BLOB: A Love Story is as strange and captivating as its title suggests. This offbeat tale combines heartfelt emotion with absurdity in a way that feels entirely original. The writing is sharp, clever, and full of wit, drawing you into a story that is as touching as it is bizarre.

The characters, though unconventional, are beautifully crafted and full of life. Their vulnerabilities and quirks make them incredibly relatable, even in the most surreal moments. The exploration of love, loneliness, and acceptance is handled with surprising tenderness, creating an emotional resonance that sneaks up on you.

While the pacing occasionally felt uneven, the charm and creativity of the story more than made up for it. The ending, in particular, was both poignant and satisfying, tying together the book’s themes in a way that left me smiling.

BLOB: A Love Story is an imaginative and heartwarming read that balances the ridiculous and the meaningful with impressive skill. A solid 4/5.

A really gripping debut, I read it all in one sitting! A very weird but engaging love story about a fairly unlikeable, but also relatable woman who in trying to create her perfect man, finds herself along the way. Ideal for people who don’t usually like romance novels

I thoroughly enjoyed this. It's weird, unique, silly but also tender and touching. Vi is a young woman who feels different and isolated. She is fresh out of a failed relationship and festering in her flat, convinced nobody will ever love her. Enter blob. This unusual creature is nurtured by Vi into her perfect boyfriend but he's not content to fester in Vi's flat and breaks free. I loved the nonsense paired beautifully with the real. I was drawn in by the unusual premise and stayed for the fantastic storytelling and heartfelt portrayal of loneliness and heartache.

This was totally absurd! But heartfelt and sincere at the same time. It's about loneliness and identity and coming of age, but in such a fresh and funny way - because of Bob the blob, who kept me was hooked as I had to find out more about who/what he was. I really enjoyed Vi's character journey too.

Thank you Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for a copy of Blob by Maggie Su. This was very strange and I loved it. It’s such a creative and unique story about a woman finding a blob in an alleyway and all the issues that arise from her taking it home. On the surface this book sounds obscure and weird, but it actually explores family dynamics and relationships in a meaningful way through our messy protagonist.

I liked this book, it was a fun and light read. The characters are all quite flawed and not always likeable, the plot was weird and wonderful, the writing flowed really well. I read it over the course of an afternoon and it was an easy one to just breeze through.

here we have Vi Liu, who's not a Disaster Millennial but a Disaster Gen Z person, living in a horrible basement and working as a hotel receptionist after crashing out of the science course at university she pressured herself to take - her Taiwanese dad and White mum are laid back and she has a brother who is demonstrating that achieving is harder than it looks. Then Vi finds a sentient blob by the bins outside a gay bar and takes it home (as you would) and manages to grow and groom it into what might be the perfect boyfriend - or is it? OK, I will say here that it's nicely done but surely everyone wonders - if the blob can eat, how does it go to the toilet? Anyway, that aside, we follow Vi's chaotic life as of course she can't control Bob the ex-Blob any more than she can the rest of her life. Will she reach peace with her ex, friendship with her weirdly perfect colleague, keep her job, grow up? Will Bob help or hinder her? The multiple heritage aspect throws in a few extra angles and there's a definite pull to belong which Vi does her best to subvert: you do end up rooting for her and it's certainly a fun and interesting concept, especially when Bob goes out into the world!

Blog review: https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2025/01/15/three-netgalley-reviews-by-ashenden-trevaldwyn-and-su/

Blob follows Vi whose life is a mess. She dropped out of college, her boyfriend broke up with her and she’s stuck in a job at a local hotel. One night she’s at a club and discovers a sentient blob. Vi takes the blob home where she feeds it sugary cereal and leaves it watching TV like professional wrestling. It turns out the blob can be shaped into a man which Vi calls Bob and expects him to solve her problems.

This was really good and I had the best time reading it. It was so weird and out there that I just loved it. I would say it falls into the category of sad girl literary fiction. Vi is really struggling with life and doesn’t seem to be able to live it like everyone else. I related to this book so hard because Vi feels like no one understands how she feels. She thinks Bob will be the answer to her problems but soon realises he won’t be. Vi is a very lonely person, she has basically no friends and always seems to be performing around others. She doesn’t really know who she is and this novel is sad. There are some funny moments though as I laughed out loud at a few points and I was left feeling hopeful when I finished this. I loved reading this novel and I will be buying a physical copy when this releases. It was great.

Like Monstrilio but for a grow-your-own boyfriend instead. I really liked this book, it was such an easy read with a really interesting take on a protagonist slowly allowing herself to embrace herself and the world around her.

Thanks to Maggie Su and NetGalley for this ARC!

On the face if it Blob is an extremely strange book about Vi, who, on a drunken night out, discovers a strange blob-like creature outside a nightclub. She's no idea what it is but decides to take pity on it and take it home.

I'm begging you now to completely suspend your disbelief over the eponymous character in this book (I assume it's a metaphor but I was never very good at working out what for so I'll leave that up to you to decide). This is actually a book about the way we often sabotage our own lives.

Vi is an incredibly anti-social but needy young woman. She lies to keep her parents off her back, she doesn't care about her work and shows no interest in the lives of others other than how they affect her. She could be really unlikeable but she just comes off as vulnerable.

The story is definitely strange as Vi nurtures the Blob (Bob) and begins to see a different future for herself rather than the hopeless loser she thinks other people see her as. As her life begins to change Vi thinks she will finally get what she wants. But she may well be missing the most important thing - self-love.

I found it difficult to like Vi but that's probably because so many of her traits reminded me of myself when I was young. The writing is great and I found it difficult to put this book down. Once you've forgotten about the strange situation Vi finds herself in then the story becomes all about her struggle to negotiate a world she doesn't feel she fits into.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. Highly recommended. As this is her debut novel I hope to see much more from Maggie Su in the future.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Hodder &Stoughton for the advance review copy.

My love for short, weird books about sad women in emotional and mental crisis doesn’t appear to be abating as I chose ‘Blob: A Love Story’ as my first read of 2025.

I hadn’t heard of this debut before I stumbled across the cover on NetGalley, got completely captured by the synopsis, and had to request a copy. The NetGalley gods were kind and I decided straight away that it was going to be my first read of the year.

“A hilarious and moving debut novel about a young woman who decides to turn a sentient blob into her perfect man...

Vi Liu’s life is a mess. Having dropped out of college, she’s stuck in a job she hates at a local hotel. Her ex-boyfriend has blocked her and she’s lashing out at her family and co-workers.

One night, drunk outside a drag club, she stumbles across a mysterious sentient blob. She takes it home, where she feeds it a diet of sugary cereal and reality TV. Slowly, she realises that she can shape the blob into her perfect man: someone attentive, outgoing and with more than a passing resemblance to Ryan Gosling.

But is Bob the blob really the answer to all her problems, or a catalyst for further disaster? Sharp, strange and very funny, BLOB is a delightful story about growing up, fucking up and learning how to be a real person.”
I have to admit, that I was a little disappointed with the first half of ‘Blob’ and it took me an unexpectedly long time to get involved with the novel as Vi is very hard character to like, and the decisions she makes also makes her very unsympathetic at many points. She’s funny, but she’s very abrasive and doesn’t seem to actually like anyone in her life or treat them very well at all, and it’s a lot when she’s the centre of the story, especially when we go back and see her in her previous relationship as she mourns it and re-examines what went wrong, when it’s very obvious to the reader. Even for a while after discovering the blob, I was struggling.


Once the Blob becomes Bob and starts to become a man and Vi’s relationships with her colleague, Rachel; new friend, Elliott; and her family deteriorates (through her own actions and words), everything kicked into gear for me and I raced through the rest of the novel.

It was really interesting to see the ideas and conversations around how even though Vi made and formed Bob to her ideal, once he was formed he became his own person with ideas, motivations and reasons to pull himself away from Vi. It’s a really fascinating exploration of Vi’s reaction to that and the way it seems to confirm for her that she might be the problem, and gives her a chance to change and adapt how she lives and treats people. In that way ‘Blob’ is a strange, sad girl novel meets coming of age meets ‘Frankenstein’ inspired soft sci-fi/fantasy that all seems to blend together and make it a literary novel...

‘Blob: A Love Story’ is a bizarre, funny, startling debut novel that has made me really excited about Maggie Su as an author.

Thank you to Sceptre and NetGalley for the review copy.

Written by Sophie

A wonderfully strange offering of a book. I thought it was so funny but really was not very keen on the main character. I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and give her a good talking to. Good literature does produce strong reactions. She was mainly the architect of her own disasters. It was funny though !

A very cute spec-fic novel with a premise reminiscent of Holly Gramazio’s The Husbands, in the sense that the speculative element is just there, no explanation is made, and you have to accept its existence. I can deal with this–it’s different from magical realism in that the mode is basically realistic, with actions having recognisable, logical causes and effects. Here, the speculative element is a beige blob that our protagonist, mixed-race Taiwanese-American Vi, finds in an alley behind a drag club. She takes it home and, realising that it can shape-shift (and loves reality TV), begins molding it into the ideal boyfriend. Vi’s loneliness, fear of abandonment, and habits of self-sabotage are clearly and painfully drawn, but the point of Blob is that she has to let go of some of these responses to be a happier, fuller person. (I thought of Lien’s observations about Western stories and their insistence on the primacy of individual growth and development. Vi’s story certainly qualifies, which feels especially interesting as part of her pain and confusion is connected to her sense of never quite belonging in either white America or the Taiwanese diaspora as a mixed-race person.) Blob is extremely funny, though, particularly the scenes where Vi is training “Bob” into a man’s shape and teaching him language–imagine if the Black Mirror episode where Hayley Atwell gets a grow-your-own replacement for her dead husband had been hilarious. Well worth a read if you’re a little dubious about full-on sci fi but are interested in dipping a toe in the water, and of course if this kind of wacky premise, delivered with both heart and irony, interests you.

I liked some aspects of this book, but it could have been a bit more fleshed out

Blob is about Vi, a woman in her 30s who is feeling discouraged about life and is currently working at a hotel. On a night out, she finds a blob next to a trash can outside the bar she was in, which she assumes is a blobfish at first. She ends up coming back in the middle of the night to rescue this blob and take it back to her flat. This blob becomes sentient and follows her commands, even to the point of turning into a man, an amalgamation of a lot of different movie stars. Through flashbacks, we readers find out more about her previous relationship, get to know her family and start to understand more about how the world has treated Vi, and vice-versa.

Blob is about figuring out that nobody has things figured out, even though it may seem like everyone has and you're the only one left behind. It's about the difference between love and attachment, about self-worth and figuring things out as we go along. This book was funny at times and heartbreaking at others. The only caveat for me is that its exploration of these themes could have been more fleshed out; I felt like it was missing a chunk.

With that said, I read it all in one sitting and I can't stop thinking about the ending.

Thank you very much to Sceptre and to NetGalley for my e-ARC!

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

I loved this book! This book is so entertaining and full of heart. A real character study of Vi who is an outcast who has no idea what she's doing with her life, but you can't help but see her. The pacing of this book was immaculate, and the writing was genuinely impressive. I love books with surrealism so this was definitely my cup of tea!

Blob: A Love Story is a hilarious yet deeply moving debut book that blends humor with introspection, all while exploring what it means to love, be loved, and truly understand oneself. The story centers around Vi Liu, a twenty-three-year-old socially awkward young woman who has never quite fit into her small Midwestern college town. After a messy breakup and dropping out of college, Vi spends her days as a front desk attendant at a hotel, refilling cucumber water samovars and dodging her overly cheerful coworker Rachel’s attempts at friendship.

Vi's life takes an unexpected turn one evening when she accompanies Rachel to a local drag show. There, in an alley by a trash can, she discovers a strange blob with beady black eyes. After a moment of drunken whimsy, Vi decides to take the creature home with her. As she cares for it, the blob becomes sentient, obeying her every command. In a fit of desperation, Vi decides to mold the blob into her perfect partner, feeding it sugary cereal and inundating it with pop culture until it transforms into a handsome, movie-star-like man—whom she names Bob.

As Bob takes shape, Vi’s desire to be loved unconditionally intensifies, leading her to confront her own loneliness, childhood insecurities, and the racial marginalization that has shaped her relationships. But as the blob’s sentience grows, so too does its desire for autonomy. Bob no longer wants to be a mere reflection of Vi’s ideal partner, and Vi must face the truth about herself and her messy, self-sabotaging tendencies.

The book explores themes of love, self-discovery, and the complexities of relationships. It cleverly deconstructs the idea of control in relationships, particularly the unhealthy desire to shape others to fit our expectations. Vi’s journey is one of growth and self-acceptance, and the story’s wit and humor are paired perfectly with its more profound moments.

Vi is a character who feels deeply real—she’s abrasive, socially awkward, and tends to push people away, yet her vulnerabilities make her impossible not to root for. Her struggle to navigate her identity as a Taiwanese-American in a predominantly white town adds another layer of depth to the story, offering a perspective on how cultural marginalization impacts relationships and self-worth.

The concept of the blob is both quirky and poignant, evoking modern-day Frankenstein vibes. Through Bob’s transformation, the book explores the tension between wanting control over those we love and the necessity of allowing them to have their own lives. It's a meditation on autonomy, identity, and the messy, often painful, process of becoming whole.

Blob: A Love Story is a brilliant and unexpected exploration of the human experience, full of wit, heart, and a touch of absurdity. This is a love story in the most unconventional sense, offering a compelling look at what it means to love and be loved while learning to accept yourself and others in all their imperfection. If you enjoy stories with deep emotional layers wrapped in humor and oddball concepts, this book is a must-read.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

Vi works at the front desk of a hotel, usually with her colleague Rachel who she doesn’t really like all that much. However one night they go to a drag show at a local bar and outside, Vi finds a blob. The blob… seems sentient. Vi takes it home. The blob starts to react to the things going on in Vi’s apartment and she decides she’s going to turn it into her perfect partner.

I thought this was really great! I think the synopsis is a little misleading because it really is more about Vi and what she’s going through. And she’s going through it! She’s trying to get over a breakup, she dropped out of college, she thinks she’s a disappointment to her parents compared to her paediatrician brother and she doesn’t really have many friends. She’s a compelling character. Slightly pathetic but compelling nonetheless. Bob the Blob is very much part of the plot but not thee plot.

If you’re expecting this to get really weird you might be a little disappointed. However this is a book I would’ve enjoyed even if Bob didn’t exist. So I had a good time!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.

An interesting read which I quite enjoyed. I was intrigued by the concept of "grow your own man" but it wasn't what I expected. Bob is actually a minor character and the book is about Vi and how she tries to get through her life. I wonder if the Bob things was added for intrigue and as a sort of USP.

Usually I am predisposed towards underdogs and misfits and prepared to cut them a lot of slack but really, Vi is so unlikeable and mean natured and the author of many of her own misfortunes. that it is hard to feel sympathy for her. Of course Bob grows both literally and as a person and becomes more independent and I suppose this is something to think about but as far as I can see although Vi's life changes, she does not change at all. The most surprising part of the book is not the plotline with Bob but how Vi manages to have a job and to keep it given how little she does and how poorly she does it

By the end of the book, things have changed for all the characters and nothing is left hanging but I still feel that that somehow it petered out.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc of this book. I really enjoyed this story and reading about Blob to Bob, but found myself hoping for something a lot more surreal. I think the author could have taken this further and really explored the weirdness but unfortunately it fell a little flat for me and I was hoping for more. The main character was flawed and unlikeable, which I had no problem with at all - but I would have liked more than a rushed ending for her. Rated 3.75.