A review by hannahmayreads
Insatiable by Daisy Buchanan

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book is a filthy mess and I loved every page. Under all the raunchy stuff though is a well-considered story about a young woman coming to grips with herself. Violet is as complex as any modern young woman is - I share many of her angsts and anxieties - and while her unravelling is expected, it is refreshingly told. Feeling looked over, ignored, dismissed and wondering if adulthood will ever arrive, it’s not hard to see why Violet falls so quickly into a relationship with Lottie, Simon and their friends. It’s validation and satisfaction, an irresistible combination. What they offer Violet is all the relationships she needs - romance, friendship, job - and in her lonely, frustrating existence this seems like the answer to everything. This book is a lot like all the other “millennial angst” books out there, but the difference here is that Violet isn’t having terrible Tinder sex. 

It covers female desire with great nuance and luxuriates in the pleasure of it. Buchanan captures the wonderful and confusing nature of female desire, tracking it through Violet as she comes to understand herself and what she wants, allowing room for all the complexities, contradictions, and joys women experience without shame. It is bold, but it is also normalising. This is a very lusty book, but its really about love - platonic and romantic - which is something we can all get behind. 

There is (predictably) a neat happy ending, but as Marian Keyes says, the reader deserves a happy ending because there’s already enough going on in our own lives.
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