I appear to be one of the few people who didn’t read Kiley Reid’s debut novel ‘Such A Fun Age’ – which ended up being one of the books of 2020 and a Sunday Times bestseller. So when I heard she had a new book out – I requested an advance review copy from Net Galley. Here’s the blurb:

“Everything comes at a price. But not everything can be paid for.
Millie wants to graduate, get a job and buy a house. She’s slowly saving up from her job on campus, but when a visiting professor offers her an unusual opportunity to make some extra money, she jumps at the chance.
Agatha is a writer, recovering from a break-up while researching attitudes towards weddings and money for her new book. She strikes gold when interviewing the girls in Millie’s dorm, but her plans take a turn when she realises that the best material is unfolding behind closed doors.
As the two women form an unlikely relationship, they soon become embroiled in a world of roommate theatrics, vengeful pranks and illicit intrigue – and are forced to question just how much of themselves they are willing to trade to get what they want.
Sharp, intimate and provocative, Come and Get It takes a lens to our money-obsessed society in a tension-filled story about desire, consumption and bad behaviour.”

Before I started reading this I noticed that it had really mixed reviews on Net Galley – with some people questioning the lack of storyline – but I decided to not be deterred and started reading!

The book tells the story from the view points of various people based around a University dorm – Agatha and Millie as mentioned in the blurb – but also Kennedy, who is one of the students in the dorm around which the story is based. Whilst there is a ‘real time’ timeline – it also looks at the back story of each of the characters, and thus what has made them who they are today.

I can totally see where the reviews are coming from with the story not really going anywhere. Observationally it is brilliant, and you really get a feel for campus life – and the characters are very well described – but I just didn’t get the point of the book. I kept reading to see if something exciting happened – and it just never really did. 

It feels like after the acclaim given to the author’s first book – this ‘difficult second album’ didn’t really hit the spot.

Many thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for my ARC. You can ‘Come and Get It’ right now, as it was published on Tuesday 30 January 2024.