Oh, this is such a touching book! I really loved the three part format. It was a very fast read, but this format made it seem to go even faster.

The book touches on the heaviest of topics, yet somehow was still funny and in parts felt lighthearted (in a good way). For a relatively short book, there was so much character development and growth!

This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and it makes me want to look up and read other things she’s written.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest rating and review.

I felt this review needed to be public for other readers' awareness, and NetGalley won't let me post without leaving a star review. Please be aware that I only read the first few sentences of this book.

I know Emily is a celebrated, beloved author in our community, and I’ve been a fan of some of her work in the past. While I struggled with her second novel, Interesting Facts About Space, due to triggering content related to stalking and what I felt was a mishandling of PTSD treatment, I was still eager to read her upcoming novel.

However, upon opening my ARC copy, I found an author's note that explained the story “deals with suicide” from the perspective of someone who treats their death “as trivial.” Suicide and mental illness are not mentioned in the book’s blurb or marketing materials, so this note took me by surprise. I flipped to the table of contents and saw that the first chapter is is a suicide note, followed by 21 chapters titled “Attempt One,” “Attempt Two,” and so on. Initially, I interpreted this to mean the book chronicled 21 suicide attempts, which was alarming and triggering for me.

In my search for clarification, I came across reviews explaining that these chapters detail the narrator’s attempts to write a suicide note, not suicide attempts themselves. However, reviewers also mentioned unsettling elements, including a narrative that oscillates between humor and distortion when discussing suicide, mental illness, and psychosis. One review shared how the narrator fabricates stories, walks back serious claims like experiencing hallucinations, and justifies these fabrications as attempts to make her suicide “more comprehensible.”

Given my past concerns with Emily Austin’s handling of sensitive topics and the deeply personal nature of this subject matter, I’ve decided not to read We Could Be Rats. While I respect the nuanced and complex ways writers approach mental health, I feel strongly about prioritizing my own mental well-being and only engaging with stories that handle these issues with care and clarity.

To my fellow readers: if you choose to read this book, please tread gently. I encourage us all to remain mindful of how storytelling impacts both ourselves and others, especially on topics as sensitive as this.

I absolutely loved Interesting Facts About Space, so I was excited to read this. It is not interesting. The voice of the protagonist drags on and is painful to read because she's so mopey and hopeless. I guess since she's suicidal that makes sense, but uhhh. Boring.

Before I talk about how much I loved this book, I need to talk about how much I love Emily Austin’s novels. Everything she writes speaks directly to my soul and reminds me of how much I love being a lesbian. She is my number one auto-buy author at this point in my life, and I genuinely almost cried when I got approved for the We Could Be Rats ARC.

That being said, while I loved loved loved this book, it hit different than her other novels (‘Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead’ and ‘Interesting Facts About Space’) in a fairly significant way. Emily Austin’s characters are so delightfully odd in a very comforting manner, leaving me wishing that I could be friends with their real life counterparts. They also experience the world in real and relatable ways; they live with anxiety and depression and get autism diagnoses as adults, and their lives are impacted by this. It means that sometimes they struggle, or hurt others, or hurt themselves while living day to day. It’s played realistic and raw, and that means sometimes it’s uncomfortable or frustrating to read.

‘We Could Be Rats’ goes beyond uncomfortable to upsetting, because the topic does as well. This is a book about suicide, and suicide ideation, and the [consequences] of a suicide attempt on the life of the victim and their loved ones.

It’s also a book about using humor to cope, and all the different ways sisterhood can manifest, and how to talk to someone you love who is hurting, and what the best animal to be reincarnated as is (the answer, if you couldn’t guess from the title of the book, is a rat.)

I can’t wait to hold this book in my hands and scribble in the margins and make every single person I love read it and share it with a friend. Emily Austin continues to prove that she can write no wrong (buh dum tss) and that lesbians are the best thing to ever happen to the world.

We Could Be Rats by Emily Austin was a beautiful, beautiful novel about life, connection and family. I was really immersed in the letters broken down in each chapter and the relationships between the two narrators. Emily Austin is solidifying herself as an auto-buy author for me. Her writing is so great. Thank you to the publisher for this advanced copy.

I really, really enjoyed this. A compelling, heartwrenching, funny story of two sisters and their complicated, thorny, undeniable love for one another. This was somewhat different from what I expected--Austin plays with form and structure in really interesting ways here, setting this apart from her previous two novels, which stayed with one singular POV throughout. I don't want to say too much more, because I think it's best experienced with minimal information going in. I'm still chewing on my full thoughts for this--review to come closer to publication date on Instagram (@camillasreads)!

I've been looking forward to reading Austin’s next book since I read Interesting facts about space earlier this year and I'm so thankful to Atria Books and Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Minor spoiler/content warning ahead
- I would like to start my review by mentioning that roughly the first half of this book is written in the form of a suicide note. It is really a letter to Sigrid’s life, relationships and experiences and I don't think it's as heavy as you would expect, due to the style of Austin’s writing, but given that it's not mentioned anywhere in the synopsis I figured it was worth bringing up here.
Also maybe just be aware that there is kind of an unreliable narrator situation going on here I think but it's all explained/cleared up by the end of the book.

This is a story about growing up with parents that fight so much you choose to believe they're being swamp monsters rather than possibly be your actual parents. Living in a place that doesn't like most things about you that you can't seem to escape. It's about what happens when two very different kids grow up in the same environment and what happens after that. I also think there's a lot of love in this book. Love between friends and sisters and family members you love but don't really like.

I related to this very deeply in a lot of ways but I think even if you can't it provides a very clear look at how these things can go and how some people deal with the situations they're put into and how that affects the people around them. I know that all sounds very vague but I think going into this not knowing too much about it is ideal.

Side note: Emily R. Austin’s books never fail to make me feel like she's writing straight out of my own mind. I was first drawn to her work because any mention of a mentally ill lesbian main character, especially if they're neurodivergent, will immediately catch my attention but what's made me stay following her work is the voice in which she writes. I already can't wait for the next one!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC!

This was a highly anticipated 2025 release and I was so excited to read it early! As always, Emily does not disappoint with her beautiful writing. I first read Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead last year and I loved it so much.

Austin has written a wonderfully poignant queer story that I feel is a triumph! We Could Be Rats centers around sisterhood, grief and mental health. I think this book is something very special and I highlighted so many important quotes.

I’ll read anything Emily writes and I can’t wait to see what she does next 💕

I really loved how this one was written, it had quite a twist. What a unique exploration of sisterhood. I want to avoid spoilers but I think Austin fans are in for a treat.

We Could Be Rats by Emily Austin is an emotional, insightful, and timely novel about sisterhood and finding oneself in this crazy messy world. I'm a big fan of Emily Austin, I loved her two previous novels, but this one really stands out as her best work yet. I was not prepared by how moving this would be for me. I enjoyed the dual narration in this novel and the author’s depiction of growing up with “swamp monsters” as parents hit home. I felt all the feels! It was particularly impressive how much I could relate to Sigrid, despite our differences. This book handles very serious and sensitive subject matters with care, but as always please check TW before reading. I really appreciate the author including a land acknowledgment. It’s so important to recognize and respect the Indigenous peoples and their lands. 5 Stars!
Many thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The story of two extremely different sisters brought together by various ways the world fails us every day. It’s a beautiful tribute to childhood and the desire to keep reality from tarnishing your imagination. For anyone navigating today’s political climate with conservative family members or any young queer girls in small towns: this is THE book for you. There’s no one else writing about mental health in such a therapeutic and relatable way.

This was a difficult, emotional read with a beautiful story about sisters at its core. Major trigger warnings for suicide and addiction, so please tread lightly into it. But if you're ready for Emily R. Austin's trademark writing style and a moving story about sisters, family dynamics and navigating difficult circumstances, this is a gem that brings all of those things together in a way that ends up leaving you with a feeling of peace and a glimmer of hope.

The story follows sisters Sigrid and Margit, who grew up with very different personalities and priorities, ultimately growing into two women who are simply sisters and not really "friends". The story explores the challenges that both women face in their lives during a particularly tumultuous time, and how at the end of the day, even though they're very different people with very different lives, the bond of sisterhood can never be denied and one would still bury a body for the other if it came down to it. There are themes throughout of the power of imagination, the magic of childhood, and growing up with a sibling that are all so perfectly drawn that most any reader will be able to relate to regardless of their own upbringing.

Personally though, I related to this one in a big way, as I have a sister who is the opposite of me in most every way. For a long time in our high school years to late 20s, I would have said that I couldn't see myself being friends with her if we weren't sisters - very similar to Sigrid and Margit in this story. While we've gotten closer in the last few years as we've gotten older, we still have different enough lives and personalities that I saw our relationship in these pages over and over again in little ways - but also just like our sisters in this one, both of us would do just about anything for the other.

Emily R. Austin has such a knack for creating characters that are relatable and memorable, in a style that perfectly blends sentimentality, quirk and humor. She finds a way to dig into the darkest, deepest thoughts one could have, and then writes them in a way that is honest and raw, but also in a way that gives you permission to have those thoughts because even from the darkest of places, there can always be hope. Just to reiterate though, this book is VERY sad for the vast majority of it, so picking it up at the right time is key. But of course I do think it's worthwhile to say that there are those glimmers of hope throughout, so for me it was worth treading through the darkness to find those moments.

I continue to enjoy Emily R. Austin's work, and will always look forward to the next thing that she writes - although I do hope that there is just a little more happiness in the next one! Thank you so much to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book was taken straight from my mind. Everything was so relatable, from being a lesbian to their family lore. I admit after a while some chapters became kind of repetitive but it all came together in the end

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with the e-ARC!

If Emily Austin writes it I will read it 10/10 I swear they just keep getting better and better its like she can see right inside my brain and knows exactly what I want, I knew from the title this was going to be another hit and I love being right

Based on early Goodreads reviews, clearly I'm in the minority with my non 5* rating! There's no doubt that this story of sisterhood, imagination, and healing was heartfelt, but I struggled to connect with the characters and found the pacing a bit slow. Based on other reviews, you'll probably love this lol, but it didn’t fully resonate with me. Still, I think it's a worthwhile read for fans of introspective, character-driven stories.

Thank you to Netgally and Atria books for the eARC of this book.

Wow! Emily Austin quickly became my favorite author after reading Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead and has not disappointed since. The way Austin writes is just so raw and real and reflective of real life. It’s messy, beautiful, serious, funny, and fucked up - just like real life is. I have never read an author that has made me FEEL so much. I just love her writing style with my whole heart. We Could Be Rats might just be her best yet. I cannot wait for the rest of the world to read it as I feel like it is a story that so many of us need right now.

Thank you, Netgalley, for the ARC!
I love Emily Austin SO much, and I’m so happy I got to read an advanced copy of this. The relationship between the sisters/ the Catholic guilt has me crying on a road trip to go visit my family. Emily Austin’s books always hit me hard, but this one wrecked me 💔 Austin always personifies her characters so well, and I loved the premise.

I have to say, this was pretty devastating. I’m not even sure I can put into words how this story made me feel. This was my first book by Emily Austin and her writing style hooked me from the first page.

Being in Sigrid’s head was definitely an experience. There were times when I didn’t know whether I should laugh or cry. I grew attached to her, I was rooting for her but I also felt like I didn’t even like her that much at times. Yet I kind of enjoyed that? It made her seem more real. I resonated with a lot of her thoughts, Margit’s too. As someone with sisters, I know my experience growing up isn’t their same experience. And even same experience does not always equal the same story.

I haven’t read a lot of lit fic recently and this book definitely has me questioning why. Overall, this was a heartbreakingly beautiful story of sisterhood, childhood and self-discovery.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the ARC.

There is a Venn diagram out there about the perfect overlap of eccentric, profound, and simple, and Emily Austen’s writing sits right in the centre.

This is a book about the stories we tell others and ourselves to get through our lives. This felt like a realistic and tender take on what it means to feel lost in the world, and I loved getting to see glimpses of that from the perspective of both sisters.

I felt hooked from the beginning, but felt the book drag a bit in the middle. It made sense why the first have was structured and written the way it was, and it definitely picked up for me with Margit’s first chapter (which made me sob almost). This is my third Em Austen I’ve read and I love the little plot twists she has every time.

Unfortunately I felt a bit disappointed by the second half. I almost appreciate the lack of resolution in some sense, because that feels more authentic (or rather a simple upward trend of everything becomes okay again). But part of me also misses the wrap ups quintessential of her novels. I think there were some really interesting concepts she toyed with about how we help/let others help/how to actually help/can you help etc etc and I wish that was explored a bit more.
I didn’t feel fully satisfied with the story, and this may be a personal bias, but I think I’ve read too many books in the sad girl genre. And while I appreciate some things about Em Austen books staying on brand, I wish she’d get a bit more adventurous with her plots.


Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for the arc!

After reading Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead, and now We Could Be Rats, it’s obvious that Emily Austin has a formula: a depressed lesbian in a small conservative town untangles her childhood with toxic parents and complicated familial relationships. And it’s worked both times! We Could Be Rats paints a portrait of Sigrid through suicide note attempts, in which she laments adulthood and mourns a childhood that seemed simpler, but is something she is healing from throughout the book. It took me a few chapters to get into its format of twenty-one attempted suicide notes, but once I did I couldn’t put it down—by the time I finished reading it I had ten pages of highlighted quotes (on my kobo <3). It’s an emotional and vulnerable story that is rooted in the societal and political upheaval we are currently (and unfortunately) living in. Emily Austin is exceptional at writing characters who deal with tragedy in a somehow humorous and uplifting way. She managed to both make me cry and feel comforted in under 300 pages.