TRUST AND SAFETY
Laura Blackett

She wants a big house in the country where she can walk barefoot through the tulips and live the life she's always dreamed of.

He wants a baby. And the country is a better place to raise a family than the city. So he agrees to do anything to make her dreams come true even if that means sinking them with a ton of debt to do it.

She finds the perfect house. They quickly find themselves in a bidder war. They overbid to win, and their offer is accepted. When they look at the house he sees work and she sees their future.

After doing a few quick calculations they conclude that for them to afford the mortgage they'll have to bring on renters.

Little did they know choosing the right tenants would be of the utmost importance. Instead of using traditional methods to find qualified renters they opt for a more laid-back, and intuitive approach.

And whom they choose will determine how the next few months go. We get to be Alexa spying on them and their tenants, listening in on private conversations. What she (Alexa) hears will surprise and enlighten you.

Did they make the right choice? Will this house be the answer to all their questions?

This was a lot of fun. And it was quick. Most times there isn’t a better combination. This is my first time reading Blackett and I didn’t know what to expect. I was impressed.

There is a fine line to walk when you’re writing about unlikeable characters. Sometimes it can make you feel like you dislike the material, but Blackett does a great job showing you who is bad and who is worse.

It’s a funny, well-written gem.

Thanks to Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton | Dutton for the advanced copy! It was a pleasure to provide feedback!

TRUST AND SAFETY…⭐⭐⭐⭐

Starts with a strong beginning, then unravels into a complete mess. Honestly, didn't like a single characters in this story.

Thank you, Dutton

sorry I read this on time but was on vacation and forgot to send my review (but posted on ig on 5/21)

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Pls this book is so funny!!!

Eve Gleichman and Laura Blackett have done it AGAIN. The Very Nice Box is one of my favorite book experiences. While their sophomore novel Trust & Safety is tonally different from their debut, there’s still a strong, silly, clever authorial voice and a commitment to a twisty, well-plotted resolution. No one is doing it like them - there is an entire scene that reads like a modern-day Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Range!

Between Trust & Safety’s himbo tech bro Jordan and Very Nice Box’s Mat, Gleichman and Blackett excel at drawing bone-chillingly accurate cartoons of systemic misogyny. Trust & Safety doubles down on Very Nice Box’s message that cishet men are the worst while also elegantly rejecting performative allyship. Every character - even and especially each queer member of our polycule - is low-key messy, manipulative, and mercurial. And zero of these chaotic people deserve to be put on a pedestal.

Somewhere inside this masterclass of satire hide timely questions. Is wokeness a spectrum, and where - from ignorance to queerbaiting to an inappropriate-but-unsaid inside thought - is the line between harm and good intentions? Do you have ennui or do you just live in New York City? Are you bi or does your husband suck a lot? If a person posts a hike for the views, are they outdoorsy or an asshole? What makes someone a good parent, or a parent at all?

Honestly this review is too cerebral and maybe makes this book sound more serious and navel-gazing than it actually is. So - simply - are you a funny, anxious weirdo or not? If yes, pick this shit up!

TV show mood comps: The Good Place for the vanilla characters + Upload

This entire book felt like dishy gossip. Fantasizing about a more "simple" rural life is relatable, especially when you add pining after the lesbian lumberjack next door. So much fun with clever writing.

The description of this book claims “Whip-smart and wickedly funny, Trust and Safety examines questions of authenticity, betrayal, belonging, and entitlement, while poking fun at contemporary fear of the ‘gay agenda.’” That sounds excellent - unfortunately, I don’t feel like the book actually followed through on that promise.

I was very drawn in at the beginning and thought there were a lot of really interesting directions the story could have gone. Unfortunately it lost me with where it did go and by the end I just couldn’t stand anyone and was considering whether to even finish. Curiosity had me stick with it but I probably should not have. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook to review.

Rosie and Jordan are newlyweds who upturn their lives and move to a cabin deep in the mountains after Rosie seeds an Instagram ad that makes her feel dissatisfied with everything in her life. Jordan loses his job and they end up having to live entirely in the very rundown cabin they spent way too much money on and forced to rent out a shed to a couple who end up making Rosie question everything about who she thought she was and what she wanted.
I had a really hard time deciding if I liked this book because it feels like no one is honest and even the people who seemed nice and trustworthy turn out to be big surprises, not to mention that the main character gives up and doesn't really display any character growth. It's a bit of a study on false faces and wanting something more but not wanting to do the work or even fully acknowledging what it is you want.
I like the aspect of not really knowing what people are like and not projecting who we want them to be and then being surprised that they're nothing like we imagined. It's a neat story detail that I appreciate when done as expertly as in this book.
Unfortunately, I have issues with the main character, Rosie, and how she deals with things and her decisions, so that makes the story not as enjoyable as it could be. I saw the potential, but it turned out not to be for me.

Happy thanks to NetGalley and Dutton for the read!

I was able to read "Trust and Safety" by Laura Blackett and Eve Gleichman on NetGalley. This is the story of Rosie and Jordan, a newly married couple. Rosie decides she wants to leave New York City and move upstate, a more rural place. Jordan agrees to do this for her.
But then he loses his job and his parents help with the purchase of their new home, an impulse buy that they did not properly vet. The home needs a lot of work, so to help with money they rent an outbuilding to another couple. This is when emotions start to run high. I really liked this book.

I tried really hard to get into this one, but I just wasn't able to. I am still really thankful to the publisher, author, and netgalley for granting me advanced access to this digital collection before publication day.

The calmest part of Trust and Safety is the first chapter, in which our MCs Rosie and Jordan have just married. Then the twists and turns come quickly: home buying, job changes, new tenants...and that's just the beginning.

In the eighties, there were a few movies in which urban professionals move to the country with less-than-ideal outcomes. Trust and Safety is the modern, literary version of these films and I am so glad it exists. Blackett and Gleichman have written a clever, wry, thought-provoking satire of our connected society.

Thank you, Dutton and Netgalley, for an eARC in exchange for a fair review.

authors take note: you put the word "anti-capitalist" in a book summary and tell me the book is queer, i will be reading it.

this book introduces us to rosie, newly married to jordan, who is fed up with the hustle and bustle of new york, the incessant need for new things, the tiny spaces for exorbitant rents. my first indication this was going to be a funny book was when rosie finds a historical fixer-upper in the country via social media - 'the cure' for a highly-connected world that values things and exchanges of money being found via the... instrument used to peddle even more things to consumers. that's funny to me.

after a bidding war, the house is theirs and they head off to a ramshackle home where rosie wants to nourish herself with something she's yet to find in her life. but her husband has lost his job, so instantly they decide to take on two lesbian renters for the little shack/shed out back for extra money, which is something that leaves rosie questioning things about her marriage.

it's really hard to go more in depth without spoilers. this was a careful dissection of finding a new way of life. it's also a very specific commentary on how deep the roots of capitalism and social media and all its arms go. truly, the most entertaining/scary part of this book was the device (not unlike a Google Home or Alexa) that strategically listened to conversations had throughout the home and cheerfully recommended products based on what it's heard. seriously, those parts had me laughing out loud.

funny? yes. but also scary to think that this is something that's truly happening with our devices, how seductive instruments of capitalism can be in finding you, how hard they are to escape, and how hard it is not to find your way back to them.

i gave this a four star. the ending made me stare off into space for a little while. a very good read. funny. kinda terrifying. i can't wait to pick up other books from these writers.

I could not stop laughing when it came to this book. You get a home based on what you saw on the socials, realized it’s not what it all seems (like everything about social media) and now you are stuck with the hot mess of a property. This amazing couple moves in and they do their thing, and everything turns after that, I couldn’t stop laughing it was such a fun read, the different POV’s and everything.

Trust and Safety by Laura Blackett; Eve Gleichman was a fun and unique story.
Very intriguing with fascinating characters.
I had so much fun reading this story. The book was full of vivid descriptions and vivid imagery to the point where I felt like I had slipped into the pages.

Thank You NetGalley and Publisher for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

I was reached out to with an arc of Trust and Safety and honestly, it took me a while to read it. I don't know why—I think the name made me think it was going to be more techie? I don't know, but I am so glad I finally picked it up. I think I ended up finishing it within a day or so?

When I started, I didn't realize it was a satire so I was grumbling along about how unlikable the characters were, but was intrigued (and stubborn) enough to keep on going. But once it clicked, I found myself enjoying how over-the-top and at times, painfully cringe the characters were. It was uncomfortable, but the kind of uncomfortable you grit your teeth and keep on reading through. The writing was straight-forward and sometimes almost basic; while I couldn't tell if it was for the story's sake or just their style, it did work in this instance.

There were plenty of twists so I don't want to give too much of the plot away, but as I mentioned, once I got invested, I flew through the novel. The ending was unsatisfying but, again, there's no way it could have ended to properly get the authors points across and be satisfying.

I can see this being a polarizing novel for folks, but I'm of the 'really enjoyed it' camp.

“Trust and Safety” is a satirical tale about a couple, Jordan and Rosie, who leave Brooklyn to settle in a rundown, overpriced farmhouse in the countryside. Rosie is determined that this move is essential for her happiness and won’t be content until she realizes her dream.

A side-eye look at a young wealthy couple (thanks to his mom's smoothie company) who buy a derelict home in a bucolic New York town and discovers that not all is what it seems when they rent their outbuilding. Rosie spots the house on Instagram (I follow that handle!) and convinces Jordan that they need to leave the city, which is stifling her. The house is both more and less than they expected (the mice! all of it), the prices in the country store are outrageous, and Rosie ends up working part time at a chicken farm. But most important of all are Dylan and Lark, who move in and fix up the studio. And Dylan, oh Dylan and Rosie. There are multiple twists and surprises here so no spoilers but those twists are what make this more than I expected. It's a send up of so much but it's gently pointed with small things that might resonate (that vegetable peeler!). I was charmed by their first novel; this is a step forward into a bigger world. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. I know this won't be for everyone but I really enjoyed it.

DNF’d at 30% I was really looking forward to the premise of this book but I just could not get into it. I did not care at all about the main characters, which made it hard for me to keep going. I know part of that is the point of satire but it just was not the right book for me.

A cutting and truly hilarious satire! The characters are messy and over the top, which made for a fun reading experience

I really enjoyed this satirical look at a straight couple from Brooklyn who enter a bidding war for an old farmhouse in the Hudson Valley. They win with some help from family money, but once there, it’s not the dream they anticipated. They get tenants to help with costs, and these tenants are part of a queer polycule with seemingly no way to make the money they’re paying for rent, but a ton of homemaking and renovation skills.

This ends up being a clever look at compulsory heterosexuality and the limits we put on ourselves, as well as a jab at city dwellers who think they can do anything just because they have a little bit of money. Since Covid and the rising costs of living in many rural areas, this has only become more relevant. I couldn’t look away from this one, and if any of these themes appeal, I highly recommend.

This was a uniquely crafted story with some hard to like characters that grounds itself in facing sexual identity, capitalism and personal relationships. I really enjoyed the sense of humor and well thought out characters, as well as the authors' sharp wit. I think fans of friend dramas with social commentary will enjoy this one!

2.5 stars

I...truly loathed these characters, and while I realize this is satire and that - to some degree - requires characters with terrible habits, personalities, etc., this was just too much for me. The humor I was promised in all of the blurbs? Well, it ended up being more cringe than LOL, unfortunately.

Readers meet Rosie and Jordan at their wedding, and they are already infuriating. Their meet cute is creepy, and their families are terrible. It could go up from here, but as readers get to know these two better, they get worse. After Jordan loses his job for good reason (and if I have to hear another reference to that word from another person who does not use it as an identifier, I will actually scream), these two end up in relative financial trouble (but not really) and are forced to have...renters! Now, it's time for Jordan and Rosie to inflict their performative allyship all over this tiny queer bastion. And just wait until you discover what else Jordan wants to inflict all over this community and others...

I appreciate the underlying messaging and the attempts to realize it, but so much about this novel rubbed me the wrong way and not in the "I'm uncomfortable because this is satirical" fashion I was hoping for or expecting. I'd give these authors another try, but I can't imagine the kind of reader I'd recommend this to out of concern that they'd also find it frustrating and at times bordering on offensive. Adding insult to injury, I don't need to visualize or hear about murdering chickens either. Yep. Not for me, unfortunately.