Disappoint Me - by Nicola Dinan (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

An electrifying story of love, betrayal, and the complicated allure of bougie domesticity

"Dinan writes like some kind of demigod. Her fictions make thinkable new realities for how we live and what we might expect from each other."
- Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Baby

You can fall in love with an outline, you can even make a home with one, but there will come a time where you can't deny the bones their flesh. A person is no fewer than two things.

Thirty years old with a lifetime of dysphoria and irritating exes rattling around in her head, Max is plagued by a deep dissatisfaction. Shouldn't these be the best years of her life? Why doesn't it feel that way? After taking a spill down the stairs at a New Year's Eve party, she decides to make some changes. First: a stab at good old-fashioned heteronormativity.

Max thinks she's found the answer in Vincent. While his corporate colleagues, trad friends, and Chinese parents never pictured their son dating a trans woman, he cares for Max in a way she'd always dismissed as a foolish fantasy. But he is also carrying baggage of his own. When the fall-out of a decades-old entanglement resurfaces, Max must decide what forgiveness really means. Can we be more than our worst mistakes? Is it possible to make peace with the past?

Funny, sharp, and poignant, Disappoint Me is a sweeping exploration of love, loss, trans panic, race, millennial angst, and the relationships--familial and romantic--that make us who we are.

Review Quotes

"Nicola Dinan writes like some kind of demigod. Her fictions make thinkable new realities for how we live and what we might expect from each other."―Torrey Peters, author of Detransition Baby

"[A] humorous but heartfelt look at finding love in your 30s and breaking free of the conventions --climbing the career ladder, getting married--that box us all in."--PopSugar, "32 Essential Books by Trans and Nonbinary Authors to Add to Your Reading List"

"The up-and-coming trans author of Bellies returns with Disappoint Me, where Max, a poet and tech worker, decides to switch up her life by pivoting to heteronormativity. She finds good company in Vincent, a lawyer, who has baggage of his own; a whirlwind and explosive trip to Thailand and a mother who isn't sure about her son dating a transgender woman."--Our Culture

"This book promises an engaging and insightful look at relationships, exploring the kind of growing up you do when you are already an adult."--them, "Staff Picks: Our 10 Most Anticipated Books of 2025"

"Dinan portrays her characters with staggering depth and sharp nuance as they grapple with each other's complexities and frailties."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Bursting with big questions about the politics of romance, family, and care, this novel navigates moral and emotional complexity with grace, nuance, and real storytelling nerve."―Oisín McKenna, author of Evenings and Weekends

"Hilarious and heartrending in equal measure, with lines so unforgettably funny and true you'll be sending them to your group chat immediately."―Elaine Castillo, author of How to Read Now

"A charming, big-hearted love story unlike any I've read before . . . Dinan forces us to ask ourselves: Are we more than the worst thing we've ever done? An absolute knockout."―Marisa Crane, author of A Sharp Endless Need

"A study in human frailty that is riveting, funny. and devastating . . . Nicola Dinan [brings] an incisive wit to the big questions of modern relationships."―Shon Faye, author of The Transgender Issue

"So beautiful, so affecting it left a lump in my throat."―Annie Lord, author of Notes on Heartbreak

"Immersive, perceptive, and layered with nuanced truths about friendship, family, queerness, and real romantic partnership."―Jules Ohman, author of Body Grammar

"An addictive read that I really did not want to end."―Travis Alabanza, author of None of the Above

"Disappoint Me is a mature and assured novel. I admired Nicola Dinan's work in elaborating the growing pains of a trans experience muddled by race, class, and changing public attitudes."--Mendez, author of Rainbow Milk

"Disappoint Me is clear evidence of the skill and talent of a writer who does not know how to disappoint."--Ore Agbaje-Williams, author of The Three of US

"A delicious story of change, and a beautiful meditation on human connection. Dinan is a stunning chef of words, and this is a book for greedy reader."--Jodie Harsh

About the Author

Nicola Dinan grew up in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur and now lives in London. Bellies, her debut, won the Polari First Book Prize, was shortlisted for the Diverse Book Awards and Mo Siewcharran Prize, was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award, and was longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize.