Although queer, I don't think I'm the right audience for this book. While there were some things I enjoyed, it often felt like it was trying to hard-- at what? I'm not entirely sure. The characters were flawed, relationships messy, but it left me disconnected and feeling like an outsider until right at the end. I do think this book is really interesting and probably will be really amazing to the right audience.

this book was incredible messy and so queer. As a straight person I honestly struggled but honestly i'm glad that books like this exist.

I enjoyed this! It was funny and unapologetically messy and queer. The dynamics between all of the couples were delicate and complicated and entertaining. However, I didn't feel connected to the story until the very end. The first two hundred pages were slow and was expecting the stakes to be much higher. Then, suddenly, the final 100 pages took an absolutely wild turn and gave me all of the unraveling and messiness I was expecting in the first half. I loved the final chapters, but it took a lot of effort to get there.

Trigger Warnings: nudity, cursing, sex, therapy, sex toys, torture, gore, infidelity, toxic relationship, alcohol, drug use, injury, mentions of top surgery,

Representation: Jewish, Lesbian, Queer, Nonbinary, top surgery,

Dykette is a queer contemporary fiction novel about dysfunctional twenty somethings, Sasha and Jesse. They are professionally creative, erotically adventurous, and passionately making a life together in Brooklyn. When a pair of older, richer lesbians—prominent news host Jules Todd and her psychotherapist partner, Miranda—invites Sasha and Jesse to their country home for the holidays, they’re quick to accept. Even if the trip includes a third couple—Jesse’s best friend, Lou, and their cool-girl flame, Darcy—whose It-queer clout Sasha ridicules yet desperately wants.

As the late December afternoons blur together in a haze of debaucherous homecooked feasts and sweaty sauna confessions, so too do the guests’ secret and shifting motivations. When Jesse and Darcy collaborate an ill-fated livestream performance, a complex web of infatuation and jealousy emerges, sending Sasha down a spiral of destructive rage that threatens each couple’s future.

This was such an absurd novel filled with dark humor. There is a great balance between queer nonconformity and seductive normativity. The story is written in great prose and the author does a fantastic job depicting desire and the human need for recognition.

I believe this book has a very niche audience and I’m not sure I fall into that. I appreciated a thorough examination of how messy relationships can be regardless of sexual orientation. That felt realistic. Where it lost me was how vulgar the whole lot of them were. Like I said, not my niche…not my cup of tea. Overall, I struggled to keep the characters organized and felt often that I did not know who was doing what. I may have lacked connection creating this confusion.

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and author Jenny Fran Davis for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

"Dykette" offers insights into contemporary lesbian culture but the characters are all extremely unlikeable and the plot is confusing and nonlinear.

This book is White Lotus meets Big Swiss with body horror. DONT READ THE DESCRIPTION JUST DIVE ON IN BABY

representation: gnc love interest, bisexual MC, lots of sapphics, a sapphic-identifying nonbinary person, a gender nonconforming lesbian

spice level: not sexy, but several very clinical sex scenes

tw: body horror, needle play, infidelity

Enjoyed the narration for this irreverent, hilarious, sometimes sexy/sometimes cringy novel about three couples on a long weekend away.

Everyone in this book was so annoying and so selfish, but I couldn’t stop reading! The narrator was excellent.

I didn't really understand the point of this book and I didn't care for the theatrics of the characters. It seemed that Sasha was a complete narcissist and I hated her character. The others I didn't care for as well. They all seem kind of ridiculous and the entire story was confusing.

I usually love a LGBTQ-focused book and I really wanted to like this one, but it really wasn't for me.

Unfortunately, this is not a fair star rating since I DNF'd this book at around 16%. It’s not that I did not like the book per say, but I was not able to keep up with the audiobook. The authors way with words was spectacular, but I found it so confusing to know who the narrator was speaking about. There were times when Jesse was referred to has a boyfriend and he him but then there were times when he was referred to as a she which was confusing. Even as someone who is part of the community, I was still left confused as to who everyone was and who each person identified as. I felt that by 15% I had no idea who any of the characters were, who the couples were and what each of them did nor why they were at the location they were at. In my case, I think this is the type of book that I need to read not listened to so that I can process the words with my own eyes. Therefore, I will give it a 3 since it is in between because I did not get far enough into the book to form an opinion.

I apologize to the author in advance for my lack of understanding of her writing.

I don't think I was the target audience for this novel and that's okay. I enjoyed reading other reviews from people who enjoyed this work.

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

First, thanks to Macmillan Audio, Jenny Fran Davis, and NetGalley for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts and feels.

Dykette follows Sasha and Jesse, a couple who join two other queer couples on a ten-day holiday at a country home. Things get heated when the couples' motivations and desires start to come to a head, and a web of infatuation and jealousy emerges. Davis does a fantastic job writing out the way sometimes our lives together can be little more than a game of cat and mouse.

Of course I am also so glad for more books written for queer readers by a queer author. I never felt Davis shy away from nuanced (some new to me as well!) aspects of queer identity and culture, as the plot of Dykette explores themes like kink, relationships, and consent in a way that feels intimate. Although for me, this was only toeing the line of relatable, I still appreciated and was engrossed by the new perspective.

Something that did stick out to me after reading is that I didn't feel that several of the plot points that were introduced were ever fleshed out enough for me (Miranda's "bad patient" her twitter beef, the Jules/Sasha dynamic, more, more, more). I felt this book had the potential to knock it out of the park by coming to a head several times, but instead it would fizzle a bit and go another direction. Despite this, I loved Dykette and this subsection of queer literature, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for something new and wholly unique!

Dykette is a contemporary observation of gender and sexuality in the lesbian space.

Sasha is high femme, she's in her mid 20s, has exclusively dated butches, and enjoys performing "traditional gender roles" with her partners. She's been dating Jesse for a year now. Jesse goes by he/him and she/her, and Sasha refers to her both as her "boyfriend" and her "girlfriend".

Sasha and Jesse, alongside another couple, were recently invited vacation at an "elder" lesbian couple's home. The other couple is in their 40s, and the divide between them is vast despite being only a generation apart.

It feels like the queer world is constantly evolving. Maybe we're all too terminally online? But the struggle of being queer is the general outsiderness one experiences from the rest of the world. Yet at the same time, some people are just ~more~ or less gay than others, and their outsiderness exists in a different spectrum. This a major factor for Sasha, who is very feminine, versus Jesse who is masc, and other characters in the story who have had top surgery, go by they/them, etc.

The changes in pronouns, the controversy that the characters are going through online ("how could she be a TERF when Twitter alleged she wasn't even a feminist?"), and the constant question of queer presentation and perception is though provoking.

But the fun twist is that we as the audience consider these things through the lens of Sasha. And Sasha is young, self absorbed, and still figuring out her place in society, which means that the entirety of the book is delivered via hilarious, bratty inner dialogue.

Fun read that will almost definitely ignite the exact same online controversy that the characters knew it would

Admittedly, I am probably not the target audience for this debut novel. I was trying to diversify my reading but I just couldn’t connect with any of the characters. Plus, and this may have been because I listened to audio instead of reading, I kept confusing everyone. Even Sasha’s pug, Vivienne, had a very human name and I kept forgetting she was a dog. It also didn’t help that when the novel started, Jesse was referred to as “he” and Sasha’s boyfriend. However, there were a few instances later where Jesse is referred to as “she”. This could have been because this was an arc and so maybe edits weren’t finalized but pronouns can be confusing anyway so I feel like more of an effort should have been made with consistency. Anyway, the story itself meandered and the plot felt forced. Also, the ending was like, bam, done. Huh? I put in the listening effort and that was it? And Sasha was completely terrible and overly dramatic and why is Jesse putting up with her nonsense? Too many questions and no real satisfaction.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this audio e-arc.*

Dykette by Jenny Fran Davis is a fever dream of a queer novel that will definitely leave its mark on you whether you love it or hate it. I have never read anything quite like it. At times I felt like I was intruding on the character's space with the amount of what seemed to be inside jokes and stories, but I was still there for it. I enjoyed the oddness. This story is certainly based on character development and not plot, but I enjoy that when the characters are relatable. Don't miss this unique read.

The narrator was decent although there was no defining character changes. The pacing was good.

This was very niche and therefore just not for me.

I can appreciate the humour and voice but it was a tad graphic and at times confusing, it felt like a run on sentence and I needed the author to take a breath.

Great narration though.

Fans of Melissa Broder will enjoy this.

Thank you NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the ALC all opinions are my own, this one comes out May 15.

📖 ARC REVIEW📖

Dykette by Jenny Fran Davis

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

This is the messy, queer debut I've been looking for! I enjoyed Dykette by Jenny Fran Davis - not as much as I anticipated, however I fully recognize as a cis-het woman that some of the things I did not connect with were because they were maybe not necessarily for me to connect with. And I don't mind that and it doesn't make the book any less good or enjoyable.

I love: a messy, unreliable narrator, LOL-worthy writing, character-driven reads, and uncomfy moments ( all of which Dykette fully delivered).

Where Dykette lost me was the last 25 or so percent of the book where everything felt rushed or disconnected or messy (not the good messy).

Overall, I enjoyed this read!

Shout out to NetGalley, Henry Holt & Co. for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review

I took a couple days to try and wrap my head around this one.
I still have no idea what I read.
This book is all over the place. Weird, more weird, and weirder.
Wasn't a big fan of Sasha (she's suuuper whiny) and it was about halfway though the book before I was able to distinguish the other characters. They all kind of blended together in the first half, too many (and too quickly) introduced for such similar personalities.
The "performance" felt like it came out of nowhere and I worry that a lot of readers will be ill prepared for it. A few friends were reading this at the same time and they were extremely uncomfortable with it, since they never read anything like that.
Our chats were wild for this one, but as I said, still no idea what the point of this book was or how I am supposed to feel.
Unless that was the point?
Absolutely loved the narrator (Alex Schmidt) I could listen to them every single day!
Thanks (?) to NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for my DRC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for gifting me an ALC of Dykette by Jenny Fran Davis.. In exchange I offer my honest review.

This was the queerest Queer novel I ever read and I mean that as a compliment. Dykette is loud, messy and a hell of a ride. This book is not trying to coddle straight readers or educate them, but whoa did I get an education!! I was completely out of my depth but totally consumed by the DRAMA unfolding between three lesbian couples who choose to spend the Christmas holiday together at a vacation home in upstate NY.
Jules and Miranda are the “older” more established gay couple, professionals who are hosting the “baby gays” - Sasha & Jessie, Darcy & Lou.
Sasha is our story’s voice and she is the MOST insecure, self-centered, childish, insufferable person I’ve come across in a long time. Ugh! I felt for her partner Jessie, who can do nothing right in Sasha’s eyes. Jessie & Lou are friends and Darcy is the newest social media influencer, whom everyone covets, except for Sasha who is beyond jealous of both Darcy’s appeal. This book was LOADED in bitchiness and cattiness and honestly, I was here for it. Like watching a Real Housewives reunion, this book was super entertaining but at some point it all goes south. One part was a bit too graphic ( for me) and the aftershocks became the catalyst for some real melodrama that I found more grating than gratifying.
Overall I enjoyed this book, but I’m not sure I’d easily recommend it. I do think it would make for excellent bookclub discussion. Also props to the book design team….fabulous cover art!