I absolutely devoured this book - Tia was such a relatable, down to earth character who equally had me cheering her on during her bad ass moments and connecting with her anxious moments of self-doubt and appraisals of her self-worth. A fun read which is especially relatable for anyone in their twenties living in London!

THIS WAS SO CUTE. And coming from a die-hard fan of psychological thrillers and books that purposely rip out my heart and tear it to pieces, this is saying a lot.

Tia is me. I am Tia. I loved that this didn't focus only on her love-life, or base her characterisation solely on needing to be in a relationship; yes, this was a rom-com, but I feel like it really boils down to being a book about a young girl just trying to navigate her twenties, juggling a career, a relationship and financial status all at once, whilst not knowing what the f*$&! is going on.

This was Black, British and funny - yes, some of the references to TikTok and very GenZ language was a bit jarring at times, but that's mainly personal preference. The pace was good, the characters were interesting and developed, and more importantly, incredibly real and believable. Felt like I was hanging out with friends for 288 pages.

Big thanks to NetGalley and MerkyBooks for providing me with an advanced copy for review.

Thank you for granting me early access to this book. It was such a fun and enjoyable read, I reckon some readers might have issues with the pop culture references but I think it was very well done and engaging, maybe it's because I understood everything. THis is a really good debut!

Personally, I wouldn't class this book as a romance novel, but as contemporary fiction.

The blub would represent the book better if it mentioned Tia's job as a journalist and then alluded to the stand she took to stand up for other young black females like herself. I found the story she decided to pitch and the people involved more interesting than the romance side of the story.

The situationship she's in paints the picture of how modern dating can be... a minefield of not knowing where you stand. A good read but different from my expectations from the blurb.

I loved the synosis and this is why I requested the book. Who doesn't like reading about dating, right? And the book started really promising - it was funny and quirky, with bubbling characters. But those were actually only a chapter or two. Then it went downhill for me.
The blurb doesn't mention Tia's working place. It turns out she's journalist who struggles to find her voice as a young black woman and the story, in fact, turned out to be a manifest to young black women trying to find their voice, and if I knew this, I wouldn't request this book, sorry. HOwever, I kept reading.
I couldn't warm to the characters and their storylines. They felt immature and behaved immature, the dialogues mirror it very, very well. I don't like slang in the books, it's my thing maybe, but I want proper words in a proper story. Reading it felt like standing near a group of teenagers telling a joke, I didn't understand a lot.

However, my personal highlight is "kissing the teeth". Folks, Tia and other characters "kissed their teeth" in every second sentence. EVERY. FREAKING. SECOND. SENTENCE. I felt completely, totally annoyed, irritated, pissed off with them all the time kissing their teeth. Aaaaaaarghhhhh!!!

I was hoping was a brilliantly funny, light story. This one was sadly too flat, too forced and too politically correct for me to enjoy it.

Sadly I couldn't get into this book in all honesty. I got to chapter 5 and still wasn't feeling it. I didn't engage with Tia or her friendship group and I didn't feel invested in her story. I'm sure it's just me and other readers who are younger and have experienced online dating apps might have a different reading experience.

Thank you for this advanced copy in return for an honest review.

I really liked the premise of this book and was really excited to read it. I loved the idea of a relatable read about the beginnings of a relationship and the awkward ‘situationship’ and red flags involved with modern dating and dating apps.

Tia is a likeable and relatable main character and I loved seeing the representation and ideas she pitched for her magazine. Definitely think journalism needs more figures like her and really enjoyed the work related plot to this book. I found the relationship aspect of this book to be a little bit frustrating, particularly the lack of communication but obviously situationship type relationships are frustrating so I’m not sure if this could really be any different and should be expected for this type of book!

Overall this was an easy read that I got through in a day or two. I think it’s better suited to younger audiences and will be popular among this demographic!

Thank you NetGalley and Merky Books for sending me this advanced copy for review.

This book left me with such mixed feelings. I really wanted the storyline to be relatable because who hasn’t experienced their share of situationships and red flags? The title and cover drew me in and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy.

Tia, the main character, finds herself in a new 'situationship' after the love of her life returns from America with a new girlfriend. Tia was really likeable and definitely relatable, but some of the other characters and the plot in general were so stereotypical that it felt like I could have written them myself.

My favourite parts were definitely those that centred around Tia’s workplace - reading about her imposter syndrome, struggle to have her voice heard as a young black woman in a large media company and her determination to do work that mattered to her was great, but the actual ‘situationship’ that the book is supposedly centred around, just wasn’t that interesting.

There was also loads and loads of description in this book, so much so that I found myself skimming over pages of description or Tia’s inner thoughts, just a lot of words that didn’t add to the story.

Chasing the man of her dreams Aaron turns sour until a new man turns up.
A realistic tale of institutional racism in the office, non-commital men and the strength of friends and women’s solidarity.

I gelled with absolutely nothing about this book.

For one, it was overly descriptive. I was told, told, told until I wanted to scream. I don't think I've read, and enjoyed, a story where the main character describes every detail of not only her own, but all of her friends outfits, from their shoes to the jewelry they have on, since I was at least fourteen. If it isn't important to the story, you're just adding unnecessary word count. I just don't care. The same happened whenever a new character was introduced, no matter how minor their role. We'd get 2-3 paragraphs about their life or their role within Tia's life and again, I cannot stress this enough: I did not care!!!!!! I'm not here for useless filler. I want information relevant and important to the story. The author really struggled with that throughout this entire book - deciding what was important enough to include and what could be left out.

Secondly, the dialogue. It felt really immature at best and very repetitive at worst. I'm sure I counted three, maybe four times by the 15% mark that Tia had 'kissed her teeth'. I also just didn't gel with the dialogue in general. Slang has it's place in a lot of places but personally I've never enjoyed reading it in books. A lot of words were shorted: cos in place of because, haps in place of happy and colly instead of collage. It just didn't feel necessary. It almost read how I imagine a group chat of fifteen year olds speak to each other. It gave me the same vibe as people who say amazeballs unironically.

I also didn't like the notion that Olivia was a bitch just because she was dating the guy Tia liked. If Aaron never mentioned Tia to Olivia, that's on him. The fact they'd never talked about their 'situationship' or set boundaries with each other wasn't Olivia's fault, either. Kind of perpetuates the idea that women need to be in competition with each other when it comes to men, ya know? Not my style. Also - if I was Olivia, coming to meet my boyfriends friends for the first time and a girl he's talked about a lot (since she referred to her as the famous Tia) jumped all over my boyfriend as soon as he walked through the door, I'd have my back up a little, too. But then again, that's on Aaron, for not telling his friends or Tia about Olivia.

As well as all of that, there were points in the book that were just page after page or either inner monologuing from Tia or more descriptive nonsense about what she was doing, what those around her were doing, useless background information that I glazed over.

I want to apologise for this review first of all. I believe that this book has a really good plot, but I did have to stop reading for a while because I could feel it putting me into a reading slump. The dialogue in the book was so cringe to me and I found that it had a huge impact on my enjoyment levels of the book - I don’t think I’ve heard the references to social media used in day-to-day conversations as a 19 year old.

I am sad to say that i was unable to finish this book. The premise was great, but for the parts that I read, it did not deliver for me. The writing style felt juvenile and very repetitive in places. And I felt that Tia was very childish in some places, especially when meeting a certain someone at the start of the books (but that could be put down to shock). I honestly hate leaving bad reviews and I am so sorry to Taylor-Dior Rumble about this.

I wanted to enjoy this book, I really did. But, it just didn’t work out for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for the ARC of this book.

Firstly I want to commend the author for writing these books it’s obviously not easy to be a writer.

Unfortunately, I didn’t like the book as much as I wanted to. I think in general it’s a solid 3 stars. Concept and the story are relatable the execution however not so much.

Things I enjoyed Tia the FMC was definitely relatable. A lot of black girls go through the am I not enough aspect in life, both in their professional and personal life. The fact that men just kind of want to have their cake and eat it too is also something I felt was portrayed really well.
However, I really didn’t enjoy the copious amount of pop culture references. Even the amount of time the characters kissed their teeth was a bit much. Like I get it, but pop culture references genuinely get out dates.

E.g. the balenciaga shoes reference and they have done some weird stuff.

As I said it was a nice book I guess but I wouldn’t have gotten it myself. However if you like what I mentioned you should definitely read it as the concept itself is really fitting for todays society.

Review of The Situationship by Taylor-Dior Rumble
I really enjoyed this book. I found it to be well written with a great storyline and good characters. The plot was well thought out and had good character development. Recommended.

I enjoyed the story and i did read it in one sitting today very easy to read. However I felt I am not the target audience for this novel and if I was 10 years younger I would have connected alot better with the tia and the rest of the cast. Good quick read so I would recommend to the 20 somethings in my life.

I think Gen z's may get more from this book than myself, as a 31 year old I felt too old for this read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me an advance copy, I will definitely be recommending to my Gen Z ladies.

I'm really glad that I was approved an advanced reading of The Situationship. As a thirty-something female, I've be lying if I said i hadn't found myself in a similar situation.

And that's why I'm convinced this book is going to do well. It will be a struggle to find someone that hasn't been impacted by the always existed by newly labelled relationship status of a "situationship" - the prelude to the "What Are We?" conversation.

Tia is such a loveable character, and seeing the conversation around POC in the workplace, education and the expectations in those environments was well done in the subplots. We couldn't help but root for Nate (we've all had a Nate I'm sure) but at the same time, his language and behaviours are all too familiar.

I'm excited for this book to be read. It echoes the message that we all know but rarely listen to - don't settle for less than you deserve and in a world where communication is expected so readily, it's important to remember that the communication needs to mean something.

I struggled through the first half of this book but glad I persevered as I really enjoyed the rest. I found some of the dialogue a bit cringey. However, I loved Tia’s personal journey and that in the end she chose herself.

Thank you NetGalley for the advance copy.

Whilst I enjoyed this book and I was keen tk keep reading it I simultaneously found it frustrating and clichéd. I also struggled with overuse of the phrase 'kissed her teeth'

Worth a look but I don't think it is likely to be one of my must reads for 2023!

This was a better read them I was expecting. Liked the read of Tias relationship and her career. I also think it’s situated to a certain audience.

I really wanted to like this book but I just did not like the style of writing. There was too much slang and pop culture which may appeal to Gen Z but not anyone over 30.
I liked the way it showed the struggle of Tia as a young black female in a work environment facing stereotypical reactions from people. The friendship dynamics were great in the way they all supported Tia and rallied around. The character of Aaron does not sound like the sort of person she would choose to get involved with initially so I found it hard to understand why she was so hung up on him.
I read all of the book hoping it would get better, sadly it did not for me. I’m sure it’s more aimed at young adults as it’s down with the kids with the pop culture. Perfect for the Gen Z but it left me disappointed.