Thank you to NetGalley, author Emily Austin, and Atria Books for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

I have a bunch of friends who are huge fans of Emily Austin. I read her book Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead last year and didn't quite enjoy it as much as I was expecting to, so I sat out her next release, Interesting Facts about Space. Now after reading her third and newest book, We Could Be Rats, I need to go back and revisit her two previous works because wow I get the hype! This was a lovely and sad and emotional and nostalgic read all wrapped up in a small package. Austin has a beautiful way with words and someone really captured the feelings of being a child and longing for that again in the story. This was a bit of a hard read due to events that occurred with my sibling last year because I could relate to Margit in lots of ways. I am rounding down because I think this book could have benefited by being a bit longer and getting more of a perspective of both of the girls. I wanted to see who they truly both were beyond the slice of life pictured in the pages. But what was shown was lovely and realistic and heartbreaking, and I'm already looking forward to rereading and seeing what I can discover again.

Emily Austin. GIRL. I would read your grocery list babe!!!

This book is WONDERFUL. So funny & I love a story that touches on sisterhood. Especially growing up in the Midwest middle class sisterhood…. Transported me right back into the early 2000s sharing a room with my big sis.

Definitely check the TW before reading- heavy focus on suicide and drug use.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first book by this author and I am so glad I read it. It is heart-wrenching, dark, and introspective. The primary relationship in the book is about two sisters who are distant but bonded, the way siblings can be. I think while the subject matter is heavy, a lot of the themes are really relatable, such as the journey from childhood to adulthood, family dynamics, politics, mental health. I also enjoyed that the entire book was written in short entries, like letters or diary entries. I also love an unreliable narrator, and was really invested in figuring out the truth of what I was reading.

My only little qualm is that I don't necessarily feel like the synopsis is accurate? Or maybe I was just expecting something different when I read the blurb on Goodreads. I'm not sure, but once I got passed the confusion, I loved what I read!!

Plsss read the trigger warnings before picking this one up- it certainly doesn't ease into the heavy stuff.

Thank you Artria Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book!!

“I used to joke, ‘I wish we were rats’ because, if I could choose how the world worked, we would all be rats at a fair. We would all live well, sampling every possible ounce of happiness. We would roll around in garbage and suck on sour keys.”

This is the first book I have read by the lovely author Emily Austin, and boy oh boy I can’t wait to read more of her work! While this book took me some time to read, it’s simply because I couldn’t handle with the fact that it was going to have to end. I didn’t want it to end, I wanted to have this story keep going for as long as I am on this Earth..but of course that’s not how books work and eventually it was time. Reading characters like Sigrid are the ones that really stick with me for such a long time…reading her attempts of suicide and her suicide notes were so comforting yet heartbreaking all at once. It’s like talking to a best friend that knows exactly what you’re going through…you feel less alone, and man I wished that Sigrid was my friend in this real life to be each others balance. Her having a hard time being accepted socially and academically hit so hard for me and felt I was connecting with her on such a deeper level than I connect with most. Life is unpredictable, difficult, messy, and full of twists and turns…and Emily Austin has done an astounding job at demonstrating that in “We Could be Rats.” Please read the trigger warnings as there is heavy topics of suicide and witnessing suicide notes feeling as if you’re reading the real deal. I really do recommend anyone who is able, to read this book..it won’t disappoint. Thank you NetGalley, Emily Austin, and Atria Books for blessing me with a book that is easily in my top 5 of the year. 🩷

I really wanted to like this one, but it wasn't for me. I didn't expect the twist, but again it didn't do it for me.

We could be rats, one of my most anticipated reads of 2025 and I’m so grateful I got to read an early copy of this. I think Emily Austin is the writer for me because something about her writing just does it for me and like makes my brain happy even though many of the topics being discussed are not necessarily happy. In we could be rats we are introduced to Sigrid who has dropped out of high school and is now working at the Dollar Pal. She claims to be happy but also resists the idea of growing up and being trapped in adulthood. She’s haunted by her past with her childhood and getting out of touch with her best friend, the person she felt understood her the most. This is also about Sigrid finding her way back and connecting to her sister Margit. I saw myself in so many different ways in this story and that’s exactly how I felt while reading interesting facts about space by the author. I think there is heavy trigger warnings for this book mainly suicide and other smaller ones. I don’t want to give too much away for this book as I feel like this is all you need to know. I highly recommend this!

Beautiful beautiful beautiful - different than Emily Austin's previous books but the format worked so well & the characters are very dear to me!

This was very unique story as it was written like diary submissions and the reader is reading the characters diary entries. I will say based on the description this was not at all what I was expecting but I did enjoy it. The first 60% of the book we learn about Sigril and why she has made the choices she has and more about the life she’s lived. Later we learn about Margrit and how her sisters actions have effected her and then in conclusion how it all brings them together again. I suppose the description is similar to what I just noted and that’s probably because it would give away too much of the book to write it another way. Read the trigger warnings because this book is definitely dark, bizarre, morbid, and touches on a lot of serious topics but I think a lot of people will be able to relate in some way or another!

Sigrid hates her job and the trappings of adulthood. She’s never been close with her sister despite them both being haunted by the same childhood traumas.

Another great one from Austin. She can really just write the human experience from unique perspectives. Major trigger warning for suicide and self-harm as the entire story is pretty much drafts of suicide notes. I felt for Sigrid and empathized with her living in a small, conservative town with a family. While she had family support, it wasn’t a support of understanding and comfort.

“I used to joke, ‘I wish we were rats’ because, if I could choose how the world worked, we would all be rats at a fair. We would all live well, sampling every possible ounce of happiness. We would roll around in garbage and suck on sour keys.”

We Could Be Rats comes out 1/28.

Sigrid is going to commit suicide, not may, will, but she wants to leave a meaningful note behind to explain her passing to those who knew her.

The first half of this book is letters from Sigrid trying to come up with the perfect suicide note, she makes excuses, tries to be cheerful, tries to explain the reason for doing what she is doing, but she can not settle on the perfect letter, the perfect tone, or even really explain her reasoning.

Then, major plot twist- and I mean MAJOR.

Enter Margrit, Sigrid’s “perfect” sister- they use to be close, but aren’t anymore, and maybe Margrit’s perfect life isn’t so perfect after all.

This book is so perfectly written, heartbreakingly honest, and very emotional.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves more emotional stories that focuses on the human experience and how past trauma can affect people in different ways.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a must read for 2025.

We Could Be Rats captures the same anxiety and sadness of Austin's other works, while continuing to mature as the author finds their footing and their voice. As with Austin's other works, it handled themes of suicidal ideation with a gentle, but unflinching touch that allows for the reader to fully grasp the mind space of the narrator, and immerses you in both her dispair and nostalgia for the hot summer days of the past. I'd recommend to fans of Mac Crane's I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself.

Emily Austin sure knows how to sing the song of my heart with her writing. This is by far my favorite out of the books I’ve read of hers. You spiral into the suicidal mind of Sigrid, someone who doesn’t quite fit into the story she was dealt called life, and it takes you on a roller coaster from there. Many twists I did not expect at all. (Which normally I’m pretty good at predicting) I dove hard into this book until I hit the end, wanting more, more, MORE. If Emily Austin is writing it, I’m reading it. She has ranked one of my favorite authors of 2024 with this book! THANK YOU so much NetGalley & publishers for the ARC & thank YOU Emily Austin for always slanging out good reading material. 💖

Emily Austin does it again. If she writes it I will read it.
Emily is able to write about mental illness in this irreverent, soft way that feels nostalgic and true. Every book of hers has made me cry.
We Could Be Rats is a powerful story of sisterhood, depression, family (really) and growing up in a small town. I felt for Sigrid, I felt for her best friend Greta and her sister Margit. This book is amazing, I recommend picking it up if you’re a fan of strong, unconventional stories with firm voice. There is pain with growing up, there is a lot of that that goes unrecognized but this book made me feel seen.

Absolutely beautiful. This book is Emily Austin’s best yet. Funny, tragic, relatable, heartbreaking, unputdownable. Austin’s writing is addicting, and the characters’ reflections and complications will make everyone want to keep reading.

A literary fiction novel about love, loss, trauma, and addiction. Two sisters trying to overcome their childhood trauma, a best friend watching the other slowly kill themselves.

Sigrid is penning her suicide note. Not sure what she wants to say , but knowing she needs to say something, the chapters take the form of different notes she attempts to write. While Sigrid is adamant that she is not killing herself because she is depressed, it’s hard to tell if she is truly happy. As readers, we get to explore the relationship between Sigrid and her best friend, Greta, Sigrid comes out as a lesbian, and the continued hope that Greta will overcome her addiction. It is a beautiful story told from the best friends view of watching a person you love slowly lose themselves.
On the other side, we also get Margits POV as she saves the person she loves the most in this world. The relationship between the sisters may be strained, but the deep love they have for each other is evident.

Although this book is wildly different from anything I have read before, the writing is fantastic. Thank you Emily Austin, NetGalley, and Atria Books for this ARC out in January

Nobody does humorous yet gut-punching like Emily Austin. Her books are extraordinarily relatable, you can't help but feel seen on the pages.

While I love her previous novels, We Could Be Rats is her best one yet. She is a master at creating flawed characters with whom you connect deeply and love immediately. The portrayal of mental health and sisterhood is so raw, powerful, and realistic. I can't recommend it enough.

⭐️: 4.5/5

There’s something about Emily Austin’s writing that is so compulsively readable and communicates so exactly what her characters are feeling in a relatable way. The cadence is almost elementary in its bluntness, which I think is a really clever way to let the feelings shine, and not get bogged down in the prose of it all.

The structure of this one and its three parts was really interesting. I love the way the changes of POV were done, in a way that felt like you were peeling back layers of the onion surrounding what the real story is. The ending leaves you feeling a lot of things, and feels like a complete story while also not giving a concrete sense of closure, which is hard to accomplish.

The characters of the sisters, Sigrid and Margit, and the analysis of how both of them internalized and ended up finding their own very different coping mechanisms to their tumultuous family life as children was so interesting. There was also a lot of parallels that can be drawn to real life current events and how those current events are probably wreaking havoc on so many people’s family dynamics that made this a really powerful read.

I’ve loved both books I’ve read by Emily Austin, and I’ll certainly be circling back to read everything she’s written.

Thank you to @netgalley and @atriabooks for this eARC for my honest review!!

A beautiful and unexpected story about two sisters and the different ways they reacted to their childhood and grew into adulthood. This is a quick but very emotional read. Beware if you are sensitive to the subject of suicide, but if you're okay with it, it's very worth the read.

Emily Austin is an autobuy author for me. Everyone in the Room will Someday be Dead and Interesting Facts About Space were both 5 stars!

We Could be Rats is very poignant, I found myself marking passages as I read, but it is also that darkest of her books. I don’t think I was in the mental space to enjoy this the way I might at another time.

Read the trigger warnings, there is a LOT of talk of suicide/suicide notes, etc.

It is both funny and devastating devastating , but it hurt my little heart.

It is a story about a family, the two sisters in that family and how they cope after one of them tries to commit suicide. Told through diary entries of both Sigrid and her sister’s POV, both unreliable narrators, it feels like they are talking directly to you. I was invested in learning about Sigrid and her sister and their points of view on life as they boldly stumble into adulthood. Going through self-discovery and transformation. I was intrigued and invested in the story though sometimes the dialogue was repetitive at times but it did help to reveal what information about the main character was true. This book is hopeful, dark, and sometimes funny (depending on your sense of humour) and will give you something to consider.

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for this ARC. This is my honest review.