I really wanted to like this book and I was hoping to get a really insightful and deep introspective look into the lives of young women, but I came away from this feeling like I've wasted my time.

While the short stories are relatable and make a point about obstacles women face when it comes to online dating and relationships and what it's like to be a woman, the stories felt rather.... pointless. With no real end, they just felt unfinished. Underwhelming.

This book wasn't for me unfortunately.

I loved this collection - super thought provoking and stunning lyricism. These stories will stay with me for a long time.

Send Nudes is Saba Sams' debut short story collection, examining womanhood, love and desire. I did enjoy most of the stories and loved Sams' quick-witted, sharp style. A couple of entries fell a little flat for me but, overall, this is a solid debut that I'd happily recommend.

Thanks to the publishers and Net Galley for my free e-copy

I enjoyed this collection of short stories all told from a female characters point of view

My favourite out of these was 'snake bite' I felt like I could relate to this story and character the most. I loved the observations and language used for thoughts and the topics discussed. I felt it made the characters were more real and you got an insight into their darkest thoughts.

Most the stories had younger characters but were still relevant even in my mid thirties.

The stories in this collection are so broad and cover a plethora of female characters but are also simple and raw. These stories follow women through different periods of their lives through sexuality, identity and familial connections and relationships. I would say that the first story is a little gross and could probably use a trigger warning (underage relationships), it could have really put me off, but once it was done, I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the stories. The remainder of this collection were enjoyable and most women could relate to many of the themes explored.

I was excited to read this, however it was not possible. The formatting of the text is all over the place. There were numbers in between words and sentences. Some sentences started with capitals letters, as they should. However, a lot of sentences failed to use any capitalisation at all. Perhaps this is an issue with the e-book only. It made the book impossible to read, which is unfortunate as I was really looking forward to it.

Brilliantly contemporary and quirky.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my feedback.

I love to break up my reading every so often with a collection of short stories. Send Nudes was a great palate cleanser in this respect. What was great about the collection was the breadth of story ideas. No one story felt the same and what was intriguing was the ambiguous ending to the stories. There were several that I felt could be extended into full novels or at least novella level.

The cast of characters were memorable and it was definitely the characters that was the focus of the stories. They definitely had potential for further exploration.

Send Nudes by Saba Sams is available now.

For more information regarding Saba Sams (@SamsSaba) please visit her Twitter page.

For more information regarding Bloomsbury Publishing (@BloomsburyBooks) please visit www.bloomsbury.com.

Was absolutely blown away by this provocative collection. Perfect read for fans of Eliza Clark, Julia Armfield and Mona Awad. The stories run through similar themes but aren’t repetitive and each one packs a gut-punch. Can’t wait to see what Saba Sams does next; I will be eagerly awaiting!

This short story collection is a simple but raw collection that covers different women over different periods of their lives, through sexuality, identity, and familial conflicts. Each story holds a women’s most precious and private part of their lives, very relatable and very dark in some places. Each begins normally but soon takes a twist with a shadow looming over each character, a shadow representing their inner thoughts. This collection is really felt as if the reader is looking through through a one way mirror watching these women attempt to navigate and manage the never ending struggles of the world.

At times I felt that there could have been a bit more to the stories, on the other hand I did feel that it was supposed to be less complicated, more relatable and less intimidating. This was definitely protruded from this book, I was never confused and thoroughly enjoyed that each story was different, with a unique touch.

Thanks SO much to Bloomsbury for letting me read Send Nudes: this is honestly one of my highlights of the year. Initially, I thought I would really dislike this collection because I was not a fan of the first story – I found it gruesome and unpalatable and weird. But by the second story, a quiet and thoughtful tale in which a young woman remembers someone she used to know, I felt moved. And by the third story, 'Snakebite', I felt genuinely compelled.

Saba Sams is a real talent, and I already want to reread this. This is a collection filled with women and girls, exploring power dynamics, selfhood, relationships. Her writing is sparse and to-the-point, but it is so incredibly rich with allusion and nuance that every single sentence seems to yield much more than it says. The suspense, when it's there, is excellent, and the pace and plotting is fantastic too. Honestly, just a real masterclass in how to write short stories! The details were excellently observed; I especially loved this in the short story set at a festival – didn't write down the name! – which possesses the most vivid setting. I didn't love every story, but I did think most stories were very well-done.

4.5 stars. Should have been five, but I really didn't like that first story.

I’ve made no secret about my general dislike for short stories. I like to get stuck in to a novel, and with short stories, you may only get a dozen pages or so to work with, and that doesn’t sit well with me, however, this book sounded promising right from the off. Some I enjoyed more than others, but I’d probably say the same about chapters in a novel. I really enjoyed the cross section of female characters she chose to write about,
I felt some stories were a little rushed - but this could be down to my sparse relationship with the medium - but I most felt like they covered all required plots and you didn’t feel short changed.
They are quick to dip in and out of, perfect to read when waiting for an appointment or in between jobs. You don’t have to commit long hours, and whilst they do tackle some uncomfortable topics, they don’t feel heavy to read.
There’s an honesty in Saba’s writing; this isn’t about presenting women in their photoshopped, primped and perfect, male-gaze type way. This is raw and brutal and ugly and honest, covering all aspects of life and for that, it gets a thumbs up from me.

A motherless teenage girl, daughter of the town butcher, falls into a relationship with a much older boy, but realises she’d rather have the love of his dog.

A directionless university student is taken up by beautiful, chaotic party girl Lara, who moves right into her bed and slowly destroys her life.

An uneasy holiday in paradise for two reluctant stepsisters turns into a war of attrition as they compete for the affections of a charismatic interloper.

Dragged along by their mums to a music festival, two teenage girls pursue experience over the course of one weekend.

Strange and arresting, dirty but shining, the girls of Saba Sams’s extraordinary debut collection traverse girlhood and womanhood in all its glorious complications. Negotiating absent mothers, intense friendships, wanting and fearing being desired, her characters are brought to life with striking wit, originality and tenderness.

Exciting new voice in literary fiction. This engrossing collection presents raw and often visceral peeks & dissected events in the lives of protagonists living between the pages.

As with most short story collections I found the stories in Send Nudes quite hit or miss. There were some that left a lasting impression and packed a real emotional punch and others that I couldn't work out the point of and didn't really enjoy.
Exploring the themes of sexuality, coming of age and relationships, the collection is varied in terms of the plots and scenarios depicted in the stories which kept things interesting.

However, in many of the stories I felt like the female protagonist was a re-hash of the same type of character. For instance, many of the women in the stories had a strangely cold and detached view of the world and the experiences they go through. Their behaviour often felt odd and unrelatable to me and I found myself longing for more depth and emotion in the writing. I wanted the stories to present me with women who felt authentic so I could really see and feel events through their perspectives, particularly as the stories promised to be an exploration of womanhood. However I came away feeling like I don't know any women who are like the ones in this book and therefore the intention of the collection was a bit lost on me unfortunately.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the ARC.

I was not expecting this book.
I read it because of the cover, and found an amazing collection of short stories that really surprised me.
It's a fierce look into womanhood and girlhood. It's all about what it means to be a girl or a woman, using your body or being used, taking charge, growing up, making mistakes... some stories were almost feral and difficult to read, but I loved them all.
I really recommend it. I want to buy the physical copy once it comes out.

Send Nudes is an evocative collection of short stories exploring girlhood, womanhood, sexuality and growing up.

With such a unique, electric writing style full of vivid, messy, raw characters - this eclectic collection of short stories dives into the different facets of female life and in just short spaces of time creates beautiful, complex and very real women for us to connect with whether we like them or not.

From a young girl who gets into an unhealthy relationship with an older man and soon realises she loves his dog more than him, to a Mother and Daughter learning how to cope during a global crisis to learning about life after abortion.

Witty, compelling and engaging, this collection is an intriguing one - and while I can't say I exactly liked every story, they were so intriguing and vibrant that they're definitely memorable.

2.5 rounded up

Quotes from the blurb describe Saba Sam's debut as "highly perceptive and intelligent" (Nicole Flattery) and "wry, sharp and raw" (Emma Cline). Perhaps I should have taken heed of the fact that I didn't particularly get on with these two author's short story collections (and Daddy respectively)Show Them a Good Time)... although I have to say though that whilst this was a mixed bag, I did prefer this to the two books mentioned above.

Out of the 10 stories in this collection it was the ones told in the third person about a single female character and focused on dating themes that stood out to me - Sends Nudes and Tinderloin. Today's Square was a touching portrayal of a mother and daughter finding a way to cope during lockdown that took me by surprise too. Recommended for fans of contemporary (slightly offbeat) short stories which depict and offer a perceptive insight on young women's internal lives.

I loved this collection so much! The women in these stories were so alive to me, so messy and vivid and wild, never-tipping into the clichés that (ironically) tend to emerge when writers try too hard to write "complex women" or whatever. The characterisation is never entirely predictable - the women (and young girls) in these stories are contradictory and often confused and don't always know themselves what they will do next. Sams also excels at description - I was obsessed with how she writes about food and eating, but was also struck by the grotesque sensory description throughout the collection. Highly Recommend!

This is a collection of evocative compelling short stories.
The characters have vivid internal lives, as they struggle to stay afloat in sometimes cruel worlds. I admired the writing a great deal. Compelling coming of age literary stories.