Jan 6

Jan 6 Come and Get It

About the book

Author: Kiley Reid
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons

More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.

Buy and support indie bookstores (+ I earn a small commission):
Bookshop.org (print) | Libro.fm (audio)

My Review

I was pretty lukewarm on Such a Fun Age, but I decided to give this one a go anyway. But ultimately, I feel pretty similarly about this one: not bad but not for me. If you really loved SaFA, I think you’ll probably like this one too — Kiley Reid is very good at what she does — but at the end of the day, what she does is train-wreck plots, and those make me want to run away instead of drawing me in.

It’s impossible not to compare Reid’s two books to one another, and if I’m being honest, I think SaFA is a stronger book. It’s more of a focused, electric train wreck, whereas this book is more like several different trains on different tracks all headed toward each other, but with more to keep track of and a murkier outcome. Adding that complexity put a damper on the impact, IMO. I also felt less compelled by these characters, but that could also be a symptom of the “a little too much going on” thing too.

People will be watching this book for prize noms after SaFA’s Booker nod, but tbh, I would be surprised to see her there this year.