This book was quite enjoyable, but I found myself wishing it were longer. As a fan of splatterpunk, I was excited to dive in, and while it delivered much of what I was hoping for, it also fell short in some areas.

The writing was excellent, it was descriptive and gritty, perfectly matching the book’s tone.

However, I wanted more from the story. I was hooked from the first few pages, but the book’s brevity meant it felt like it rushed through the plot faster than I would have liked. The choppy, short format left me craving more depth and exploration, which affected my overall rating.

Overall, it was a fun and engaging read, but I’d love to see a full-length version that allows for more space to develop and flesh out the story.

The book I ended up dnfing as I just could not get through it I get what the author was trying to do however I found the story’s to be over complicated and hard to follow however I feel like with some fine turning their writing could be amazing!

"Hot Singles in Your Area" by Jordan Shiveley is a brilliantly inventive and darkly humorous exploration of modern dating and online culture. Shiveley's sharp wit and keen observational skills are on full display, creating a narrative that is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking. The book deftly balances satire with genuine moments of introspection, offering readers a fresh and nuanced perspective on the search for connection in the digital age. Shiveley's characters are vividly portrayed, each bringing their own unique quirks and insights to the story. With its clever writing and insightful commentary, "Hot Singles in Your Area" is a standout read that will resonate with anyone who has ever navigated the complexities of relationships in today's world. This book is a must-read for fans of contemporary fiction looking for a blend of humor and depth.

DNF 25% in

Unfortunately i didn’t know where this book was going, i wasn’t intrigued and i couldn’t really follow the plot since i was reminded in my mind that those were words on paper, I in fact had to reread some sentences and still i didn’t understand a thing.

I initially requested this arc because the plot was really interesting and i was in an horror mood but i was disappointed, maybe this is just how i felt and somebody else will love this arc.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this e-arc and i’m sad i couldn’t finish this book.

I really did not enjoy this book, and rating it is difficult. I can see where this might be someone's favorite, but to me the writing style was too confusing. The digital publication of the book interjected mid-sentence with images and graphics, making it difficult to follow a train of thought. While the newspaper clippings were interesting, they were the only good part of the book. It is unfortunate to say, as I think this had great potential, but the execution was poor and the structure very convoluted and needlessly hard.

Hot Singles in Your Area is a debut novel that emphasizes body horror and centers queer characters. It’s author Jordan Shiveley got their start on X (formerly known as Twitter) with an account that appears to be connected to the book (?). Truthfully everything in this review is a bit of a question mark because there was so much of the book that I did not understand.
Hot Singles in Your Area alternates between two main characters—the first character introduced is Noah, who pursues a job listing for the media company Printed Matter and is immediately struck with the strangeness of the position he is being offered. The other main character is Malachia, who comes from a magical world where she seldom comes across other humans. One day she finds that everyone in this world has vanished, and the two main characters find their paths crossing despite their very different starting points.
Down to the sentence level, this book does not make sense. Sentences reference information that has not been revealed to the reader, the footnotes are confusing and miss the mark of what seems to be intended to be humorous. There is also the integration of the job listings printed by the fictional company of the novel that are not placed strategically by rather are pages upon pages that split up sentences in the middle of a thought.
While I love the experimental format of their book, it was a risk that could have had a high payoff but ultimately failed miserably. I would love to see a similar format explored in a book where the footnotes, rather than being tangential commentary, actually lean into the academic format they mimic. I could imagine a story more along the lines of Penance by Eliza Clark that uses an archival theme being better suited for this structure.

f you are looking for weird, I guess this is weird. The entire book felt like a perfectly normal and boring person taking a selfie making a stupid face and captioning it "I'm sooooooooo weird." I definitely enjoyed Noah's story more than Malachia's. I can tell Shiveley was going for a lighthearted, cheeky narrative, which is great in a lot of books (Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy cones to mind), but it didn't do anything to help this book.

thank you to Jordan Shiveley, netgalley and Unbound for this digital ARC.

i read this on my kindle and found myself very confused most of the time. the formatting on the kindle could be improved and the readability of the alternating chapters as well, especially the ones centered around Malachia.

other than that, this has great potential and a great read for anyone that might enjoy more unique and abstractly written books!

First of all thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for allowing me to read this!

I went into this book very optimistic however my brain just didn’t enjoy reading this sadly. I can say my e-arc format could have played in the experience of reading this as it jumbled things quite a bit making it harder to follow along.

I can say sometimes I enjoy a book with footnotes but honestly I don’t see the need for them here. Especially for what the author was using them for. It just added to the confusion I felt while reading it.

I really wanted to enjoy this but I’m not sure this one was for me.

Weird, but it works. Nothing like what I was expecting from the cover (which I LOVE). The newspaper clippings were hard to read on my Paperwhite, but once zooming in, it was better.

I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher in return for an honest review. This review is based entirely on my own thoughts and feelings.

Overall rating : 2*
Writing skill : 2*
Noah's story: 3*
Malachia's story: 1*


I normally like a 'weird' book, ones that are completely out of the norm, but this just felt like it was being strange for the sake of it.
Noah's story was intriguing and I could follow it and appreciate what the author was trying to do.
Malachia's story however was just too confusing, I had to re-read some sentences many times and still couldn't process what they meant. There were about 10 pages with one word repeated over the whole page, and I just felt it was unnecessary.
I felt like we didn't need the stories to alternate each chapter, they could have been written as two separate short stories, one after the other. with a combined chapter at the end?! I don't know, maybe I just missed the point.
Disappointed I dint click with this book, as I really wanted to, but it wasn't for me.

4.5

I don’t know what I read, but I love it?? I honestly wish the whole story had been told in Printed Matter ads, that would have been incredible. To me, this felt like reading Welcome to Nightvale tweets and like a lite version of House of Leaves.

Weird, confusing, amazing.

Thanks to NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really hate to do this, but I need to put this book on pause. I just cant get into it. Im not a great physically reader, so when its tough to get into, its extra hard for me. Im super intrigued by the synopsis, but i just never fell picking it back up.
I will not be rating it yet, Im hoping an audiobook will be made and I can finish it.

It's making me choose a star rating. Since I DNF it, I can not rate it (in good conscious) a 1 star so I'm thinking a 3 star. Right in the middle.

Hot Singles in Your Area was an absolute tornado of blood, chaos and cutthroat (pardon the pun) humour. It was a rollercoaster from start to finish. While this may not be my cup of tea genre wise, it was a real giggle and definitely elicited the reactions of immense disgust and very verbal sounds of shock and confusion. I am left feeling somewhat exhilarated by the chaos and terror that Noah and Malachia went through over 200 short pages.

This was nothing at all like I thought it would be but not in a bad way. I really enjoyed this even if it wasn't what I thought it was. It was still really interesting and unnerving in a lot of places. I can already see myself driving my friends crazy yapping about this book.

This was in a word, nonsense. Two stars only because it seemed like it could have been interesting? Like there's something here for sure but I don't know what. I don't mind a book that just drops you in instead of world building, but only if it serves to have a plot move quicker. But there was no plot, other than (maybe?) reaching the start of the events at the end of the book. I also had to read this on the NetGalley app bc the formatting on kindle made the book illegible.

It says the author runs a Twitter account and maybe if you're familiar with that this book makes more sense.
Thanks NetGalley for the copy

I unfortunately could not get into this book. It felt very disjointed and I really did try my best to get through it but DNF’d at around 60%.

The story was lacklustre and uninspiring. The footnotes were certainly an interesting choice. I feel as though further world building could have been done and there wouldn’t be the need for said footnotes. I did get to the point where I just ignored them if I’m honest.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Want to read a book that feels like an insane fever dream? This is the book for you.

I had a pretty hard time following along with this book, and honestly couldn't quite catch on to what was going on until near the end. It's like if you mixed horror, elder scrolls lore, and gravity falls together. It's a lot.

But what I will say is I enjoyed the process of getting through the book. All the "wtf is going on" moments are what pushed me to give this book three stars. The characters and idea are very new and interesting, I just wish the plot made more sense.

Having come across a few unique books before, I assumed from both the cover design and content that this one would be something strange. I was ready for that. What I didn't expect was the sheer intensity and depth of the weirdness or the level of idiosyncrasy...

The story revolves around two main characters: Noah and Malachia. Noah, the more human-like of the two, wants to quit his cleaning job after dealing with unknown blood and teeth at a bus station. The situation is so dire that he decides to change careers. He finds a newspaper ad for a salesman position and heads to the job interview, hoping for a better, less gruesome occupation. Malachia, on the other hand, hails from a surreal world where buildings are made of bones, divine monsters roam, and mocking darkness threatens to consume everything. Malachia keeps moving forward, constantly searching for something, though it's hard to say what.

I was prepared for a so-called weird story, but this took it to a whole new level—perhaps too much for my taste. The narrative was difficult to follow and, to be honest, challenging to read. The sentences were insanely long, often without a single comma. Font sizes changed randomly, and the footnotes were filled with very random notes or observations. The book had few dialogues, many descriptions, and inner thoughts, making it a laborious read. The characters were incomprehensible to me, blending into one another at times. The frequent use of the word "fuck" quickly lost its impact.

In addition to switching POVs between the two main characters, the book also featured pages from a newspaper printed by Noah's new job, which were perhaps the highlight of the read. Although the content was almost incomprehensible, the strange ads and pictures held a certain fascination. There were plenty of teeth, both in the text and in the images. The diary of someone embarking on an adventure to an island ends unexpectedly and confusingly. The classified ads had a slightly scary and dark undertone.

All in all, this book has a very cool cover design, but unfortunately, the content pales in comparison. It's difficult to recommend, except perhaps to those seeking a bizarre reading experience or art students looking for dark inspiration.

Thank you so much, NetGallery and Unbound, for this unique reading experience!

Review in Estonian (Aug 15, 2024): https://brixieblog.wordpress.com/2024/08/15/hot-singles-in-your-area-jordan-shiveley/

Noah is a dissolute young man who needs a job. He gets one with ‘Printed Matter’, a local freesheet; which is a front for an organisation that contains something a lot more mysterious than missing dogs and items for sale.

If you were looking for something that was Harry Potter for grownups (and slightly less hateful), a little Lovecraftian and with a hint of Pratchett and Gaiman, you might find it here. It’s weaknesses for me lie in its structure - the three POV construction seems too episodic. See also, it’s use of pages from the newspaper itself, repeated words and illustrations use up what is an already short page count (just under 200).

It’s emblamatic of an idea that could have done with more work and space. It’s a weird read that some will find wonderful, but not for me. It’s released by Unbound on 7th November and I thank them for a preview copy. #hotsinglesinyourarea.