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A review by readingwithsammi
Cuttle by Chelsea Britain
2.0
While I can't resist a cuttlefish (in person or on a book cover) and I love a strong female (marine) scientist, this book just didn't quite do it for me.
I appreciate that this book gave its voice to a lead character that was on the Autism spectrum (though I didn't realize it until the authors note at the end) including giving her so many potential suitors (she's quite the catch).
I also loved the marine biology references throughout, the highlighting of academia labs (& how women are treated a little differently than the men). For a while I had high-highs loving certain points & low-low hating it.
For one - I am tired of the nerdy scientist narrative - like we can have cool, fun, unawkward scientists too. The relationships/dates were also SO UNCOMFY - I'm thinking that was the point but it was really just uncomfortable to read, I'm surprised they all kept getting dates. Also, I felt like her friends were too hands-on, if my friends interfered with my life that much I would cut them out, just a lot of weird dynamics there.
While there was many marine animal references/facts I loved, some of them just didn't make sense.... like telling yourself to be a "sexy stingray" to attract a mate... it does NOT make any sense (& this one was repeated approximately a million times in the text) - it would've made more sense if they chose an animal that ungulates when it swims or even the star cuttlefish that can be kind of "flirty" with their tentacles but stingrays?! They're chill, they glide, you rarely see them try to mate ... they're not being sexy.
Anyways, super cute cover. I am not going to pretend that I'm not the target audience: I am a female marine scientist who happened to date during graduate school - so I can definitely relate, however maybe someone that can relate a little less would enjoy it more.
* I received an arc in exchange for an honest review*
I appreciate that this book gave its voice to a lead character that was on the Autism spectrum (though I didn't realize it until the authors note at the end) including giving her so many potential suitors (she's quite the catch).
I also loved the marine biology references throughout, the highlighting of academia labs (& how women are treated a little differently than the men). For a while I had high-highs loving certain points & low-low hating it.
For one - I am tired of the nerdy scientist narrative - like we can have cool, fun, unawkward scientists too. The relationships/dates were also SO UNCOMFY - I'm thinking that was the point but it was really just uncomfortable to read, I'm surprised they all kept getting dates. Also, I felt like her friends were too hands-on, if my friends interfered with my life that much I would cut them out, just a lot of weird dynamics there.
While there was many marine animal references/facts I loved, some of them just didn't make sense.... like telling yourself to be a "sexy stingray" to attract a mate... it does NOT make any sense (& this one was repeated approximately a million times in the text) - it would've made more sense if they chose an animal that ungulates when it swims or even the star cuttlefish that can be kind of "flirty" with their tentacles but stingrays?! They're chill, they glide, you rarely see them try to mate ... they're not being sexy.
Anyways, super cute cover. I am not going to pretend that I'm not the target audience: I am a female marine scientist who happened to date during graduate school - so I can definitely relate, however maybe someone that can relate a little less would enjoy it more.
* I received an arc in exchange for an honest review*