"She borrowed the books from the library, much to Eric's bewilderment. "Who knows who touched those books," he said once, disgust creasing his brow at a battered copy of Ethan Frome. "It's probably covered in mold and larvae. And God knows what else."

That evening, in a quiet stolen moment, she had wiped both sides of the cover on his pillow."

Meet Victoria. She has a job she doesn't like, one friend she's very critical of, and a husband who's so awful he's like a caricature. Just about the only thing that brings her joy is sitting in a cafe, sipping flavored coffee, inventing stories about the other customers. (Somehow they all lead lives even more depressing than her own.) Then one day, she sees HIM - the perfect man who just happens to be reading the same book as she. Apparently this means they are destined to be together . . . just as soon as she can rid herself of her dreadful spouse.

Quite honestly, the only thing I liked about this book was the bit I quoted at the beginning of this review.

You think Victoria's husband is bad? Isn't she worse for making herself subservient to his every stupid whim? He asks her to give up reading for two weeks? And, she does it! Instead of moving out, she spends her time fantasizing about his death. Fantasy after fantasy about her husband's demise; it gets old pretty quickly.

The tag line "A wickedly funny debut novel--a black comedy with a generous heart that explores the power of imagination and reading..." is what snared me, but the author didn't really deliver. Black comedy I get, though the surprisingly serious ending didn't seem to fit the tone of the rest of the book. Generous heart? I didn't hear it beating.

I really wanted to like this book because it’s about an avid reader who finds more comfort in books than her life but I found that it was a bit chaotic for me. At times i couldn’t tell if we were in her head or if the situation was really happening.

For Victoria she uses her books to escape a bad marriage but it’s a crutch for her. She doesn’t want to deal with what is in front of her.

Obviously as a avid reader I get escaping from the real world but you always have to return to it.

As a bookworm, the title of Robin Yeatman’s upcoming novel, Bookworm easily caught my attention. The description then caught my interest. But when it came to actually reading the novel, for all that elements of it were relatable, it just wasn’t as interesting as I’d hoped it would be. Much like the novel’s protagonist, every time I built up my hopes about an element of the story, I was ultimately left feeling a little… disappointed. It’s not a terrible book by any stretch, but it didn’t really capture and hold my attention well either.

Books are Victoria’s beloved escape from the boredom and dissatisfaction of her life – especially her marriage to straight-laced lawyer, Eric. She believes herself to be a prolific reader of people as well, watching them and envisioning the intimate details of their lives as she sits and reads in her usual spot at her favorite café. One day, she spots a stranger reading the same book she is and when he makes eye contact, Victoria immediately realizes that HE is her true soul mate and her dissatisfaction with Eric and their life kick into overdrive. Every controlling and overbearing thing Eric says and does grates on her more than ever and her day dreams of him meeting an untimely end – leaving her free to pursue her actual soul mate – become increasingly vivid… and her behavior begins to draw Eric’s attention and suspicion.

There was a lot of Bookworm that I related to from daydreaming about strangers’ backstories when out and about in public to pushing through books I’m not particularly enjoying because persevering and finishing it becomes personal (and I’ve been pleasantly surprised just enough times that I have a really hard time giving up hope that the ending will make it worth it). But even as I found so many things in Victoria’s life relatable, I still found the overall story tedious and boring. If I’m being generous, I can tell myself that some of that is the form of the story reflecting some of its themes… I’m just not convinced that it was an effective choice.

Though Victoria’s daydreams were vivid and fleshed out (dark as they might be), there were several aspects of the story that felt underdeveloped or possibly they were intended to be red herrings for which direction the story was really headed. In most of cases, I found those threads that popped up and vanished more compelling than most of what actually ended up happening. Similarly, there’s just enough ambiguity for the reader to question how much of what’s going on is real and how much is Victoria’s imagination. There’s certainly enough material around that for a number of college essays and discussions… but unless I were reading and discussing this book in the context a class assignment, it hasn’t left a strong enough impression on me one way or another to think about it longer than it’ll take me to switch to the next book in the pile (no danger of a book hangover for me here).

Bookworm will be available February 14, 2023.

“With a dreamy, far-off look, and her nose stuck in a book…”

Her name is Victoria, not Belle, and his name is Eric, not Gaston, and she’s not only disgusted by her husband but is also pretty sure the world would be no worse for wear if he were to die in, well, any number of ways.

I was delighted by this book. It combined immense whimsy with morbid comedy. How the heck am I supposed to resist that? This is like a sky full of colorful balloons all bursting at once only to find a sky raining blood on a gala full of ultra rich people dressed all in white and dripping in diamonds. That’s whimsical, morbid, and funny as heck. I’d pay to watch that.

Victoria has that rare and precious jewel a lot of people covet: a wild and active imagination. It’s too bad everyone in her life not only hates her tendency to daydream, but also to bury her nose in a book at every available opportunity (same girl, same). Her parents wanted her to be a lawyer and have never stopped belittling her or causing her to feel like she’s a disappointment to them. Her husband won’t allow physical books in the house because he feels they cause clutter, hates her bringing home books from the library, and doesn’t like hearing or seeing her react to the books she reads. And her best friend would rather shop and browse dating apps. But books have been with Victoria since she was a small child, and she’s not letting go of them now.

Whimsical, isolated, bored Victoria finds a possible answer to her prayers for an escape from the entropy of her life when she spies a handsome, working-class man reading the same book club-type book at her usual cafe one day. She sees it as a sign they’re meant to be together, and she aims to reach that goal. Sure, her husband will have to go, but that can’t be too hard, surely?

So much of what follows in this book are sparkling passages of differing types: dark, morbid, funny, and detailed scenarios in which Eric dies in various ways; Victoria’s vivid imagination creating backstories for the people she sees as she sits in the cafe, the narrator’s whimsical and erotic writing during the astral projection scenes, and the placid, Suzie Homemaker scenes later in the book when Victoria decides to take up baking in a fit of small rebellion.

Is this book perfect? No. But it’s a treat.

I was provided a copy of this book by NetGalley and Harper Perennial. All views and opinions expressed in this review are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: Literary Fiction/Psychological Fiction/Satire/Mystery/Thriller/Suspense/Dark Comedy/Magical Realism

Victoria has a very full interior life, imaging snippets of the life stories of everyone around her. She escapes her life by constantly reading. Magical thinking brings her to the conclusion that because she and a handsome stranger are reading the same book, they are meant to be together. She is in a loveless marriage to a controlling man. Even her parents and her in-laws are controlling. Example after example after example is given to show us how she is burdened with her lonely life.

Victoria tells us that since childhood she has escaped her life stating she cannot sleep unless she soothes herself by seemingly floating above her bed. Later in the book she develops the ability to travel this way to sleep with her perfect man. Is astral projection even possible? Our heroine turns out to be a unreliable narrator. All the characters are unlikable. This book dragged on and on for me, and it took forever to finish. Maybe some could recommend this book, but I cannot.

This was not for me. Victoria was insufferable. If she hates her husband so much why not just divorce or split up instead of mooning over strangers and barking at her husband? This is not dark humor it’s just rudeness on her part. Eric is not a prince, but don’t people deserve honesty at least?

This book just isn't for me at this time. It has nothing to do with the book. I may try to read this one again in the future at a different time.

We opened to an information dump. I prompty closed the book and moved on. No grip from first paragraph. "Friday was Victoria's day off." So what, who cares? "She liked having Fridays off because Holly often did, so they could visit and gossip." So do I. So what? We need so much more from an opening. I'm shocked this wasn't addressed.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper for the ARC.

Darkly funny, sly, irreverent, a bit bleak; honestly, Bookworm reminded me of nothing so much as Matilda, but for adults. Also shades of We Ride Upon Sticks, by way of Ottessa Moshfegh (who is, unsurprisingly, name checked in the story).

Not the book or author's fault, but I do think this is a bad cover design for the book's actual contents. I don't think I'm alone in getting more cheerful, light, chick lit vibes from the cover, while the story itself is anything but. It's very worth reading, but if your expectations are leaning more romance/women's fiction, maybe adjust them a bit.

Thanks to the publisher for the advance review copy.

This book was not my cup of tea. There was a lot going on, but also not enough going on. I couldn't get into the style of writing or the plot line that the main protagonist's out of body experiences. Unfortunately, it fell short for me and it won't be a book that I would recommend to others in my reading circles ... but I do think that it may be a good read for those looking for a light book. It reminded me of how I felt about the Arthur Less series and those are loved by so many more!

I loved this book so much! I immediately connected with the story and with Victoria. If you think you know where this book is going, don't be so sure! I absolutely loved the touch of magical realism (very slight) and I understand this book so well. This book was so well written that I can't believe it's a debut but I can't wait for more from this author! I highly recommend if you like dark comedies and if you love to read.

Bookworm comes out next week on February 14, 2023, you can purchase HERE! Read this book!!

Victoria wasn't used to discussing the books she read with Eric. It felt too intimate, somehow. He didn't exist in her world of books. If he had wanted to know her at any point in their marriage, all he would have had to do was ask her about what she was reading. This might be the first time he had done so, and it was too late for such chitchat.

I understand that this is supposed to be a black humor type of book but it was too dry for my tastes. Victoria is a boring and judgmental character and while married to the also boring Eric, it didn't add any dimension to her character. The book moved too slowly for my liking and ultimately, it felt like a slog to get through. Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for this eARC,

This one seemed to fall short. The cover and title are darling, and the idea of it being a dark comedy appealed to me. The story itself didn’t seem like such a dark comedy, there wasn’t a lot of humor and the “dark” parts seemed unclear if they were fantasy or foreshadowing until the end. The characters were too one-dimensional, even Victoria. She was pretentious about her reading and we were never given a reason why she would’ve been with Eric in the first place. The other characters were blah and beautiful but insufferable. Victoria’s fantasies about her husband’s death seemed a bit much, making her cruel to wish for his death so she could have an affair with Luke. I know that customers will buy this title based on the cover, but I cannot recommend it.

Was this a romance novel? A suspense novel? A dark comedy? I’m going with yes to all of the above. Victoria is a massage therapist by trade, but a bookworm at heart, living in Montreal. I kept imagining Roald Dahl’s Matilda as an adult. Victoria loves getting lost in a book, but she also loves hiding behind them and feels a strong sense of obligation to finish a book, once she starts, because she’s so optimistic that the book will improve. One day, she is in a café reading a book when she sees a very handsome man reading the exact same book and she believes this is kismet and she loves him. Problem is, she’s married to Eric, a lawyer, void of passion. He picks on her and forces her to watch cheesy movies with him and even has her on a book reading ban because he thinks they’re making her depressed. Victoria begins fantasizing about Eric dying, These fantasies get darker as the book progresses. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I will stop there, but this is a funny, irreverent, surprising and subtle book that Bookworms will love, filled with fantastic book references throughout. Thank you to HarperCollins and to NetGalley for the advanced review copy.

I don't know if it's because of the dreamy cover or the fact that it's classified as romance on Goodreads but Bookworm was not what I expected and not in a good way. Victoria is unhappy--with her husband who is a condescending, check-the-box-type of guy, with her parents who never understood her and like her husband more than they like her, with her best friend whose choices and lifestyle she judges constantly. One day, she notices a guy at a coffee shop she goes to regularly and develops an obsession with him after deciding he is the one for her. The fact that I didn't like, couldn't relate to, or root for any character definitely affected by reading experience. Supposedly, it's a black comedy but I don't think it's funny? A psychological thriller would be a more appropriate genre in my opinion.

I think there are readers out there for this novel, but sadly I’m not one of them. The cover description is a bit off the mark, portraying Victoria’s bookish habits as a way to escape her loathsome husband, cruel family and humdrum life. Instead, we find her “leaving her body” through mediation each evening to escape the sleeplessness and discontent that plagues her. This is less about a bookworm, and more about a woman frozen in time. I really wanted to root for Victoria, unfortunately I didn’t like her all that much. Thank you to @NetGalley and Harper Collins for my gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Well this book just wasn’t for me. Labeled as a wickedly funny debut, I just didn’t find any humor in the book at all. Maybe dark humor fans would find it more enjoyable?

I understand the concept of Victoria as a unhappy wife using books and her imagination to escape her reality. However, Victoria is a very unlikable character (as is every other person in the book). I just really didn’t connect with her or care how her story ended. Maybe if the book had a different synopsis so I was expecting a more sinister book I would have felt differently.

Thank you to Harper Perennial and NetGalley for granting me a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

0.75/5. stars! The cover of this book is really fun. I enjoy dark comedies, so the premise of this book sounded like it was right up my alley. I think the author made an intentional choice for the main character to be just disgustingly unlikable, but it didn't really work for me. It was like "ma'am stop disassociating and handle your sh*t." towards the FMC. Maybe some would like this, but for me it missed the mark entirely.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC!

I read a few negative reviews on this one before starting, and I'm glad they didn't deter me from this book! This is a great dark humor, with a main character who daydreams both of killing her husband and about her new coffee shop crush. This one will definitely not be for everyone, but I thought the ending tied together well and I honestly came to enjoy the main character, Victoria.

If the synopsis appeals to you, it could be worth picking up!

One of my most anticipated Canadian debut books of 2023 and it was a surprise delight! Darkly funny, a book obsessed woman stuck in a unsatisfying marriage fantasizes about a man she sees in a coffee shop and starts dreaming of ways she could off her husband. Relatable and absurd in equal measures, I devoured this and loved it on audio too. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!