Early Thirties by Josh Duboff was meant to be the beginning of my fiction era and get me out of almost exclusively reading romance and fantasy, but unfortunately, it was not the book to do that. While I did think it was a really interesting book and premise, I found myself thinking less about this book even while I was reading it and more about the other books I had on my TBR. I think it is very indicative of how much I did, or rather really did not enjoy this book, based on how long it took me to actually finish this book.
Interesting premise, just not for me!

This book was not for me. There is a mix of POVs, only one of them is written in 1st person, and the rest are in third person, and the new POVs come out of nowhere with no context, so it's a bit odd. It seems they eventually all cross paths, but it's a slow journey. I gave up at about 50% then skipped through the remainder, and it didn't get any more interesting to me. Most of the characters are deeply unlikeable. I know that can make for a compelling story, but it just didn't resonate with me.
The writing isn't bad, but the characters and story did not interest me.

This book wasn't for me, but it may be perfect for someone else. I'll give it 2.5 stars.

I read an advanced copy of this book, and these are my honest thoughts. Thank you to NetGalley, Gallery Books, and the author for the advanced copy.

I feel like I shouldn't be rating this book because I requested this ARC thinking this was going to be a friends to lovers romance, but instead ot turned out to be a Genfic (nothing wrong with it) with so many characters & plotlines that doesn't make any sense. Especially the opening scene? Like what?

Well... it's just not for me. And it's literally my fault to have requested this without knowing what genre it belonged to.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Early Thirties is perfect for you if you like approachable contemporary fiction that leans literary and you are a millennial in your early thirties. Bonus points if you have 1-3 mental illnesses. There are some intense topics like self harm, abortion, trying to conceive and some other things I can't remember at the moment so if those things are hard for you, I wouldn't recommend this. The way those things are handled can feel visceral. I wouldn't call the handling disrespectful by any means, just human.

Victor and Zoey have been best friends for a decade. When one faces a difficult breakup and then a tragedy, fractures start to appear in their once-solid relationship. As the two dive into their careers, relationships, and grappling with their dream futures, their friendship begins to suffer more and more strain.

This book is nothing like what I expected from the description. I thought the book would focus only on Victor and Zoey and how their friendship changed over their 30s. Instead, the book alternated chapters between many different POVs, which got a bit confusing at times. I also could not understand why all chapters were labeled aside from Victor's and why all chapters were in first person except Zoey's. This made reading it even more confusing. I also wish chapters were at least labeled with a month or something to help guide how much time had passed. Some things felt out of left field until a casual "it had been six months since..." was thrown in to help shape how much time had passed. That all said, I did like seeing the realistic flow of how their relationship changed over time, but I wish the pacing, chapters, and tenses were a lot more consistent for better readability.

Thank you NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book has some real moments of poignancy, and I liked the writing style. It’s also slow, meandering, and unfocused in some pretty significant ways.

First, there are too many POV characters in this. The book clearly wants to be a character study, but aside from central protagonists Victor and Zoey, all of the POV characters feel interchangeable in terms of voice, and can really only be adequately distinguished by their jobs, which are all the same jobs always assigned to the characters in one of those “single pals trying to make it in the city!” sitcoms.

I’m also a bit fuzzy on who the audience is for this. In terms of tone and the references it uses, it seems to be aimed at elder millennials. But that doesn’t line up using either how old the characters are in the book (early thirties, obviously), or in terms of references that set the book in a year in the past (Cava, for example, didn’t exist yet when we elder millennials were this age). I guess all of this would imply that the book is aimed at a younger generation, but again, the tone and references don’t match that.

It’s a bit maudlin for my taste, and not quite accurate enough to be relatable (even to someone like me who lived in New York at this age and worked in a similar industry as the central characters). The book also has absolutely no sense of humor, which I think is fine but important to know if you came to this looking for a fun and frothy early adulthood tale or a RomCom.

I thought Victor’s character was both very well-written and also intriguing, and that is the highlight of
this book. Zoey is a lot thinner and seems to exist only as a tool to help flesh out more of Victor’s thoughts and actions.

Not a bad read by any stretch, and Duboff definitely shows talent as a writer. But this type of book isn’t rare, and there are a lot of them out there doing this particular theme better than this book does.

This book is for the girls that just want the chisme. Messy people with messy problems making messy choices. Very character driven, and no /real/ plot, just vibes. Most of the characters were annoying but in a way that made them real rather than unbelievable and unbearable. We all know someone who fits into the characters in one way or another. I feel like this books is definitely for mid 20 somethings upward. The pop culture references were done well, and it’s a lot for me to say that because I hate contemporary pop culture references in my books.

I liked it, but I didn’t love it. Some of the POVs and chapters just felt random and meandering and I hated that Victor’s were never introduced with his name at the beginning of the chapter like everyone else.

Taking place over a series of years, two best friends navigate their early thirties, life in New York, & all of the messiness in-between, from love and divorce, to careers and death. The story primarily revolves around Victor and Zoey, though other stories of those intertwined in their lives are eventually woven in, sharing their own stories. Being in my early thirties, I so badly wanted to like this book, but it missed the mark for me. The chapters of other stories popping up randomly and some in first person without saying whose chapter it was, made things hard to follow.
Thank you to Gallery & Scout Press for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

2.5 ⭐️- This is one of those books where nothing in particular happens & you’re just kind of following the characters around in their day to day lives/getting a glimpse into the inner workings of their brains. I don’t mind those types of books, but I didn’t particularly care for either of the main characters. I honestly struggled to pick up the book or stay focused on it for a long time when I did pick it up. I thought they were horrible people… I don’t know if that was purposeful(?) I understand & love a good flawed character, but I just couldn’t find anything to really love about either of these.

There were also so many different POVS and I’m not sure all of them were necessary, it was a bit confusing at times. Some of them were straight up bizarre & random and then the character disappeared as quickly as they appeared. Also, like the main characters, most of the side characters who we get POVs from are also horrible (so basically, the moral of the story is everyone in NYC is the worst lol).

I did enjoy the humor and it had a few impactful moments. It also had good insight into what friendships can be like as you move out of your twenties into your thirties. Sometimes figuring out how someone you were once close with fits into your life as you evolve post-college can be a rough. It was interesting watching Zoey & Victor try to navigate that. It reminded me a bit of The Rachel Incident, so if you enjoyed that book, I think you may like this one!

Thank you to NetGalley & Gallery Books/Scout Press for this ARC!

this just wasn’t for me! i didn’t relate to Victor or Zoey at all, and felt the plot fell flat as nothing really happened. the writing style in general was good, i just felt bored the whole time!

This was interesting but pretty dark, in my opinion. I think it is supposed to be an irreverent portrayal of several people navigating their early thirties in New York and, ostensibly, it was but it just made me sad. It was perhaps too realistic? The human condition is down bad. If you're looking for a book that describes that - this will be for you!

Early Thirties comes out next week on March 18, 2025 and you can purchase HERE.
I picked up an Us Weekly while the guy rang me up.
Paparazzi photos of Cameron Diaz now depressed me. They made me think about what once was, the passage of time. Leave the woman alone! She did what we wanted for decades; now she just wants to hang out with her Good Charlotte husband and do some gardening and enjoy a glass of sauvignon blanc. Why couldn't we all just agree to stop taking pictures of her "entering a doctor's appointment in West Hollywood" or "meeting gal pals for brunch in Montecito"? Why were we all so disgusting?
That train of thought was the last memory I had from the night.

Early Thirties tells the story of best friends Victor and Zoey trying to navigate their friendship as the landscape of their lives has changed in, you guessed it, their early thirties. Victor has just broken up with his longterm boyfriend and is trying to break into the business of writing about celebrities and pop culture. Zoey is engaged to a man who doesn't really get along with Victor and is navigating working for a fashion startup in New York City. The book follows their personal and professional struggles and triumphs over the years and really explores how their friendship changes over time.

This is a book that will be appealing to people struggling as they transition into adulthood, whether that be struggling with changing friendships, professional struggles, or personal struggles. No matter the struggle, Victor or Zoey probably go through it in this book, so readers might find that cathartic. I did enjoy reading about Victor and Zoey the most, although the book also includes some chapters focused on other characters in their orbit. The subjects were interesting, usually relating to social media influencing or creative work, but I felt that they were a little bit out of place in the overall story. This book also focuses on some flawed characters, so people who don't enjoy flawed characters will not like this one. I usually enjoy characters who are flawed or a little bit selfish, but Victor was too selfish even for me. He sort of started to get his life together at the very end, but he still seemed selfish to me. I was also a bit confused by Zoey's characterization. There were times I felt like I had a grasp of what her character was like, then she'd do something completely out of left field that I didn't expect. Some people might enjoy this, but for me it sort of took me out of the story. Readers who enjoy character-focused stories will like this one, and especially readers who are interested in pop culture or books about writing and other creative ventures.

I always enjoy stories like these, about characters maybe "coming-of-age" outside of the traditional timeframe, living in a big city, trying to find themselves and figure out who they are and what they want, so I was especially excited to read EARLY THIRTIES! I liked the humorous, witty writing, and thought that the author did a great job of exploring the messiness and complexity of these characters' relationships and the highs and lows that come with this stage of life that they're in. However, I did find myself wishing they had been a little bit more developed individually—even though we get multiple POVs, it sometimes felt hard to fully get to know all of them, and completely connect with the characters overall. While I wanted more from this book in some areas, I'd still recommend that fans of literary fiction check it out and see if it resonates with them! Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC.

This was a little too much of the authors clear personal experiences and felt so stereotypical and out-of-touch at times. I wanted to care about the characters but I just didn't.

This book follows a group of interconnected NYC and LA elder millennials in their 'early thirties' as they navigate, love, loss, divorce, infertility, abortion, suicidal ideation, alcoholism, depression, career ups and downs and more. I fear that anyone who dives into this debut blind expecting a light, frothy romcom will be grossly disappointed.

While I did find parts slow-moving and I doubt I would have finished if I hadn't listened to the audiobook version, I still think it will resonate deeply with a certain demographic of readers (perhaps those younger than me). It touches on some heavy topics and is definitely NOT a romance even though parts have romantic storylines.

The audio narration was good with a full cast and I would recommend this to fans of authors like Camille Kellogg or books like The Christmas orphans club. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and @simon.audio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review!

This book just really didn't do anything for me, unfortunately. I felt that the characters lacked the interiority required for the book to be character-driven, but nothing really happened so it wasn't plot-driven either. I also found the shifting perspectives somewhat distracting; I'm not sure why it needed to be sometimes in third person, sometimes in first, sometimes telling us whose perspective it was and sometimes not, etc. I didn't feel connected to the main characters, so when we were suddenly reading about some other random tangentially-related person that only got worse. These characters seemed to only have a surface level understanding of themselves, which hardly allows for a reader to feel endearment or even much in the way of interest. Even after undergoing major life events it felt like Zoey and Victor were still largely the same at the end, to say nothing of the other POV characters (because there is nothing to say). The narrative also jumped forward in time and so you would suddenly find that something you read about two chapters ago was already months in the past.

Normally I would leave a more positive review for something that just wasn't for me, but I felt like some of the structural/narrative choices were not for anyone. I will admit I was partially just tickled by the notion of reading Early Thirties because, well, I am in my early thirties, but I was also looking forward to it based on the premise. I do think it suffers from something that is becoming more common, which is bad blurbs. I think there could have been a clearer way to communicate what this book has to offer that would have perhaps adjusted my expectations or caused me to pass by the title entirely. I feel the same way about this book as I did about watching a 3 hour video about Caroline Calloway, which is that I was perfectly content before knowing anything about what I just witnessed.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review!

I was anticipating fun thirties situations and stories where characters really start to know themselves and come into their own. Here the characters are kind of a mess and unlikeable. The writing is ok but inconsistent in parts, with the dialogue shining more than any exposition. Lots of it felt kind of forced into a groove but then was fine once it found its footing.

I would say for me, not one to come back to, but if you like flawed characters who are unlikeable for most of the book with some redemption at the end give this a shot!

Early Thirties is the kind of book I long for but I think it probably appeals in a narrow window. In the same way I ached and loved Dolly Alderton's Good Material for the way it made me feel seen, Early Thirties is a bittersweet look into the lives of Victor and Zoey, lifelong friends, their jobs, their heartbreaks, their dreams. In a very real and honest portrayal of the chaos that is your 30s if you are not settled into the stereotypical "adult" life yet, Early Thirties manages to make me feel seen in the same way.

I will say that some of the comparisons in the blurb and the cover itself is a bit misleading. This is not a frothy contemporary romance a la Rebecca Serle. This is written in a more literary leaning way. I think Duboff could have developed the characters a bit more if that was his goal, so the story feels somewhere in between genres. I think it works but it may find it hard to find its audience.

DNF @ 35%

The story starts at an intriguing point but the background is lacking. The connection between Zoey and Victor is hard to grasp because we only see them in this weird, strained place and occasionally get the smallest tidbits about their relationship before - but even then it’s often superficial, no depth.

The timeline hops around with little clarity and the plot seemingly doesn’t exist. Add in that we start getting new POVs 20% and 30% in with no introduction, explanation, or seemingly real connection to the others. And weirdly you get the names over the chapters a couple of times and then it drops off and you’re left to decipher whose POV you’re in now - not entirely difficult, but an odd choice.

Personally I could not relate to these characters or their lives in the slightest, it seems very niche. I will say it does a good job depicting the complexities of long term relationships and how they can evolve over time. The prose itself I had no complaints about, I just think I’m realizing strictly character-driven stories are not for me.

I don't think this book was for me. The first chapter opened on a pretty heavy topic that I feel was taken lightly and not seriously. I might come back to it at a later point, but right now, it's not a book I feel the need to continue. I also thought it was a romance, so maybe I was misled. But the characters seem unlikable immediately, which made me hesitant to continue reading.