Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I had a hard time getting into the book - the description sounded interesting with past present and future vibes but I DNF.

Wonderful book with beautiful prose. This is not a book for younger readers or readers seeking a YA novel. As a genderqueer person, I am familiar with the fear and frustration of people who are anti-TGNC/NB (Trans, gender nonconforming/nonbinary) and/or those who say all of the wrong things when they try to be supportive, but fail.

The dynamics of the initial group were both complicated and almost instantly readable, in a way that you can happen upon a bunch of people together and know which two people are tight, who might be a little in love with who, who the dominant personality is and what other people may think about that as they react to them. So too did you walk into where these characters were squatting and just understand the baseline dynamic, which made watching as those dynamics shifted very compelling

I especially liked the last third or so of the book. I was afraid at times that the ending would be absolutely miserable, because it looked like it was going that way, but without spoiling too much, it wasn't. This lovely old lady character gets introduced and she's a little beam of sunlight that really made reading the book worth it. I'd read an entire novel about Bert.

The novel also ends on an uncertainty, which I did not really like. I wish the author had taken a few more pages, maybe an epilogue of some kind, to tell us more about what happens to the characters after. But it was still a nice read, even if it's not my usual kind of stuff.

I received a free advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

TWs for the book: transphobia, misgendering, arrest and police violence, disordered eating.

So I mostly got this book for the cover, without paying much attention to the summary. It's just so lush and I'm a sucker for anything Art Nouveau, so I had to know what this was all about... The cover's not really representative at all of the mood of the novel though.

I had a hard time getting into it, the first third to first half was just really dreary, and I had trouble sticking with the protagonists. T, the main character, was really enjoyable and relatable, but I just thought T's "friends" were all assholes and they weren't really well-rounded characters. Once two of them leave their little band, though, it became more interesting.

The politics were kind of annoying because these kids are homeless and living in a squat, some of them on principle, and I had trouble getting behind all their so called "changing the world" because it was clearly risky and useless, and I had trouble relating that to real-life homeless people I know, who'd not turn their nose up at a cup of coffee because "they don't deserve it". I did appreciate that the characters called themselves out on their hypocrisy, however.

I especially liked the last third or so of the book. I was afraid at times that the ending would be absolutely miserable, because it looked like it was going that way, but without spoiling too much, it wasn't. This lovely old lady character gets introduced and she's a little beam of sunlight that really made reading the book worth it. I'd read an entire novel about Bert.

The novel also ends on an uncertainty, which I did not really like. I wish the author had taken a few more pages, maybe an epilogue of some kind, to tell us more about what happens to the characters after. But it was still a nice read, even if it's not my usual kind of stuff.

Hearing that this was a story about queer found family, with many characters of colour, had me super excited for this book. Unfortunately, I ended up DNF'ing this book at 41%. I loved the concept of this story and the synopsis sounded right up my alley, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.

Although the writing style was fine, I found myself confused most of the time. I didn't really know what was going on or what the "point" of what they were doing was. I think I would have enjoyed it much more if we had more background and a greater understanding of who each character was.

What was especially confusing to me was that it was never explained how a bunch of teenagers managed to break into all of these rich people's homes. Since this was a major part of the story, it seemed too convenient that we never saw any struggle or explanation surrounding this. Similarly with the monkey itself: it was supposed to be an important part of the story, but it kind of just appeared in a mundane way that-- had I not read the synopsis-- I wouldn't have really noticed.

I have to say my least favourite part of this book is how most of the characters were unlikeable. Many were annoying and rude, and the only character I really liked was T. The most disappointing part was how much misgendering and transphobia T endured from their "friends". For a book that I was expecting to be very queer, it felt like it was mostly just about trans suffering. The characters were not only cissexist in their attitudes, but outright and purposefully cruel. I know it was to make a point and to show cis people's ignorance, but it was awful to read over and over again. It was for this reason that I couldn't continue.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I think this wasn't the book for me! I'm sure there's an audience for it though. I had some trouble connecting to the characters It's a big cast for a writer to manage... and the author does it relatively well, I found I just didn't connect with their stories.

I absolutely appreciate that the issues in this book need to be written about... and it left many questions in my mind. I think, in particular, I was touched by the fact that the characters are unhomed... and this raises a lot of questions about their safety, about cis-spaces being the predominant ones in our society, and about ownership of things and places - and at what point "stealing" or "liberating" is okay.

This is definitely an adult read... I'm sure there's a large audience for this book!

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this book! I saw the blurb and was hooked immediately to read this.

Unfortunately, I have to mark this as DNF, and it's always a bummer when I can't finish an lgbt+ book. If you're looking at reviews to convince you whether or not to read this book, I'd say skip mine and read reviews of people who read the whole book (and definitely give the book a go if the plot summary intrigues you!).

Here's a brief explanation of why I didn't finish it (I got only about 3.5 chapters in before I had to put it down): the prose isn't my cup of tea. I couldn't quite connect to the plot or characters, and didn't really get what was going on, and the combination ended up being a dry read for me. That usually doesn't stop me from reading on, but what ultimately broke the deal for me was the continuous misgendering, which became just too triggering for me, and the described dysphoria experiencing made me more uncomfortable rather than make me (as a trans person) relate to the character.

This was a challenging little read for me, but well worth the effort for what I got out of it, and it checks so many of the boxes that I'm looking for when I'm looking to read and love something: queer characters, brown characters, life observations, a bit of existentialism, an ending that doesn't make me think the author was just done writing about these character and gave them what they needed to get out of her hair. The characters are complex, diverse, and so credibly crafted that I wonder at their inspirations.

Although I believe so few of the things these characters believe in terms of their worldview and philosophies, I empathized with their adherence to their credo, and found their points of view to be absolutely valid despite my differences in opinion.

The dynamics of the initial group were both complicated and almost instantly readable, in a way that you can happen upon a bunch of people together and know which two people are tight, who might be a little in love with who, who the dominant personality is and what other people may think about that as they react to them. So too did you walk into where these characters were squatting and just understand the baseline dynamic, which made watching as those dynamics shifted very compelling.

This one will have to sit with me a while before I've sussed out exactly how I feel about it, but my initial reaction is that this book is going to be Loved, entirely, by some people, and not understood at all by others. I don't know that I loved it, but I will be thinking of T and Bert and Twee and Kohl for some time.

Luckmonkey drew me in with the text description, and I was not disappointed to find much to appreciate here as the story unfolded. Alysia Constantine provides readers with a world of believable characters and speaks to the importance of activism as an integral part of the story.

I thought this book would pull more punches being they were punkers. But sadly it didn't.
This book just didn't hit right for me. I didn't like the characters or the plot to be honest.
I'm putting this down as it wasn't for me. And I hope it reaches the right people who will love it.