Reviews with content warning for Abortion - Patricia Wants to Cuddle

I devoured this. This book is my flavour of weird, and I could not put it down. Woman’s wrongs, reality TV and commentary on society, lesbians, the Pacific Northwest, and a cryptid? Sign me up.

From the reviews I read I was expecting this to be pulpy. I can see that, but is this is pulp then it’s the best pulp I’ve ever read. I want more of this, which is my only complaint.

I don’t feel like I can describe my experience without spoilers. It might not be the weirdest out there, but it will take you for a wild ride. And, for me, the gore is VISCERAL.

Content Warnings

inkworm's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Content Warnings

cmboyke's review against another edition

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dark funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This was the perfect thrill ride to pull me out of my reading slump. Once I started, it was difficult not to read the rest.

Content Warnings

eliya's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I had a whole review written out yesterday and I didn’t save it and now it’s gone 😪
It took me about a month to read this pretty short book lol. 13 hours of reading time.

Loved the “weird” nature of the book, combining two loved genres, the snide remarks the characters make about each other. There are some good quotes from this book that I’ll be listing below. I don’t think you’re supposed to like any character and I definitely didn’t lol. Loved the physical descriptions the author used to describe feelings.

Did not love the writing style. The author focused a lot on scene dressing and filled most of the book with painful, needless details and empty attempts to develop internal dialogue between the different characters.

I think Casey was spot-on- Amanda and Vanessa were the same character, one just had two moms and talked mostly about how that shaped her vs the other one who wanted to fuck Jeremy so much. Lilah Mae was a caricature of the toxic Christian trope & Renee… I’m conflicted about Renee. She was a curmudgeon the whole book, understandably so, but I don't find valor in just being a hater.

In the author’s note, the author talks about how it took courage to write this “weird” book, but it truly was not weird enough.

I had a lot of hopes for this book, but all in all, it was: boring, boring, cringy and unbelievable, funny, boring, until 80% through, then it was really exciting!! Where was that the whole rest of the book?

Favorite quotes out of context -

“For Alexa, the knife in my heart”
“But that was the point, wasn’t it? To be reminded.”
“Some pretzel bags are prettier than others…”
"But she's trying to stop searching for herself in the eyes of others"
"Standing over her like a gangly teenager about to ask his mom for lunch money"
"He tasted minty and yet somehow still disgusting, like Altoids that had been scraped off of the floor of the car."
"She imagines what it would be like to have a brain unburdened by intelligence--and then Vanessa's..."
"Casey didn't finish; she wasn't expecting to"
"It seems like the sort of place where you could actually just live life, instead of researching the best way to live your life on the internet."

"Leafless trees poking out through the cracks between them, like arms worn down to their sinews reaching up to be fed."
"Nothing but silence and sky. It feels like the end of the world."

" 'Maybe you would have rather gone home with Amanda?! ... You kissed her way better than you ever kissed me!' 'That's because you taste like unwashed asshole, Jeremy' "
"...barely notice it at first, is a fresh human head, detached from a body that is nowhere to be found. Her hair tied in a ponytail, her expression frozen in shock, a layer of blood caking on pale skin. 'Hi, Amanda,' Renee says, looking down at the head. Amanda doesn't speak back, because she's a disembodied head. Alas, poor Amanda."

New words:
Indefatigable - Persisting tirelessly.
Eponymous -

(of a person) giving their name to something.
"the eponymous hero of the novel"
- (of a thing) named after a particular person.
- "Roseanne's eponymous hit TV series"

Adroit - clever or skillful in using the hands or mind. "he was adroit at tax avoidance"

Content Warnings

_p0ssum_'s review against another edition

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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addimop's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

such a fun read that balances horror and comedy. the only reason this is not 5 stars for me is the overall message is a little obscure. the book definitely satirizes reality tv but also fleshes out the characters enough that you empathize with them. perhaps its more a commentary on what we have to do to survive under capitalism? there also must be a larger meaning to a monster who wants companionship but cant express it so ends up going on a heterosexual killing spree ….

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daniraewrites's review against another edition

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dark funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A disastrous queer awakening crossed with a slasher where the killer is bigfoot. Lighthearted in parts and seriously chilling in others, this book does an excellent job of mocking elements of reality show dating and horror tropes while still catering to people who enjoy them.
My only criticism that keeps this from being a 5 is that Renee's character is revealed to us a lot slower than the others. She's framed as a main character but we know very little about her motivations and true feelings until close to the end. This doesn't appear to have been for the purpose of drama either. Just a little something that bothered me. Still an absolutely fantastic 4 star read and I would recommend it to any horror fan I know.

Content Warnings

ncindc's review against another edition

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dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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