Clever and cutting with moments of vulnerability that shine through. Dinan writes with dry wit and emotional clarity. The protagonist’s inner journey is sharp and relatable, even when messy. Not everyone will love the tone, but I appreciated the honesty

I usually love dual POV but one half just fell flat for me. I loved Max, she was complex and interesting, I was begging for more on her life then she started dating Vincent. The most boring man. I loved how Max looked at life, her parts were beautiful and deep. Then there was 19yr old Vincent and I was dreading each installment, only growing to hate him more. His half was so forgettable then I wanted to forget it. I don't know, I wanted more I guess, the writing was what kept me going I just wish I remembered more.

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc!

3.5 stars

disappoint me follows max and vincent and their rollercoaster lives as they go through love and lost, and experience life as queer adults

I enjoyed it very much. The book has an interesting way of telling the story, with alternating chapters between characters and past/ present culminating in the climax. I felt like every character had a very real side about them and seems like the point the author wanted to make was exactly this. We are flawed, we are human.

Max is a really nice protagonist, encompassing this rawness the characters have. Her dilemmas were very valid and did not seemed forced at all.

Overall, this book did not ‘disappoint me’ (pardon the pun) but some part at the last part after the end that felt all over the place. Like, too much plots being grasped at the same time. But the ending wrapped it with a nice bowl, so I’m not mad at it. I enjoyed the ride.

This book is BEAUTIFUL. Topically, it’s actually pretty tough and raw and painful, but it’s so gorgeously written, I could literally lick the pages.
I loved Max and Vincent and all their dysfunction- including their friends and family. I loved their questioning and the honesty with which Dinan addressed difficult, uncomfortable, and all-too-real scenarios.
I feel like I would sell/recommend this book with trigger warnings but also with a plea to just dive in. I had 2 chapters left as I was exiting an airplane and I walked blindly through the airport, nose in the pages, entirely invested in finishing (and trying not to cry).
I dunno, dude, it’s just really friggin good.

Thank you to @penguinrandomhouse and @thedialpress for the eARC! I’m so thrilled I got to read this beautiful novel a little early, although I took my time savoring it!

This book was such a delight! I rarely enjoy literary fiction, but Dinan drew me in immediately with her stunning prose and humour. Max, the main character, has such a strong narrative voice, and I loved reading her reflections on life, queerness, societal expectations, and her platonic, familial, and romantic relationships. While I didn’t always find her likeable, I loved her complexity, and I couldn’t help but root for her!

The novel is written with a dual POV, each with their own timeline, and while I wasn’t as captivated by Vincent’s chapters or his character, I still enjoyed the layer of debt his POV added to the story. His chapters were, at times, difficult to read, but I loved the slow unfolding of past and present, and the ultimate culmination of events.

While I love the complexity of Dinan’s characters and the many themes she explores in this novel, I found myself wishing that some aspects of the story had been explored a little further. The novel covers so many important events in the lives of Max, Vincent, and their friends and family, including a wedding, serious illness, and a pregnancy, and as a result I was left feeling that some of the sub-plots felt a little too unresolved by the end.

That being said, I still adored this novel, and you might love it just as much (or more!) if you enjoy:
💫 Complex characters and relationships
💫 Explorations of modern love
💫 Dual timelines and POVs
💫 Themes of growth and forgiveness
💫 Poignant writing with a dash of humour


TW: Transphobia and transphobic hate crime, misgendering, body dysphoria, alcoholism, serious illness

This is one of my FAVORITE books of the year, I read it over a month ago and I can't stop thinking about it and wanting to recommend it to everyone. Nicola is such a talented author and this book took me on a roller coaster of emotions, while also opening my eyes and allowing me to see the world through another perspective. I have been challenging myself to try to read more books by trans authors about trans characters and Nicola is definitely a favorite new author!!

Disappoint Me is about Max, a transgender woman, who has just turned thirty and decides she wants to try and find the life of long term relationships and marriage that everyone around her seems to have. Max is someone who had a messy breakup with her ex recently, and when she meets Vincent, she feels he is too good to be true. He is sweet, doesn't seem to care much about her being a trans woman, has a stable job, and cares deeply for Max. The further into their relationship though, she starts to uncover his hidden past and the shame and guilt he carries from his past relationships and mistakes. As Max finds out life-altering information about her health, she is forced to reckon with who Vincent truly is, whether she wants him in her life, and whether she can forgive him.

Something about this book just felt so raw and human. I felt like I was living life next to Max, feeling all of her emotions. I loved the discussion and perspective of different trans characters in this book. Getting to see the transphobia of many different characters, trans panic from the transgender characters, and the acts of violence towards trans people was so overwhelming, often horrifying, and eye opening. I hated Vincent for what he did in the past. But I learned a lot from the ways that Max reacted to finding out about Vincent's past and how others around her reacted as well. I loved Nicola's writing about forgiveness and ethical issues. What are you comfortable forgiving when somebody's past collides with your present??

I truly had the best time reading this book and think it is a must read fiction book of the year!! Incredibly moving and messy. Thank you to The Dial Press for the free book!!

I wanted to like this book so much, but had to DNF. Never has a title of a book so accurately described my review!

I devoured this book. Crisp, clean writing of characters generally in their thirties who are making mistakes and dealing with complex shit in a generally mature way that allows for empathy and horror to exist, often simultaneously. This book was a well written introspective look at grey areas. LGBTQ+, with mature themes. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

This book really made me think about always expecting others to fail you but also about cancel culture and when are people allowed to be forgive. How do they make up for their mistakes? How much time needs to lapse before you say that they’re now a different person?

I really enjoyed the writing here. It was fast paced and I wanted to know more about these characters as it went on.

Thank you Random House for an e-book copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review!

Wow! Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan was my first book by the author, and I gotta say, it did NOT disappoint me whatsoever. I highlighted so many things. This was charming, deep and dark, and a bit suspenseful. It was funny. I laughed quite a bit. It was quirky, too. This book highlights the struggle of queer and trans individuals trying to fit into a heteronormative life. It also features cultural struggles and family drama. It is about a trans woman, Max, and her finally giving a true relationship a real shot. That is, until something from her boyfriend's (Vincent), past comes to the surface. Does everyone deserve a second chance?

Sooooo much nuance. I think this story is going to be really polarizing. But for me, I enjoyed it. The alternative POVs was a good way for me to keep turning the page. I liked living inside of Max and Vincent's heads. I felt they were real people, with real trauma and real poor decisions.

Here are some of my favorite quotes:

"Even at my lowest - please may this be my lowest - I am not tempted by religion."

"I think I'm just feeling really porous at the moment. Like, I really feel like I absorb things. I feel more sensitive."

"I'm not sure I've ever felt like a grown-up. I guess nobody ever feels like a grown-up, but are you going to tell me that the biblical wench, crusty on her deathbed from a water-borne plague, still pregnant with her tenth child, didn't feel at least, a little bit, like a grown-up?"

"If you really want to understand something, especially something human, you can."

"Sometimes there's nothing to do but leave, and sometimes there's nothing to do but forgive."

This was not at all what I expected and yet everything I wanted. A story about coming to terms with our past mistakes and deciding who we want to be as we move forward through this messy thing called life. I really liked Max's family dynamics. I found Vincent's back story compelling. I think there is something so powerful about reading about people from very different backgrounds than you and learning about their lives while also finding moments of connection and empathy. Great pride month read. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the free ARC.

This book was amazing.

I listened to the audiobook for most of it, and getting the dual POV from both MC’s but we get Max in the present and Vincent’s POV from the past mostly, except for the last one was a really powerful decision from the author, because we do get to see how Vincent has changed, but as he says, also the ways he is the same. I think the reader struggles with Max to decide whether he should be forgiven for his actions when he was 19.

I just really loved this book, I feel like it gives a lot for the reader to think about, focusing on relationships and pressure regarding certain milestones as you get older, just growth people experience with age in general. I love that it ended with a poem.

I highly recommend this picking this one up!

Thank you @netgalley and @thedialpress for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I loved Dinan’s debut novel Bellies. It was one of my favorite books of 2023 so needless to say my expectations were high and Dinan more than delivered! I love a dual POV and I felt the characters were so distinct and their backgrounds described so well. It sounds easy but there are so many authors who fumble this and it’s hard to tell which characters is which. Max is one of our main POVs and she is trans woman at a sort of crossroads in her life after turning 30. This book examines and directs so much about the trans experience and it’s truly something every cis reader should read. I recommend this to readers who are looking for books similar to Sally Rooney but, queer I’d say Dinan’s books fit the bill. Highly recommend.

Max is a trans woman navigating the weight of dysphoria, disappointing exes, and the gnawing sense that life isn't what it should be. Aftera New Year’s Eve party, she resolves to try something different—leaning into stability and convention with Vincent, a sweet but complicated man whose world doesn’t exactly embrace Max. As their relationship deepens, Vincent’s unresolved past surfaces, forcing Max to confront the messy truth about love, forgiveness, and whether anyone can really move beyond their past mistakes.

Thank you, NetGalley, for an advanced copy of this book.

I really wanted to like Disappoint Me, but it just didn’t land for me. The premise had promise, and I was hoping for emotional depth and insight, but the characters felt flat and the pacing dragged. I struggled to connect with the story or care much about the outcome. Some moments hinted at a richer narrative, but overall, it left me feeling underwhelmed. Just didn’t live up to expectations.

Read this if: you like character-driven stories that wrestle with forgiveness, identity, LGBTQ community, and the messy process of growing up

I loved this book. The characters are so well-developed it’s almost hard to believe they’re fictional—every one of them, even the side characters, felt fully human. It’s one of those stories that asks big questions without ever feeling heavy-handed: Can we forgive someone for who they used to be? Who has the right to offer that forgiveness? Can you prioritize your personal happiness when it seems to conflict with your community or identity?

At the center of the novel is a flawed character who made a terrible decision in his past—and the book doesn’t excuse that—but it does give you the context to understand him. It’s such a layered portrayal that you might find yourself empathizing, even as you’re angry or frustrated. That kind of emotional complexity is rare and handled so well here.

By the time I finished, I genuinely didn’t want to say goodbye. It’s the kind of book that lingers with you—not just because of the questions it raises, but because the characters feel like people you’ve actually known.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the chance to read this story in exchange for an honest review.

I think I’ll need to sit with this book for a little bit to fully digest some of what I just read. This follows the life of the main character Max, who is a trans woman, as well as a split POV from her current boyfriend that takes place 10 years prior. Both POVs explore heavy and intense topics- so trigger warnings should absolutely be checked. I thought the author did a fantastic job of finding a beautiful way to describe how flawed we all are. Each character starts out with this almost perfect shine to them, and as you get more involved in the story, some ugly things are revealed that make you see them as more whole individuals. In some cases, I hated the characters development. In others, I found that it made them way more dimensional and real.

All in all this was a great read, I’ve been in a slump and this shook me right out of it! Thank you NetGalley for the ARC and opportunity ☺️

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the e-book copy!

Disappoint Me follows Max, a thirty something trying to figure out her life and decides to try and follow the social norm. She meets Vincent, and believes he may be the answer to all her problems until secrets threaten to tear them apart. This book starts off painfully slow and it almost made me DNF it. However, I stuck through it and it ended up being not that bad. I liked Vincent and Max together till a certain point. After his dad's heart attack, Vincent becomes a bit irritable and his redemption just goes downhill. I did not want Max to get back with Vincent and we are left with this open ending that begs to wonder if he was truly forgiven. Overall, this book is a bit heartbreaking and if you can handle that then you might like this.

All Disappoint Me did was disappoint me. The narrative voice was bad. The opening scene was an info dump that kept me at a distance from the story.