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clarke's review against another edition
4.0
I wanna go to The Familiar. Different ending than I expected - the mess conveniently worked itself out in a different way to the usual tropes and the main character does have main character syndrome™️ but it was fun
maireador20's review against another edition
1.0
Despite having lots of potential to be a fun, enjoyable story, this was a disappointing read with an over reliance on outdated stereotypes and poorly executes tropes. The characters had almost no depth (and what little there was never got developed), the plot was basic at best and the core idea of a bi-woman struggling to figure out her identity was very clumsily handled. Unfortunately I really didn't enjoy this one, which is a pity as I had high hopes for it!
Thank you to Netgalley.co.uk and Head of Zeus for the free eARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to Netgalley.co.uk and Head of Zeus for the free eARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
lily7's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
maddieaeb9d's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Gina is the most frustrating woman in the world.
readwithcatriona's review against another edition
4.0
I loved the exploration of Gina’s bisexuality and the vibes from The Familiar sounded so cosy I’d love to visit a bar like that. I enjoyed the duel life that Gina tried to live but I’d have preferred a little more romance
andshe_reads's review against another edition
4.0
Thank you to the author, Publisher & Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book.
Lily Lindon tells us the story of Gina/George on her journey of self discovery. Not only with her professional career but with her sexual identity. She embarks on a double lifestyle to try to re-discover her true self, but can you really be two different people without someone getting hurt along the way??
This book is relatable and modern, also moving and funny whilst covering a serious topic. I love reading LGBTQIA books as I truly believe there is still so much hate in the world and people questioning their sexuality need to know its okay to be... all of the above! This book.does just that!
I'm a queer woman who came out in my young adult life and I definitely needed more books like this way back when!
This isn't available in the shops until June 22 but you all need to definitely go pre-order it!
Lily Lindon tells us the story of Gina/George on her journey of self discovery. Not only with her professional career but with her sexual identity. She embarks on a double lifestyle to try to re-discover her true self, but can you really be two different people without someone getting hurt along the way??
This book is relatable and modern, also moving and funny whilst covering a serious topic. I love reading LGBTQIA books as I truly believe there is still so much hate in the world and people questioning their sexuality need to know its okay to be... all of the above! This book.does just that!
I'm a queer woman who came out in my young adult life and I definitely needed more books like this way back when!
This isn't available in the shops until June 22 but you all need to definitely go pre-order it!
whatbritreads's review against another edition
2.0
*Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book to review!*
Ahhhh. You give me a book about finding yourself and bisexual panic and I am immediately intrigued. I start reading the book and unfortunately become a little less intrigued. Still a very lighthearted, fun concept, just not altogether for me.
The main problem I think I had with this book was how millennial it felt. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s no issue with that, it just didn’t work for me at all. The sense of humour, the speech patterns, how the characters felt and acted… just didn’t click with me at all. The one thing that confused me about how out of touch I felt with this book was that the characters were apparently 26, but they read more as 46. Sometimes 16 with their immaturity and ridiculously bad communication and pettiness. It just felt a bit chaotic.
I really loved the initial introduction of the topic of sexuality being introduced and explored in here, but the further we got into it the more I came across things I didn’t like - which is fine this book wasn’t written with just me in mind and bisexual women have different expriences, it’s just my opinion.
The initial comfort and liveliness of the queer scene being intoduced to George was so lovely so it’s a shame what it developed into - a lot of biphobia, ignorance, and general relationship messiness. The portrayal of many aspects of queer identity felt reduced to cheap steretypes and the pushiness of some of the characters to make George fit into some sort of mould felt hypocritical and really claustrophobic. At first she’s welcomed into the community with open arms, only to be shunned and messed around and given mixed messages by literally everyone in her life. I hated the treatment of her here in this and it just didn't feel like the happy go lucky romcom I was anticipating.
The plot felt a little scattered and I really don’t understand what this book was going for, it kind of randomly came at George from all angles and didn’t feel focused. For a book about finding yourself and exploring your identity, I hated the way that the only way she could do that was glorified cheating on her partner, essentially. It’s proposed in the book as an ‘open relationship’ but the ease to which her partner of 7 years agrees to it was just so odd to me? They had a really weird and cringe dynamic anyway which I found wholly unrealistic but this just made it worse. Their relationship held no chemistry for me and they were both really boring. I also found subsequent attempts at romantic portrayal in the books to be really lacking in any sort of genuine feeling. It was just a bit disappointing.
This brings me on to the other main issue I had with the book, the way bisexuality was approached. Again, this is just my feelings on it and I don’t want to speak over any other bisexual women, but this book annoyed me. As a bi woman in a very committed relationship with a man - I do not want to read about my identity being essentially invalidated due to my lack of experience with women. Everyone in this book literally was telling George the only way she could explore her bisexuality was if she has an experince with a woman, and that it was some sort of pivotal thing in order to confirm her sexuality. Even if it wasn’t explicitly stated, the actions and pressure from the characters made it glaringly obvious that was their view on it. I don’t know, it just really rubbed me up the wrong way and didn’t give me the best vibes. For a bunch of queer characetrs who would know how confusing and scary it is to be trying to find yourself, all of the chaos, pushiness and judgement radiating off them was not it.
It was just full of such outdated stereotypes and it just frustrates me to no end. It just read like bisexual people were confused at best, cheaters at worst. The other queer charscter sin this book were no better either. I didn’t enjoy a single character here and to be honest I just didn't have fun reading it at all unfortunately. For such a short and quick paced book, it took me forever to read and I just didn’t want to pick it up. I did like the ending though, for what it’s worth. A real shame.
Ahhhh. You give me a book about finding yourself and bisexual panic and I am immediately intrigued. I start reading the book and unfortunately become a little less intrigued. Still a very lighthearted, fun concept, just not altogether for me.
The main problem I think I had with this book was how millennial it felt. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s no issue with that, it just didn’t work for me at all. The sense of humour, the speech patterns, how the characters felt and acted… just didn’t click with me at all. The one thing that confused me about how out of touch I felt with this book was that the characters were apparently 26, but they read more as 46. Sometimes 16 with their immaturity and ridiculously bad communication and pettiness. It just felt a bit chaotic.
I really loved the initial introduction of the topic of sexuality being introduced and explored in here, but the further we got into it the more I came across things I didn’t like - which is fine this book wasn’t written with just me in mind and bisexual women have different expriences, it’s just my opinion.
The initial comfort and liveliness of the queer scene being intoduced to George was so lovely so it’s a shame what it developed into - a lot of biphobia, ignorance, and general relationship messiness. The portrayal of many aspects of queer identity felt reduced to cheap steretypes and the pushiness of some of the characters to make George fit into some sort of mould felt hypocritical and really claustrophobic. At first she’s welcomed into the community with open arms, only to be shunned and messed around and given mixed messages by literally everyone in her life. I hated the treatment of her here in this and it just didn't feel like the happy go lucky romcom I was anticipating.
The plot felt a little scattered and I really don’t understand what this book was going for, it kind of randomly came at George from all angles and didn’t feel focused. For a book about finding yourself and exploring your identity, I hated the way that the only way she could do that was glorified cheating on her partner, essentially. It’s proposed in the book as an ‘open relationship’ but the ease to which her partner of 7 years agrees to it was just so odd to me? They had a really weird and cringe dynamic anyway which I found wholly unrealistic but this just made it worse. Their relationship held no chemistry for me and they were both really boring. I also found subsequent attempts at romantic portrayal in the books to be really lacking in any sort of genuine feeling. It was just a bit disappointing.
This brings me on to the other main issue I had with the book, the way bisexuality was approached. Again, this is just my feelings on it and I don’t want to speak over any other bisexual women, but this book annoyed me. As a bi woman in a very committed relationship with a man - I do not want to read about my identity being essentially invalidated due to my lack of experience with women. Everyone in this book literally was telling George the only way she could explore her bisexuality was if she has an experince with a woman, and that it was some sort of pivotal thing in order to confirm her sexuality. Even if it wasn’t explicitly stated, the actions and pressure from the characters made it glaringly obvious that was their view on it. I don’t know, it just really rubbed me up the wrong way and didn’t give me the best vibes. For a bunch of queer characetrs who would know how confusing and scary it is to be trying to find yourself, all of the chaos, pushiness and judgement radiating off them was not it.
It was just full of such outdated stereotypes and it just frustrates me to no end. It just read like bisexual people were confused at best, cheaters at worst. The other queer charscter sin this book were no better either. I didn’t enjoy a single character here and to be honest I just didn't have fun reading it at all unfortunately. For such a short and quick paced book, it took me forever to read and I just didn’t want to pick it up. I did like the ending though, for what it’s worth. A real shame.
neztoad's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The only thing stopping this from being a 5 star read is the sprinkling of cheesiness throughout, without that it would have been perfection.
sisselh's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
tangeriney's review against another edition
4.0
i liked it a lot very fun but gina makes some extremely confusing choices and there was so many cringe cliches . i can look past it for sapphism