Obsession- unhealthy female friendship- a writer who barely differentiates thin line between delusion and reality: definitely my kind of addiction formula and great start for a debut author who can find creative ways to make us love an anti heroine !

Poor librarian Naomi who’s dreaming to become an author, can ruin her chance to have her first serious relationship with Caleb by stalking his ex Rosemary. She doesn’t only stalk her, she also becomes besties with Rosemary and lies to Caleb about her obsessive motives by justifying her wrongdoings as preparation of her new and first novel!

The first half of the book was captivating and unputdownable example of creative meta fiction but at the second half, it lost its basic essence a little bit. But I still enjoyed the execution and quirky characterization.

It was promising start and I truly keen on reading future books of the author.

Special thanks to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

Perhaps I’m just the wrong demographic for this novel? I simply couldn’t relate to the cringeworthy stalking of an ex-girlfriend which propelled this novel. Stalking, even under the guise of research, is certainly something that I can’t admire. I also question the time factor of hours of devotion to this endeavor.

Thank you Netgalley.

I blew through this book in less than 24 hours; it's very engaging, quick, and propulsive. I feel like I'm perhaps one of the best possible readers for the book, as I "got" all of the literary references and the vibe of the characters and their world. Overall I enjoyed the book quite a bit, and would recommend it widely. Several aspects did give me pause--we're repeatedly told the protagonist has unprotected sex because of her surgery, but somehow concerns about STIs never come up, which surprised me. I also found it hard to believe that the protagonist's plans worked so seamlessly, especially in tracking Rosemary; I keep chewing on what it might have been like if she knew she was caught earlier, and a confrontation happened on-page, instead of in the final act. That would be a different book, and there's nothing wrong with the one that's written--I just wonder if it could have been even better if it had been "pushed" more. But still, an excellent read and one I was happy to devour.

I appreciated author Barasch's writing skill. I didn't, however, get very far into the book because of explicit sexual scenes. I prefer to leave physical activity to my imagination, and not a blow by blow (haha) play. Had this had an "adult sexual situations" tag, I would have skipped this.

A very well put together tale of obsession. I absolutely enjoyed getting into the mind of main character of this work. To a large degree this book is a commentary on social media and how it has the ability to create unhealthy entertainment. Highly recommend!