Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Patricia Wants to Cuddle

This book is really bizarre in a great way! It gets grisly, and the ending is unsettling, but it's a fascinating deep dive into the psychology of reality TV, internalized misogyny, the wild woman archetype, the true place of humans in our ecosystems, the morality of sacrificial violence, and more. Strong recommend, if you can handle some body horror and gore.

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motaki's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

4.25

I really enjoyed this book, even if having so many pov got confusing at times.
Apart from Renee which was lovely and deserves only good things, the other characters were truly awful.
Casey got too many chapters for my taste, she is an arrogant entitled woman and I couldn't care less what she was doing/thinking (which usually consisted in a mix of "I'm way better than anyone" and "what can my superior intellect come up with to improve our ratings")
Patricia if you need some cuddle time I'm volunteering, in fact I would love to do just that!

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danaslitlist's review against another edition

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fast-paced

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

1.0

*minor/vague spoilers throughout*

I very much wanted to enjoy this book and for the first 15-20% I thought I was going to. However “Patricia Wants to Cuddle” has quite a few issues that stood in the way of me being able to enjoy it.

The most glaring issue is the pacing. We spend a good 80% of this book on the drama between the girls and yet in that 80% I didn’t find myself attached to anyone. Who are the characters at a deeper level? Or is there none?

It’s only at 80% so we really get any of the thriller that was subtly advertised in the description and that doesn’t leave enough time for a proper wrapping up nor does it leave enough room for the reader to sit in the chaos. This ends up negatively impacting the ending of the story for me. There’s no real conclusion and the lack of horror or discomfort to the gore and murders is just mind boggling.

The gore felt out of place and the very quick introduction not only to Patricia but also the other women involved was somehow overwhelming and underwhelming at the same time.

The gay characters “understanding the monster cause we’re monsters too/outcasts too”. Narrative. This is so disappointing because yes while I understand where this was going, the callousness and the love for violence/acceptance of violence that the gay characters exhibit leaves a bitter taste in my mouth

The other area that left me disappointed was how sensitive subject matters were handled including the blatant homophobia and shaming of someone who had an abortion. The kiss between two characters solely for the pleasure of a man was also very disgusting to me.
. This is a hard area to rate because while this behavior isn’t portrayed as “good”, it isn’t condemned either.

I didn’t go in expecting this book to be super serious or perfect; I expected a romcom with thriller elements and overall just a sense of fun and enjoyment. Instead I found myself bored by the 60% mark and finishing it just to see how it ended.

I think my disappointment comes (once again) from the book not living up to the description and the marketing falling kinda flat for me. I guess it should’ve been obvious what Patricia was given the cover of the book but it felt contrived and not utilized well at all.

The irony that the trigger warnings are giving in the book at THE END, for gore and disturbing details….oh boy, just the icing on the cake.

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