SATURN RETURNING is exactly what I love in a sapphic read -- the messiness of DYKETTE, the earnestness of OLD ENOUGH, the complex yet breezy conversations about sexuality of DETRANSITION, BABY. I read this book in one sitting -- it was compulsive, I literally could not put it down. These characters are so complex and interesting and flawed and relatable and vulnerable, I fell in love with them and was rooting for them and chastising them the whole entire story. Narby's prose are so lyrical and cutting, I cried several times and would recommend it to everyone!!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the Publisher for gifting me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

Gosh where can I start with this wonder of a book? It's been a while since I read something that gripped me my the hearstrings and refused to let me go. I couldn't put it down, and when I inevitably had to, I couldn't stop thinking about it.

Saturn Returning carries us within the lives of our three main protagonists, Jordan, Trace and Silvia. Each one of them a different character, with distinct personalities, goals and wishes. Each with their own story that somehow intertwines with each other's. It was a pleasure to get to know them and feel with them, and if someone came up to me and offered to erase my memory so I could specifically read this book and experience it again the way I did this first time around, I would say yes without even giving it a second thought.

I found bits and pieces of myself and my friends and my community in the characters in this book and it gave me such a sense of belonging that I rarely feel in the books that I read. At times I found myself frustrated with the character's decisions, I teared up when they cried and I felt sorry for them when things went opposite of how they wanted them to go, exactly the way I would for my friends. Grown-up life is hard, it pulls us from our friends and families, and forces us to spend our time to survive in the workplace so we can later survive monetarily outside of the workplace. This book reminded me to prioritise the people in my life more, because we can't know when Saturn Returns and uproots our entire life, pulling people we care about out of our lives.

I will be posting a Substack review as well as posting parts of it to Pagebound and Goodreads a week before publishing date!

The complicated triangle between Trace, Silvia, and Jordan begins in college and continues into the years after. Kim Narby develops the characters so beautifully that you find yourself leaning in and wanting more. From beautiful and tender moments to incredibly sad and messy moments you find yourself cheering for each one of them for different reasons. I found myself highlighting sections throughout the book - that in itself is a sign of a good read!

I found this book, more then anything, intriguing. I read it in two days, and I was interested about the characters from the get- go. This book did what many duel timeline books fail at, and managed to make the reader interested in the plotline of the past. I definitely liked the characters, though one of them I found insufferable, which I actually think is a compliment to it, making the story more nuanced. I'd definitely recommend this!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5 stars)

Thank you to NetGalley and author Kim Narby for the opportunity to read Saturn Returning. This is my honest review of the ARC, and I truly appreciate it.

I would like to note that this is exactly what you expect from this book - exciting dialogues, interesting complex characters, and something that touches the depths of the soul!!!

I really liked this. It’s not my usual kind of book, but it’s filled with lots of drama and written really well. The three women we follow are all super layered and dynamic, and I feel like they were very distinct…but I knocked off a star because I don’t think a single one of them was likable. I appreciated how they were all morally grey, but I didn’t really like any of them even though I did enjoy the book!

Thanks to NetGalley & the publishers for the ARC!

YESSSSS
A stellar sapphic read
So good you have to read it in one sitting, the characters have flaws, they’re vulnerable, it’s so easy to root for them and fall in love with the story

If you want to get lost in some queer emotional drama, then this is the book for you. I love the aspect of counting down to a Saturn return. Lots of loveable moments. Lots of relatable moments. Lots of complexity amongst relationships. You will feel a part of this trio as you explore these characters. Love some messy sapphic reads.

I really enjoyed the concept of this book, it had that mystery element that I was looking for and was hooked from the first page. It uses the genre perfectly and was hooked and thought the overall storyline worked with the characters. The characters had that development worked in this storyline and was glad it was so well done. Kim Narby has a strong writing style and I hope to read more from the author.

A queer coming of age novel about messy women in their 20s who don’t know what they want. It’s a story of friendship at its deepest meaning when you’re queer and creating your found family. We experience so many different versions of ourselves and sometimes forget to give ourselves grace as we age.

Saturn Returning is a richly imaginative and deeply emotional read that left me thinking long after I closed the book. The way the author weaves together themes of identity, change, and the passage of time feels both personal and universal. There’s a maturity in the storytelling, an understanding that growth isn’t linear, that beginnings and endings often overlap.

I was especially impressed with how the characters are portrayed. They’re flawed, sometimes messy, hurting or hopeful in ways that feel honest. I found myself caring about what happens to them, sometimes frustrated, sometimes rooting for them, but always engaged. The pacing is strong, keeping tension and curiosity alive while also giving space for reflection.

On the downside, there are moments when the transitions between timelines (or between what feels like metaphor and what feels like literal events) get a little confusing. There were points where I had to pause and reorient myself in the story. Also, a few of the subplots didn’t feel completely resolved, which I both appreciated (because life doesn’t wrap things up neatly) and found slightly unsatisfying.

In sum, I give Saturn Returning 4 stars because it’s beautifully written, emotionally resonant, with memorable characters and a powerful sense of journey. It might not be perfect, but it’s a book that stays with you and that, to me, is what great literature often manages to do.

This book felt like a mixtape of heartbreak, friendship, and cosmic timing. It follows three women—Jordan, Trace, and Silvia—whose lives collide in college and spiral across a decade of love, secrets, and shifting identities. Their bond is electric, messy, and deeply queer. As they approach thirty and their Saturn return, everything comes undone.

Kim Narby’s writing is raw and lyrical, full of emotional gut punches and quiet revelations. I loved the way she captured the gravitational pull of past relationships—the ones that shape you, even when they break you. It’s a story about growing up, growing apart, and the ache of what could’ve been.

A great debut novel by Kim Narby! It's the first time I am introduced to the Saturn's return concept, and at the same exact time, a song with the exact same title by Zara Larsson just came out.. Should I believe in signs? Naaah, I'm not 29-30 yet.

I may not have liked the ending but I definitely liked the book. There's beautiful storytelling and character building. It's honestly glorious: you have enough point of veiw and inner thoughts from three characters over the years to understand deeply each of them, but most importantly to understand how each character misunderstands the others. And always with showing, no telling.

But as I was saying I did not love the ending because the whole book felt ominous: since the beginning, tension built up and up and up, so this flat and curt ending was king of disappointing. You are expecting a big confrontation between the three women which never comes.

So understand that here, it is the process and the psychological approach to the characters and their relationship that counts, and it is most definitely worth it.

Took a little long to read due to the pacing of the book but I love reading sapphic stories especially with my age range when the themes are growth and identity as that’s very important for people that are starting to become themselves outside of high school.

Saturn Returning is an engaging and emotionally resonant read. It beautifully reminds us that personal growth is never linear. I really appreciated how the characters were portrayed as fully human—flawed yet full of virtues—which made the story more compelling and addictive. The narrative is messy in the best way possible, and the sapphic romance at its core was wonderfully done. The fluid writing style kept me hooked, eager to see what would happen next.

On the other hand, I did struggle a bit with the timeline. The layering of timelines within other timelines,
jumping between past and future, was sometimes confusing and occasionally forced me to flip back a few pages to reorient myself.

Overall, though, I truly enjoyed this book. The writing style and the depth of the characters made it a worthwhile read, and I’d be happy to explore more from this author.

I want to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

thank you so much bindery books and netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review!!

saturn returning was a very relatable read and felt like stumbling along and growing up with a close friend. i found it very easy to sink into and i got wrapped up in each character's pov.

if you're someone who enjoys character over plot stories i definitely recommend this ! i will add, i found the astrology/spiritual aspects to feel a little disjointed and forced, but other than that, i really enjoyed reading :)

This is a book about three sapphic women, from college up to their thirties. There's love, drama, secrets, growth, identity crises, and painful realizations. It's messy, introspective, and addicting to read. It's an immersive read where you start to realize why they make decisions a certain way, even when the decisions are more than questionable.

I'm not typically a fan of novels that are heavy on the character study, but this book did it excellently. It left enough things for the reader to figure out from clues. Perhaps my favorite thing about this book was the deep dive into relationships, what do we need from them and how much can one person give really give.

A great celestial queer novel, one of the best books I've read this year! :)

A book about messy, queer friendship in your twenties. Realistic characters from all walks of life experiencing life and growing up together. It took me awhile to get into this book but once I was I was hooked and didn’t want to put it down.

My only downside is that at multiple points I found the timelines confusing - jumping around a 10 year time span with 3 characters proved difficult for me to follow at times.

But overall, an enjoyable read and for the whole book I enjoyed trying to guess wha their “Saturn retiring” was!

Thank you to author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book!

This was my first sapphic romance, and I really appreciated how fresh and original it felt. I loved that there are three main characters who all feel equally important, which is quite unique. The story is messy in the best way, reflecting real, complex dynamics, and it captures queer culture in a way that feels authentic and true to life without ever becoming a parody. While the book was a little slow and uneventful for my personal taste, that’s more about me than the writing itself. It’s a well-written, thoughtful story with fully fleshed-out characters, and I think many readers will love it.

I started off with mixed feelings about this one! It was not a strong first impression for me, but I found myself drawn into the background stories of the three main characters. The history of their friendship as a trio and the background on their own lives was much more engaging to me than the present day adulthood narratives. I felt most strongly connected to the character Jordan, Silvia was interesting and complex, but Trace annoyed the heck out of me. I did find the ending felt like a breath of fresh air after staying with the entanglements of these three women for so long, and I mean that in a good way! For all my initial qualms, I found the story to be engaging, intimate, and would read it for multiple hours at a time. Narby's approach to this story, told from three perspectives, does a subtle but effective job of expressing the ways in which we make presumptions about others, even our near and dear, and can sometimes get in our own way as a result.

While I really wanted to love this one - it just didn't pull through in my eyes. I absolutely love the premise and the last 15% was my favorite of the entire book. I found the change of timelines/povs confusing but that was for sure a me problem. I would still recommend this title to people and I'm so glad I got to read this early! Overall, I enjoyed this and had fun with these messy queers. Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the arc of Saturn Returning.

Saturn Returning was a real and honest story about the mess of love, care, and relationships. All the characters - in their own ways - were magnetic and flawed.

I loved the unique way it was told: in third person, but in multiple perspectives across several years. It was very encompassing and I felt like the characters were unfolding to me piece by piece as the book went on.

I was sooo excited to receive an ARC of Saturn Returning, as it's one of my most awaited reads of 2026, and it did not disappoint! Narby is a skilled writer and navigated the multiple POVs and timelines deftly. Trace, Silvia, and Jordan were flawed, complex, and deeply human. I love chaotic imperfect messy queer representation and this was a great example. I've already recommended this book to friends, and I can't wait to buy a physical copy when it comes out and cover the pages in underlines and notes!

This was an amazingly messy sapphic book that I ate uppp.
This was just exactly what I didn't know I needed. There's something so satisfying about being wrong about your expectations and loving it regardless.
Must read!!

Rounding up to 4 stars but probably more like 3.5 stars. I typically like a timeline that goes back and forth from the past to current but I am very unsure about the relationships here. Are they all best friends? I don't know actually. Jordan was my favorite character. Sylvia and Trace both seem selfish and the relationship seemed incredibly toxic.

This book was very good. It was kind of different than my normal type of wreaths. I really enjoyed it. I felt like it was a slow burn, but it had a lot of plot to twist and it’s very enjoyable and I’m sure that once others get their hands on it they’re gonna enjoy it as well.

A heartbreaking and honest glimpse into the complexities of relationships. The characters were so thoughtfully flushed out and written so that there was never a moment where I questioned their decisions or actions. I loved how different they were that the story and their journey completely made sense. It felt very intimate, sometimes too much at times. Like seeing into someone's head and feeling like these thoughts and feelings should be kept to yourself.
Would definitely recommend!

The messiest most codependent lesbians at your liberal arts school. This feels very true to life in a way that was very fun to read. Like an extended gossip session at a sticky bar about a friend of a friend.

Thank you to Bindery Books & Sapph-Lit and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a caricature of the messiness of relationships and the lingering impact on friends, lovers or whatever that straddles between those labels.

I had never been into astrology because the concept of faraway planets impacting my life never made sense. But I found myself googling about “Saturn returning” and spending way too much time on astronomy Reddit threads while being sucked in by the story.

Told from three POVs, jumping between the past and the present, you’ll want to make sure you’re strapped in for this bumpy ride. Though I didn't like any of the characters initially, I found myself wishing for the best outcomes for them despite their flaws and questionable decisions.

The book doesn't gloss over the grey areas of friendships - we all have expectations from relationships after all, and everyone is looking to fill a need/desire/hole in their soul after all. Relationships are fundamentally complex, and this book got me questioning about the boundaries that define them.

What addictive and captivating writing, I couldn't put it down! I was immediately hooked and loved following these three complex, layered, and truly human characters. There are so many aspects of each character that feels relatable and immediately connects with the reader, and the messy and probably unhealthy choices made me ache. While the plot is twisting every different direction, there's the roots in reality, in human connection and emotion that keeps the story grounded and believable.

I do feel as though the ending left me wanting more. There was a building tension that seems to dissipate rather than come to a head, and I don't think it completely derails the story but does take of a small amount of its glimmer. Overall this is an excellent debut and a book I'll definitely return to.

Saturn Returning is a quiet, thoughtful novel about what happens when the life you thought you wanted no longer feels like your own. Kim Narby captures that unsettling, in-between stage of adulthood so well, when you start questioning your choices and wondering if it’s too late to change.

The main character’s journey felt honest and deeply relatable. I really appreciated how Narby explores themes of identity, grief, and self-acceptance without ever feeling heavy-handed. The writing is lyrical and reflective, and even the small, everyday moments carry a lot of emotional weight.

The story moves at a slower pace, but it matches the tone. This isn’t about action or big twists; it’s about inner transformation. I found myself highlighting several lines because the observations about growing up, friendship, and letting go really hit home.

Overall, Saturn Returning is a beautiful, introspective read that will resonate with anyone who’s ever paused to ask, “Is this really the life I want?”

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book stressed me out! It felt very true to life, very gay, very messy. I loved it while cringing.

Like Anna Dorn meets Sally Rooney’s Normal People. The book explores the three personality types of the characters really well. The ending needed some more fleshing out in my opinion over the dragging middle .75 present mark. Great dialogue, great settings and characters. An excellent debut for all literary fiction lovers.

If you want to get lost in some queer emotional drama, then this is the book for you. I love the aspect of counting down to a Saturn return since a lot of big things happen around that time. There were so many loveable and relatable moments. Lots of complexity amongst relationships with a ton of range. The author does an amazing job of making you feel like you are a part of the trio. Love some messy sapphic reads.

A relatable and entertaining look at the chaos of adulthood in a group of friends. I loved and related to each character in a different way and truly feel like I got to know them all personally. The book spanning a decade of their lives made it that much more fascinating and easy to follow the plot. The celestial theme was a fun addition that sets this book apart from all the other friendship style novels I’ve read. This book shows how complex we each are and how chaotic our lives can be. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Review will be posted on Instagram and Amazon on pub day and links added to NetGalley.

Gotta love messy, codependent queers! This was very well written, and I thought the jumps back and forth in time were done very well.

While I enjoyed the story, I felt like there wasn’t enough character development. I feel like Jordan was severely lacking any depth, and Sylvia just became more and more unlikable as the book went on. The ending was also fairly unsatisfying, and it would have been nice to have a prologue jumping ahead in time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kim Narby for the opportunity to read this book! This was my first ARC, and it made this book so much more special.

I was IMMEDIATELY drawn to the cover and title as an astrology and tarot nerd. The description immediately hooked me in and I just knew I had to read this. Saturn Returning follows the lives of three sapphic women from when they meet in college, until their Saturn return (27-31 y/o). This book tugged on my heartstrings the whole time. I saw myself in all three of these characters, particularly Jordan. They felt so real, so raw, so vulnerable, and I think that was the main draw for me. My emotions ranged from empathy to pity to (mild) anger while reading about them and their lives. I wanted to know what got them to do what they did, how they got to what they got.

Overall, it was a beautiful and heart-wrenching read. I've already recommended this book to my partner for when it releases, and I look forward to reading more from Kim Narby to see what else she has in store for us!

Saturn Returning centres around three friends Trace, Silvia and Jordan who we follow in two timelines – past and present. In the past, we see how they first meet at college, how Jordan begins to come out of her shell and explores her sexuality; how Trace is a sucker for girls and falls hard when she falls in love; and how Silvia has a whole host of feelings bubbling under the surface that she’s reluctant to share, even as she grows closer to her friends (Jordan) and lovers (Trace).

In the present, Trace breaks off her engagement with Silvia. She’s in love with another woman. These moments are interspersed between the history between the three as they graduate, get jobs and travel across the world. Their relationships change as they do and grow infinitely more complex.

I found Saturn Returning to be really well written – I love reading queer literary fiction like this where we explore people just living their lives, making mistakes and patching things back up again. I found the different POVs to be different enough that I didn’t feel as though I was reading about the same person three separate times. Knowing from the beginning that Trace and Silvia were on the rocks, that Jordan was unwillingly in the centre of it all, it was easy to keep on reading and see how they got to where they were, to be anticipated about what was to come.

3.75 star
As a queer astrology girlie, i feel like this book was made for me.
I love a book about adults that feel like a coming of age stoy. People figiring shit out even when they have full time jobs and are paying rent.
Silvia was my favorite character, but I appreciated getting to read from all three of them. Usually im not the biggest fan of different time lines in stories, but it was nice to see them when they met and then years later, it helped understand their relationship, since it was a messy one.

I devoured this book so quickly!
For me it felt like a queer 'Normal People' vibe in the best way. Narby's characters are messy and raw but also hopeful and vibrant across the entirety of the story. I really liked the way it spanned the ten years from when the three MCs meet to present day because it gave Narby to get really deep into their individual personalities as well as layer their shared history.
I think this story is going to stay with me for a long time, especially the character of Silvia. I think the part that kept me so gripped throughout was how I kept expecting one of them to have done something to have fractured their friendship, and yet the way we are drawn in we quickly see that none of them are perfect.
I found their dynamic so real in terms of how relationships are formed in our uni years and irrevocably evolve in our early adulthood and I was hooked from beginning to end. Their magnetism is their messiness and I'm so excited for Narby's next release, until then I'll just be recommending 'Saturn Returning' to everyone I know.

This was a great look at what it’s like when you’re queer and your life blows up during your Saturn Return. Messy lesbian drama, combined with finding one’s footing in the world. Deeply relatable and deeply funny.

Saturn Returning by Kim Narby

Okay, let's just talk about Kim Narby's Saturn Returning. This isn't your mom's book club fare. It’s an absolute mess (and I mean that as the highest compliment) of a debut that hits you right when your astrological Saturn Return is demanding you finally get your life together. This book is the literary equivalent of a 3 AM group chat that goes way too deep, too fast, and leaves you emotionally fried but somehow cleansed.

The whole damn story is a queer love triangle/messy friendship spanning a decade, and honestly, the sheer audacity is what makes it compulsive. We’re talking about Jordan, the introspective photographer and low-key obsessed third wheel who knows too much and feels everything (a classic inner-monologue queen). Then there’s Trace, the Hot One: charismatic, tattooed, and dripping with main-character energy since freshman year. She's the gravitational center of the drama, and you will both love her and want to shake her, sometimes on the same page. Completing the holy trinity of chaos is Silvia, the Walking Mood Ring—magnetic, mercurial, and basically the chaos agent who catches Trace's eye early on and nukes the nascent Jordan/Trace vibe, forming their codependent unit.

These characters are trauma-bonded chaos, shipping themselves to opposite coasts but remaining tethered by their mutual emotional destruction. The timeline jumps between their electric, fraught college days and the present, where Trace is engaged to Silvia but calls Jordan with a confession that’s basically a friendship-ending pipe bomb. I’m telling you, the secrets, the unspoken yearning, the sheer will of their co-dependence—it’s high-stakes, low-functioning drama, and I was absolutely living for it.

Narby absolutely nails the existential anxiety of your late twenties. It’s not just a love story; it’s a critique of the "chosen family" trope, showing how the people you choose can hurt you just as much as the family you try to escape.

Her writing is beautiful—lyrical but cutting. She writes with zero filter about how platonic love and sexual desire are sometimes just overlapping Venn diagrams in queer friendships, and how confusing it is when the roles keep shifting. It’s a powerful, raw study in self-definition: Can you truly evolve when you’re still orbiting the people who solidified your initial identity? The book is constantly asking: What are you going to break to finally move forward?

Look, if you didn't have a messy, emotionally exhausting, possibly toxic queer friend group in your twenties, did you even live? This book is your therapy bill disguised as literary fiction. It’s compulsive reading that will validate every chaotic impulse you ever had.

The prose slaps you with realizations you didn't know you needed, and while some critics are grumbling about the ending (it’s definitely not a tidy bow!), the gut-wrenching, decade-spanning journey is the entire damn point. Grab it, make sure your chat notifications are off, and prepare for a hangover.

#SaturnReturning #NetGalley

I loved this book! It explores the messiness of friendship and relationships and being true to oneself - I couldn't put it down. Would recommend!

Thank you NetGallery for the eARC!!

Holy messy lesbians.

This novel was quite the journey, yet all of their struggles and thoughts felt very, very real. This story felt like someone’s reality, which is both terrifying and captivating.

It was very character driven, so if you are looking for plot when starting this novel, don’t start this novel. It is extremely focused on the three main characters and how their lives have defined/continue to define them. I was intrigued every step of the way.

To be honest, I wish there was more. I appreciate the conclusion not being entirely satisfying, as life rarely is, yet I yearned for that neat conclusion. Perhaps this is the point, however, as life continues to throw curveballs.

Would recommend, especially as a queer person that knows the drama we can get into.

Queerness is messy in our twenties and this sapphic tale explores the breadth of queering our identities. There is this deep friendship found in queer platonic love – and there is this comfort found in romantic queer love. Add in the tarot cards and the descriptions of the art to really make a lesbian tale. The cover gives you the glimpse of the types of love sapphics will encounter. Read this story to absolve your queer heart of the young queerness you felt denied.
The depth of description is my favorite part. It did not feel like I was reading a Hollywood version of tarot cards. The dialogue between the girls is the true highlight of Narby’s writing. The tarot readings were merely insights into their personalities. The way they spoke to each other and engaged with their environment is what makes the narrative come alive. Readers will find relatability to a protagonist really learning to come into her own. The dialogue show cases real personality traits that further establish the queer themes.
Why do we look to the stars for answers we intuitively seek? It is the essence of confirmation but much more. Finding a way to balance the insecurities and be accepting of oneself. Readers will engage with this as a true gem of a coming-of-age novel. Thank you Netgalley and Bindery books for this advanced digital copy. All opinions are my own!
Visit my blog for tarot reads, recommendations, and impressions on my blog https://brujerialibrary.wordpress.com

This coming of age sapphic story was messy in the best way. Kim Narby’s use of time skips to foreshadow the present along with tarrot cards are some of my favourite parts of the book.
I do wish that Jordan was less of a go-between for Trace and Silvia in the majority of the book though it had it’s purpose in the story.
The end felt a little rushed and anticlimactic after the buildup that happened which left me wanting.
Thank you NetGalley and Bindery for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bindery for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

4.5 stars for “Saturn Returning”!

This book was honestly a lot more profound than I expected it to be. The messiest of lesbian coming of age, “Saturn Returning” made me feel angry, made me feel bitter, made me feel hopeful. It made my stomach churn, and made me yearn!

I was really impressed by Narby’s ability to make me hate Trace in the beginning, and make me feel mad at her for Silvia, and by the end the feelings were the complete opposite. I didn’t even realize it until the end when I thought to myself, “wait…I’m supposed to be mad at Trace!” Just overall really great development across the board.

Really recommend this!

Saturn Returning is a book for the messy queers; it's a love triangle in a friend group where friendship and romance blend together. Three women, each with their messy life and their own emotional depth, and how they all probably had a crush on each other since they started being friends. I felt on the edge of crying the last third of the book; the whole thing was an emotional rollercoaster, and the ending was so much more intense than I expected. Honestly, the pace of the book did not bother me, but I do have to say it leans more on the slow side for the most part. The change of timeline was a little bit confusing sometimes, but when you get used to it, it feels nice to get more backstory on their dynamic and each of the characters' lives. For most of the book— if not all—I felt like Trace and Jordan were the same person, and their personalities merged a lot. Sometimes, I even had to reread some phrases because I got confused. I feel like Jordan sometimes felt bland, and that made me really sad because the times she stood out, I loved her, and honestly, she deserved more. If you like chaotic friend groups and queer drama, I think you shouldn't hesitate to pick this book up. Also, I really liked the style in which the author wrote the story; even when the story felt dragged at some points—I think that was the whole point— it didn’t make me love it any less.

Thank you, NetGalley and Bindery Books, for the arc in exchange for an honest review

Saturn Returning by Kim Narby is a brilliant, chaotic, and deeply felt look at the complexities of late twenties adulthood. It tracks a messy, decade-spanning queer love triangle and friendship "holy trinity"—Jordan, Trace, and Silvia—who are intrinsically linked by shared history and codependence. Narby's cutting, beautiful writing doesn't shy away from the existential angst, mapping out high-stakes drama and unspoken yearning as these characters navigate the pain and security found in their chosen family. The celestial theme adds a unique structure to this otherwise raw, honest story, making it an incredibly entertaining and relatable read.