ARC review- wow this was captivating! i really enjoy how mona awad had multiple points of view and in different forms. the unraveling of sanity in this spoke to the way people will do whatever it takes for perfection within their art. highly recommend!!

wow. WOW. To think I have the honor of reviewing an early copy of MONA AWAD’S new book?? The sequel to Bunny no less?? The most heathers-on-sprinkle-drugs masterpiece ever. Screaming.

Awad really knows how to write a compelling story. The first 20% and the last 20% were truly so magnetic. That ending alone makes this worth a read.

This story manages to be thought provoking and entertaining, primarily with its discussion on plagiarism and the exploitation of grad students, and academia in general, as well as the MANY allusions to Frankenstein. Additionally, I will always love a book centered on ownership of a story. Who owns a story? Who has rights to a story? Is it someone’s property, someone’s lifeline, or does it just simply not belong to anyone at all? Or perhaps, it simply just belongs to the reader?

However, like I said before, Bunny was a masterpiece, and it is almost impossible to recreate the same product in the sequel. For example, the middle 60% of the book was slow. As a reminder, this book is close to 500 pages, and I agree with the other reviewers that it did not need to be this long. We could have easily cut down 200 pages. Additionally, we get a new character POV in this book, Aerius, and it may or may not work for some readers, but for me it dragged sometimes. Here’s a hint: if you think Frankenstein dragged in the middle, this one does the same. The EXACT same, to the point where it got boring.

Also, I missed my girl Samantha the entire time. This is mostly from the POV of the Bunnies (aka our four friendly neighborhood catty bitches) and Aerius, so don’t expect Sam to have a big presence (or much talk about the previous characters…except one ;D). Also, not as trippy as Mona Awad can get, but satisfying enough.

Regardless, and most importantly, I really enjoyed the easter eggs to the first book. There’s many subtle details that are mentioned in both books that I find interesting. I cannot wait to read Bunny again. So many new theories, and I cannot wait to see all the discussions when this comes out. Without giving spoilers, I really loved how we got to see more of the professors ;)

All in all, you did it, Bunny. Fan service, but in the best way possible. Cannot wait for your next book. 4 stars!!

i'm sorry bunny, but this is probably gonna be a 2.5-3 stars for me.

so, Bunny worked for me because it was unhinged, sharp, and left me unsettled in the best way.It felt like a fever dream that never fully explained itself, but that was the magic and fun of it.
I Love You, Bunny comes in and just wants to explain everything you were wondering, and i think for alot of people this will probably hit well for closure. Personally, i don't think i needed it and preferred my own interpretation i guess? maybe that was the point to challenge your own interpretation? idk. k?

It is basically the same story retold from multiple POV's + lore. Mona Awad truly kills it when it comes to nailing different voices and personalities. Unfortunately, this did drag for me. Thank God i read Bunny right before this, because from what i understand this can be read as a prequel/standalone? no way.

The bunnies themselves, creepy, weird, and fun. Just overall a "meh" for me, and didn't really grab me like Bunny did. k?

This is not my comfort genre to be frank, However even though this sequel wasn't for me, i still think the bunny world was super creepy and fun and i loved the authors style of writing.

as always, many thanks to netgalley & Simon Element | S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books for an oppertunity for the e-arc and to give a review!

3 stars

Overall I'm not sure we needed good second book, especially a 500 page follow up/prequel novel. I would have really enjoyed this much more as multiple novellas.

The first part of this book giving the back story of the bunnies was a 5 star read for me. I found it really interesting and I really enjoyed the different perspectives of each bunny. My favorite being the last, however the parts from Aerius was so hard to get thru.

They were enjoyable at first and funny at times, but it got easily exhausting quickly. His thoughts were disjointed and hard to follow. My reading experience went from enjoyable to a bit of a slog.

Overall though the book is beautifully written and Mons Awad takes some risks here. I have to applaud her for this. I just wish this book was broken up into smaller books and was expecting it to be a bit more unhinged.

I would recommend this to fans of Bunny, but if you didn't enjoy Bunny I would pass on this book. This book also kind of takes away from the overall open endness of the first book that was part of the fun, Never really knowing what was reality.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon Element for this advanced reader copy. My review is voluntarily my own.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advanced copy (literally my dream come true). I loved this book as a prequel / sequel to Mona Awad's novel BUNNY. I've never read something that spans timeline and perspective like this before and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. My favorite characters returned, and we met new characters as well. It is significantly longer than BUNNY, but worth the read for any Mona Awad fans. Unafraid to reference or not reference. Thank you so much for the fun read!

I loved Bunny a few years ago. That being my first Mona Awad, I have since read her other novels. This one hit, but not as much as Bunny did for me. You do have to read Bunny to read this one, but you could leave it at just reading Bunny. Not sure how the Awad fanbase will take this when it’s published.

Pretty unnecessary, honestly. That being said--as I somehow always say--it WAS pretty darn fun. And it was a cracking good time getting into the demented minds of the Bunnies. I was even moved by parts. Aerius, you little cinnamon roll, you! So this isn't a must-read, but it's a fun read if you adored the first book and want more of Warren and its wacky denizens, with their artistic pretentions and rabbit magic.

3.5 stars for a good time.

Thank you to the publishers and author for a free digital arc for a fair review.

Try as I might, I just could not get into this book. I did enjoy Bunny, the original novel, but We Love You Bunny just felt like too much for me. If you enjoyed Bunny, you should absolutely give this one a chance though, it just wasn't the book for me.

I really enjoyed this and flew through it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC!

YES YES YES
This book was just impeccable! I loved the structure and narration style. This book is so darkly funny, I couldn't stop gasping and laughing. I thought I loved Bunny, but I ADORE We Love You, Bunny. It's not the same book, but that's exactly the point and its so amazingly hilarious yet insane. I love how it really is a prequel and sequel to Bunny. But dare I say it? I think Mona Awad may have a hidden vendetta against cubists.

Twas quite the adventure reading this book :) I did finish reading it though and can't go back :(

Thank you to Net Galley and Simon Element for this e-ARC.

Bunny, The Postmodern Prometheus

Strangely, my favorite thing about Awad's Bunny series is that if I had encountered it in one of my writing workshops in college, I think most people would have disliked it. I'm not saying that I do, that's not my point at all. I just mean that her writing style is unconventional and not for everyone. However, the praise for Bunny shows that sometimes the unconventional works. Wasn't Stephen King told in college that he should give up writing?

This book is an absolute fever dream. A frame story with very distinctively different writing styles. Don't get me wrong, Bunny was also the feral little fever dream, but somehow this sequel is a different breed of weird and twisted. When I read the synopsis, I questioned if this book was even necessary, but I'm so glad I read it. I do like the first book best, but this sequel/prequel stands on its own. Don't go into this expecting everything to be fully explained from the first book. The magic of this universe is that its spell cannot be broken if it's never really explained. I've read too many books that are ruined by trying to explain the unexplainable (that's one place where I think King sometimes fails). I think the only thing that really detracted for me was the length; I felt like 100 pages could have easily been cut out. But if you really like this world then the writing is very immersive.

Thank you to Simon Element / Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I read Bunny a few years ago and really loved it. To be honest I didn’t remember a lot of specifics but We Love You, Bunny is supposed to be able to stand on its own so I went into it without rereading the first book.

In the synopsis of this book it is described as a Heathers/Frankenstein inspired. Both of which are favorites of mine and I can definitely see where the comparison comes from. Obviously the Bunnies are evocative of the Heathers but Aerius’ story arc follows a very similar pattern as Frankenstein’s monster.

I really loved how distinct each character voice was in their respective chapters. Since this is supposed to be a sequel/prequel it was interesting to see how the Bunnies came together and how they disagreed and sometimes even seemed to dislike each other but couldn’t shake the sort of trance they were in.

Since I didn’t remember a lot of specifics about the first book, I kept wondering how the events in this book lined up with the events of Bunny. It made me want to go back and read Bunny again because I think I remember them referencing a crazy killer in the first book.

Aerius was such a great character and I love how his voice developed throughout his chapters of the book. His first chapters are so heavily influenced by the Bunnies and their tastes which they try to push onto him. Once he escapes and gets exposed to other students and teachers his voice develops and changes until he eventually settles on his own style. Even his writing which he is somewhat resistant to in his early chapters, at first the Bunnies and Poets force him to write too and use him as a muse but he ends up using his writing as a sort of escape the way a lot of the other characters do in the story.

Some of the parts were a bit funny with how obtuse the characters seemed. Like how Aerius had an ax with him after Halloween and for some reason people just thought it was normal despite an ax murderer being a the loose.

I feel like this is a perfect book for the fall season, yes it takes place over the course of a year or so but the vibe really works for a fall book. It’s just the right amount of spooky, whimsical, and even gory at times. I don’t think this book will be for everyone but I definitely enjoyed it.

2.5 stars rounded up

Bunny was one of my favorite books a few years ago with its play on the blurry line between real and not real- and the very palpable distortion of reality through the lens of Samantha.

We Love You Bunny starts with the kidnapping of Samantha by the Bunnies while she’s on tour for her novel, Bunny. Yes. The same Bunny we read. Sam is gagged and tied to a chair and the bunnies decide she needs to hear their side of the story and set the record straight- because her version isn’t right.

After they all get a chance to speak, we meet Aerius, and that’s when the story picks up. You see, Aerius is the first boy the girls create, and his story is the heart of We Love You, Bunny.

If you were a Bunny superfan, definitely pick this up.

I found it difficult to get through the first 40% of the book, but as the story switched perspectives I found myself turning pages and excited for what was to come. This story is one of toxic friendship, cult-like behavior, and the process of creating as well as all of the dark parts that come with it.

Thank you to NetGalley, MarySue Rucci Books, and Simon & Schuster for the privilege of reading this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you, NetGalley and Mona Awad  for the ARC. I leave this review voluntarily and happily. Also, thank you publishers for your hard work!

I hate how long it took me to read this, but it needed to be done. There was so much going on in this book. The emotions were a huge part of this book for me and the storytelling. It was so moving that some parts actually had me tear up. This book is twisted, magical, dark, and so much more. I will admit the first part of the story took me some time to read. Perhaps it's because of how the bunnys speak? Its a Accent thing, I guess. Even so, once I got through it, it was smooth sailing and such a page turner. I couldn't stop once the action began. This was a chonker of a book, and I loved every heartbreaking moment of it. There is blood, murder, heartbreak, love, and loss, and im telling you this book might be better than the original. The magic in this book is stunning. The hunger is absolutely ravenous. You meet so many new characters, some you will absolutely fall in love with, and others you want to rip out their hearts. How the book ends. im still trying to figure out wtf happened, and that's all im going to say about that.

The author truly put so much into this book, and I've already been a fan since I started with Bunny. I know im going to continue and read more from her as more comes out. Just from this book, i definitely will have to go back and read the first one to see what was happening between the two stories again. It's just a twisted wild ride the whole thing. I mean, if you could make a man out of a bunny or a deet or just anything, would you try? Most of us would let's not lie. These two books are full of reasons why that's just a terrible idea.

The last thing im going to gush about is the fact that this book isn't just from one perspective. it's from multiple perspectives. That's just something I absolutely love as it sometimes gets boring reading from the same person the entire time, but this book had so much going for it. So just a recap it you like Axes, bunny men, blood, and magic this is definitely the book for you.

How is this just as amazing as "Bunny"?! How are you doing this, Mona Awad?! I adored this book and wish I could unread it so I could read it for the first time again.

I loved "Bunny" and was hoping for great things from this sequel, but alas it was SO long and SO boring and SO repetitive, I ended up skimming the last chunk. It really just felt like a re-telling of "Bunny" from the perspectives of the Bunnies and the Frankenstein-rabbit, Aerius. I really didn't get it. I was so bored and close to DNFing at about 30% but then Aerius began telling his story, and I was intrigued for a bit. Then it just dragged on and on and on and on. I also hate being "told" the story as a plot device, which this book was essentially one big "telling."

I love, love, love Mona Awad’s Bunny. So, naturally, I was except read the sequel. I enjoyed this as a fan of the first. However, this novel is definitely not a stand alone. And, even as a fan of the earlier novel, I didn’t really think this added anything. It gives the feel more of fan fic than an addition to cannon.

This was a ride. So first my mind was watering to dive in. Then it felt like waking up from a dream and trying desperately to return to it. Then I was like how long is this f book. Then u started judging. What do I care about the poets, the teachers , and why do the bunnies seem so vapid if they are a a prestigious school. Why do they seem like high schoolers. Then finally after surrendering it it’s never ending chase and pov switches and happy and sad emoticons the dream comes back lucidly. The last 100 pages were meaty. I now want another prequel the teacher and her creations. Also it breaks my heart for aerius.

Have you ever read a book that changes how you see the world? Now, have you ever read a book that portrayed the world EXACYLY as you see it? That's what this book did for me. While Bunny was a masterpiece of satire, the sequel expounds upon those revelations in the most delightful ways possible. The shifts in names and perspectives, the inclusion of multiple perspective, and-of course- a deep, deep hatred of the poet trees were all outstanding additions to the books satirical tone. Couldn't recommend this harder... especially to anyone who "hated" or "didn't get" the first book. It's the fucking Godfather II.

My Obsession continues with this book. so glad i got to arc read.

thank you so much netgalley for the opportunity