Thank you Henry Holt and Macmillan Audio for my free ARC of Bad Nature by Ariel Courage — available Apr 1!

» READ IF YOU «
🚗 love a road trip story with quirky characters
🔪 can get behind revenge and moral ambiguity
🛣️ are here for thoughts, not plots

» SYNOPSIS «
Hester’s 40th birthday gift is a terminal cancer diagnosis — big bummer. So she figures, why not? and embarks on a cross-country drive with a singular, sinister objective: to murder her estranged father. She picks up an environmental activist hitchhiker, and their opposing lifestyles and silly banter carries much of the story. Eventually, Hester will have to confront her past, her choices, and the true nature of her mission.

» REVIEW «
This is a dark comedy with a good bit of introspective exploration — is vengeance really worth what it does to the seeker? The bulk of this book is stream-of-consciousness rambling, which ends up making this story mostly thoughts and very few plots. The road trip and banter with John are amusing, but weren’t enough to save this story for me — it just wasn’t compelling enough for what I wanted in the moment. I did resonate with much of what was being said, especially the environmental components, but the pacing was a liiiiittle too plodding for my personal taste.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

A roadtrip revenge story that kept me on the edge of my seat. I enjoyed the mix of dark comedy and thrilling storyline. Definitely will be keeping an eye out for anything else from this author!

I love road trip stories... an unhinged dying woman who named her tumor & picks up a radical environmentalist hitchhiker to drive across the country to get revenge/kill her dad was as good as it sounds! The audiobook narrator was the perfect voice for the protagonist. Thanks Macmillan audio and NetGalley for the ARC!

CW: cancer, terminal illness, toxic relationship (recounted), domestic abuse, child abuse, suicide (mentioned, off-page), misogyny, substance abuse (recounted), animal death, school shooting (mentioned), violence, mental illness, suicidal thoughts, sexual harassment, sexism, self-harm, blood, murder

I would like to thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with a free audio e-ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Would you do if you have only months to live and nothing left to lose?

This is the question Bad Nature by Ariel Courage seeks to address as Hester, a workaholic lawyer living in New York City, gets diagnosed with terminal breast cancer and abandons her entire life to set out for a cross-country road trip in order to fulfill her life-long dream. What's Hester's dream, you might ask... to murder her father.

For the most part, I felt that Bad Nature met most of my expectations. I've been interested in reading books that deals with feminine rage for awhile and when I first discovered this book, I thought that it would be a cool book to check out. While the unhinge aspects of the book are a bit restrained due to Hester's overall nature and conditioning to remain professional yet aloof, I thought that the most interesting aspects of this book focused on Hester's own internal dialogue over her life. Interspersed with the road trip narrative, readers get glimpses directly into Hester's life and how various events in her life has resulted into who Hester is now and why she ultimately decides to go on this trip. She's not a likeable character by any means, but you do sympathize with her as you learn about the trauma that Hester has experienced in her life.

Also, from the book description, they made it sound like John would have a big part in this story, and while he does to some extent, it's not as big as one would believe to be. There's not much about John that readers to get to know about, but he does serve an important role as acting as the somewhat voice of reason throughout Hester's travels as well as providing Hester the opportunity to form a healthy relationship with someone in what seems to be a very long time. I just wished there could have been a little more insight or perspective from John's POV, or at the very least there's mention of what happens to John after the events of the book.

That being said, if you like revenge-filled road trips with a bit of feminine rage and a backdrop focused on the environmental crisis facing the United States, you might enjoy reading this book.

What would you do if you were given only six months to live? Travel? Spend time with family and friends? Hester 40, has just been diagnosed and told she is dying. She has the choice to live up to six months with no treatment or up to two years if given treatment. Hester takes the first option and decides to take a road trip for Philadelphia with one simple goal. She plans to kill her father and then herself. It has been a long-term plan since childhood that she can now put to rest. Pun intended. On her way she stops to visit friends from her past which gives readers a glimpse into Hester's genesis as we follow her travel log along the way. On the whole I found myself glued to the story as the flawed protagonist journeys across North America. I do have one caveat. Why does the character John have a seal skin backpack when it is clear he doesn't eat meat? Ariel Courage writes John as a character filled with convictions and morality for animals and the planet. There are of course, backpacks designed to look like a seal skin product made from coated vinyl or PVC for waterproofing. In this reader's humble opinion, John should make it clear what his backpack is made of or take out the seal skin coat reference all-together. To be honest, I cannot recommend this book to my friends particularly my fellow Naturalists for this reason, That aside, I found this story to be a page-turner up to the finish.
Many thanks to NetGalley, Ariel Courage, and Penguin Books for the opportunity to read an advance reading copy in exchange for an honest review of this book.

I initially thought this would be more of a comedy, and maybe it is a dark comedy. However, there is a lot to unpack here, as this is not only a road trip set on revenge tale. The narrative delves into themes of climate change, trauma, politics, disease, and, ultimately, how we connect with each other and the world around us. With great characters full of fire, rage, and something more, it was hard to turn away from this one.

🎧 Cia Court did a great job with the narration, bringing the characters off the page for me.

3.5 ⭐️

Thank you @henryholtbooks for the gifted book. Thank you @Macmillan.audio for the gifted audiobook via #NetGalley

The Premise: Hester is a 40-year-old lawyer who works at a big New York City law firm. She is transactional in her relationships and has a biting, dry sense of humor. When she gets a terminal diagnosis, she quits her job and leaves her carefully curated life for a cross-country road trip. She’s headed to California to kill her father and take revenge for her childhood. Of course, there are a lot of detours on the way there.

My Thoughts: Do you like books that are a bit unusual? They are my sweet spot so when I read this premise, I knew I had to read it. Hester is a phenomenal character and Ariel Courage writes smart banter like no one else. I loved going on this journey with Hester even when it veered off into unexpected territory. Cia Court’s narration was spot on and really brought Hester to life. This is my first book narrated by Court and she is the one of the best and keeping your attention with fantastic diction and pace.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you #netgalley and #macmillanaudio for a free alc of Bad Courage in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Delightfully disturbing and viciously macabre, this extreme tale of midlife crisis chronicles a woman’s desperate and torturous journey across the country to right the wrongs of her childhood and say goodbye to the people she sort of loved along the way. With an unlikely sidekick who gets her into eco trouble along the way, Hester reflects on the troubled life she’s created for herself born of the trauma she’s stubbornly refused to unpack. Strangely touching and perversely entertaining, you never know what is coming next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my copy. These opinions are my own.

Bad Nature, I feel, divested too far from the main draw it intended to portray. The interspersed nature related coverage was out of context radio/podcast anecdotes or frankly annoying “fun facts” from her young man travel companion, and didn’t really feel cohesive with the rest of the content of the book, being the main characters road trip to attempt to murder her father, and subsequently kill herself. I didn’t really find the connection between this plot and the nature/environmental plot to be incredibly intertwined, which led to me questioning the theme trying to be explored here, and the novel overall felt, like this road trip, slightly off track.

Bad Nature is a super twisted road trip of a novel as a woman takes her fatal cancer diagnosis as the inspiration to ditch her high-powered law career and travel across the country to fulfill her revenge fantasy against her abusive father, who ruined her mother's and her life with his self-obsessed and violent nature in his pursuit of derivative abstract paintings of female nudes.
Along the way she meets visits people from her distant past and picks up an idealist environmental activist, and going along with his photographing superfund sites and monkeywrenching polluters becomes a welcome detour to her solitary wallowing.
They grow on each other over the course of their encounters with obstacles and honey pots, and the much-anticipated father-daughter reunion is both entertaining and totally in line with her situation.
The book revels in her awkwardness and distorted view of the world, and is very entertaining and enlightening about what people owe each other and the world.

This had me hooked immediately because i love the premise of wanting to kill your father after getting a terminal diagnosis. Cut to a cross-country road trip and a rag-tag group of characters as our protagonist, a lawyer with a new diagnosis goes to murder her father. I really enjoyed the characters as well as the fact that the protagonist is an absolute sociopath in the most honest kind of way. It was funny in ways, even if the ending is a little lackluster. it's hard to land this giant, loaded plane of a plot, but overall I think it did, if a little bumpy.

Bad Nature by Ariel Courage attraction is centered around Hester, a strong female character, with an unconventional and questionable character. After a terminal cancer diagnosis, she decides to travel cross country to kill her father.

She meets John, an environmentalist who photographs locations across that have been closed due to contamination. During their road trip you gain some insight on Hester’s background, but I do wish they spent more time in explaining her past relationships with her parents and what is driving her need to kill her father.

I had the privilege of having both the eARC and ALC for this book. The narration by Cia Court is well executed, though her male characters did not fell as if they had the same distinction as her female ones. Regardless the narration kept me engaged, and I could seamlessly move between the printed book and audiobook with ease.

Although the ending did not live up to journey experienced in this book, I really enjoyed it and cannot wait to see what comes next from this author.

Rating: 4 Stars
Audio Release and Print Pub Date: April 1 2025

Tags:
Henry Hold & Company
@henryholtbooks
Macmillan Audio
@macmillan.audio
#BadNatureBook
#ArielCourage
#YarisBookNook
#netgalley

“Bad Nature” is a revenge plot road trip where Hester, our narrator has found out she has terminal cancer and is now putting her revenge into action. Hester, a lonely, well off lawyer, has quit her job and plans to drive across the country to kill her abusive father.

I found this audiobook oddly engaging despite the unhinged narrator that appears to have let anger control her life. I appreciated the balance that the secondary character, John, the environmental activist she picks up along the way, adds to the story. Courage throws in twists and turns I wasn’t necessarily expecting, which helped to draw me into the plot. I was hoping for more character growth and development but unfortunately this was more of a plot driven book. I do think the audio version helped me enjoy the book as I don’t think I would have been as engaged with reading it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC!

A woman with a terminal cancer diagnosis drives cross-country to kill her estranged father. This pulled me in right away, and while the first half of the book had my complete attention it fell a little flat for me in the second half leaving me wanting more.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC of this book! This was unhinged and so funny. The main character was both unlikeable and endearing. John balanced Hester out and really enhanced the story. I enjoyed the narrator’s voice and would like to read more from this author in the future!

a book about a terminally ill woman with an estranged and volatile relationship with her father combined with a spontaneous cross-country roadtrip was immediately interesting to me.

the author’s writing style and the dark satire throughout the story really sets the tone for the strange end-of-life journey the protagonist finds herself on.

this is one of those books that kind of feel like an A24 film.

The main character isn’t really the most likable, but the book has really good writing that shows its sense of humor. We see a relationship grow throughout the book, but I wish I knew more about her father. I felt like something was missing throughout.

You have to enjoy dark humor to enjoy this book. This story took us on a journey with a woman who turned 40 and found out she had 6 months left to live. She decided to pack up the life she had and set out to get revenge… on her father for how bad he treated her and her mother. I wanted a bit more detail around what drove her to become who she became. We got pieces of what she remembered but I feel like more would have helped me connect with her. I had the audio and maybe I missed it, but I just couldn’t get myself to like Hester. I wanted to know more about John, the dad’s new wife, even Hester’s mom.

I'm growing a little tired of the women-behaving-badly, girl-bossing-too-close-to-the-sun literary trend, and I'm so glad I read this book because it helped me refine my thoughts about that trope, and also how it can be used successfully. Hester is unlikable, but understandable. Given a terminal diagnosis, she decides to spend what time she has left hunting down and killing her father, who is even less likable. Hester's eventual redemption doesn't come at the cost of her mission; she doesn't go from dumb to smart, or unfeeling to feeling. She doesn't really interrogate the values of her former life or 'find a better way,' or get cured or forgive her father, or realize that what she needed was inside her all along... Her redemption consists of forming exactly one real relationship. I just- I don't know, I felt very satisfied by the ending. It was quietly poignant.
I don't think I pressed pause once while listening to this audiobook. The pacing was perfect.
The narration was almost a total win, except for a brief section where the narrator attempted a wisconsin/upper midwest accent (i think...) and fully sounded like a muppet, like Frank Oz or something. Criminal behavior. Luckily, this was only a short portion of the novel.
I'm going to suggest this as a selection for our bookclub.

After she receives a terminal diagnosis, Hester goes on a road trip to kill her estranged father.

This road trip novel is full of dark humor. The writing was fantastic, and I loved the unhinged female main character. The only reason this book isn’t five stars is that the middle felt a little long and bloated by extra plot points. However, I loved the beginning and the ending. I listened to the audiobook, and I enjoyed the narrator. I’d definitely recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.