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A review by kaitlynkenny
From the Start by Katie Duggan
3.5
3.5 rounded up
Nic and Josh are childhood enemies turned enemies with benefits in Duggan's debut novel. Nic, a bisexual autistic psychologist struggles with intimacy and knowing her body. Enter Josh, a queer fat English professor who is more than happy to give her lessons. Over time the two learn about themselves, one another, and fall in love. Nic starts to take a stand for herself professionally and personally. Josh starts to accept his trauma and realizes help is available in different ways.
Things that didn't work for me:
- the overwriting, especially with dialogue tags. there was too much action in the dialogue tags, let them speak and then follow with action if needed. something I almost always expect in debut novels.
- not enough of Nic and Josh as professionals or people outside their relationship with one another. given how long the novel is, I would've loved to see more of the two interacting with the outside world
- unclear on Nic's profession but seems to hint out experience with being a therapist but I can't imagine a therapist resenting someone who was a child and didn't stand up to your bullies when they themselves were also a child then holding on to that resentment for 20 years. the deep-rooted hatred felt surface level and I really wanted more - I wanted to understand the complexity of Nic hating Josh and begrudgingly accepting she now loves him.
*These are all common things I see in debut novels. this is not to say this is a bad book, because it is not. I am eager to see more by Duggan because I can tell she will do amazing things.
Things that worked for me:
-the representation. Duggan really said I am giving you queer/bi, neurodivergent, PTSD, fat rep, and MORE. It's so hard tackling so much but Duggan did a great job. None of the representation aspects felt like they were just added for "points," they all fit the characters and Duggan did a great job of respecting and writing different types of representation.
-the spice was fun and fitting. a book about lessons is going to be spicy and although there are multiple (I mean MULTIPLE) chapters of it, it didn't feel like it was there to be there - it had a purpose.
- the spice was well-written and fun, but it also wasn't required reading if anyone wanted to skip it. Duggan does a great job with their pacing; I think you can read this while skipping over the spice (for the most part) and still understanding the emotional impact Nic and Josh have on one another.
- the banter was by far my favorite part. I loved the back-and-forth, Nic gave and Josh took then Josh gave and Nic gave right back. it was beautiful, funny, and well-written.
Overall, very much enjoyed this book. Super proud of Duggan for this debut - it's been so fun to watch the journey on Instagram. Definitely recommend and I cannot wait to see more.
Nic and Josh are childhood enemies turned enemies with benefits in Duggan's debut novel. Nic, a bisexual autistic psychologist struggles with intimacy and knowing her body. Enter Josh, a queer fat English professor who is more than happy to give her lessons. Over time the two learn about themselves, one another, and fall in love. Nic starts to take a stand for herself professionally and personally. Josh starts to accept his trauma and realizes help is available in different ways.
Things that didn't work for me:
- the overwriting, especially with dialogue tags. there was too much action in the dialogue tags, let them speak and then follow with action if needed. something I almost always expect in debut novels.
- not enough of Nic and Josh as professionals or people outside their relationship with one another. given how long the novel is, I would've loved to see more of the two interacting with the outside world
- unclear on Nic's profession but seems to hint out experience with being a therapist but I can't imagine a therapist resenting someone who was a child and didn't stand up to your bullies when they themselves were also a child then holding on to that resentment for 20 years. the deep-rooted hatred felt surface level and I really wanted more - I wanted to understand the complexity of Nic hating Josh and begrudgingly accepting she now loves him.
*These are all common things I see in debut novels. this is not to say this is a bad book, because it is not. I am eager to see more by Duggan because I can tell she will do amazing things.
Things that worked for me:
-the representation. Duggan really said I am giving you queer/bi, neurodivergent, PTSD, fat rep, and MORE. It's so hard tackling so much but Duggan did a great job. None of the representation aspects felt like they were just added for "points," they all fit the characters and Duggan did a great job of respecting and writing different types of representation.
-the spice was fun and fitting. a book about lessons is going to be spicy and although there are multiple (I mean MULTIPLE) chapters of it, it didn't feel like it was there to be there - it had a purpose.
- the spice was well-written and fun, but it also wasn't required reading if anyone wanted to skip it. Duggan does a great job with their pacing; I think you can read this while skipping over the spice (for the most part) and still understanding the emotional impact Nic and Josh have on one another.
- the banter was by far my favorite part. I loved the back-and-forth, Nic gave and Josh took then Josh gave and Nic gave right back. it was beautiful, funny, and well-written.
Overall, very much enjoyed this book. Super proud of Duggan for this debut - it's been so fun to watch the journey on Instagram. Definitely recommend and I cannot wait to see more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer and Death of parent