so happy i requested this because my god!!! the overall plot was so solid i was surprised especially for a debut novel. super character driven,

This book is captivating as it strings readers along a relationship that will most likely fail. So why? Charlie is young, successful and beautiful and the attraction to Richard who is 30 years older and married makes no sense. And yet, it happens all the time for the excitement, risk and desire.

It’s rare for me to read a book in a day but I couldn’t put it down out of curiosity for the outcome. I didn’t think too highly of Charlie and Richard but my annoyance worked for the story. It’s why so many are lured toward scandals and whispers in the back office. It gets our attention.

The story was highly imaginative with Charlie and her two roommates working long hours in the London publishing industry. Best-selling novelists were awarded with an attentive staff creating top news articles and dinner events. It was also a place where news and secrets traveled quickly. The story had relatively short chapters and was a page turner.

My thanks to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book with an expected release date of July 8, 2025.

4.5 rounded up to 5

I loved this book & I found myself trying to hurry through my to-do list so I could get back into it. I love literary fiction about terrible relationships and girls who you’d love to just shake. This was beautifully written and kept me hooked the entire time. I kept picturing Richard as “fancy man” from New Girl (I’d be hooked too, let’s be honest) and I felt like this was written from relatable perspective in the sense that you’ll read this and think, “been there done that” OR know someone who has lived a very similar life.

I wish the ending had either ended before the tidying up of Charlie’s life or had left us hanging on whether things with Richard sort themselves out or not (hey, if Charlie can propose a new ending to Richard’s books then so can I?) and the way it ended felt a *little* bit too neat.

Overall, loved the pace, the characters, the story, the mental drama, the publishing world, the actual drama. Thank you to Netgally, Hattie Williams, and the publisher for this ARC.

Bitter Sweet is the story of a damaged young girl during a year of bad choices that includes an illicit affair that will change her life forever. It is somber and bleak and hard to look away from, but ultimately a story many might see themselves in in some way or another. It is a very human story about growing up and showing up.

Charlie's mother died unexpectedly when Charlie was a teenager, leaving her primary guardian her step-father, a man she's not even related to. This trauma informs a lot of the way Charlie thinks of herself, leaving her with low-self-esteem and a deep sense of not belonging. During the hard years she found refuge in the novels of Richard Aveling, and when she meets him as part of her job in publishing, they share a special moment. A moment turns to an evening, then into a clandestine affair that swallows her whole.

Charlie's story teaches us about friendship and obsession and the stories we tell ourselves and how they shape our actions. It's about betrayal and depression and being chased by a nameless darkness. It's about all the hard parts of growing up and realizing we're responsible for the choices we make. It's a sad story, but an important one.

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book was not for me. The premise of the story felt very promising but just fell short for me.

I couldn’t connect with the main character and at times just felt so frustrated with their lack of growth.
At times the description would just go and on when it could’ve been shortened and still relay the feelings and nuances that the author wanted to portray.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for this ARC.

Unfortunately, Bitter Sweet just wasn’t for me. I went into it really wanting to like the story, especially given the interesting premise and strong writing, but I found it difficult to stay engaged. The main character felt so unlikeable throughout, and I struggled with the lack of growth in her arc. It made it hard for me to connect with her or care much about her journey.

The romantic connection between the two main characters also didn’t land for me—I never quite understood the attraction or felt the chemistry, and as a result, I wasn’t invested in the outcome of their relationship. While the book is undoubtedly well-written, I found the grief surrounding the character’s late mother to be particularly heavy and, at times, unnecessarily dramatic. I typically try to avoid books that center around that kind of loss, and I wish it had been mentioned more clearly in the description so I could have made a more informed choice.

That said, I know some readers will appreciate the emotional weight and complexity that this story offers—it just wasn’t the right fit for me.

Thank you for the arc!

Bitter Sweet by Hattie Williams is a nuanced, emotionally sharp debut that I kind of liked—it’s messy in a believable way, with a flawed main character and a complicated relationship at its center. While some parts felt a bit familiar, the raw honesty and thoughtful exploration of power dynamics and early adulthood made it stick with me.

I can’t believe this was a debut novel! Bittersweet follows 23-year-old Charlie, a publishing assistant who lands her dream job and finds herself entangled in an affair with a (married) author she’s idolized her entire life. I connected with Charlie instantly—she felt like a younger version of myself, even as she stumbled through some truly questionable decisions. What really stood out to me were her relationships outside the romance: her bond with her friends and her boss, Cecile, beautifully captured the idea of creating your own chosen family. Bittersweet is exactly what its title promises: bittersweet. Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A tumultuous relationship between a literary assistsnt and a famous author forces Charlie, the assistant, to question her choices, her friendships, and her self all while keeping her relationship a secret from everyone around her. A story of ups and downs, growth, changing, and life as a 20-something is the literary world of London.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine Books for the advanced reader copy.

BITTER SWEET is exactly the right title for this novel of a young PR assistant getting swept into an all-consuming affair with a much older, well-known writer. Charlie loves books and has landed what she thinks is a dream job, working as an assistant to the head of PR, and getting the chance to work (and live) with her close friends, Ophelia and Eddy. When Richard, an author Charlie grew up reading and adoring through his writing, expresses romantic interest in her, she's immediately pulled into his orbit despite the red flags and the warnings from her friends.

This didn't feel like a debut novel. The book is self-assured and a testament to the strength of the writing is that I found myself annoyed at, frustrated with, and at turns so sad for Charlie, in ways that felt like she was a three-dimensional being. For anyone sorting through issues of substance abuse, coercive relationships, or deep mental health struggles, take care of yourself while reading.

Bitter Sweet is out July 8, 2025.

Wow I actually adored this. A true master class in character development, and it's always so satisfying when our main character experiences growth and almost empowerment? by the end of the story. Some lit-fic with a heavier subject matter leave me feeling a bit sad, a bit cynical, and I didn't feel that way about Charlie's story. Also this cover art is stunning and what initially attracted me to the book. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this ARC!

This reminded me a lot of Adelaide and a little of My Dark Vanessa. The relationship the main character enters is so self destructive it’s hard to bear witness to. But the writing and care for the characters are beautiful. I found a lot to compare my own situations with and I found the author wrote with a lot of truth, not for everyone but a very good debut.

I’ve read many books with this power dynamic - Little Rabbit, My Last Innocent Year, and so on. It’s intoxicating to read about but this is the first book where I’ve really fallen under the spell and understood the main character completely. I could not put this down and could not stop crying at the end. The way this author handles depression and other mature themes is full of care but also so raw and real. 5 stars for feeling seen but also heartbroken.

thank you to netgalley and the publishers for an arc in exchange for an honest review! which leads to me to say with a metaphorical grimace that unfortunately, this one fell incredibly short for me.

this was honestly so disappointing. i enjoyed the first third to half of it, but at some point i just got kind of sick of the protagonist, a whiny and unsympathetic victimizer who was at pretty much no point a good friend to either of her friends that were consistently good to her in a big, big way. i also felt like the more i read, the more the book was telling me things instead of showing them to me. and on top of all that, i don't think this book did a particularly good job covering the nuances of mental health.

there are a lot of important topics included in this book—grooming, toxic/emotionally abusive relationships, grief, mental health, sexual assault—and that's great. but part of the problem is that there are so many books out there that just tackle them better.

i know there are reviewers with whom this book resonated and who loved it, and i'm happy for them. but i would tell anyone interested to simply read adelaide instead.

Very straightforward in its prose and character development but compelling in its plot, an uncomfortable read but nevertheless full of nice compassion. Charlie's family, doctors, colleagues, friends, poor Finn... they're all very kind and there's an interesting effect where the novel depicts the gossip-hungry nature of the outer world and the power imbalance/coercion/generally unhealthy relationship dynamic of Charlie's inner world, yet between these two things there's a buffer of a great support network of empathetic folks.

Charlie's behavior gets a bit repetitive and at times I felt disconnected from her motivations. I feel like the aftermath would have had more of an impact had I been more immersed in Charlie's perception of the relationship. The ending in general feels rushed and overly matter-of-fact, with so much plot happening over the course of two or three chapters after most of the book being more stagnant.

Still, besides some too-tidy conclusions, it all feels rather realistic, and I was never bored by it. I liked and empathized with Charlie despite being frustrated by her decisions (which really made me feel like I was in her best friends' shoes rather than her own), and I really just wanted her to figure herself out. Richard just consistently sucks. I think I expected literary fiction, and maybe this would fall under that nebulous label, but NetGalley actually has it categorized as New Adult, which makes more sense to me.

kept me decently entertained - but even just a few days later i forgot a lot of the plot! another one that would be good for lit fic lovers

Ugh I loved this. The writing is so beautifully done that it sucked me in immediately. I loved every single character, but especially our MC Charlie. She frustrated me to no end but I still felt a lot of love for her. I dream of having people in my life as amazing as her people are. This novel did an extremely good job at making me feel. I was mad, frustrated, joyful, maligned, and everything in between. This isn't a book I would normally be drawn to pick up but I am so so so glad I did.

Thank you to Ballantine and NetGalley for the ARC.

"Bitter Sweet" will be released on July 8, 2025. A big thank you to the publisher and author for providing an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this novel via NetGalley.

2.5 stars, rounded up.

The writing in this novel is superb. Was the prose beautiful, and the vivid, descriptive language compelling? Yes—no questions about that. Was I constantly saying to myself, “girl stand up!!!!” multiple times while reading? Also yes.

Charlie, a young publicist, finds herself in an enthralling workplace love affair with a much older (and married) famous author, Richard. The reader can clearly see that Richard is a narcissist, but we have to watch Charlie fall for his lies for 300 pages. It was a heartbreaking read, and maybe I'm not the target audience for this one, but I don't see myself picking it up for a reread.
There’s no doubt that Hattie Williams has incredible writing talent, and I would definitely try another one of her works—but this one just wasn’t for me.

I enjoyed this book more than I originally thought I would. I found the writing of Charlie to be very relatable, for better or worse. I loved the friendships portrayed, which gave a heartwarming contrast to the raw and melancholy of the relationship between Charlie, and the much older author she starts a relationship with. The amount of grief, healing, and growth that Charlie goes through in the book does make the story reflect the title, bitter sweet.

Wow, I really loved this. Well-written. Painful read in the best way. I think this will be a great book club discussion title and will be recommending it to library staff as a book club pick.