!!! OUT MAY 27th !!!

thank you net galley, random house & nicola dunn for the arc!!!

* the satc Kristen Johnson scene reference was iconic hehe
* there were so many raw and vulnerable moments from both mcs in their pov’s that really made me feel connected to them and all those in their lives
* the real housewives mention also iconic & loved lol
* the trans representation is so important (especially with the current political climate) & i just deeply appreciated the commentary and insight that was given throughout max’s pov/ story
* max & her dad’s scene in last chapter was so tender and unexpectedly beautiful
* very multi-layered story with themes of forgiveness, love, growing and identity
* such stunning writing, i need to get my hands on a physical copy asap & also will be reading bellies immediately!!!

quotes:
“When you can’t turn the world to mush, make everything dissolve and stop making sense. When the mind can’t crowd itself, where is it left to wander?”
“our skin contact is feigned closeness through shared experience.”
“being loved is a good thing- it’s just hard for people like us to fully believe that someone will be there.”
“we all want to do better, but what does better even mean?”
“there are a million ways in which i’m not the same person that i was ten years ago, and a million ways in which i’m the same.”

Once again, Nicola Dinan has written a thought-provoking literary novel that doesn't shy away from exploring complicated issues, particularly around trans experiences.

Disappoint Me follows the relationship of Max, a trans woman, and Vincent. There's a secondary storyline from Vincent's point of view set ten years prior, and over time you see how the storylines fit together as Vincent's past threatens his future with Max.

Although there is a romance, there's also a lot of time spent on Max's relationships with friends and family, and as you'd expect, they're also complicated and nuanced. This is literary fiction, which might mean it's not your cup of tea, and that's okay - I do feel like I need to go read something fast paced and silly now as a palate cleanser. But I found myself highlighting a lot and think there's SO much here that you could easily discuss with a book club. I really enjoyed her debut, Bellies, and look forward to continuing to read her work.

Disappoint Me is literary romance at its best. The story centers Max, a trans woman, a poet, and a reluctant lawyer who has had no luck in her love life, and Vincent, a corporate lawyer with a secret he’s been sitting on for years and which threatens to topple their developing relationship. The story is told in alternating timelines, Max in the present day as she struggles with family problems and how to manage her new relationship, and Vincent years before on a trip, where we learn of the past he desperately wants to keep hidden from Max. Through the discovery of Vincent’s secret, Disappoint Me begs the question what happens when someone no longer live ups to our perfect ideal of them? How do we forgive each other’s pasts? And that is what makes it so successful as a literary romance, because Max and Vincent emerge as complex individuals that feel real in their faults and their triumphs, and their relationship offers an exploration of their characters as individuals, but also as a pair in ways that left me thinking about this book for long after I had finished it.

Relationships are a struggle for everyone - or you're not being honest.

Disappoint Me is a book about relationships - with ourselves, with others. Max is a woman who recently split up with her boyfriend. Simone, her best friend, never really like the ex. Max doesn't really like Simone's girlfriend. That's how it is sometimes.

When Max meets Vincent, it's not like she suddenly knows he's the one. They are very compatible. He with his Chinese parents and corporate law career. She with her sort-of Chinese mother and tech firm law job. Max is also a one-time published poet. Vincent is very kind. He seems to truly dote on Max. Their relationship feels very traditional and quite nice. Max, though, is constantly wondering when the other shoe is going to drop. It's not a traditional relationship, because Max is trans. Vincent knows this, but it clearly does not bother him at all. So why is it plaguing Max so?

This is a really lovely book about the inner conflicts we all face daily. Regardless of your gender identity, it is hard to be fully accepting of who you are and sometimes of the love given to us. Seeing Max and Vincent reflect on past choices, and seek not only others, but their own forgiveness, is a lesson for everyone.

While this book definitely is not for everyone, due to it's themes of queerness and violence, it's actually a book that is so touching and thought provoking.

This review will be posted on BookwormishMe.com today.

Reviews will also be posted to:
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Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan tells the story of Max, a trans woman who has an unexpected fall at a New Year’s Eve party resulting in the realization that she wants to connect with others. After coming out of a two year relationship, Max wasn’t ready to let anyone in but after her fall, she started dating again and soon enters into a relationship with Vincent, a cis man. Much of the novel is about that relationship and its layers of complications as well as Max’s friendship with Simone, her oldest friend.

I enjoyed that the novel is told in Max’s voice but also alternates with Vincent’s past and comes together in an unexpected manner. The story is engaging and the characters are well-developed. This was my first read of this author and I will definitely be reading more from her.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and The Dial Press for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

Honestly it was a whole lot of nothing. It took me most of book to realize Max was female. might have been due to speed reading. I lost interest pretty quick due to it being set in London. It just wasn't for me but it might be for you.

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC

I loved Max. I would have loved a more in-depth character study of her. I wanted to know everything about her. This messy, lit fic romance was so good. The dialogue, the flashbacks of Vincent's summer of regret, the complicated friend groups. The dichotomy of Vincent's past mistakes paired next to Max's best friend's PR nightmare. It was so interesting that Max could forgive her best friend for verbally assaulting young women but didn't want to forgive (if forgiveness was even hers to give, as she acknowledges) Vincent's mistakes when he was young. I relate to Max's dad, that people change and Vincent seems to have changed for the better. And that it's ok for her to forgive him, it doesn't make her weak.
The friend groups were my favorite because they are all crazy! Vincent's friends are rich and need to touch grass. Max's friends, seem to have better intentions but not any better.

I thought this was a really realistic look at relationships and how things come up that we have to grapple with. Max had to grapple with some really heinous things that Vincent and his friend had done and reconcile that with how kindly he had treated her.

“I don’t know if it’s hurt more to see him with a cos woman or another trans woman. Either would make me feel like I wasn’t enough, maybe because the brain searches for the reasons it wants, caught in a strange loop of self-reinforcement.”
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“It’s a terrible feeling, being outside of a life you shouldn’t have to justify your claim to.”
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“This is also the world where people, often women, are doomed to spend most of their lives forgiving errors of others and suffering for the sake of other people’s growth.”
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Disappoint me follows the POVS of two characters over different time periods. First is Max, a 31 year old transgender woman who is entering in a new relationship. Second is Vincent, who Max is entering in to a new relationship with, only his life 10 years prior to meeting Max. I think the dual POV was very interesting to get insight to each of the characters, both also having Chinese backgrounds.
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This book explores romantic partnership between men and trans women, platonic relationships, family trauma, and the journey of forgiveness. First and foremost, this is a book of forgiveness, can we forgive people’s worst moments? Can we forgive people’s worst versions of themselves that do not accurately portray their best versions? Can we forgive a mistake someone made in the past? Do we even have the right to be forgiving someone for harm they may have done to someone else? Or forgetting?
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Disappoint me is all the ways we disappoint each other. Even down to seeing your best friend act like a bitch at work, thats like really bad? Even almost hooking up with a guy who admitted he just cheated on his girlfriend and that’s why they broke up, yikes! But he’s so hot though and giving me attention. People are walking mistake makers, it’s hard to find one perfect person out there, so coming to terms with flaws and mistakes of those we love is part of personhood.
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“It’s hard to digest these uncomfortable collisions with the past, to not take them as evidence that we haven’t change munched at all, those extra layers are just onion skin. Translucent, immaterial.”

Publishing May 27

With dual timelines and perspectives, we are led into the lives and minds of Max and Vincent.

I could feel that Vincent's unknown past was going to be critical to the person he was with Max in the present, but I really didn't expect it to have been so painful and resounding.

I really enjoyed this one, there are some incredibly frank and poignant passages about a woman's life experiences that feel applicable to anyone who identifies as female.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Random House | The Dial Press and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House publishing for this ARC

Overall, this book was not for me. Going in this felt like a Coco Mellors style of story, but MUCH more crude. Ended up with more of an Ottessa Moshfegh vibe. I could see this as a show with Lena Dunham producing. The story was raw, which I usually enjoy, but this was just not my cup of tea.

Disappoint Me follows Max, a transgender woman now having to deal with the woes of life. Her fix to said woes? Trying a hand at heteronormative life. I felt very disconnected to Max and her perspective on life, however there were certain existential points that really hit home. Some things are a common experience for a women; not trans women problems or cis women problem, just WOMEN problems.

There are an array of characters in this book and I enjoyed meeting them and imaging what they would be like in my head. There is a back and fourth timeline which kept things interesting, and a good twist, but the initial hook didn't come soon enough for me to be excited about the pacing. You can tell this was written by a young modern voice - tense and brassy.

I think this is one of those wrong reader for the book type scenarios.

I didn't resonate or relate to any of the characters or content, but that is just me. I also wasn't in love with the writing style, but objectively there was nothing wrong it.

But, for those who are looking for a novel about modern relationships, LGBTQIA+ characters and their struggles, and love multiple perspectives, this book is for you.

This book has a lot to unpack. It is the story for Max a Chinese trans woman living in London and her boyfriend Vincent. We get an in depth look at the struggles and insecurities that Max faces as she is navigating through life. Vincent is facing his own struggles and we learn of his time in Thailand ten years prior and his experiences with another trans woman.

I felt this novel was very well done. I think it makes people understand a life that they may not previously had interaction or knowledge about. I think the family element and dealing with personal trauma as well as facing the world as a trans woman was well expressed. For such a quick read I felt that so many topics were addressed. The ending kind of left me wanting more but I enjoyed the book and feel that learned more about something I have no first hand knowledge about.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House | The Dial Press for the arc of this ebook. All opinions expressed are my own.

I really wanted to love this one. I’m always drawn to fiction that centers trans storylines, and while there were moments of vulnerability and emotional insight here, overall this book just didn’t land for me.

The dialogue felt endless, often overtaking the narrative instead of deepening it. I struggled to stay engaged, partly because the plot never really found its footing—and several of the characters weren’t particularly likeable or compelling enough to carry things forward.

There were glimpses of something tender beneath the surface, but it got lost in a sea of conversations that led nowhere for me personally.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, The Dial Press (an imprint of Random House) for the ARC in exchange of a honest review!

Max is living life as a trans woman and coming off of a fresh breakup. When she meets Vincent, she instantly connects with him, despite his heteronormativity and the fact that her mother will love that he’s Chinese. But Vincent has baggage from his past that will test Max.

I really enjoyed this one and after reading it I realized it was the same author that wrote Bellies. This book is all about the rich characters and their interactions with each other and their past. Max is an interesting character and very well developed. I loved sitting with her for this story. I also liked how Vincent’s back history chapters came to play and affected Max and their relationship.

“You can fall in love with an outline, you can even make a home with one, but there will come a time when you can’t deny the bones their flesh.”

Disappoint Me comes out 5/27.

fantastically written book from Dinan about seeking relationships as a trans woman - I’ve discovered i really enjoy litfic centering around the trans experience, and I liked following Maxine. However I actually enjoyed Vincent’s chapters even more; his parts are flashbacks to a trip he took fresh out of high school where he meets a trans woman and deals with the discovery that he is into her, a probably very real look at how straight men view attraction to trans people.

Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan

4 Stars
320 Pages
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group – Random House, The Dial Press
Release Date: May 27, 2025

Fiction, Relationships, Transgender, LGBTQIA+, London, Asian

There are two stories being told at the same time but ten years a part. Max, a transwoman, meets Vincent. They are both lawyers and find they have a lot in common. They begin dating and their relationship continues to grow. In Vincent’s past story, he and his friend, Fred, are spending their gap year traveling around Asia. They meet a woman, Alex, and decide to change their plans and travel with her. AN incident derails their travel plans and may have repercussions in their future relationships with Max.

The story has a steady pace although it bounces from current to past time frames. The characters are developed, and it is written in the first-person point of view from two different perspectives. After reading this book, I am reminded how much suffering a transperson goes through to be accepted. There is violence in the past portion of the book. If you like stories about relationships and being accepted, you may enjoy reading this book.

We all have secrets, and eventually they will be revealed. Disappoint Me is the tale of Max, a trans woman and her boyfriend Vincent. Nicola Dinan dives deeply into life and lives - family dynamics, romantic relationships, acceptance, the utter complexity of all types of relationships, the mistakes that are so much a part of our lives, and taking responsibility for our word & actions. While these are topics frequently found in books, they are dealt with in such a beautifully written manner.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s a slice of life book but I loved seeing the characters in their daily lives. I adored Max and she’s a fascinating main character. Her inner dialogue was so well written. I could see myself being friends with her! The flashback from Vincent’s POV truly helped the reader understand him and see the differences between him and Max. This is a beautiful book that I will think about for years after. 4.5 ⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

Truly a beautiful book with complex characters and relationships. This will probably be one of my top 2025 releases.