I wanted to love this and I might have if I'd gone in with different expectations. Based on the cover copy, I was expecting the story to be frothy, sparkling, and empowering. Perhaps it got there, but for me as a reader the fact that her first sexual experience was being molested by her teacher at age 12 made this a very different book from what I was expecting. I'm not taking issue with this as a plot point as it is the story Nettie Jones set out to tell. But the marketing copy left me feeling conflicted! Was I supposed to find Lewis' escapes empowering or a sign of trauma? How much agency did her character have? As mentioned, I wish I'd gone in with a different understanding of this story so I could have been better able to wrestle with the questions it brought up.

FISH TALES is hilarious, and distinctly contemporary (prescient!). I gobbled it up. Nettie Jones was way ahead of her time.

Thanks to the publisher for the e-galley!

Very rarely does a book captivate me the way this book has! OMG! This book almost feels like a fever dream. Lewis and her rendezvous definitely kept me entertained. i will say, that some of the sexual experience did make me feel uneasy, but what facet of life isn't?

I found "Fish Tales" to be a lively and fast-paced book, but it thrusts you into the action without providing a clear narrative or plot. Instead, the book presents scenes about sex--not always consenual and relationships, which left me feeling uneasy, uncomfortable, and unpleasant. Although the prose is well-written, I missed a plot connecting the stories and found it difficult to care about any of the protagonists. Overall, my reading experience evoked a visceral reaction, but not one that I enjoyed, and I would not recommend it to most readers.

This book was gross. Too much sex and infidelity, cheating, disgusting life choices. nasty book, not recomending this to anyone



Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complementary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!