This book lacks plot but is more a character driven book.
I am not sure how I preserved with it as I wasn’t a fan at all.

A taut and incisive novel, but maybe it wasn't the right time for me. Or maybe not the kind of books I expected.

I was expecting a funny book about strange relationships, when it's really about a sad midlife crisis (at only 29). Also I don't do very well whith slow stories and introspective characters.

So even though I acknowledge its literary qualities, I found it hard to finish this novel.

This book is laugh out loud funny in parts, as we read about the weekend June spends with aging comedian Hugo Best.

In the end they both remain somewhat inscrutable, although I think we come closer to understanding Hugo than we really get to understanding June. There are definitely moments where she is asking herself why she is doing things as much as readers are asking the same question.

As a love/hate-letter to comedy and an exploration of what it feels like to not get something you're working towards this novel is a triumph. An exploration of power and wealth and to be trying to make it and also on the way down this novel remains enjoyable while covering a lot of ground.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I couldn't connect to the story or the characters and the story fell flat and didn't keep my attention.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Had high hopes for this book but haven’t found it hilarious or even slightly funny. Didn’t finish the book.

It was a little difficult to get into the story and get used to the style, but eventually once I did, I enjoyed my time with it. It's worth a read and discover a new writer who's promising.

Thanks a lot to the publisher and NetGalley for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

To me this story is more a comment on how we see and react to celebrity. It centres around the two main characters June and Hugo and the weekend that June spends with Hugo, the ageing comic and chat show host at his mansion.
Although there are moments of humour in the story I wouldn't describe this story as a comic tale. By the end of the book I felt sorry for all the characters but didn't care enough about them to want to learn more about them.



Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for a free copy in return for an honest review.

I really don't know how I feel about this book. It's well written. It's funny, in places, though perhaps not as funny as it thinks it is. It's about a very particular type of person, whom I suspect some readers will adore as witty and sparkling, and others will loathe as privileged and facile.

The characters are all surface. I don't know anyone who talks or behaves like them in real life, though maybe this genuinely is what it's like to spend time in the company of comedians (I wouldn't know). No one ever says how they really feel about anything; it's a constant search for the next quip. I found it slightly exhausting, and it also meant I never fully connected with any of the characters. Even June, the narrator, into whose mind we are given some insight, felt detached – as if the narrative was her telling the story in a witty way, using it as comedy fuel, rather than revealing any true honesty. Maybe that's the point.

Ultimately, I did enjoy the book. It left an impression on me. I'm just not sure what it was trying to say. Maybe I simply wasn't the right audience.

Now, I understand that this was going to be about a young woman and an older man. The powerful man and younger woman get together. He invites her to his mansion in CT with no funny business apparently. But that's a lie of course and they get together and then....well...

Well this is the Me Too age after all and I was hoping this was going to be some kind of novel with a stance or opinion but it's more of a comedy sketch which was crude at times and made me unable to feel anything for either of the main characters. June was 29 for goodness sake - not some naive teenager with stars in their eyes and this for me made it strange to invest in from the start.

What I did like was the way the whole novel reads like a Edina Monsoon kind of take on the Me Too era there's some acerbic witty moment s about comedy, fame, those looking for power hookups and those willing do use their power to get anything they want.

I went into this book not knowing what to expect but I really liked it. I did find it a bit tricky to get into but once I did it was a nice read.

I enjoyed Stay Up With Hugo Best. It reminded me in some ways of The Dakota Winters by Tom Barbash. I really liked the central character's voice and observations and I would read more by this author.