Let me start off by saying this book was well-written, had a compelling plot, and overall I enjoyed it. It’s sort of in the vein of other female literary authors with semi-unlikeable protagonists (Mona Awad, Otessa Moshfegh, etc) but….

Ugh I say this with love. It tried too hard to be something it wasn’t - especially when it came to the dog references. I get that the title is “Man’s Best Friend” so she is trying to build on that idea but the recurring theme felt shoehorned in. It almost was like a whole book was written to be solely a thriller / literary fiction, but then the editor passed a note that said “we should add more dog stuff”.

A few quotes that stood out to me -

“A dog might stay loyal or she might abandon you. Either way she’d do what served her best.

She’d been prey become predator. Finding her purpose by peering beneath a “lifetime’s breeding and grooming”

And then there was an off hand comment about a news story where dogs were mysteriously running away from their owners (I got stuck on that - for a moment I thought there was going to be a whole sci fi subplot) but this is only ever referenced when the main character is comparing herself to a dog who must have run away from its master (a collar with a name is found)

All these comparisons to the protagonist being canine and working out issues with her father (?) in the form of a wolf hunt (?) - it just felt jarringly out of context. The English major literary criticism side of me almost wants to reread this slowly and write an essay on the theme with lots of supporting quotes lol

I liked the twist at the end (ugh but also, I read wayyy too many serial killer books, so the villain’s reaction to everything didn’t make sense psychologically to me based off why people kill, but it’s okay).

I’m excited to read more from this author, so I hope all my comments don’t take away from the fact that this was an enjoyable read.

This is a me issue but there’s a fine line for me between social satire/commentary a la Eat the Rich and just awful rich people. I felt more like I hated these people but not in a good way.

Unfortunately this is a soft DNF for me, I may pick this up again at some time but right now this is not something that appeals to me.

It’s a little bit of Night Bitch meets the Talented Mr. Ripley. We follow El, befriended at a young age by Julia and Ana two wealthy girls who bring El into their circle. However, they grow distant as they grow up and head their separate ways. El still longs for a connection to that world of wealth, privilege, and power as she exists as a failed actress working at a bakery feeling untethered and disconnected from the people and world around her.

I really liked the writing in this, it made these characters feel alive and real in their actions and motivations and kept me invested despite (or because of?) these unlikeable flawed characters. As El at times teeters between choices it keeps the reader guessing as to what she will ultimately choose to do. While I liked the dog segments woven throughout the story, I felt it could have been a bit more subtle at times. The way everything came together at the climax had me completely gripped and I couldn’t put it down.

If you are looking for an anti romance with an unapologetically selfish characters and sharp social criticism with thriller elements this is a really great read and you should check it out.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher. I received an advance review copy, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I did not enjoy this book one little bit. Was it a mystery? A thriller? Neither. It was pointless and dumb. I do not recommend. I’m giving it a one star rating. Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this digital ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I tried reading this while I was sick and unfortunately I couldn’t get into it enough to keep going. I hate not finishing books but I just didn’t find it interesting enough.

I received an advanced copy from netgalley in exchange for a review and opinions are my own.

I think the marketing of the book with the cover and the quips about being like other popular books will help this sell, but I feel like the book was a little hard to get into. This seems for a niche audience.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

I DNF'd this book at about 12%. I got to the phrase "intriguing breasts" and just couldn't continue. Up to that point all the MC had done was moan and complain about her life and slack off of work because she wanted to be rich. There was nothing that made me want to continue reading.

This book was not what I was expecting...it was MORE! Not having the resources EI needs, she is lured into a world that glitzy on the surface and much darker underneath. Feral, page turning, and moments of exasperation all describe this book.

Thank you to G.P. Putnam's Sons & NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.
Chapter 1 begins with a story about a dog who loves its owner and lives a perfectly perfect life, but finds itself asking what if. What if it were better somewhere else? What if I were loved more? What if someone paid more attention to me? What if I were cared about more? Is life always so mundane and patterned? While this threw me off in the beginning, I quickly realized that this was a metaphor what was El was going through in her life. El no longer is happy with her path and being a loyal servant to someone. She wants more.
That being said, I honestly did not connect with this book like I had hoped that I would. It was a little all over the place for me. I was confused with the canine perspective for a good portion of the book. I probably should have read other review first, but I prefer to go in blind and decide for myself. A book where living on the fringe of the rich and wanting more than she has – will put of a lot of toxic vibes and that may be great for other readers. I expect this book to have a wide variety of reviews. It will have a love/hate relationship with readers.

Man's Best Friend was a quick entertaining read about the super rich in New York and those who want to be a part of that world. I was really looking forward to this one and wanted to like it more than I did. It started out promising and while I was for entertained and wanted to see how it ended I did not really connect to the main character at all. I also was a little confused about the dog story line that didn't seem to really go anywhere was hoping for a little more explanation on that. All in all was a decent read and would encourage others to try it. I want to thank NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

***Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of Man’s Best Friend .
And Thank you
***PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, for an an advanced digital ARC

I was excited for this book based on the title and was unfortunately disappointed.I found the way it was written to be very scattered and confusing. The main character El is very bland, and there is nothing about her, or her quid pro quo romance with Bryce that makes you want more of any of it . I feel the ideas were there, but the follow through and the character development was rushed and unfinished. I liked the descriptive writing used throughout allowing the reader to visualize the environmental factors surrounding the characters but needed more connection and interest in the characters themselves. I feel this writer has the absolute potential to make a really good novel , but needs to focus more on the direction of the story as well as deciding on which aspect of the story they are intending to be the most important in reference to the genre being more of a mystery, romance or just simple first person reflective journaling. With that said I look forward to future novels in hopes of getting this quality of writing along with a riveting story.

Thanks for this advance copy. I loved this book! I just read it in a day, so it's so good. If you are looking for a book to inmerse you as much as you forget about the outside world, this is it!

Even though this is a short read - I enjoyed this little bit of a popcorn thriller! When something seems like it's too good to be true, it probably is, and our heroine, El, is about to learn that lesson the hard way!

Putting yourself in the proximity and social circles of the super-rich might seem like a good idea.. but when you're no longer a part of that circle and can't keep up financially - El learns a hard lesson: she doesn't know who she is. Taking a seemingly random lifeline from a guy she's surprised is interested in her, El gets the surprise of a lifetime from what is essentially an unsuspecting Nepo baby!!

Thoughts:
- The premise of this one is fun because I absolutely love anything to do with crazy rich people. It feels so foreign, and I love reading how it plays out!
- What I didn't love is that the plot seemed a little convoluted, and the pacing was off for me. I needed more sometimes and fewer others.

**Thank you to G.P. Putnam's Sons & NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. I received this book for free, but all thoughts are my own. – SLR 🖤

I typically enjoy the "hot mess 20-something in NY" vibes--and there was a very sinister gray-hued Emma Cline-ness to the the whole beginning of this one, which felt promising. But by the end I was left wondering what the heck the author was even trying to do here. The ending was wildly unbelievable and felt highly unsatisfying, not to mention that weird storyline about dogs that went absolutely no where and was totally unexplained? I'm really surprised that got past an editor, tbh. I'd be interested to see what this author releases in the future but this felt very much like an amateurish debut that needed more work.

I think the foundation of an intriguing perspective is here but it needs help in connecting all of the tangential threads. There's simply too many implied meanings behind the protagonist's actions, especially in the last 150 pages or so of the book that leave you feeling tossed about and then hung up to dry. I don't need my plot points spoon fed to me, in fact I appreciate an author who allows their audience to interpret meaning... to a reasonable degree. It's believable that El would do what she did in the end but it's completely insane to expect that everyone around her, especially Bryce, would allow her to just ride her golden ticket off into the sunset without protest. Nope, no way. If there are concrete reasons why she is suddenly able to wield such power over Bryce, Julia, their circles etc. merely by connecting dots to Bryce's psychopathy, then I missed it completely.

The random details about everyone's dogs suddenly running away felt lazy and confusing. I get it... the tie-in is a metaphor for the psychological journey El is taking. She's no longer anyone's loyal, subservient companion. Hence the title of the book. But you can't flippantly introduce an odd, almost supernatural element into the mix and then not expand on it a bit more. Either own it fully or don't include it at all.

Aside from punctuation corrections and some overall cleanup for smoother grammar, there was only one error I noticed: on page 197, it says "Bryce's Brita pitcher" when it should say "Ansel's".

I was lucky enough to win an e-ARC of MAN'S BEST FRIEND by Alana B. Lytle through a Shelf Awareness giveaway. Thank you for the early look, and have a safe and happy Valentine's Day!

A unique style of writing. I went into this with an open mind, but I just did not connect with the story's characters like I hoped to. I think the book will find the right audience though and do well. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Thanks NetGalley for an advanced copy of this title. While this was not necessarily my favorite read, I felt like the author did have a good style. I struggled with how the story flowed, however, and how unlikeable the characters were. While the toxic characters were intentional, I was unable to connect with them and truly care about how the events of the story affected them. This is not to say that the story was poorly written or that it may not work for others; I just wasn’t able to take much from it. I still feel it deserves three stars because it was well written. Also, I do appreciate the opportunity to be able to read and review this title!

When I read that this novel was similar to "The Talented Mr. Ripley", I couldn't wait to read it. However Ripley was a character study which was focused and moved steadily towards a certain end. This book was kind of all over the place with the thriller aspects not appearing until late in the book. This is about a woman named El. El lives in the Williamsburg section of New York and is very unhappy with her life. She wanted to be an actress at one time but now at age 29 she is working at a bakery and feels like her chances to become famous have past. El is not very likable; she is rude to her roommate and her other friends and wants to hang out with her friends Anna and Julia only because they are wealthy. El herself grew up in a lower middle class home and when she got a scholarship to an expensive school for eighth grade she was taken in by Anna and Julia and now she hangs around them in order to go to parties and to a vacation house in the Hamptons.

At such a party, El meets a man named Bryce. She is not attracted to Bryce, but he appears to be rich and connected and when he offers to return her driver's license she left behind, the two begin a relationship. Once she is living with Bryce she finds he has a history of women he knows coming up dead and she tries to tell herself this is not something to do with Bryce himself. The book also has a strange running theme which is kind of science fiction by nature about dogs running away from their masters and becoming wild. I assume this is supposed to be symbolic of El in some way but it wasn't done well and just didn't make sense. The author also went into various side stories that veered away from the main mystery and just weren't interesting such as a story about the owners of a restaurant who needed money to keep going and a subplot involving a young man who was taken in by El's mother. I think the novel would have been better to leave out the dog stories and focus more on El's early life and to somehow give the readers a clue as to why she makes the decisions she does. The ending was somewhat unbelievable to me and I didn't have much of a reaction to El's decisions at that point. Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for a copy of this ARC in exchange for a review.