In Sithia Queen's imaginative novel, "Tabby Swain," the protagonist, Matthew Stroud, grapples with the challenges of concealing his true nature as a cat boy in a world that deems him an anomaly. Matthew's existence is one of constant secrecy, shared only with his trusted best friend, Mark Koenigsegg, and Mark's human mother, Ashley. Upon entering high school, Matthew's life takes an unexpected turn when he develops feelings for Emily Thompson, a human classmate. Emily's intuitive nature leads her to suspect that something is amiss with Matthew and his friends, particularly when they befriend John Woodcock, a boy who remains unfazed by their peculiar behavior. Caught between the desire to embrace his feelings for Emily and the need to protect his secret, Matthew embarks on a perilous journey to keep his true identity hidden. As his bond with Emily deepens, so too does the weight of his deception. "Tabby Swain" delves into the complexities of identity, acceptance, and the lengths one will go to safeguard their true self. Queen skillfully weaves a tale of love, friendship, and the challenges of navigating a world that often ostracizes those who are different.

This ARC was provided by NetGalley.

I requested this book because of the cover art. The book blurb was also interesting enough and I love a good coming of age story. Unfortunately, this was a DNF for many reasons. I’m going to refer to the information taken from their website in this review because it contradicts what this ARC contains.

First the author states that they write “genre-hybrid works that fall under urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and literary fiction”; I want to focus on the “literary fiction” parts. The writing in Tabby Swain is long winded and drawn out. With lengthy descriptions of a character’s every action, it’s no surprise that this book ended up being the length that it was. For example there were several pages dedicated to the mundane routine of coming home from school, doing homework, preparing and eating dinner, bathing, and finally sitting down to play video games. It was a poor attempt at writing meandering mundanity that is prominent in literary fiction.

Next is the writing style “writes in first-person present-tense and often utilizes alternating point-of-view. Her style leans toward minimalist and realist”. Realist shouldn’t mean describing every single action a character takes to prepare a meal or take a shower. Don’t write your book like a wiki-how article. And “minimalist”? This book is 653 pages long.

And finally the content rating. “Sithia writes mature content intended for an adult audience. Her works often contain language, violence, and sexual themes that are not suited for young audiences”. Then why the hell is this book tagged as New Adult? On other bookselling sites it's tagged as Young Adult or Teen fiction. I thought maybe the author had other books that fall under what is said on their website but there are none. So who is this book really for?

As I said, I DNF’d this book and it was when a friend’s mother, a whole adult women, started to tell a highschool student, her child’s friend this, “but I’ll admit I didn’t mind indulging him; I enjoyed petting him, and eventually, pleasuring him.”
That is so inappropriate and I got major icks and even more icks with everything I said above.

This book is mislabeled and miscategorized. I will not be reading more.