I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This was an edgy book that feels very relatable for me as a millenial. Between two men, I was. Fascinated by the main character’s actions and feelings towards both. I enjoyed the heat of this book and the overall theme of privilege and also expectations of women these days. I read this in one sitting because it was a juicy salacious read.

To be blunt: I did not like this book. I think it’s only fair to admit that this novel was not meant for me but I struggle to place exactly who it would be meant for. I would have felt differently about this book if it was supposed to be satire or from the point of view of an unreliable narrator but as the description states “Lover Girl is a lesson in the schooled indifference and the complicated dynamics of the super-privileged and the meaning of real love as a twenty-first century girl,” so I know that this book was not intended to be either of the things that I had said above.

From the start I did not like the nameless main character that I will refer to as Lover Girl. She thinks a lot of mean, judgmental, and uncalled for things about people (particularly “prettier” blonde women) and it’s a clear projection of her own lack of self worth. By the end of this novel she made me feel so bad for her and frankly she could be the new poster girl for extreme self destructive tendencies. So many times I wanted to reach through my screen, shake her, feed her, and tell her to get a job so she can save up and start providing for herself. Despite her always lying and saying she’s writing she only writes one time throughout this whole novel which defeats the purpose of her staying at Lucas’ house since that was supposed to be her writing haven.

The author’s writing was incredibly redundant. There were a lot of lines where Lover Girl would say one thing only to immediately debunk it and say the opposite. I understand the author’s intention was to show Lover Girl’s insecurity but it came off as the author trying to reach a certain page count. So many times throughout this novel the author would describe one thing only to say something entirely the opposite. In one line Lover Girl is wearing a full sleeved blazer but somehow can still feel the wet touch of a man’s finger on the skin of her arm. Lover Girl is said to not have social media and yet she scrolls through instagram and knows a lot of people “from online.” At one point Lover Girl is in a grocery store and says she grabbed a basket but it’s then referred to later as a cart.

By far my biggest grievance is that this book was tagged as a romance. This book is not about true love. This book is not about a love triangle between two different privileged rich boys. This book doesn’t even end in Lover Girl being in a relationship but rather the potential possibility of one that in my opinion would still be an unhealthy one for her to be in. I fear that Lover Girl will fall back into old habits because her biggest downfall is not allowing herself to communicate how she is feeling. She may have finally ditched the man who was using her but she never got better at expressing herself to the only person in her life that she seems to be comfortable around. I know this novel is supposed to be realistic and no one gets a shiny happy ending in real life but this ending felt like Lover Girl was just falling back into the old trap that she just escaped from, just this time with a guy that she feels cares about her more despite the fact that the other guy also cared about her before this novel took place. The only way this book should have ended was with Lover Girl going to therapy so she could unpack her trauma and stop thinking such rude and awful things about the people around her. Her thoughts are a projection of her own self hatred and she never fully realizes that except for during fleeting moments while she’s drunk and desperately wanting male attention that always in the end only makes her feel worse about herself.

I wish there was more depth to this story and I get it. This genre of nameless, aimless, gen z/millennial young woman traipsing around the Hamptons with no goal in sight is starting to take off but there's no meat, no stakes to get invested into the plot. Peppered in with some references to trauma and that very uncomfortable non consensual act, this just never took off for me.

I really enjoyed this book. It tells of a young woman whose focus was more on feeling love than being in love, having a career, or having a relationship with her family. There were a lot of relatable moments in this book.