Nicola Dinan might just be one of my favourite new authors. The heroes of her stories are interesting, flawed and unmistakably alive, and once the book is over I'm always so sad I need to part with them. Disappoint Me raises some really interesting questions about intersections of different aspects of identity, as well as about love and forgiveness, and the more I think about the questions poised in the book the more I realise how good it was.

I enjoyed the dual narrative; it really helped me connect to the story seeing the mindsets of Max and Vincent. Nicola Dinan did a beautiful job of addressing modern relationships, identity, and forgiveness. Max was so complex, I felt that I was there, seeing everything she had to overcome. This is well written but quite forgettable, which is really a personal opinion because I've read a lot of books with this similar plot that have affected me more deeply. This book is just not one I would read again. I was received this ARC in exchange for a honest review.

Oh I love Nicola Dinan.
I was absolutely thrilled to get an advanced copy of this after loving her previous book, Bellies.
Disappoint me takes place across two narratives. One belongs to Max in current day, a trans woman working in tech who falls down the stairs on New Year’s Eve.
The other takes us back to her boyfriend, Vincent, years previous on his gap year.
I love a dual narrative and loved the approach here. I think the combination of narratives were a perfect juxtaposition. I particularly loved Vincent’s narrative and Max’s brother Jamie’s story.
A fantastic book about love, expectation, forgiveness and trust.

4 stars

Disappoint Me is a novel about relationships and growing up, as a thirty year old trans woman meets a new guy and navigates a more heteronormative life. Max works as a lawyer for a tech company, doing what their AI tool actually can't, and after a New Year's party ends with her falling down some stairs, she's looking for more stability. She meets Vincent, a corporate lawyer who is sweet and caring, even if a lot of his life feels unlike Max's. Looming is Max's friend's wedding, in which she's a bridesmaid, but a health scare and a secret from Vincent's past push that to the background, and Max must face up to what her future might actually hold.

Having loved Bellies, I was excited to read Dinan's next book, and Disappoint Me has a lot of similarities, focusing on characters' emotions and relationships, and navigating acting in ways that are or aren't see as 'normal'. In her second novel, Dinan focuses on ideas of where to go next, what happens after. The protagonist, Max, is thirty and watches as people suddenly start focusing on weddings and babies, or being obsessed with their jobs as an alternative. The book considers what kind of future there might be, especially for a heterosexual trans woman whose job doesn't challenge her and whose future as a poet didn't seem to go anywhere. There's a sense of trying out a heteronormative life, with some hilarious touches like that her boyfriend Vincent loves bringing up that he's read Detransition, Baby whenever talk turns to parenting, and this novel in general does feel like it follows on not only from Dinan's debut but other talked-about trans literary fiction like Detransition, Baby, exploring a world in which cis straight people have also read these novels.

Given the title, I did start fearing partway through that Disappoint Me's ending was going to be too bleak, but actually it is more ambivalent and purposefully ambiguous, showing the difficulty in seeing anything as an ending when the world always keeps going regardless. There's a lot of things that are thrown up in the novel and don't really get resolved, but again, as the book is trying to capture the fact that life keeps going on, and what that means when you're trying to work out your own life, this feels purposeful. The characters are messy, but as the ending tries to highlight, people aren't perfect and you can still love people when they mess up, and part of getting older is realising this.

I enjoyed Bellies last year so I was thrilled to get to read an advanced copy of ‘Disappoint Me’.
The novel follows Max, a 30-year-old poet who, after an accident, rethinks her life and starts a relationship with Vincent, a corporate lawyer.

This is a modern take on relationships, identity, and their complexities, it’s perfect for those who enjoy character-driven stories especially those with LGBTQ+ themes.

Disappoint Me by Nicola Morrison is a thought-provoking and refreshingly modern take on relationships, identity, and the messy business of navigating personal change. At the heart of the novel is Max, a 30-year-old poet and legal counsel who seems to be living the high life. But beneath the surface, she’s grappling with years of dysphoria and failed relationships. When a tumble down the stairs at a New Year’s Eve party lands her in hospital, Max decides it’s time to re-evaluate her life, starting with an unexpected plunge into heteronormativity.

Enter Vincent, a corporate lawyer with a penchant for baking, who comes from a traditional Chinese family. His friends speak a social language foreign to Max, and his parents never imagined their son dating a trans woman. Despite the uncertainty, Vincent cares for Max in ways she thought were long-lost fantasies. Yet, Vincent is carrying his emotional baggage. A decade ago, during his gap year in Thailand, he became entangled with a fellow traveller, Alex, whose secrets have lingered in his life ever since. The question is: can Vincent be the evolved, "enlightened" man Max needs, or will the unresolved ghosts of his past disrupt their chance at happiness?

One of the most compelling themes in Disappoint Me is forgiveness. Morrison skilfully explores the complex questions: How do you know if someone deserves forgiveness? Do people change? These philosophical reflections are woven seamlessly into the characters' relatable, everyday lives, making the novel both introspective and accessible.

While some of the side stories and subplots aren’t as fully developed as readers might hope, this lack of resolution feels intentional, echoing the ambiguity of real life. The side plots add pace and intrigue, contributing to the overall arc without detracting from the main story. Ultimately, Disappoint Me offers a rich, fast-paced narrative with relatable characters and a strong emotional core, leaving readers contemplating the complexities of forgiveness, identity, and love.

An engaging and thought-provoking read, this novel comes highly recommended for anyone interested in a nuanced exploration of relationships and personal growth.

I don’t think anything I could write about this book would effectively describe how much the characters consumed my thoughts over the last few days.

Nicola Dinan has truly mastered creating beautifully complex and intriguing characters, that drew me in from the first few pages. Following the story of Max and Vincent and how their histories shape their current relationships was a joy to read. Dinan does not hold back from exploring the flaws of the characters, and for me this just made them more endearing.

The tone of Dinan’s writing also appealed to me, it is sharp and light while also exploratory and literary in style.

I finished the book in 2 sittings within 24 hours, but I know the characters will stay with me for much longer. I will definitely be recommending to anyone who will listen!

I couldn’t finish this book. I just didn’t care about the characters and didn’t feel remotely compelled to pick it up. Apologies to the author.

I haven't felt so invested in two characters as I have reading this in a long time. Nicola Dinan has crafted a beautifully complex, funny and wise story that's compassionate and a joy to read.

I loved the spin on classic heteronromative rom com territory. This worked really well. She writes with a singular style that's both literary and light at the same time. Immensely readable and never less than compelling. This is a standout read for me.

I can't wait for more books from Nicola. She's fast become a favourite author for me.

I loved BELLIES so much and it really stayed with me long after reading so I had very high hopes and expectations for this. Yet again, another perfect novel from Dinan. She writes so eloquently, with so much empathy for all her beautifully flawed characters. I have been listening to Bless The Telephone by Labi Siffre on repeat ever since and will be urging everyone I know to pre-order immediately.

I read Bellies last year so I was excited to get to read an advanced copy of Dinan’s upcoming novel ‘Disappoint Me’. I think this book is much tighter and improved on some of the aspects I didn’t like as much with Bellies while hitting some of the same positive notes. I continue to see the comparison with Sally Rooney in this book with characters who are very internal and thoughtful but also repressed/damaged in ways that make them act badly towards others.

This book looks at characters in their early 30s and examines questions about relationships, marriage, and parenthood from a lens of being queer at an age when straight people seem to all be heading down a certain path.

It centres the idea that people will disappoint you, but also of forgiveness and what it means to be able to move on from these moments.

I did find Max as a character to be quite passive which frustrated me at times, things just kind of happened around her and I didn’t really get a sense that she’s in the driver's seat. And Simone is such a dislikeable character! But it’s not a mark against the book, I do think it’s all realistic and interesting and good characterisation.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

What a great book about the importance of life
and representation. I highly enjoyed it! It really made me rethink things in my own life that O could change for the better and I hope it helps others as well!