What a gripping and emotional story that was. From the moment I started reading this book, I couldn’t put it down, I got really invested in the lives of Max and Vincent.
Nicola Dinan sure knows how to portray the struggles of growing up and coming to terms with past mistakes and traumas, social structure and cultural norms.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this Arc, I can’t recommend this book enough.

I really enjoyed this one. It's a story that's honest and emotional for both main characters' perspectives without overly veering into self-pity. There's a bite of humor to Max's perspective in particular that keeps the narrative both serious but adds moments of levity. This is a story about love, in all its forms, about gender dynamics and what it means to sit in complicated corners of gendered expectations, and about what we owe to ourselves and each other in past, present and future. The writing was well done, the story was always propelling forward and I honestly looked forward to picking up the book each time I returned to it. I very much recommend.

Oh this was fantastic.
Thank you so much, NetGalley and Random House for the ARC!
Disappoint Me follows a trans woman named Max who has just begun dating a man named Vincent. We follow the growth of their relationship and the situations and conversations that inevitably come up, such as sex, children, meeting friends and family.
Simultaneously, we read Vincent’s perspective from an incident in his past 10 years prior. Both timelines correlate and make this story about love, betrayal, acceptance, forgiveness and growth.
“You put stuff behind you, but then you meet someone new and the old stuff feels new again.”
I think this is a really great trans awareness book. You may learn something new, you may gain a new perspective if you are in need of one.

If I could just live inside this book forever I would. I loved it. This may sound weird, but I felt kind of like the Grinch at the beginning. My sad, depressed, soul living in the current state of the world just trying to get through the day, reading the blurb and thinking ok whatever. Do your worst, book. And then I felt my heart grow multiple sizes a la Grinch graphic and now I am okay(ish) again.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

In Disappoint Me, Nicola Dinan isolates the ways in which anxiety about "traditional" markers of adulthood, such as having a family, can achieve a particularly painful poignancy for queer individuals—people for whom, as her protagonist the trans woman Maxine notes, such markers are more “opt-ins” than “opt-outs.” When the very possibility of having a wedding or a child becomes precarious, there’s an especial existential form of terror which results. Elements of this terror strike Max throughout the book, emphasizing that these seemingly-formulaic trappings of normality can actually be quite hard-won and precious for some.
But while Disappoint Me paints a beautiful, powerful picture of queer aging and the worries which come with it, it also engages deeply with universal questions of what it means to build, particularly later in life, relationships meant to be longterm.
Enter Vincent.
Max might be the protagonist of the novel, but Vincent, her new boyfriend, occupies up a sizeable chunk of the book with hefty flashbacks to his backpacking trip in Thailand as a nineteen-year-old. What starts as an idyllic adventure goes south, however, when he falls in love with a young trans woman… prior to realizing she’s trans. He reacts poorly when he learns, and after one of his friends falls in love, he outs her to that friend. The situation ends with her getting badly hurt. It’s an incident which, read from Vincent’s perspective, looks bad, but not damning. He’s nineteen at the time, and when he meets Max, he’s entirely remorseful. How Max deals with what happened occupies a significant portion of the novel. She grapples with questions of human faultiness, in both Vincent’s case and that of her friend Simone (one of the less likeable, yet still obviously loveable, characters in the book). How much is too much? It’s a question the book artfully dives into.
Disappoint Me is an enjoyable study of contemporary queer life and loneliness. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in reading.

Once I started this book, I couldn't bear to put it down. Max and Vincent felt so real to me, and I was so invested in their character arcs. This is one I'll be thinking about for a long time.

I loved this. Fantastic writing and I just want to put max in my pocket!! Only thing I’d say is I wish the blurb did a better idea of describing the plot - on one hand I like its vagueness but I feel like more can be given without spoiling anything

Disappoint Me did not disappoint. The story focuses on Max, a trans woman who thinks she might have found the answer to her mild misery in her new partner, Vincent. However, as the book unfolds, the reader finds out that Vincent has a story of his own, and that this story might put his relationship with Max into jeopardy. I thought this book was incredibly smart and complex, and I appreciated that the characters had a lot of nuance that rang true to real life. I really enjoyed reading a book on a topic/story plot that seems to be often missing from popular fiction.

Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan is a beautifully introspective novel that explores the complexities of relationships in their many forms. The characters felt very human and multi dimensional, with flaws that make them relatable and their journeys compelling. I was especially drawn to how the book captures the highs and lows of emotional connections and how much love can truly withstand. While I found the ending to be rather bittersweet, it felt fitting given the depth of the story. This is a novel that will stick with me, and I’m excited to see what Dinan does next. Highly recommended for those who enjoy character-driven stories with real emotional stakes.

This might be a higher rated book, I'm not too certain yet. I'm around the same age as the main characters and I'm from London, so a lot of this book really hit in a very specific way. It was quite funny at times and I loved being in a number of distinct location - London, South of France, and Thailand. The cover and title? Fantastic. I also really liked Max and in terms of this being a literary fiction title, I think it's done well. It's character driven and Max in particular has a nice arc by the end of the book. However, I don't know how I feel about Vincent lol. I could see where it was going in the Thailand timeline and it was just so...slimy. You can certainly argue his arc is from then into who he is in the present, but I didn't exactly buy it. I liked him less as the book went on, which, of course, impacted how I felt about his and Max's relationship and the rest of the book. Probably going to be one I think on for a bit, but I'm happy it exists and I think Dinan makes a number of insightful remarks on contemporary life that will resonate with many readers.

DISAPPOINT ME had me hooked the whole way through! This is a beautiful interrogation into relationships (friendship, family, romantic, you name it). The novel poses some very deep questions about love and how much it can feasibly overcome/endure. I really felt connected to the characters and appreciated that they each held flaws. My only potential gripe with this was the ending, which I found bittersweet - bitter in the way that open ended endings usually leave me as the reader, but sweet because I actually cared enough about these characters to want more/crave resolutions. But all in all I ate this up in practically one sitting, and I'm very interested to read Dinan's other work now! 4.5 starts from me - definitely one to keep an eye out for this May!

This was beautifully written in a way I haven’t seen in most modern lit fic. I enjoyed the stream of consciousness style contrasted with poetic elements that fit the character.

I think this is also the first book I’ve read from the perspective of a trans woman, and coming from a trans author I genuinely felt like I grasped a deeper understanding of that experience.

I also appreciate the story focusing on other aspects of Max’s life and her relationships with others rather than with her body. While there is an exploration of motherhood as a trans woman, it’s never the sole focus or the main point. It feels more like a conversation about society at large.

I really liked this book, it was a good story that anyone could identify with.,...very interesting how it all comes together in the end..

This book got me all up in my feels! For a book that’s not a thriller, I sure held my breath and had an elevated heart rate for half the book and that is simply because the characters and storytelling were so compelling! Especially as we got further along in Vincent’s storyline, I was literally getting nervous to start his chapters.

I loved this book. I loved that it didn’t fit nicely in any sort of box. I loved that it was messy and gritty and made me feel uncomfortable along with a whole slew of other emotions.

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

5 stars. Disappoint Me has grabbed hold of my heart and I hope it never lets go.

Disappoint Me is a dual narrative story centred around Max, a trans woman, and her cis boyfriend Vincent. Max's narrative is present day and Vincent's is set ~10 years prior, during his gap year in Thailand. If I give much more detail than this I fear I will spoil something - I think this one is best read with as little knowledge about it as possible! The simplicity of the premise is what makes this story as captivating as it is.

This book is poignant, raw, and beautiful. There are some laugh-out-loud moments that the queers will love, followed by moments of deep reflection that had me thinking about my own life. The balance between these is perfect and adds so much to the overall tone and feel of the book and it kept me hooked page after page.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me an advanced copy.

The premise of this book was more exciting than the execution, but I LOVED the wit and sarcasm! The charm outweighed the slower bits!

Clever, quick witted and sarcastically charming. This is such a unique take and super character driven but I loved every second of it. The dry humor is well executed and the whole story is a whirlwind!

Honestly, confused on my feelings with this one. Sometimes, I felt it was a little slow, and nothing happened. Then, looking back, literally so much happened. The author has such dry humour, and touches on so many taboo subjects with such an amazing tone, and so much respect. Overall, I really enjoyed it by the end.

This is a character-driven novel done INCREDIBLY well and I will be forcing everyone around me to read this…. I am a happy litfic girly right now.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC. .

Really got excited for the premise of this one!
However, kind of lost me a bit with the main character. Made it hard to really relate but also to empathize.
Writing style felt a bit all over the place but interesting.