Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read and review this ARC. Full review to be found on Goodreads and on my website.

This was an interesting read. And a new author for me. I got a copy of the book. And am voluntarily leaving my review.

What an outstanding book that had me hooked from the start. Loved everything about the characters and the story line.

I struggled to get into this book. I found that it really bounced around a lot in the beginning and I struggled to keep up with the different time lines. The writing and formatting was choppy. I started to piece things together about half way through and enjoyed the last 25% of the story. We follow a writer on his journey to becoming published and bounce between the past and his current life. There are some graphic sexual scenes in story. While this isn't a book I would recommend, I have read many positive reviews and would recommend everyone to try it out. I believe that this style of writing would appeal to certain readers.

Wow, so the synopsis of this novel sounds AMAZING. I regrettably did not get the opportunity to read the novel in order to give it a proper review! I will definitely be on the lookout to get my hands on a copy of this novel as soon as possible.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher of this novel for allowing me the opportunity to read this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. I am very sorry that I was unable to read the novel in the allotted time before it got archived!

I was skeptical about reading another James Frey book after his past deceptions. Despite this, i was pleasantly surprised; he is a great author and story teller. Now knowing the full story of A Million Little Pieces, I will re read that one with a new perspective.

With Katerina, I couldn't put it down. I stayed up well into the night reading and reading. James' writing really captivates the audience. I don't find a lot of books that I can refer to most people. Since finishing Katerina, I have referred it to many people who also loved it.

If you can look past James' controversial past, this is a great read!

This is a love it or hate it book.
The style of prose is so unique that it will be polarizing.
For me, I loved it. I loved reading something in a new way, and given the premise of the book, I felt like the style allowed me to connect to the characters on a deeper level.
I was entranced by his flow, his process, and the way that he was HIM. Uncompromising. Books to the bottom of the river if they aren't up to stnadard, not just put in the back of a closet.
If you spend time with this book, get to a place where the style flows and connects, you will go deeper into this story than if you try to read it in 10min increments.
I read this book 3 times before writing this review because I couldn't stop reading it. I would spend all night reading it, then go back the next night and do it all again.

I tried to get into this book but it just isn't for me. I was bored and really didn't like it .

I know some people like it but I just didn't like it at all.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. James Frey’s novel, Katerina, takes place between Paris in 1992 and Los Angeles in 2017. It is the story of a young author and his scorching love affair. This comes across as a pseudo-memoir more than fiction with a lot of sex thrown in.
Not my cup of tea.

Wow just wow. Hard, full ,raw emotion. Can’t stop reading when you begin. Made me cry at the end. I want more!

Regardless of the controversy surrounding James Frey's #1 best seller "A Million Little Pieces" I loved the story! It gripped my heartstrings like few others.
Fifteen years later Frey gives us "Katerina" which had me power reading til the very end. I couldn't get enough of this raw and guttural story of Jay, a young American writer living in 1992 Paris through to Los Angeles in 2017. His dream of writing a best selling novel, his descent into addiction, and the literary scandal that made him famous worldwide is all described in detail throughout.
His torrid love affair with Katerina, a stunning model he knew in Paris, was both reckless and impulsive. She was the love of his life. A love he abandoned.
Twenty-five years later, with the past behind him, he receives a anonymous message. This sudden surprise leads this story to an incredible ending.
The author's intent is to "burn the world down" with his novels and I feel he has done just that.
I could read his work over and over again.

3.5 Stars
This was a difficult book to rate. It took a long time for me to get into it. But I liked the story.
I am torn over this book . I wanted to really like it but there were times in the book I wanted to just slap the characters.
Looking forward to reading more by this author

I am torn over this book . I wanted to really like it but there were times in the book I wanted to just slap the characters . The book takes place in 2017 with flash back chapters that take place in Paris 1992. The stories main character Jay is remembering his past and the one woman who had his soul . He is bouncing between the young man who was just out of his teens and the middle aged man who is trying to figure out his life and the one that got away .
The characters in this book were hard to like . Katerina was just a spoiled brat that would do things to just peeve Jay off . Jay bounced between a young man who just out of his teens . Who went to Paris to find himself . Well there were drugs and alcohol and the one woman who just turned his world around . They were a combustible couple who sometimes worked but they fought more .
This book had its ups and downs , the author took us on the rollercoaster ride of emotions. There were parts of the book that kind of dragged and the characters really didn't do it for me . The book was ok and I would read more from this author but this book was not for me

To this day, I am still not sure how much I really enjoyed reading A Million Little Pieces, and I feel like I will continue to feel the same way about Katerina for a long time, also.

This book broke my heart. I loved it, despite my misgivings at first. Yes, it's gross. Yes, it's self-centered. Yes, you are reading about people destroying their lives... but there's something that hooked me in this book that made me love it. It reached me in a way that the author's first book didn't. It was poetic and quite beautiful at times, and I agree with the blurb - it was dazzling and controversial, and I would definitely read it again.

I almost gave it four stars, I have to be honest. It's pornographic at times, which to me took away from the experience that is this book. I wish it had been toned down a little bit - if it had, I think this would be part of my favourite ten books out there. Still, the raunchy sex didn't stay with me, but the story of Jay and Katerina did. If you can see beyond that, then this is a wonderful read.

I'd like to thank Simon & Schuster Canada, as well as Netgalley, for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This story was a bit much for me and had a lot of repetitiveness. It had the same sort of writing style as his older work but something was lacking. Not my cup of tea. * I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review *

For the vast majority of this book, I despised it. I wanted to quit because I was tired of the repetitiveness, the lack of commas, the lack of quotation marks, the vulgarity, and my general dislike of the main character, Jay. Then I got to the end and it completely crushed me. Although, unfortunately, the heart wrenching ending does not make up for all of the pages I had to read to get there (but it did bump my rating up from 1 to 2 stars).

This is my first book by James Frey, although I have wanted to read A Million Little Pieces and My Friend Leonard for a long time. I was quickly scrolling through reviews of Katerina on Goodreads when I marked it as “Currently Reading” and the first review I saw mentioned Frey’s controversy over A Million Little Pieces. Having been 10 years old at the time of the controversy, I hadn’t heard of it until now. But, after a research into the issue, it is evident that Katerina is semi- (if not fully) autobiographical, yet marketed as a novel. Frey often references problems that arose with his controversy – his character, Jay, also faced massive success from his embellished memoir after the endorsement from a famous talk show host (read: Oprah) and faced outrage and lawsuits after the truth came to the surface. And the cover of Jay’s first book also had a hand covered in little sprinkles… Seems suspicious to me. While I’m still interested in reading A Million Little Pieces, I think it will move further down my TBR pile.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for providing me with a copy of Katerina in exchange for an honest review.

Grab some tissues cause you’ll need them. This is an incredibly sad story about love and loss. I enjoy James’ work but I wish this wasn’t as sad as it was simply because I felt myself fall down, Down I to the well with the story. This story is about an American, Jay who takes a fresh starts and begins writing, in France. He meets Katerina who turns out to be the love of his life,. Katerina is a beautiful redheaded model. They immediately were attracted and their chemistry intense however, for some reason they agreed to a no-strings-attached relationship. Although, as soon as they both were honest about their feelings and admitted they were in love they became a couple u til it was time for Jay to return home. He was heartbroken but in time met another and fell in love again until one day, Katerina shows up in California. I voluntarily received an arc copy of this book.

My reviews are live on amazon .com and .ca under xo2read

https://www.amazon.com/review/R3TSYPAGUWCWVX/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8

This story is told in alternate times ... Paris 1992 and LA 2017. Jay is an American who runs to Paris to become a writer, while Katerina is a model living the high life in Paris. A chance meeting and their love story begins in 1992, But a devastating event causes them to break-up and Jay moves back to America. Twenty-five years later, Katerina contacts Jay and wants to see him.

I was really thrown by the writing style, it took a long time for me to get into it. But I liked the story. Even though Jay was a raging alcoholic and drug addict, he wanted to be a writer and was very persistent. This story is heart-wrenching and beautiful with an ending that I didn't see coming.

I received an ARC courtesy of Simon Schuster Canada through NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

This book was horribly written. There is absolutely nothing that engages you or makes you interested to read further, it's just a never-ending plain of boredom. Nothing about it feels like a novel; there seems to be only one character who only talks about himself so it's got more of a memoir feeling to it, except there's nothing major happening. Just a depressing overview of his depressing life. In short, this book did not work for me at all. Total waste of time.

A very different style of writing, the author tells the story of Jay who quits college, leaves his girlfriend and flies off to Paris from America. He decides he wants to live freely, explore, read, write and have sex and drink. He parties, drinks an enormous amount of liquor in night clubs, pubs, park benches, in bed etc., but also explores Paris and its art and book shops. Be prepared to read the "f" word hundreds of times. At first it put me off but then just became part of the story the author indisputable draws the reader into. Sex, drink, drugs over and over anywhere and everywhere and at every opportunity destroying his body and mind. Then Jay meets Katerina model whom he falls in love with, his life changes...........
Most of the story is set in Paris in the 1990's but it does switch to 2017, a different Jay with a wife and family in New York.. It ends with an unexpected twist. I enjoyed reading this book and at times found it hard to put down.