2.5-3 stars. Thank you NetGalley for an ARC.

The premise of this book, type-A young woman working as a professional organizer in LA, was sooo promising. I kept waiting for the internal monologue to go from cynical to some sort of balanced mindset, but it remained consistently annoying. Jane was negative about herself and others (mostly women). As I was reading, I kept expecting to see a glimmer of character growth and positive change. Then, I realized a man wrote the book, and I would not get the deep, meaningful connections/relationships I was expecting. All of the relationships were shown to be incredibly surface level (we get very few scenes with Anna, the alleged BFF, and the scenes with Teddy, the boyfriend, are always dinner + wine and then sex). Also, spoiler, it felt that in the end, Jane was settling. There was no resolution to this book (which, fine, maybe that's the point... but that's boring!).

I wish we had more relationship growth with her mother (Jane, get on a fricking plane), love interest, and female friendships.

Unfortunately, never really got into this one. The main character is incredibly insufferable with no real growth or change, and, while I LOVE an unlikeable narrator, nothing about this character appealed to me. I couldn’t stop rolling my eyes at a lot of the things happening, especially her thoughts about others and the general holier-than-thou, pick me energy she had.

Very repetitive, with every chapter being the main character doing the same thing with different people. Jane is the only character you find out enough about to form an opinion on, and unfortunately she's not particularly interesting or likeable.

Then there's the absolute blatant sexism. A male author calling a woman the c-word, saying that having an eating disorder is "amazing", and saying that people should keep items that trigger trauma...ALL IN THE FIRST TEN PAGES.

New to the author, I wasn't sure what to expect. This piece of literary fiction was subtly existential. I enjoyed this read because it demonstrated how complex individuals are. The author illustrated that we never know what goes on behind closed doors, and we may never fully understand people's motivations for their behaviors (sometimes they don't even know themselves!).

Mess is a smart, funny, and unexpectedly heartfelt story about a control-loving professional organizer who discovers that the real mess isn’t in her clients’ homes—it’s in her own life. With sharp wit and emotional depth, Michael Chessler delivers a satire of image-obsessed L.A. that’s as insightful as it is entertaining. Perfect for anyone who loves character-driven fiction with bite and heart.

The chapters are long, and it takes a while to get into. Female protagonist Jane, a professional organizer in Los Angeles, doesn't really do much or know what she wants aside from her job and not taking charge of her life. Meh, I wasn't feeling much without any real growth to make her relatable or authentic. Jane wasn't really flushed out as a FMC that made me want to be invested in her story, plus the book ends without resolution or conflict or something. The only think I found interesting was the brief and different snippet of Jane's clients. Their chaos was quirky and fun, but that came in between a (to put it simply and pun intended) mess of an unrelated jumble of words.

Sorry, but what is this writing? lol Is this a nonfiction disguised as a fiction by the author? The writing and the plot are all over the place and add in an insufferable main character.

I just finished reading this book. The plot was absolutely fantastic! It was quite the page turner, and I could not put the book down once I began reading it. I can't wait for it to be released. I will recommend it to everyone I know!

Jane Brown is a professional organizer to the stars in Los Angeles—think Marie Kondo with a sharper tongue and a lot more judgment. On the outside, she’s the epitome of control and composure. But inside? She’s a swirling storm of cynicism, self-loathing, and emotional clutter. Jane begins to confront the emotional mess she’s been avoiding for years after taking on a Z list Hollywood actress as a client. As she organizes others’ lives, she’s forced to reckon with her own: her fears, her relationships, and her deeply buried desire for connection and love.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for this ARC!

This book was a mess. The FMC was insufferable, the author used way too many big words, did a lot of ranting and used the characters voice to basically get his thoughts across. Also why was she such a terrible pessimistic person? She was so self loathing but also didn’t seem to like ppl and acted above everyone else. Couldn’t stand her.

I received an advanced copy of this book and did not read any reviews prior to this one so I may be wayyyy of base.

The bottom line - I enjoyed this book mostly due to the author's writing. While I do enjoy romance novels, they aren't usually what I gravitate towards. And maybe that's why I enjoyed this book enough to give it three stars. I found it to be an easy read and didn't dread picking it up.

The plot in summary is basically any young woman figuring out her career, relationship, and family dynamics BUT through the plot device of her work clients. Each chapter follows a different client. Some more than once, and Jane learns about herself through their experiences as well as her coworkers.

I think the plot device fell mostly flat, unfortunately. There wasn't really anything to specifically take from each client, and in the end, the clients weren't super memorable either.

I think probably the biggest issue that most readers will have with this book is it's wordiness, which was a positive for me. I tend to like wordy, vignettes and going off on weird tangents, but I can see how someone wouldn't, especially given that a lot of the heft of this book is Jane talking about her own experience, it has the potential to not resonate.

The next pitfall that I see for most readers is that there's not really romance. And while the book may not promise that in its synopsis, the cover does invoke the romance genre. And if we kind of boil this down to the barest of bones, If there's no romance in the book, I don't necessarily want to hear a man's perspective on a woman and how she's navigating life as one.

Teddy, Teddy, Teddy - oh what to do with Teddy. Teddy is an anomaly to most women Jane's age. Good looking, good in bed, kind, supportive, wants kids, willing to work, but just not traditionally ambitious and could take things more seriously which is obviously something that Jane values but learns to devalue through her client interactions. Not a lot of Teddy's in the greater ecosystem so I can see that Jane's disregard of Teddy (a seemingly good man) likely will irk a fair amount of readers.

My last nitpicks have to do with LA (as a character in the book) getting so much air time. We get it... there was no city planning and driving is a nightmare. Also, she "steals" things from her clients. Steals in the definition of taking something without explicitly asking for it. I don't know if there was a klepto storyline that got caught out. It honestly would have been more interesting if they kept it in. Covid... please stop mentioning it unless it is mission critical to the story. Everybody old enough to read lived through it.

I appreciate the opportunity to read this title, but unfortunately it didn’t quite capture my interest. While the premise was promising, I found it difficult to stay engaged. That said, I’m sure it will find its audience with readers who connect more strongly with the writing style or pacing.

Mess is a sharp, introspective peek into the mind of someone who craves control in a chaotic world. While I personally felt more connected to Teddy, Jane's boyfriend, I appreciated the raw honesty of Jane's inner world. Her journey toward emotional vulnerability amid the glittering mess of Hollywood felt refreshingly human and surprisingly tender.

A witty novel about a professional organizer who helps others declutter while facing her own emotional chaos. It’s a sharp, heartfelt look at identity and personal growth.

Thank you, Harper Perennial, for the ARC. Unfortunately, this book was just not for me. While I loved the idea of this book-the title, cover art, premise, etc.-I just did not enjoy the (lack of?) plot or connect with the FMC, Jane, at all... I wanted to love this so much. I'm bummed that I can't help hype this release up for the author.

Grateful to NetGalley for the e-arc of this book, but I cannot say I enjoyed it very much. I'm not really sure what the point of the story was. And although there were a few characters that were enjoyable, most of them seemed to be very one dimensional. Also note - you may want a dictionary if you plan to read this book as there was a big use of vocabulary that seemed unnecessary.

I would like to thank Net Galley and Harper for the opportunity to read this book as an ARC. The synopsis of the book sounded fun and interesting. The book was neither. Jane used to work for an entertainment company. She now works as an organizer - think Marie Kondo to celebrities. Each chapter is Jane with a different client- she organizes their closets and steals an item from each. She has a live in boy friend, with whom she has a tenuous relationship. She has a fraught long distance relationship with her mother. She does not like many things or people, and quite frankly, she is unlikeable. This is a book that I just do not see the point of, it just wasn't for me.

I love Jane and she is a breath of fresh air! She is a mess and let’s be real people, we are all a mess! I did not love this book but I did not hate it. The synopsis was so good but the execution was not.

I liked the premise when I requested the book, but the story didn’t live up to the promise of the premise. I couldn’t relate to the main character, she’s quite an unlikable character. I DNFd around 30%.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley, I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I unfortunately ended up DNF'ing this one about halfway through. Jane was a hard main character to relate to - she really didn't demonstrate any growth throughout and I found her interactions with other women hard to understand. The premise really interested me, but this one just didn't work.