I’ve consumed a lot of fiction this month and have been thoroughly charmed by (most of) what I’ve read, so I’m spreading the love and sharing the recs. Rest assured everything below is spoiler-free. Besides a few thoughts and highlights I’m keeping it vague, so that surprise awaits you should you choose to pick up one of these beautiful tomes.
Good Material by Dolly Alderton
I’m a huge Dolly fan. The High Low will forever be a G.O.A.T. podcast, and Everything I Know About Love is one of my favorite memoirs.
Good Material is Dolly’s second novel. It follows Andy, a thirty-five year old British stand-up comic, as he navigates the fallout of an unexpected breakup. You journey along with him through each phase of relationship grief: denial, sorrow, self-pity, delusion, and the exertion of misplaced energy.
This is a story about heartbreak. Despite that, and the cringey fact that Andy isn’t that good at stand-up, the book itself is hilarious. Usually when I’m reading at home, I either read with soft music on, or in complete silence. I gave myself a jump scare the first time I involuntarily barked out a laugh.
I continued to lol every time he gets a text from his sassy, overly amped new personal trainer, Kelly, who sends him things like this:
“HOT STUFF. Bet you’re TEARING up the dating scene right now!!! Let’s get a session in fella, been a while since I’ve seen u and I wanna see this FINE FORM IRL”
Good Material goes from good to great (no pun intended) in its final act. Dolly sticks the landing with those last few chapters where the book transitions from a frothier rom-com vibe to a profound reflection on relationships, and what they mean over the course of a lifetime. An interesting POV emerges and… I’ll say no more. Go enjoy the emotional rollercoaster ride for yourself.
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
I felt a hole in my heart once I parted ways with dear Andy of Good Material, and craved more funny, heartwarming fiction. Maintaining The High Low energy, I grabbed a book recommended by Pandora Sykes.
Margo’s Got Money Troubles follows a twenty-year-old college dropout and new mother, who, after getting fired from her server job due to lack of childcare, decides to try her luck on OnlyFans. On the surface this premise may seem desperate, and perhaps a little grimy. The OnlyFans aspect of it all built a barrier of apprehension in my brain, but I laid my trust in Pandora and pummeled forward.
I won’t lie, Margo’s circumstances are pretty bleak at the start. What saves the plot from being overwhelmingly grim is Margo’s unique narration; author Rufi Thorpe imbues her protagonist with self-awareness, precocity, and humor. I loved Margo’s unflinching observations of her quirky family, including her dad (an ex-pro wrestler), her mom (a Bloomingdales lifer), and her baby daddy (who happens to be her college professor).
This story takes place in SoCal and is heavy on the Orange County and LA references. Seeing Margo’s life play out in places and landmarks I actually know, like Downey, Fullerton, and Fashion Island, made the story feel even more immersive. It was like a reverse Where’s Waldo - where will Margo and baby Bodhi hang out next?
This book came out last June (2023), and has already been picked up by Apple to be developed into a series. It’s a fun, incredibly unique story that I highly recommend and will prob read again.
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
This is my second foray into BookTok recommendations. A Court of Thorns and Roses, aka ACOTAR, is the first book of its eponymous series. Although reading A Court of Thorns and Roses was mostly a flop, it was much more successful than my very first BookTok read. (I still fume at the hours I wasted reading Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover... So, so bad.)
My bestie has been recommending the ACOTAR series for years now. I grew up on fantasy, but felt like I’d graduated from the genre after reading Game of Thrones in college. So, rather than say “no”, I took the cowardly path and simply dodged the rec as long as I could, until the fateful day she physically pressed a copy of the book into my hands. I could avoid it no longer.
Thoughts that plagued me during the first third of A Court of Thorns and Roses :
Unoriginal
Depressingly boring
Boringly depressing
Unafraid to reference, or not reference (*cough cough* Hunger Games)
Questions that permeated my brain while I read the middle chunk:
Am I too old to be reading Y.A.?
Is this just a retelling of Beauty and the Beast (Faerie Version)?
How many times can she reference the muscles rippling under his tunic?
Me, blitzing through the final act:
Finally, something is happening
I love gladiators. And worms. Hell yeah.
Fight for your life, girl!
This is definitely not Y.A. - Twilight was never this level of horny.
I learned that this series falls under the developing category of ‘new adult’ fiction. New adult is the older sibling of Y.A. It features protagonists in their late teens and 20s, which is meant to reflect that same demographic of readers. From what I’ve gleaned reading ACOTAR, another aspect differentiating the genre is that it features gratuitous sex scenes, which allows the books to be marketed as ‘adult’.
Did I feel like an adult reading this? Absolutely not. In fact, I think I vehemently hated reading the first 70% of the book so much because it reminded me of the sappy tripe I used to read in high school. (See: Twilight series.) However, the story redeems itself in its third act. Once it became an immersive action-adventure story, I couldn’t put it down.
Here’s a HOT TIP: if you decide to read it, think of it as a drawn-out exercise in world building and exposition. It’ll make it easier to endure the first two thirds and get to the good stuff.
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
I planned to read the first book as a standalone in the name of appeasing my friend. However, those final bits were so gripping that I immediately needed to know what happened next - so I jumped into the sequel.
A Court of Mist and Fury was a delight. Complete opposite experience of reading the first book, which caused me to roll my eyes so frequently I thought I might see my newly-smooth brain.
In the second installment, the character development and world building levels up. The plot also becomes more intricate with much higher stakes. I love when small past details are recalled and weaved seamlessly back into the plot - this happens frequently in Mist and Fury, making it all the more satisfying to read.
After mainlining the sequel, I wondered if Sarah J. Maas was trolling us with the first one. How could something so bad turn into something so good? Upon reflection, I realize it might been intentional. *I know I said no spoilers at the start, but I need to share my revelation so please only read on if you’re okay with mild spoilers ahead.*
Hear me out. Throughout most of Book 1, I felt annoyed and filled with ennui. When Feyre escapes to the Night Court in Book 2, she eventually looks back upon her own experience in the Spring Court (where most of Book 1 takes place) and feels the same way. Does the reader’s ‘escape’ of Book 1 serve to foreshadow Feyre’s emotional arc? Was Sarah J. Maas pulling the strings the entire time? Or am I grasping at straws to explain what I perceive as a flop debut to a strong series? If you’re an ACOTAR fan, tell me what you think.
Totally agree on the review on the 1st and 2nd ACOTAR book. 2nd book is when Feyre really starts to grow as a character. You also inspired me to read the other fiction books you reviewed as well!
The tunic line is so good 😂 okay, wait until book 5. It’s shaping up to be my favorite of the series!