...What I found in these pages was a compelling storyline, entertaining plotlines, and fantastic writing that flowed seamlessly.

This was a fast read, which was good because I didn't want to put it down. So much of it felt like a hot mess train wreck, where you know you shouldn't look and yet, it's a captivating hot mess train wreck you can't look away from. From cover to cover, this book entertained me and I couldn't wait to see how it was all going to turn out in the end.

This is the story of best friends Edie and Peter, who've been friends since college and are now thirty-somethings employed in the tech world of San Francisco. Edie has an obsessive-like unrequited love for Peter, and Peter also has an obsessive-like appreciation of himself. Newly single, Peter begins dating several women - including Anaya, who ends up dead after she sees Peter one night. Edie becomes infatuated with Anaya and inserts herself into the mystery surrounding her death. This book is one part love story, one part satirical commentary, and one part mystery.

As I read, I kept thinking about this quote: "When people show you who they are, believe them." There were so many parts of this book when I wanted to reach into the pages to give Edie a good throttle and shake some sense into her. There were just as many parts of the book when I wanted to reach into the pages and give her a big hug. I really enjoyed the dichotomy of each character, and Smith did a phenomenal job of creating both good and not-so-good sides of their personalities. I also personally enjoyed the questions of criminality posed within the underlying mystery, as I think culpability and accountability are becoming bigger hot button issues in recent times. As a true crime legal nerd, that part of the story fascinated me.

The only thing that stopped this book from being a 5⭐ read for me was that I wished the conclusion of the book had lasted a little longer. There were a LOT of different climactic plotlines happening all at once in the last handful of pages, and it almost seemed too much to process in a short time. I would have loved to have had just a few more pages about all the story's conclusions so I had more time to wrap my mind around it. However, as I'm still sitting here pondering the book long after I've finished reading, I'm replaying storylines in my head and tying together all the endings of the emotionally-driven plotlines... And I'm liking this book even more as I'm still pondering it. Well done.

#NothingSerious #EmilyJSmith #WilliamMorrow #ARC #NetGalley #NetGalleyReviews #womensfiction #mysteryreads #booklover #bookaddict #LGBTQIA

2.5/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I think the idea of this book of was super interesting, what happens when your best friend is accused of murder, and what ensues from there? I think the execution unfortunately was not there.

While the beginning I was interested, that quickly dropped off. The story felt a bit choppy and the pacing felt did as well. There were some really interesting ideas such as egg-freezing, her parent’s relationship, Anaya’s unpublished final manuscript, etc. but they did not lead anywhere.

The resolution felt almost anticlimactic since it was so rushed. I also still feel a little lost what the reader was supposed to gain from this book?

In addition, there needed to be some major trigger warnings about eating disorders, drug use, suicide and honestly plenty of other triggers.

This FMC is oddly obsessed with bodies and almost every characters body shape is ridiculed on top of the triggering descriptions of an active eating disorder.

While I had heard good things about this book and still find the initial premise an interesting vignette, I would not recommend this book.

This was such an accurate and painfully honest portrayal of what it means to be a woman in a patriarchal world. The main character, Edie, examines these feelings with such nuance and thoroughness — I really related to her. I wished to know more at the end of the story, I felt it ended a bit abruptly, but that I wanted more goes to show how much I enjoyed spending time in this book.

Thanks to the publisher and to Emily j smith

I wish this book had been a tad bit longer, just so that we could explore the themes more thoroughly.
This was a great, multilayered book!

A scathing portrayal of capitalistic entitlement and productivity culture and at their worst. The main character, Edie, is a 35-year-old single woman barely hanging onto the middle rungs of the tech bro career ladder and struggling to find purchase in her own adulthood. The bright spot of her existence is Peter, her best friend, who is attractive and wealthy and - she is beginning to realize as the novel dawns - a terrible person.

When Peter is implicated in the death of a woman he's dating, Emily investigates the crime, terrified that her friend could be blameworthy or, worse, blamed. What ensues is less a murder investigation than an interrogation of modern relationship mores through the lens of Edie's history with men.

Edie is laser-focused on the fundamental unfairness of male/female romantic relationships, and the novel is laser-focused on the perspective of Edie, an entirely fallible character. That probably makes the book's commentary susceptible to argument or dismissal - Edie is, after all, just one (fictional) woman - and maybe that's the whole point. <i>Nothing Serious</i> is obviously the book of its author's heart, and while it's wonderful that it exists in the world it's tragic that it has to.

This is not light reading: it's darkly comedic sometimes and the rest of the times just dark. But the writing is incisive and the characters are the type of people you probably know but wish you don't. And the story is unflinchingly honest about the world we lives in, the gendered distribution of privilege, and its cost.

Thank you for the ARC! I found this book very depressing. The characters, the story, the ending. I was hoping for something bright to happen, but that isn’t this story. Good descriptions and I was easily immersed in the setting.

While the entire premise had me intrigued and excited to read this book- I could literally never get into it or connect with the characters. It fell flat, was pretty boring and felt like it drug on way too long.

Maybe it’ll be for someone else but for me 3 stars is a generous rating.

I truly wanted to like this book. The characters were hard to like. Edie, the main character, was a bit of an emotional person. Which normally, I would have compassion for. She never triggered that for me. As well as her obsession with her male BFF, who in my opinion is a complete jerk. Their relationship was one sided in my opinion. I actually liked her best friend Alex the most. The tech world and being set in San Frauwas enjoyable too. The book had an interesting premise but never drew me in. I would like to thank NetGalley and William Marrow Publishing for this advance read.

This book was much heavier than I expected, packed with sharp observations about being single in your mid-thirties, feeling left behind, and questioning your own self-worth.

Edie Walker’s life is stuck in a loop. She has the same job, same tiny apartment, and same unrequited feelings for her best friend, Peter. When he finally breaks up with his long-term girlfriend, she thinks this might be her chance. Instead, Peter starts dating Anaya.

Then, Anaya turns up dead right after a date with Peter, and everything spirals.

Edie’s journey was frustrating at times, but watching her slowly wake up to her own patterns and start to change was deeply satisfying. Her friendship with Peter was one of those dynamics where you just want to shake the main character and tell her to open her eyes.

It’s a short read but full of tension, introspection, and some genuinely gut-punching moments.

Thank you William Morrow and NetGalley for the free ARC!

Nothing Serious was not at all what I expected! The characters are deeply flawed and complicated. I enjoyed seeing Edie’s growth throughout the book.

Nothing Serious is a strong debut novel by Emily J. Smith. The story features Edie, a 35-year old tech engineer living in San Francisco, who feels stuck in her personal and professional life. She is in love with Peter, her multi-millionaire college best friend. Edie is thrilled when Peter and his long term girlfriend break up, hoping that Peter will discover how toxic the dating-app culture is and want to date her. But Peter immediately finds a date with Anaya, a talented and beautiful feminist writer, and Edie is smitten. When Anaya is found dead shortly after a date with Peter, Edie becomes increasingly obsessed with what happened to her.
There’s a sense of anxiety and foreboding throughout the story. Edie makes increasingly terrible decisions: making friends with the lead detective and the victim’s sister, lying to Peter, neglecting her family and her job. It is difficult to find Edie sympathetic, and I had trouble relating to her. And Peter is simply toxic. The author does not shy away from themes of feminism, toxic masculinity, women in tech, alcoholism/drug abuse, sexual abuse and suicidal ideation. The writing style is blunt and honest, reminiscent of Rufi Thorpe. Readers interested in a sharp character based novel focused on feminism will enjoy this. 3.5/5⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Netgalley for the early arc of Nothing Serious by Emily J Smith. This book was really good. Im glad I got to read it and would highly recommend this one. I rated this 4.5 stars.

This book starts off strong, drawing you into Edie’s obsessions. But halfway through, she became annoying, and the plot felt predictable. The crime aspect lacked excitement, focusing more on facts and mental illness, which is important but didn’t hold my attention. There’s no real character development, and while the characters are distinct, I didn’t like any of them. Still, it’s a fast-paced read with relatable moments.

An absolute delight! I loved not only the pacing of the story, but the telling of it as well. From start to end, I was given an adventure!

I had a hard time getting into this book. It might be the mood I am currently experiencing. I may try this book again at a later date. But for now I had a hard time connecting with some of the characters and the plot.

Edie has always looked up to her best friend Peter, despite the huge disparity in their life styles and wealth. Edie is stuck in an okay job, single, and living in a small studio. When Peter is implicated in the death of a feminist writer, Edie becomes obsessed with the case.

This is a very character based story where the meat lies within the relationship between Edie and Peter. It’s an odd friendship and you really want Edie to wake up the entire time. Peter is a really unlikable character; representing toxic masculinity in today’s world. I did like the end and how Edie’s parents’ relationship tied in.

“We like to chalk things up to chance. But most things, if you dig deep enough, aren’t chance. Not really.”

Nothing Serious comes out 2/18.

Edie Walker's life didn't turn out the way she would have hoped. Edie is a software engineer with an MBA and is coding for a lifeless app in San Francisco. She is beginning to stress out about being on the wrong side of thirty with no long term partner and also having to care for her mother.

Her toxic relationship with her long term male bestie, Peter Masterson, is weird. She is pining for him. He is an affluent tech bro that does what he wants at any given time. Yet, Eddie feels loyal and tethered to him despite his moral ambiguities. When Peter's current situationship turns up dead from a drug overdose, Eddie begins a dangerous search for what happened in the hopes of exonerating Peter.

Nothing Serious is a darkly comical look at women in STEM, online dating culture and braven confidence of powerful men. None of the characters are entirely likeable, but it's a fun ride regardless. Thank you Netgalley and William Morrow for the advance copy. Nothing Serious debuts February 18, 2025.

“Nothing Serious” is a fast-paced book about a woman living in San Francisco, working in tech, who becomes all-consumed when a woman her male best friend is dating suddenly dies. She has a history of being obsessed with court cases she’s either orbiting or directly involved in, and the plot of this novel is no different. I enjoyed this! There wasn’t anything about it that particularly stands out to me, but I do think the author has some very insightful things to say about personhood, grief, and what we owe to one another.