as a certified lover of the “millennial women fumbling through life” genre it pains me to say this but i think we need to shut this genre down until we can figure out wtf is going on.

because THIS BOOK? what was the reason? where were the editors (if there were any at all)?

this book reads like someone gave chatgpt the following prompt: millennial white woman struggles post-grad & has illicit love affair, include references to being chronically online ad nauseum (emphasis on twitter references from 2016), fatphobic remarks (with no nuance), include a laundry list of offensive metaphors & analogies that don’t sufficiently explain the situation at all.

cringeworthy writing aside, when i started reading i was highlighting like crazy, not because the quotes were meaningful in any way but because they were deeply offensive.

examples of egregiously offensive quotes (that made literally zero points):

1. the author compares waiting to be called in for a job interview to an abortion clinic waiting room, but suggests that getting an abortion is actually EASIER than going through the job interview process (ma’am?!?).
2. “max didn’t know that inside my skinny body was a fat person waiting to break free.” (HUH???)

i understand the protagonist is meant to be insufferable but my god, could she not have come up with other analogies (& ones that actually work)? if nuanced, these books can work so well, but sadly there was no nuance to be found here.

i’ll admit when books are simply just not for me but i am actually THE target demographic for this book & reading it incensed me. the second half of the book had some gems but having to trudge through the first half of the book was just too much.

this book is trying far too hard to be “edgy” & therefore elicits the opposite effect.

thank you to the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to Henry Holt & Company and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

This week’s headline? It’s better to live without expectations

Why this book? We all know why 👀

Which book format? ARC

Primary reading environment? Bed

Any preconceived notions? The affair might be your run-of-the-mill affair

Identify most with? “I am not good at being on my own, without distraction.”

Three little words? “Zelda was GASLIT.”

Goes well with? So much wine, dinner with friends, parks, hotels

Recommend this to? If the synopsis intrigues you then read the book. Tbh, it’s been difficult for me to give über specific recs lately.

Other cultural accompaniments: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/feb/01/green-dot-by-madeleine-gray-review-witty-tale-of-obsessive-love

I leave you with this: “I know that sometimes the best audience for your jokes is yourself.”
“But women have been forced to harm themselves in the process of making men accountable for millennia. I have been in training for this moment. I will not be quitting, and I tell him as much.”
.
I think I wanted more from this book, but maybe I shouldn’t have expected the male character to not be the stereotypical man who cheats on his wife and such an idiot. It became annoying when Arthur kept telling Hera he’ll leave his wife and then putting it off. I don’t have patience for this behavior in real life and I have less patience when reading about it, I guess, because it took me longer than I anticipated to finish this book.
Barring that, there were some funny moments and there’s a lot of good quotes - I couldn’t share them all here due to the character limit for posts. I wanted more of a friendship between Hera and Mei Ling, or I just wanted more Mei Ling because she was the most interesting character in my opinion. Honestly, a lot of Hera’s relationships, romantic or otherwise, were very superficial - even her longtime friendships came off that way - and I was left wanting for more emotional depth, but maybe the characters weren’t meant to go that deep.

And I think I may be done with narrators in their twenties for a while. Call me ageist, I don’t care. I want to read about different experiences. These sad girl narrators are all starting to sound the same.

Green Dot is available now.

“So I decide. Standing in this dank alleyway I decide I’ll settle for a sliver of the love I want, in the hope that one day soon, there will be space for it to become more.”

I enjoyed this book a lot, while simultaneously wanting to shake some sense into this woman for the whole book. This novel provides a look at how disheartening and soul-crushing entering into the workforce can be, while being unable to escape the necessity of it. However, the main experience this novel explores is falling in love with a married man and what being the mistress feels like. It was difficult to read sometimes because we are in her head, which meant we were in delulu town for a while. The writing was fantastic (I loved the unexpected breaking of the 4th wall). It was funny, heartwarming, irreverent, and tense. I will definitely be getting a physical copy of this book!

DNF at 23%....the writing style was too quirky and hard to follow.. I just had a really hard time paying attention. I also didn't realize going into this one that the plot focused on an affair. That is a very triggering topic for me.

I really enjoyed (hmmm…maybe not enjoyed but appreciated) this book. It’s very well-written, and packs an emotional punch. I was drawn into Hera’s poor decision making and empathized with her despite her pain being mostly self-inflicted. And the anxiety it inspired in me was truly evidence of its power.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Hera is 24, lives with her dad (whom she adores,) and realizes she needs to start living the adult life. The job, though, is an online moderator which is monotonous, and leaves her wondering if this is all that there is for her future. She's bisexual, but she finds herself attracted to a manager in the office who is much older than she. They begin a flirtation over IM, which (as it usually does) progresses to a physical relationship. She is so in love, she feels Arthur is in love with her, but then...she finds out he's married. This is a tale as old as time, but what's unique is that the author really made you feel every single bit of this affair. The highs and then lows, the inability to move on, and hanging on to the fact that Arthur (wait for it...) promises to leave his wife.
I loved this novel because Hera, with all her angst, worry, and love rings true to life. Highly recommended.
Thank you to Henry Holt & Company, NetGalley and the author for a digital ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
@NetGalley @HenryHolt&Company #MadeleineGray #GreenDot

4.25*
Green Dot follows Hera, a 24 year old woman living with her father, who, upon entering the workforce for the first time, starts a relationship with a married coworker.

I really enjoyed this book! Hera was a such a relatable, funny, but flawed character. Her voice was so distinct and her character so fleshed out that she felt like a real person. I really felt the increasing desperation and heartbreak that Hera feels as the book goes on. The writing was really well done. I thought it was really funny and had just enough pop culture references without feeling like too much. I also liked the inclusion of the Covid pandemic without it completely taking over the story.

I really enjoyed Green Dot and would recommend it to people who enjoy LitFic, and I look forward to more by this author!

Thank you to Henry Holt and NetGalley for a copy of this arc for review!

Hera is a 24 year old woman, living in Sydney and beginning her post-graduate life. She starts her new job as an online comment moderator, disliking her boss, but quickly falling for her coworker, a slightly older journalist, Arthur. Hera’s level of infatuation skyrockets, and soon she is all-consumed by this affair.

Hera tries to navigate this new phase of life as a working adult and her affair with Arthur. They mostly communicate through an app where Hera can see Arthur’s “green dot” indicating his online status.

Some of Hera’s behavior as she find her way in adulthood is relatable, but not all of it. She’s a bit unhinged at times, a bit naive at others, and has questionable judgment, but I couldn’t look away! I was entertained throughout Green Dot, not lacking in tense moments.

I have never finished a book in one sitting (and I still haven't) but if any book could convince me to do so, it's this book. I devoured it in two days and I want MORE from this author. I had no idea this was her first novel and I am a bit surprised as her voice is so definitive. Her humor disarmed me multiple times and I found myself really rooting for the narrator even though her complicated life decisions sometimes made me cringe inside. Her ability to call out the absurdities of our lives was so refreshing. I cannot wait to read her next book!

Good writing with a good start, but then it got away from me. I was not a big fan of some of the characters and it wasn't a book I reached for consistently. It was a bit of a chore.

Content warning:

- Alcoholism
- Disordered eating
- Intimacy
- Mental illness
- Pregnancy
- Suicidal ideation

Hera is our main character in Green Dot, and she’s an anti-capitalist who has recently finished her advanced degrees and is staring down a lifetime of work. Though she hates the idea of work with a passion, she still ends up applying for a job at a news station, where she moderates the comments under online articles.

Shortly after starting in the role, Hera falls in love with a coworker, and the rest of the novel explores how love can lead you to sacrifice yourself in the worst of ways. It’s exploration of growing up, sexuality, and how to manage our relationships with others is engaging, and the writing is fluid and gives the character a unique voice.

If you read Green Dot and you enjoyed it, you may also like:

- Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin
- Come and Get It by Kiley Reid
- The Half Moon by Mary Beth Keane

Hera Stephen is a quirky and insistent anti-capitalist, who spends a majority of her life after high school avoiding the inevitable time when she’ll have to join the workforce. She pursues degree after degree, until she ends up living with her dad, needing a job. Though it physically pains her to do so, she sends out her application to a comment moderator job at a media organization.

To Hera’s surprise and dismay, she’s hired for the role, and when she shows up for her first day on the job, she finds that the comment moderators are relegated to a certain part of the office, and expected not to interact with the journalists or other “important” people. Her boss, Alison, is weird and overbearing, but her colleague Mei Ling has the same kind of dry humor as Hera, which makes the job more tolerable.

Hera pushes through the monotony at the office, continuously commenting on how horrible the whole thing is. The only upside of the situation is that she can now join in on work-related complaining with her friends, Soph and Sarah.

In the elevator one day, Hera runs into a journalist, and in a moment of bravery, asks him who he hates most in the office. He’s baffled at first, but later mouths “Doug” to her, which gets the ball rolling on their relationship.

They begin to chat at work, trading witty banter and getting to know each other better. One day, after a bunch of coworkers go out for drinks, the journalist, Arthur, and Hera end up getting a meal together after. Though they go home separately after that, it’s not long before they sleep together.

Immediately after Hera invites Arthur into her bedroom at her dad’s house, she discovers he’s married because of a call from his wife. Hera isn’t as concerned about this turn of events as you might think, and instead tells Arthur that she’s serious about their relationship.

Though Arthur promises Hera he’s going to split up with his wife, he comes up with reasons why it’s just not the right time to do so. Hera continues to believe him for a while, until one night when Arthur says he’ll meet her, but leaves her waiting in a park instead. After this happens, Hera decides it’s time to take extreme action, and looks for a job in the UK.

Hera tells her friends about Arthur’s unfortunate situation, and they commiserate with her, until they find out that Hera’s still seeing him. The longer they continue to see one another, the more uncomfortable Hera’s friends become with the idea.

She finds one, and tells Arthur that she’s leaving because he won’t leave his wife. He begs her not to go, but she’s trying to do what’s best. Hera goes to London and hates every minute of it. She struggles to make friends and finds herself thinking about Arthur all the time. When he messages her on her birthday, the doors are open again, and the two begin messaging like they were before. This is when Hera discovers that Arthur’s wife is pregnant, but Arthur says he’ll still leave his wife, and that Hera can even be a step-mother to the baby.

Right around this time is when COVID hits, and Hera suffers alone in her apartment for some time before caving and going back home. When she arrives in Australia again, she and Arthur reconnect. They continue to talk about how Hera can be a step-mother for the baby, and Hera gives Arthur an ultimatum: he has to leave his wife by the end of the year.

On New Year’s Eve, Hera prepares a cake and plans to celebrate with Arthur after he tells his wife about the affair, but he shows up at her apartment, saying he was unable to do it. She pushes the issue, saying that he has to tell his wife. Then, when Arthur does, his wife asks him to stay, and he does.

Hera is crushed when she realizes that she’s not a special mistress who will actually end up with the man, but instead one of the many who believe falsely that it will happen for them. She breaks it off, permanently, with Arthur. Her friends are happy to hear it, and welcome her back into the social life she abandoned to spend all her time with Arthur.

At the end of the book, Hera is approached by an adorable little girl, and when she looks up, she sees Arthur, who attempts to reconnect with her. Hera rebuffs him, asking if he’s left his wife, and he says that he has not. She finally sees through his veneer of being the perfect, honest man, and realizes that he doesn’t care how much he hurts her by continuing on with the relationship, only that he loves her and wants to have both things at once.

Okay, so now that you know all about what happens in Green Dot, let’s get into some of my thoughts on this book.

The first thing to know about this one is that it’s *not* a feel-good book, at all. I think it’s very by design that the first happy moment the character experiences is immediately squashed by the phone call from Arthur’s wife, and how he leaves as soon as he gets it. Him leaving right after them being together is a pattern that repeats throughout the book.

Speaking of Arthur leaving, this leads me to my next thought about this book, which I’m kind of torn about. On one hand, it is *so* incredibly frustrating to watch Hera make her choices in this one. What would have been most satisfying to read probably includes Hera getting out of bed as soon as she realizes Arthur is married, telling him off, and going to the wife shortly after to tell her about what her husband has done.

But—this book isn’t about what is satisfying, and instead depicts a much more realistic picture of what people are like, and how they can continue to choose the wrong thing, over and over, even when they’re shown and told it’s the worst possible choice.

So I’m torn about it because it was incredibly frustrating, but almost in a good way, like a metaphorical car wreck (because I would not actually feel that way about a real car wreck).

I did like our main character, and there are a few reasons for this. First, I think Hera was very funny, and that comes through in the narrative style. We see it in her interactions with her friends, her dad, and even with Arthur. I also share a lot of the same views with Hera, including not at all wanting to spend the rest of my life in an office, but finding that might happen anyway.

Speaking of her dad, he was one of my favorite characters in this one. There’s something satisfying about how steady and supporting he was, even when watching his daughter continue to pursue a married man. He never criticizes her, and instead is there for her, even when she makes poor decisions that hurt him specifically.

Hera’s friends are also a strong point in this book. I feel they could have been used as an element of drama, choosing to leave her when finding out about her affair, but instead they stay by her side. The book does something interesting here, showing how even though Hera does have a support system, she chooses not to use it when she needs it most.

I also appreciate both the cover and the title of this one. Green Dot refers to the online symbol Hera stares at when trying to see if she can chat with Arthur on Instagram, but it’s got other associations as well. It makes me think of a green light at a traffic stop, and how it’s contradictory to what Arthur does to Hera, as he seems to stop her life completely. The title may also be a reference to the green light in The Great Gatsby, which he is always looking at as he thinks of Daisy.

Overall, I thought Green Dot was an interesting, if depressing, read, and I gave it a four-star rating because I enjoyed it and would recommend it to a friend but I wouldn’t read it again.

Green Dot is the story of a young woman named Hera who simply does not want a career. Despite this, she takes a job moderating comments online. At this job she meets a 40 year old, married man named Arthur who she begins an affair with and falls deeply in love. Green Dot gave me every emotion. I oscillated between happiness and laugher to profound sadness. Hera was such a likable, funny, and challenging character. I truly rooted for her even when I disagreed with her choices. She felt to me, like a real friend. I could not put this book down. The writing was so engaging. I will be recommending this book to everyone I know.

*3.5*
This book dives into a lot of topics and emotions many women in their 20s feel. Even though Hera the main character was not particularly likeable to me, you cannot help but root for her in figuring out her life. I liked how this book was realistic about the role social media can play in relationships, as well as integrating the pandemic into the timeline, without it ruining the vibe of the book. Even though I relate to the feeling of being lost there were points in the book where I wanted to throw my kindle across the room because GIRL WTF?!

is one of those books I requested based on a whim and while I expected to hate the protagonist Hera, because the synopsis makes it clear that she knowingly has an affair with a married senior coworker, I found her surprisingly relatable.

This is definitely one for those who find a 9-5 job boring, and the fact that it’s narrated in hindsight makes her journey with the job front as well as her affair bittersweet as fascinating as she deromantizes certain aspects of the two. It was one of those “just one more chapter” books! The author just has a distinct narrative style that kept me engaged, plus the talent it takes to write a book just long enough on this subject is 🤌🏼 A worthy read for all contemporary fiction readers. Full review to come on blog.

Thank you to Henry Holt & NetGalley for the ARC! Green Dot has skyrocketed to the top of my list of favorites for this year. Unequivocally witty and inevitably tragic, Green Dot is equal parts an ode to the devastation of our social environment amidst capitalism and what is born from our attempts to survive it. Hera is in her early twenties living with her father when she lands a vacuous and utterly menial job (aren't they all!) as a comment moderator.

I loved the way Gray wrote Hera's online search for a job, likening the job offer to a boulder for which everyone needs and yet no one actually knows what to do with when granted. There's a certain banality to the narrative of Hera's first week at her new job: we as readers are bored alongside her, mentally taxed by descriptions of the frigid office and its occupants, frantic for something, anything, to happen. And eventually, when it does, just like Hera, we are consumed by the excitement, the sense of finality, the feeling of "Yes, finally, I've been waiting for you."

But what ensues is not entirely a love story between Hera and Arthur. He's twice her senior and has been married for nearly the same amount of years that Hera has been alive. It would be more accurate to say that the eventual gratification of someone appearing to cause interest is less about the person they are and more so about the fantasy they contribute to. Hera has this striking line where she thinks: "Maybe I gave him too much credit from the beginning. But what is lust if not generosity preserving? I wanted him to be what I needed, and so that is what he became."

This is what I love so deeply about this book. It has pieces of some of my favorite novels like Luster by Raven Leilani and Acts of Desperation from Megan Nolan. There is a beauty in writers illustrating the ecstasy of projecting a fantasy, the delusion behind infatuation, desiring something / someone so desperately that it feels almost transcendent. Chelsea Hodson once wrote, "Suffering feels religious if you do right." For the majority of this book, we see Hera master the piety in agony, the unearthly shame that infatuation begets.

She waits in parks at the dead of night, books hotel rooms and Airbnbs on her card, skips out on her loved ones at the off-chance that this man will message her and ask to meet up on the spot. She stares long and hard at the green dot of Arthur's online status like it's the pupil of his eye, waiting for the ellipses of his potential words to appear. It's awful and she knows that it's awful, but yearning is an infant that can never be put down, a child that refuses to be appeased.

People will complain that Hera is pathetic, self-involved, deplorable — but haven't we all been? Hera is one of the most realistic characters that I've read in recent years, because she portrays a sense of longing that is undeniably raw and lucid and pitiful. It's like a car crash I can't look away from, a wound that I'll never let scar. I'm so sad that I finished this book, but I will think of it for a long, long time.

I tore through this one. My heart broke for Hera, a flawed but endearing and funny twenty-something who makes one of the oldest mistakes in the books: falling for a man who promises to leave his wife. We are all screaming from her future: "he will never, ever leave her for you, babe!" but sometimes you just have to let it play out. Hera makes all kinds of missteps, primarily discounting those in her life who love her most and show up consistently for her, but her foibles are entirely believable. My heart was ripped right out when the inevitable happened, despite knowing from the beginning what was coming for her.

Hera is in her early 20's, lives with her dad, and doesn't have much going for her. When she starts a new job, she catches the eye of an older man. I was not the audience for this book about someone young in Australia making poor life decisions. Not a terrible book, just not for me.

If you’re someone who has to like or morally align with a protagonist, you should probably avoid this book. But what fun are likable characters anyway?

Green Dot follows Hera’s inner monologue as she begrudgingly enters the workforce behind the rest of her peers, meets an older male (and married) colleague, and begins an office romance/affair. It’s full of dark humor and questionable decision making as Hera works to figure out exactly what she wants out of life and love.

You’ll enjoy it if you’re game for a character-driven narrative with imperfect characters and a quotable yet sarcastic writing style.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!*

This was hilarious and painfully relatable. It really captured being in your mid-twenties and thinking you've got it figured out but also being a mess. I am not saying I support her decisions but also...I get it.

Bitingly specific yet humanly universal, Green Dot takes us where we don’t want to go but hooks us into getting there from the very first page. A debut novel about love vs. delusion, what it means to truly see ourselves and choices we’re faced with in becoming “adults”.

Hera will become your twenty-four year old unfiltered millennial bestie. She is intensely self-aware of every area of her life, except her love life (not relatable in the slightest…) This journey is desperately painful for the reader but aren’t we all slightly delusional within our own heads/worldviews/lives?

The intimacy of Hera’s inner monologue is what kept this novel relevant to me even though her decision to continue to date a man once she’s found out he’s married (Hello average Aruthur 👋🏼) did notttt sit well with me.

This book will speak to anyone who:
has felt lost in the tide of oncoming adulthood,
has desperately wanted to be loved in the midst of not really knowing who they are,
likes jarring jabs of introspection mixed with humor.