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There is something so refreshing about Emily Austin‘s captivating dissection of life. She breathes a fresh perspective into whatever she is examining and managed to write a book about suicide that felt curiously delightful.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Emily Austin is an absolute must-read for me! Her books are the perfect blend of intellectual stimulation and quirky darkness; my favorite flavor of literally fiction. This is a heavy story told with an often light tone, and utterly thoughtful. I don‘t know how Austin pulled it off. It‘s hard to describe further without spoiling. This short novel says so damned much. #coverlove

https://multitudescontained.substack.com/p/surprise-me

Last book I read in January. I‘ve enjoyed all of her novels, this one maybe a bit less than the others. Austin has a special ability to relate vulnerability and despair with such gentleness and humor. A very special writer! Triggers for suicidal ideation. #BOTM

I didn‘t like the twists and turns tbh. By time I got to the 3rd part of the book I was pretty spent. I wanted to relate to the characters more than I did. There was some endearing parts. This book was just OK to me. #botm

This book brought up some feels. I wish I could write that I never experienced being on the surviving side of someone‘s suicide and those notes, but like so many that would not be my story.

I‘m on a work trip, and I‘ve had this one on my TBR list for so long. Naturally, I had to pick it up on my way back to the hotel room. 📖

I went in with expectations a bit too high because i just gave her last book (tagged below) 5⭐️ in the Fall. This book deals heavily with suicide as about half of it is a woman trying to write the correct suicide note to her friends and family. Some reveals in the second half 🤐 negatively changed the way I saw the characters, and I think that contributed to this being a more mid-range pick. I do want to reread knowing what happens at the end.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4.25 stars. Another perceptive Emily Austin stunner! This time she offers a different story framework from her previous books, which I think was pulled off beautifully and expanded the dimension of the sisters‘ relationship. Her writing touches my heart and makes it ache in a very particular way. #BOTM

YES! My Book of the Month Box arrived today, which helped with the post holidays depression! 🤭💕 I'm absolutely starting the Austin book first! I love her writing so much! #botm

First #botm picks of 2025!

My January #botm are here already! I'm really excited for all four books. In fact, I'm probably going to have a hard time picking which one to read first. And I got my hammer for finishing the 2024 reading challenge. It's heavy!

I just wrote to @Hooked_on_books that #botm is that good-kisser ex I keep slithering back to and always feel a bit ick about. My main issue with them is the whole main pick versus add-on thing. I thought Rats or Maddy would be a main pick, but I had to rejoin to find out they weren‘t. 😡🙄 But I loved Daniel Black‘s last book, so I rolled with this box. Plus I hate that you have to be a “friend” to get a decent add-on price. Sigh. #botm

I really wanted to love this. I read Interesting Facts About Space earlier this year and thought it was creative and fun while keeping respectful of mental health. This keeps the respectfulness but I felt it missed the mark for me. It is fairly repetitive which got old really fast. The first part is multiple attempts at a suicide note and it could have been half the length. I think there are interesting ideas but I lost steam.
Pub Date Jan 28