Reviews with content warning for Violence - Patricia Wants to Cuddle

This is exactly what I needed. Silly, gross, funny and a little bit weird. A quick read, told via third person narratives focusing on different characters, interspersed with letters, blog posts and message board posts.

Content Warnings

missdeaddoll's review

Go to review page

adventurous funny sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

This was slow in some areas and I didn’t connect with it immediately, but I’m glad I stayed with it because I LOVED the ending. The writing is very descriptive, you get good character background, a good amount of blood and gore, and you have lgbt characters. Renee was my favorite character, she’s the smartest character and she finds herself through everything. I enjoyed the formatting of the book; some chapters were from character perspectives, some from blogs about the show, and some were love letters. Really cute ending. I have discovered every book I like I want a film adaptation for.

Content Warnings

brea's review

Go to review page

dark funny fast-paced

Content Warnings

withlivjones's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This was a gripping read. I don’t read a lot of horror or gore but I was thoroughly glued to the page. The characters are all pretty morally grey and unlikeable, and I enjoyed the exploration of the reality TV genre.

Content Warnings

bex4dayz's review

Go to review page

dark funny fast-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

enyltiak's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny lighthearted tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Just such a fun read. I loved Renee as a character,

she made such a great final girl for this story,

and the romance between Maggie and Kathy that's explored through letters in the last third of the book genuinely almost brought me to tears. A win for the lesbians.

Content Warnings

mathmagicalreader's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

christine_d's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

the positives:
this is a quick, snappy read with an engaging writing style that is easy to read. i zipped through it in one night and it really gripped me. the horror elements, shall we say, really had me tense. i particularly liked the concept of these “airheaded” dating reality show contestants behind the scenes, and the conversations that both they and the producers/filmmakers had on the side too.

right from the start, the way renee describes amanda had me wondering if something more would happen there. and i was surprised how much i became invested in mike and casey’s situationship.

i also really enjoyed the media elements of the book - blog posts, forum threads, etc., which made reading this book almost feel like reading a documentary - between the rotating perspectives, the plot revolving around reality tv, the mystery/suspense element, etc. in general i’d say this book has good bones - characters that i could become invested in, good writing style, dry and witty humor, and an interesting plot concept.

the negatives:
for me, this book missed in a couple of key ways. for one, it does feel quite short to read, and over the course of the book, i don’t have any true feeling of any of the characters developing in any material sense, or finding a satisfying plot resolution. i was interested in all of the main characters - both the contestants, producers, and jeremy - and wanted to better understand their motivations, but they fall a bit flat.

renee is supposed to be our main protagonist, it seems, but she is essentially written as emotionally numb for 90% of the book, before pivoting to a semi-delusional worship for lady sasquatch. not that i’m opposed to emotionally numb characters, but why did she feel and act the way she did? why did she agree to go on the show in the first place if she finds it so worthless and tokenizing? it feels like the only thing i knew about her was that she is black and an english major, and bisexual. but who is she?? the fact that she is so tight lipped throughout the story plus her emotionally numb narration make it hard to discern her true motivations and feelings aside from just generally despising the reality show.

i wish that there was a bit more development of the characters - i would have liked to see how the spat between casey and matt played out. i originally thought the book would end with renee and one of the contestants falling in love and running away to the palm springs resort.

i also would have really liked to see the aftermath of amanda and renee’s kiss. that felt like such a promising moment, especially with jeremy attacking renee about it afterwards. then the horror of renee finding amanda’s body diverts the plot back to sasquatch.

and in some of the final scenes, i was baffled by renee not just refusing to attack sasquatch, but directing sasquatch to kill jeremy? i know she thought he was a stupid fuck (and he was), but he died gruesomely and she did not react at all.

final thoughts:
it’s a quick, “fun”, gripping read about The Bachelor if it was even sleazier, but there were a lot of unresolved plot points that left me a bit baffled and wrong-footed by the end. the final leg of the book is frankly a bit bizarre. while i do like the concept of

Ms. Sasquatch and her team of loyal lesbian guardians

, i think i would have enjoyed this book more if any of the arguments, relationships, or character tensions were resolved satisfyingly by the end of the book.

Content Warnings

More...