I gave this one 22% before I had to DNF. I think I understood Sonja's journey as much as I could at that point, but I just couldn't get on board with her. I think ultimately she's going through a journey to let go of her past, but the constant talking to herself and the mystery with the student and the new professor in her life, I just couldn't get into it. I'll not review it on my platforms, because I don't want to speak negatively about a book. I hope this one finds its audience, but not every book is for every reader.

This book focuses on Sonja & Crystal. Sonja is a professor who has one thing in her sights, becoming head of her department at the college she works at. All is going as planned until a junior professor, Crystal starts. Crystal is very intrigued by Sonja despite her icy exterior. Sonja doesn't understand why Crystal is interested in spending any time with her.
Sonja starts to think someone is out to get her after she gets cryptic notes and people outside her apartment. Nothing is ever found and she starts to think she is losing her mind. She calls on Crystal to help her. Despite everything, Sonja is drawn towards Crystal.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this book ahead of time in exchange for a review. It didn't disappoint! Must read!!

this book was very difficult to read. At first, i really disliked Sonja. She was so mean to everyone that i did not think she had any redeeming qualities. I felt that she needed a lot of help. Crystal was a much lighter character and helped Sonja so much but also did not let Sonja just walk all over her. This is really well written and i think it will be one i reread in the future. this was more psychological than i expected but it kept my attention. Good Book.


i received this copy in exchange for an unbiased review.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher. This review might include spoilers.

I am not sure how to start a review for this book. It is categorized as a sapphic thriller. I love those so I was rather excited. After finishing the story though I don’t see this as a thriller. Sapphic, sure, but nothing really all that thrilling about it.
The main character is so difficult to like. I think that is on purpose, but wow did it make reading difficult. Sonja is understandably traumatized from her past. I enjoyed the fact that her relationship with Crystal helped her see that and start to work through it. However, even at the end I found myself not really caring. I thought that by the end Sonja admit that she needed help but it still seemed that she was not willing to do so.
It is really difficult to say I recommend this or not. I think for some it could be a deep read, but for me it left me frustrated.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me. I found the writing style very hard to get into and couldn’t force myself through. The narrator was very in likeable and I just wasn’t a fan.

This was a very unusual read for me. Although I wouldn't count this as one of the best books I've read, it was hard to put down.

Professor Sonja Storey (as she demands to be addressed throughout the book) is a control freak to the extreme. Her bristly personality, we learn, is due to trauma throughout her entire life - raised by a deadbeat mother, left by a deadbeat father, who then fawns over Sonja's half-sister, and mental and sexual abuse by university chairs all add to the apparent mental breakdown we watch her go through.

Early on, Sonja meets fellow professor Crystal. Despite Sonja's attempts to push the younger woman away, there is a very obvious attraction between the two. This is as much a love story as it is a psychological thriller. I was happy with the ending and glad to see all loose ties accounted for.

Not to unimaginative, but what a thrilling read. It had me in knots up until...I won't spoil it. Go read it for yourself. Especially if you'd like to romance your own ice queen.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ylva Publishing for providing an eARC for a honest review.

‘strange attractors’ is a psychological thriller about a professor who is paranoid about a series of seemingly innocuous events that happen to her. It also has a lesbian romance written in and while it isn’t a romance story, that part didn’t disappoint and ties into the plot well.

The main character is complex, but due to childhood trauma she is rarely introspective about herself and remains stubborn throughout basically the whole plot. Her negative thoughts are often spoken throughout the story in asides without direct acknowledgement from the protagonist herself. So we know that she is a deeply damaged and flawed character, and makes up for it by being overly controlling about the things that she can. I don't remember the last time I read a book with such an unapologetically flawed female character and while it was frustrating at points, it was honestly refreshing. The book also casts a light on misogyny aimed towards females in academia, which adds another dimension of real-world experiences to the book.

There is something so addicting and readable about the prose which meant that this book was rarely a chore to read. The writing is not overly complex or stylistic, and in a sense is very practical, which reflects the state of mind of the protagonist herself. Although this book isn’t necessarily a genre I would enjoy reading, it was an emotional rollercoaster that I often thoroughly enjoyed. However, personal preference speaking, this genre isn’t for me and I felt like it lacked complexity. I've also heard people say the protagonist is insufferable, which I sort of agree with. I didn't *hate* her though. I understand why she acted the way she did, even if I was very frustrated with her at several points. The other main character, Crystal, irritated me (even though she wasn't supposed to) and was constantly bringing up modern discourse and saying absurd things, which seemed pretentious and out of place for a conversation occurring between two people in their thirties and forties. However, there's not a lot I can objectively fault this book for, so if you like psychological thrillers, I definitely think that you will enjoy this impressive debut novel.

3/5 stars

Dark exhausting read with potential triggers

Ana K. Wrenn is a clearly skilled writer with some fascinating and original ideas but this story was really not my cup of tea.
Main characters Sonja and Crystal have an unusual first meeting and make an odd pairing from the start. Sonja is the epitome of an ice queen with a chip on her shoulder and loads of baggage from her childhood and professional career weighing her down and coloring her perception. She's formidable and accomplished in her professional life, tightly wound, rude and unlikable for the most part. There were a few moments when I found her likable and always wanted better for her but her resistance to help was understandable and frustrating; it's realistic but felt out of place here in a fictional story that combines thriller and romance genres. I expected more thaw from the ice queen, more development or progress in her personal arc based on other ice queen trope wlw stories I've read.
I spent a large portion of the book wondering what was going on and which character's interpretation and recounting of events was accurate, and frequently felt gaslit not knowing who was reliable and what was true. There is some humor but the bulk of the story deals with dark and heavy subject matter that may be triggering for some; this includes various kinds/degrees of mistreatment and disrespect of women (typically but not exclusively by men), abuses of power, violence, and mental illness. It's definitely not light or escapist reading. The overall feel of the story is creepy, unsettling, and mysterious but by the end the answers to questions did not feel satisfying nor were some of them even hinted at earlier in the book as some sort of clue. I felt like I had no chance of solving all the mysteries before they were revealed because I did not have all the information, unless I missed it in my reading; that added to my disappointment along with so much dark material not having enough to offset it and a lack of justice against the 'bad guys'. I was on edge reading the book for a long time until it just became more exhausting and draining than intriguing to get thru.
The romance arc felt mismatched for the story and unlike the typical wlw romances I've read, because the dark matter eclipses so much of the relationship development; to me it seemed there was more unhealthy than healthy behavior particularly in the way Sonja treated Crystal so that the progress they did make together made the book's ending less than satisfying. Also new information was presented near the end that would have made more sense occurring earlier in the story so it didn't come out of left field in terms of the plot.
The elements of an edge of your seat thriller are here as are the bones for a unique romance story so I am keen to read more of the author's future work to see how they develop and grow as a writer of wlw fiction in whatever genres they publish.

Ms. Wrenn's book is delightful. However, I must admit, I didn't like this book when I first started reading it. Actually, I didn't find the main character Sonja's personality realistic in an academic setting. I stuck with it, and as she began to evolve, I changed my mind and began to really enjoy sharing Sonja's journey. In addition, I could picture the various settings Ms. Wrenn described: Sonja's home, her lecture hall, the building where her department's offices were located came alive for me. I also enjoyed the hints of Sonja's childhood and how those memories, whether accurate or not, shaped her need for material things of beauty and value now. Chrystal's tenacious behavior was awesome! I don't know if I could have "stayed with it" as she did. Chrystal saw the potential in Sonja.
All in all a wonderful read and I look forward to more books by Ana K. Wrenn!

Professor Sonja J. Storey is possibly the most unappealing, most narcissistic character in a novel I have ever encountered. Yes, I like characters to be flawed and human, but this one is beyond bearable. One can't help wondering about the kind of person the author is and, in creating such an unpleasant character, what she was trying to achieve or, indeed, write out of her system. And yet, besides occasional brief references to her mother the reader never really learns the reasons for Sonya being the person she is or has become. There is little insight into her soul beyond the superficiality of her preoccupation with herself and thinking vile thoughts about other people. Perhaps that's not surprising since all the others are pretty unpleasant characters, too.

There is no coherent plot. When not self-aggrandising and criticising her colleagues, students and others, the narrative consists of Sonya writing emails, planning her next academic book and drinking a lot of wine. The writing is uninspiring and dull at best. It's a shame, because the book blurb sounds so promising. In the end, however, this novel just isn't for me. Sorry!

Many thanks to the publishers and to Netgalley for the ARC.

Only got about 10% into this one and I had to stop. I just could not connect with the writing or the characters