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Thanks to PRH UK for the e-ARC!

Nicola Dinan’s second novel is anything but a disappointment!
After loving Dinan’s beautifully tender debut Bellies, I was so keen to get my hands on Disappoint Me. Following a slightly older set of characters (both narrators are in their early 30s), Disappoint Me tackles the isolation and self-doubt that comes when your friends� paths begin to splinter as each person settles into their adult life.
It took me a few chapters to get used to being in Max’s head � she’s more abrasive than the protagonists in Bellies, and more sure of herself than our other narrative voice (her love interest, Vincent, at 19). But after a few chapters, I was completely sold on her. One of the aspects of humanity that Dinan’s is brilliant at capturing is the ups and downs of vulnerability � the terror of letting your guard down, the sublime reward of someone seeing and accepting you as you are � and this is something we see Max and Vincent struggle with in both timelines. Without giving away a spoiler, we sense right away that Vincent is struggling to disclose his full history to Max in the present; and we see so many instances of Max being invalidated even by people who profess to care about her. Arguably, a fascinating thing that Dinan captures in both characters is that vulnerability isn’t only frightening when it comes to being vulnerable with others, but also with yourself. Max and Vincent struggle to face themselves in so many ways, from their most shameful flaws to their most precious ambitions, and it is this that humanises them so effectively to me.
Dinan’s writing at the sentence level is, as with Bellies, wonderful. She is realistic without being overly bogged down in the details, and in a few strokes of her pen, captures the various settings the characters find themselves in, from Thailand to rural France. Characters speak to each other with verve and wit, but they sound true to themselves and to their real-life counterparts, the mass of adults trying to make it work in London while feeling perpetually behind their peers. The nuances of friendship, and specifically the fallout of when friends fail to live up to the people we believe and hope they are, are also captured so thoughtfully here � in fact, I wish Dinan had expanded on this more. Both Max and Vincent’s friends act in problematic ways, and arguably you could make whole novels out of the blemishes on their characters. I’d read them, anyway.
I did conclude that I slightly prefer Bellies, mainly due to structure. While this was really hard to put down once it got going, it takes a while to establish the direction of the story and really settle into the characters (particularly Max, as I mention earlier in this review). A lot happens very quickly, and a large cast is introduced from the very start. Because of this, the first fifth didn’t land for me as much as the rest, but the payoff is absolutely worth it.
If you’re a fan of Dinan’s, you’re right to be anticipating this one. And if you weren’t fully sold on Bellies, I think this is different enough that you could give it a go and be very pleasantly surprised indeed!