Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the eARC! Greatly appreciated.

"The point is, she couldn't stop taking the drug. None of them could, even once they realized what it was doing to them. They were so addicted to finally being seen as people that they were willing to turn themselves into monsters."

Dumas' portrayal of Emmett's story was so powerful, poignant, and really shifted my perspective. I feel like especially with social media we are either subjected to or internalize ignorance and we really don't see how it affects society, as well as how we and others view each other. The mental, psychological, physical, socioeconomic, genetic, traumatic, environmental, emotional, and so many other factors in a person's life and their body that should be considered whenever people try to point the blame towards "well you should just work out and diet" when the underlying reason that could literally be a plethora of factors. but really people should really just mind the business that pays them lol. I felt like we were taken through so much of Emmett's life, and I feel like since we not only went through the past, present, and future of Emmett and his life before, during, and a tiny bit after Obexity, I felt like I could really connect to him, despite not personally dealing with what he had gone through. I also didn't suspect the ending, I'm ngl I did not see that coming AT ALL LMAO. I also liked that this lowkey was kind of a mix of an unlikable character but so much of his trauma and experiences shaped him into who he is. Like no one is perfect, they're a product of what they've been through. I also enjoyed the commentary on societal pressure to be fit and skinny, and his best friend Lizette being the complete opposite and 1000% confident in her skin. I feel like so many people think that skinny and fit = healthy and normal which isn't and shouldn't be the case at all. The commentary of some people not even seeing overweight or fat people as human and more of a means of entertainment and horrific was really eye opening, like this book really made me think about how society views fat people fr, and really helped take common misconceptions and challenge my ignorance. Seeing how some people don't really care about you or give you attention at first, changing and getting noticed, but god forbid you hit a plateau or you fall and get back up. Trust someone's going to have a problem with ANYONE for at the very least TRYING. As a regular gym goer, it's so frustrating seeing people say "if you're fat just go to the gym" but then so many people trying to get in the gym get told so many backhanded "complements" and the gym community can be so toxic. Not only was the writing engaging, well done, and surprisingly interesting, I really loved the horror and thriller element to this novel as well, and how the theme of surviving in a system that views fatness as a lifestyle choice, trying to accept yourself in that said society, and having to deal with the reality that not everyone sees eye to eye about fatness, and getting your mf lick back. At first you don't really see how the horror of cannibalism is going to tie into the book but ohhhh boyyyyy. When it starts......BRUH. This book had its moments when the pacing would be a little slow, but since the book is very character focused and development happens all throughout the story, it may seem a little slow at some parts but there's always something going to happen to pick it right back up. I really liked not only following Emmett through his present life, but also digging into the past with his siblings, mother and father, and stepfather really adds so much depth to his character, as much as it really felt hard to read because I felt so bad for Emmett like he was a CHILD. A CHILD?!? Dumas did his THING with this one!!

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the eARC!

"You Should've Been Nicer To My Mom" goes through a night filled with cutthroat, deceiving family members, clue-finding and mystery solving and at the heart of it all, a will left by a grandfather that ends up being a warning to his family, that there is a demon amongst them. I felt like a lot of of the book is really slow especially the beginning. It really doesn't pick up until the first mention of el baca, and even then I really didn't find that the family was interesting or likable for me to feel motivated to finish the book as quick as I usually would. I also didn't really feel like it was really quite a horror book, more of a thriller since a lot of it up until the very end was really spooky to me. Even if Xiomara did have her times where she wasn't the most likable character, outside of Naomi she was really the only interesting character in the book. It also felt like it was hard to really connect with some of the characters since I felt like we only really got to see them either or getting caught doing something or a scandal coming out about them, and then them defending themselves but I feel like since there were so many characters in the book, it was really hard to connect with so many of them and really understand the reasoning why they didn't like Xiomara's mother Josefina. Papi Ramon's tapes kind of gave a little bit of context, but it still never really felt like there was a reasoning behind each of the characters not liking her mom or her. I kind of felt like I as a thriller junkie, predicted the ending only because I felt like it's always the character that you least expect and I did expect who was behind most of it and what was going on. I didn't expect how Naomi and Papi Ramon's relationship was brought to life at all though. I felt like if the writing had been a lot less slower, the bread-crumbing of the demon was a little bit better and we actually got to dive into each of the characters in their back stories and why they would even have the demon amongst them per se, it would've been a little bit more interesting. I was thinking multiple POVs would've been cool too, to see how everyone is reacting to everything going on around them, but that's just my opinion instead of solely focusing on one character throughout the entire book and what she's experiencing. I did like getting into Xiomara's character and the trauma that she carried, as well as how each of the characters are a different "evil." Papi Ramon also getting into each of his relationships with his children and grandchildren, it builds a little context for them, but not enough to make them interesting unfortunately.

"Your voice and your truth will never hold weight unless you also learn to hold power."

10/10 this book left me emotionally damaged but oh GOD IT WAS SO GOOOODDDDD AHHHHH MY SWEET MEDUSA AND APOLLONIA AHHHH

I was so angry for so many women in this book (except for Athena you know what you did) and even though I love good, interesting, and deep feminine rage gooddddd godddddd my heart hurts for them so much they just wanted to be happy and free but of course their desires and dreams were ruined and tainted by a MAN