this has so beautifully raised the bar for queer fiction.

the writing is brutally honest and takes you on a roller coaster of emotions. i loved getting into Max's and Vincent's mindsets through the dual narration, their shortcomings and growth echoing through one and the other. all of these characters have depth and complexity to them, in a way that feels really refreshing in a queer novel.

i've never read anything close to this concept and i could not have appreciated it more.

what an incredible read.

(extra love this cover btw)

I struggled to get into this book. The style of writing had me lost at times. I felt as though every thought that entered the heads of the characters, and I mean EVERY thought, was put onto the paper. There were many points that I felt didn’t add to the story.

I struggle with hating and at times resonating with the MCs. We all have terrible thoughts from time to time but these characters had them in spades. Max truly had some awful thoughts while parading around like she was the savior or at the very least someone to emulate. Her holier than thou attitude had me rooting for someone to take her down a peg. The contradiction of Max was infuriating. She would act like a doormat at times and then others like an immovable wall on her principles.
Vincent was more relatable in that he was also kind of terrible but at least he was consistent with it. I could understand why he was thinking or doing some of the awful things he thought/did.
I didn’t root for either of these characters.

I did love that this book really did try and bring transgender struggles into the discussion, however, as I am not part of the community was lost especially in the beginning with what was being spoken about. This may be a me problem but I wanted to be honest.
I also enjoyed this quote, “No person is fewer than two things.”.

I pushed myself to finish and can say I don’t think this book was for me. The ending left me wanting as well. I hope I’m in the minority but simply put I will not be suggesting this to anyone.

Sadly I couldn't connect with any of the characters. Even though they tried to portray something deep and complex feelings everything felt just so superficial. I did enjoy the two different timelines, those were executed very well.

Definitely one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. I could have stayed with these characters forever. I hated putting this down and was simultaneously dreading the ending (just because it would be over). Dinan’s prose is lyrical, funny, thoughtful, and deeply introspective. Her characters were all so well-articulated and dynamic, and the way her narrative moved between Max and Vincent was perfectly executed and always absorbing. She explores themes regarding guilt, regret, shame, and forgiveness while also exploring family, friendship, love, and hate. I will read anything and everything she writes.

another incredible novel from the incredible nicola dinan! this one is a departure from her original novel, bellies, but takes on the same level of complexity (even more so), immersing you into a complicated relationship and the complicated lives of max and vincint.

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy. I was so delighted to find out this was written by a trans author about a trans character, as someone who is trans. The story is delightful and I really emphasized with Max, our protagnist. The writing was enjoyable and there were light sprinkles of humor but not enough to detract from her feelings or make it an entirely "comedic" book. Either way, it was fantastically written.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Though it took about a quarter of the book to truly feel invested in the characters and the story that was being set up, once the plot got going, I really had a hard time putting it down. The characters felt well-developed and deliciously messy, and as the reader, it was a joy (and sometimes a tragedy) to see the world through Max and Vincent’s eyes.

If you want a book that is equal parts funny and thought-provoking, this is the book for you.

Thank you, netgalley, for the ARC!

this was a solid read. i loved the humor in it and the character exploration. the unconventional relationship was explored in such a unique way. as someone who is not super familiar with trans relationships, i found it really interesting to read and learn about. this is going to be a lot of reader's top reads of the year.

enjoyed this more than anticipated! begging was a bit slow/hard to get into. Definitely had me more attached the characters by the end of the book. Would definitely recommend to lit/fic lovers!

"You can fall in love with an outline, you can even make a home with one, but there will come a time when you can't deny the bones and their flesh. No person is fewer than two things."

Disappoint follows Max, a trans woman, and her boyfriend Vincent with flashbacks of his summer spent in Thailand ten years earlier.

The development of each character was excellent. The way in which the book explored the concept of growth was very interesting to me. If you are in your 30s and feeling lost, I highly recommend this book.

First of all...

I'm a 50ish year old cis hetero white American woman; so, while I do consider myself an ally and feel very progressive, I'm not sure why NetGalley targeted me to download this title. I'm always up for diversity, so (obviously) I clicked the link.

Although I could have used an English (UK) to English (USA) translator and a street drug reference book to navigate the first chapter, I was absolutely enthralled with the narrator. The descriptiveness is sparse but effective. The house party, the drugs, the hospital room, the internal dialog - it's all spot-on.

I know nothing about Nicola Dinan, but I know there should be some obligation of those involved in publishing diverse writing, to allow those with lived experience to speak the loudest. The narrator feels authentic, to me, the non-expert.

Many of Max's observations are spot-on, from a female perspective. And I appreciate the effort she makes to acknowledge her privilege. It feels authentically trans, in the way that trans women seem very Feminist even though Feminism is often used against them.

This snippet of conversation between Max and Fred seems so authentically succinct re: the trans experience:

“Sometimes I feel like I’m a complication,” I say. “Does that make sense?”
“It does.” He takes a drag of his cigarette. “Maybe it’s a bit rich coming from me, but isn’t that always going to be a fact of life?”
...I’m not mad, because he’s right. “I know I have to accept the way the world is, but I still have to talk about it, because otherwise where does it go?”
“For sure,” he says. “I just don’t want you to think it’s to do with you.”

But it also speaks to navigating those spaces as an ally. We need to "talk about it," but it's hard - to know what to ask, how to ask, when to ask.

I also feel Max and Simone's friendship is such an uplifting girl power relationship. The way they know each other's faults and love each other deeply. It's truly enviable.

A few lines that made me catch my breath:

"... spiraling is easy when it’s done against a frictionless surface."

Who hasn't felt this discomfort of using friends as a sounding board esoecially when you want your opinions voiced in an echo chamber?

"Solidarity, when convenient, seems to be the ailing motto of wealthy minorities."

How easily we judge the disenfranchised for even the most minor snafus.

"As we walk in opposite directions, I wonder if he’s looking back over his shoulder. I guess I’ll never know."

Oh, what a brave thing to do - not look back even when we don't know what waits in front of us.

I'd definitely give this one 5 stars. For the diversity, the European and Asian threads, the entertainment of living waaayyy outside my personal comfort zone, but, most especially, for telling the authentic story of the human experience: the need we have for connection, the folly of youth we have all lived, and the value of hope in the face of the hardness of living.

this book did not, in fact, disappoint me!

i’m a bit embarrassed to admit that i haven’t read <i><b>Bellies</b></i> but trust me when i say i will try to soon if my college work doesn’t swallow me up whole. this book was incredible! dinan’s ability to write such detailed, compelling, and complex characters left me absolutely floored. every character in this book was fleshed out completely; i could vividly see them as people who could genuinely exist.

while the characterization is definitely the stand-out aspect of this novel, the plot doesn’t disappoint (again, with that word. sorry). max’s journey throughout and the journeys of the people around her were so interesting to follow. so much was happening but at no point did i feel like it was all too much or unbelievable.

tl;dr: read this book if you love well developed, messy characters who make you feel all the feels.

(thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!)

I'll be honest, this took me a little while to get into. Some of the description - "fell down the stairs, woke up a trad wife" - had me thinking that this book would be more satirical than it actually was. Once i realised what an absolutely stunning story i was reading however, all was forgiven.

Disappoint me follows thirty year old Max, lawyer and poet, who falls down the stairs at a new years party and decides it's time for a change. Not long after, she meets Vincent and they fall in love. At the same time, we read the POV of Vincent at age 19 during his gap year in Thailand. It's his actions there that form the central conflict in the story. Disappoint me is about identity, about transness, about modern relationships, but most of all it is about the question of how much we can and should and want to forgive each other. And even about what forgiveness actually means. It's a story about people in all their complexities, people capable of love but also of awful things. None of that would work if Dinan's characters weren't as brilliantly vivid as they are. It's been a while since i read a book in which every single character was as real and fleshed out as the characters in Disappoint me. Safe to say, this is going down as one of my fav reads of 2025 so far.

Also, i would give it 6 stars just for that cover.

I was kindly given an ARC of this book by Netgalley and Random House in exchange for an honest review. Disappoint me is out on 27 may 2025!

Thank you to Net Galley and Random House for the ARC. I don't really know whether I enjoyed this or not. I really liked Max's perspective but not Vincent's. I liked Max's introspective bits but I was not really invested in the relationship between Max and Vincent. I did enjoy Max's friendship with Simone.

Thank you very much to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of Disappoint Me. I was eager to read from a new Author and I am definitely a Nicola Dinan fan now. This book was a pleasant surprise. What a beautifully written story about self, forgiveness and acceptance. Great writing, great characters and a well thought out plot throughout. I look forward to more from this Author in the future.

Disappoint Me is a sharp, unsentimental look at love, identity, and the quiet disappointments we navigate in relationships.
Dinan’s writing is both precise and darkly funny, capturing the absurdities of dating, corporate life, and self-sabotage with biting wit. The characters are flawed but compelling, and the novel refuses to offer easy resolutions. It lingers in your mind… not because of big twists, but because it makes you reflect on your own life. A smart, funny, and deeply thoughtful read!

Firstly, I want to thank Nicola Dinan and The Dial Press for the e-arc!

This is the first book I have read from Nicola, and reading Disappoint Me has made me eager to explore more of her work! This was such a raw, real, and eye-opening read, especially as someone who doesn't share the same experience. I loved reading about Max's journey of navigating her 30's as a trans woman, who has a complicated relationship with love and family. We see the complications of dating a cis man who will never fully understand what it's like to be Max. Additionally, we see the inside of Vincent's mind and what it's like to question your identity. People can learn so much from reading Disappoint Me and it is one of my favorite reads of 2025 so far.

This is a story about love, trauma, forgiveness, acceptance, and taking accountability for the past.

HIGHLY recommend!

Not only is this book contender of the year for best cover, but it is also heartwrenchingly devastating and real. Nicola Dinan's ability to capture the trials and tribulations of dating and existing while trans is incredible. I can already tell that some people will not be satisfied with the ending, but I was - it's an uncertain future, just like real life is. Every character had their own flaws and depth, and the story itself was incredibly well developed. The past shapes us into who we are and we have to decide how much the past dictates our future.

If there’s one thing I love in a novel, it’s an exploration of messy relationships, and Disappoint Me was exactly that.

Nicola Dinan does such a good job of weaving together a story of love, identity, friendship, secrets, and forgiveness. I loved that it was told through both Max’s and Vincent’s POVs. This was an excellent character study.

It was at times funny, at times heartbreaking, but always insightful.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

Disappoint Me has discussions of gender, identity, expectations, relationships, and the questions of "should people be judged by who they were in the past? Can people really change?"

I laughed, I cried, I nodded my head in agreement shouting "yes!" and dropped my jaw in shock throughout the novel. I loved that Max is 30 and it felt like I started this at the perfect time; the week I turned 30.

I marked so many sentences- really beautifully written, relatable, moving, and funny! The characters are flawed and complex, with moments that make you question how you would’ve handled the situation.

Despite Max being trans and me being cis, we both experience the mental gymnastics around pregnancy and kids. It’s easy for many people but for others, it’s something you really have to work for and hope that everything you do works out. Those moments made me feel closer to Max and pulled at my heartstrings!

I also related to her feelings around her parents-there was a great quote about feeling bad that she isn’t closer to her parents and that her childhood was difficult but others had it so much "worse" so how bad could it really have been?

I flew through the second half! These characters and their lives and relationships had me fully invested.

Immediately after finishing this book I thought “Shut the fuck up this was incredible!” and started crying which does not happen for me often! The discussions and explorations of relationships, seeing their flaws, through a character driven narrative reminds me a lot of Greta & Valdin. I think fans of that will enjoy Disappoint Me! This is my favorite for March and I can’t wait to read more from Dinan 💗

TW/CW: alcohol, drug use, homophobia, transphobia, alcoholism, infertility, pregnancy, violence, blood, hate crime, outing, infidelity