Book Review: ‘Patricia Wants to Cuddle’ by Samantha Allen (lesbian Bigfoot comedy horror)
I first discovered this book when Noelle from Noelle Gallagher on YouTube got the book as a surprise gift and I became a bit obsessed with the wonderful title. I knew I needed it in my life. Imagine my joy when it popped up on a Kindle Daily Deal (yes, I know, I’m a bad book person for using Amazon and Kindle deals).
The book lived up to the title and the cover. It was a riot.
I honestly didn’t know much about the plot, but after checking out the synopsis I was totally sold:
Renee has made it: she's in the final four.
But is she dying to win?
Renee should be thrilled to have been chosen as one of the final four contestants in The Catch, the world's biggest reality show. But now she, the other contestants, and Jeremy 'the Catch' have arrived on the remote, wooded island for the final show, Renee begins to wonder if there's something wrong. Is she taking a bigger risk than she realised?
And as she and the other contestants begin their final challenges, they slowly start to realise that the island they've been taken to is hiding a terrifying secret - one that could make the final Elimination Event all too real.
I went into ‘Patricia Wants to Cuddle’ having seen no reviews, very little buzz or mentions, and no real expectations - for someone who exists on bookstgram, booktok and book twitter AND watches a ton of booktube, that’s very rare. It was really refreshing and such a lovely reading experience. I ended up devouring this book in only a few sittings; I loved it.
This book is such a melding of genres that it’s actually quite difficult to describe. It’s a social commentary/social satire on the reality TV, but it’s also a comedy and a horror and even has thriller elements while commenting on intimacy and the power of the natural world, and it’s almost as if that part of what makes it such a wonderful novel. It’s completely unexpected from page to page.
Even with all of those genres and themes in a relatively short novel, the message for me was a clear one: the need for authenticity, finding yourself and the place where you fit and feel at home. The women taking part in ‘The Catch’ weren’t in the show for love, they were there for exposure, money, fame, escape, because for each of those women, that’s what they felt they needed to find happiness and contentment. Told in multiple POVs, we get a sampling of all of their voices and motivations and secrets, and while some of them are mean and hateful out loud, the internal situation was often very difference. It was a really nice reminder that personalities are often shaped and created for survival in a world where we cannot always be who we are.
At only 235 pages, ‘Patricia Wants to Cuddle’ is a short novel, but it packs a heck of a punch and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I finished it.
Have you read this strange and beautiful little novel yet? I highly recommend it!
‘Patricia Wants to Cuddle’ is only available in the UK via ebook and an American import. The UK paperback will be published by Faber & Faber on 4 May 2023.
Written by Sophie
