'Please Send Help' is such a fun and honest book about two friends, Ava and Gen, who are starting new jobs in NYC and Florida respectively while figuring out... well... life in general with all its ups and downs.

It turned out to be the sequel to 'I Hate Everyone But You' which I didn't realise at the beginning of the novel. (Full disclosure: I haven't read 'I Hate Everyone But You' but was still able to properly enjoy the second book and get the heroines' friendship and shared past.)

The two women send each other emails and text back and forth complaining about their jobs, asking for and giving advice, relaying the mundane and not-so-mundane things happening in their lives. Both Gen and Ava are hilarious and relatable.

I loved the humor and abundant references (I live for references).

All in all, a very enjoyable book to read.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the authors for sending me an eARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with ARC!

When I requested this book, I wasn't aware that this was a sequel and was very lost when I started reading this one. I went back and tracked the first one and read snippets to get the background on the characters but unfortunately, it didn't make me like them any better. I typically really enjoy the format of books like these, dealing in texts/letters but I think the constant switching between the two made it confusing. I also was very annoyed with how immature the characters were. I was pretty excited to read about the first experience of adulthood post-college but this fell short for me on that end. This book is about friendship and supporting each other as times change and discovering yourself but these girls were so...petty. I was hoping for a light and funny read and while it had some funny bits, it seems like the characters are stuck in a teenage mind (which would be fine and make more sense if they were teens but they weren't). Not for me, I'm afraid.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for this ARC! I fell for the first book in this series like someone had pushed me down a flight of stairs. The friendship between Gen and Ava is so genuine and they warm my heart. I was so glad to see that the authors decided to continue with another installment, because not only do I love these characters, but it is written with my most favorite story telling device! The fact that these are through text messages and emails makes it feel so modern and intimate. It’s like we’re seeing things we’re not supposed to, getting to know two people through the places where they are most open, unlike in real life encounters. I feel like we all wear masks, but when we’re at home, behind the safety of a screen, we are more free to be ourselves. I really love how these books are primarily about the relationship of these two friends, while life changing things happen in the background. They find jobs, make romantic connections, act on poor decisions, but through it all they are still friends even on their worst days. It’s extremely heartening to see them get in fights but come through it stronger than ever. It’s realistic in the way that no relationship is perfect, but love really does conquer all. I was so excited by the ending which brought our two protagonists together again, and I would not say no to making this a trilogy!

2.5 stars.
I didn't realize this book was the second in a series when I originally requested it on NetGalley. I ended up tracking down and reading the first book before I read this one, and I didn't enjoy the first book. I still gave the second book a chance, and it was moderately better than the first book, which is why I gave it 2.5 stars, but still wasn't very good.
A major problem with the first book was the toxic relationship between the two main characters. It was slightly better in this book at first, but then fell back into a pattern of one character treating the other like garbage a lot of the time. I don't know if their relationship is meant to be toxic in order to carry/create the "story" (there isn't really a plot, otherwise?...), or if the reader is expected to see this relationship as normal, but either way, it doesn't work. Very little actually happens in this book, and the communication between the two characters becomes so uncomfortable to read that it's hard to ignore the many reasons they just shouldn't even be friends.

Super fun and continuing the story started by Dunn and Raskin! I loved the characters and to see where life had taken them. I also really enjoy the format of this book. Thank you netgalley!

A fun followup for fans of Dunn and Raskin's first book. A bit of a lighter sequel, and one that depends pretty heavily on having read the first book, it still does deal interestingly with the new adult topics of finding a career, significant other, and handling financial/personal life post-college (particularly the difference between those with a supportive and/or fiscally solvent family and those without), and retains the breezy, best friends tone .

I really thought I'd like this book more than I did. I love reading books written with e-mails and messages, but this one fell short for me.

This book tells the story of Ava and her friend Gen through e-mails, instant messages, and texts.
This is the second book in a series, but I did not read the first, and I do not think it is necessary. Both young women have embarked on career events: an internship and a first reporting job.

While the book does deal with serious issues: harassment, relationships, and how to be apart from your support system while forging new bonds, but I found both young women to be somewhat immature and unlikable.

I do not enjoy epistolaries for the most part, and in this book, I found the addition of texts or instant messaging to be further confusing, although the authors do a great job inserting touch points without seeming to shoehorn them in.

There were parts of the book I found hilarious, but much of the story was uneven, and I felt the ending was rushed. I assume the authors are planning for a third book

I would recommend the book for young women who are embarking on their first post-college jobs and the rest of their lives.

Thanks to the authors, publisher, and NetGalley.com for my advanced copy.

I was happy to see another book in this series: Ava and Gen are delightful characters and this is a great look at a friendship. I love the unique format of this book (emails and text messages).

Fun, quick read told by text messages and e-mails. I recommend to anyone searching for a fast-paced book that touches on important social issues while it also touches on combatting the stigmas of these issues. However, it had a basic plot line with an ending that seemed abruptly written.

Somehow when I read "I Hate Everyone But You" I didn't connect this Gaby and Allison to the former Buzzfeed now still exceedingly popular YouTuber's Gaby and Allison. How did I miss that? We will never know.

On to the review!

I enjoyed "I Hate Everyone But You" since it spoke to a still very raw part of me from when I moved away for university. The follow up "Please Send Help" is much closer to how I am still feeling about my first full time library job after grad school, even though I'm half way through the third year. As we see from both Ava and Gen there is a level of impostor syndrome that doesn't ever go away. Much like their characters, I feel like Gaby and Allison have really come into their fiction writing selves.

They don't pull any punches when it comes to socioeconomic differences, STDs, life changing decisions, or how relationships (of all varieties) can be the best and worst thing you could be dealing with at any given moment. They accurately portray that feeling of after post-secondary but still not feeling capable. Arguably, Ava makes the more questionable decisions in this novel however, Gen's choice to move to Florida of all places does put them pretty on par.

My only real complaint is that I wanted to see more of the college years. I wanted to see the crazy things they talked about as it happened instead of just memories. Maybe we'll get a third book as a flashback? Maybe even with some flash forward because I sure as heck want to see more from Ava and Gen in NYC.

Congrats Gaby and Allison, I'm hooked!

Ava and Gen are done with college and setting off to make it in the real world- Ava in NYC and Gen in semi-rural Florida. They are taking their tentative first steps toward being real grown ups and are definitely dealing with a few growing pains along the way. But their saving grace is that these two have one of those friendships that pretty much every BFF duo aspires to. Which is to say they can annoy the crap out of each other and tell hard truths and at the end of the day they'll still take down anyone that crosses the other. The characters are almost larger than life, but only in a way that magnifies their issues and negative attributes which is honestly kind of refreshing- female characters don't always have to be likeable and these two definitely are not. And yet, you will find yourself rooting for them all the way through.

The only real criticism I have is that there's a large time gap between the first book and the second and I feel like that time period would have made for great material for another book to connect the two a bit more cohesively.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for a free copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars rounded up to three.

Apparently, this book is a sequel. However, I did not know that. I do not think it hinders the reading of this book because of the starting place.

What I liked: I love books about friendships. I love when there are relationships with others, but it does not override the friendship factor of the book.

What I did not like: The pettiness of the girls. For girls who are out of college, their friendship was immature and juvenile. Gen acts like a 16 year old girl. Ava is needy. While I could deal with Ava's neediness, I could not deal with Gen. She completely ditched Ava in a time of need, but then a few chapters later whined that Ava did the same to her. She had all these expectations for Ava, but held herself to about zero standards or put any forethought into her actions. I am not down for toxic friendships that then play out as a relationship that is healthy.

This might be for some people, but I thought it was just ok.

Well the two best friends from I Hate Everyone But You are back and better than ever. I have to say I loved Please Send Help. I liked how it followed Gen and Ava years after the last book and their friendship is still strong. Ava is now living in New York and is starting a new job while Gen is down in Florida working for a little newspaper. I read this book in one day on a snowy afternoon and it was adorable. I hope this is not the end of these two girls and there will be another book to see where they end up in life.