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Moderation
Sometimes people just...click.
'A highly charged, passionate and tender love story. Wonderful'
Kaliane Bradley, author of The Ministry of Time
'Castillo is a literary firecracker... If you liked Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, you'll like this'
Pandora Sykes, Books and Bits
Thirty-something Girlie Delmundo works a day job as a content moderator, flagging and removing the very worst that makes it on to the internet. She's one of the best at it, too - dispassionate, unflinching, maybe because she learned by necessity to wall off all her emotions when she was still a kid - so it's no surprise to anyone when the social-media company for which she works offers her a big salary rise and an office to start moderating its new virtual-reality theme parks, lush and near-perfect simulations of civilizations long since dead.
Girlie takes the job, and getting paid to spend her days wandering the crowds of medieval jousts or exploring romantic Left Bank Paris seems too good to be true. Almost. Sure, she signed up for having to deal with the sordidness of pretty much any virtual space, but as she begins to explore the intricate worlds that she moderates, she notices two deeply troubling that there might be something much darker built into the very code of the company, and that William, technically her new boss, a man whose barriers are as mighty as her own, might just be that long-forgotten thing... Girlie's type.
'A highly charged, passionate and tender love story. Wonderful'
Kaliane Bradley, author of The Ministry of Time
'Castillo is a literary firecracker... If you liked Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, you'll like this'
Pandora Sykes, Books and Bits
Thirty-something Girlie Delmundo works a day job as a content moderator, flagging and removing the very worst that makes it on to the internet. She's one of the best at it, too - dispassionate, unflinching, maybe because she learned by necessity to wall off all her emotions when she was still a kid - so it's no surprise to anyone when the social-media company for which she works offers her a big salary rise and an office to start moderating its new virtual-reality theme parks, lush and near-perfect simulations of civilizations long since dead.
Girlie takes the job, and getting paid to spend her days wandering the crowds of medieval jousts or exploring romantic Left Bank Paris seems too good to be true. Almost. Sure, she signed up for having to deal with the sordidness of pretty much any virtual space, but as she begins to explore the intricate worlds that she moderates, she notices two deeply troubling that there might be something much darker built into the very code of the company, and that William, technically her new boss, a man whose barriers are as mighty as her own, might just be that long-forgotten thing... Girlie's type.
321 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 5, 2025
525 people are currently reading
29952 people want to read
About the author
Elaine Castillo
8 books482 followersElaine Castillo was born in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is a graduate of the University of California – Berkeley. America Is Not the Heart is her first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 628 reviews
tbr-arcs
March 2, 2025love me a trippy cover
Want to read
July 28, 2025Filling my annual quota of romance novels (one single book) with something different now that I've given up on Emily Henry xx
April 7, 2025
Moderation is sharp, surprising, and so much smarter than your average speculative fiction — and Girlie Delmundo — our gloriously jaded, emotionally armoured narrator — is basically the sarcastic voice in my head but with a cooler job and more trauma. I loved being in her head. Elaine Castillo nails that delicate balance between biting social commentary and emotional depth, all while making me laugh in places I really didn’t expect to.
You can probably tell that this book had me hooked early on. The themes are timely and unflinching, there’s content moderation, corporate overreach, VR therapy, grief, politics, romance — and yet it works. It’s dark, but never bleak. Heavy, but never hopeless. And at the center of it all is Girlie, doing what so many of us do: surviving with humor and grit.
That said, I wish the final act had taken a bit more time. The last chunk of the book tries to wrap up so many threads at once, and while the payoff is there, it would’ve hit harder with more breathing room. Some emotional arcs felt like they were just hitting their stride when the credits rolled.
Still — this was such a satisfying, thoughtful, and emotionally rich read. I wanted it to be a five-star book, and for a while, it absolutely was. Even with its slightly rushed ending, it left me thinking, feeling, and smiling (through the existential dread). Not every book sticks the landing perfectly, but this one still lands with heart.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC.
You can probably tell that this book had me hooked early on. The themes are timely and unflinching, there’s content moderation, corporate overreach, VR therapy, grief, politics, romance — and yet it works. It’s dark, but never bleak. Heavy, but never hopeless. And at the center of it all is Girlie, doing what so many of us do: surviving with humor and grit.
That said, I wish the final act had taken a bit more time. The last chunk of the book tries to wrap up so many threads at once, and while the payoff is there, it would’ve hit harder with more breathing room. Some emotional arcs felt like they were just hitting their stride when the credits rolled.
Still — this was such a satisfying, thoughtful, and emotionally rich read. I wanted it to be a five-star book, and for a while, it absolutely was. Even with its slightly rushed ending, it left me thinking, feeling, and smiling (through the existential dread). Not every book sticks the landing perfectly, but this one still lands with heart.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC.
July 10, 2025
Happy publication day 🎉🥳🎧
Have you ever given consideration to the people who moderate social media for all the flagged content? I don’t think I had, but what a horrific job that must be, and that’s where we meet Girlie, she’s great at her job, past trauma has desensitised her in some way and it means that she’s stuck around longer than most moderators. When a new company takes over Girlie is recruited into moderating VR technology, used for gaming, therapy etc. this to me was quite fascinating, and gives the reader some great insight into big tech and the big money machine it generates.
I must have completely missed the part about this being a romance novel, but I checked the synopsis and it’s clearly there, so the element of surprise was completely down to my own stupidity but it threw me off completely, and it took me a hot minute to warm back up to the story after the initial spark.
I really enjoyed the writing of Girlie, I appreciated all of the messages that Elaine Castillo was sending the reader but I really would’ve liked something a bit more, the story leans towards dystopian fiction but it also feels like it pulls back from itself, too much is left unsaid.
I enjoyed the audio narration 🎧
My thanks to W F Howes LTD and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ALC 🎧
Have you ever given consideration to the people who moderate social media for all the flagged content? I don’t think I had, but what a horrific job that must be, and that’s where we meet Girlie, she’s great at her job, past trauma has desensitised her in some way and it means that she’s stuck around longer than most moderators. When a new company takes over Girlie is recruited into moderating VR technology, used for gaming, therapy etc. this to me was quite fascinating, and gives the reader some great insight into big tech and the big money machine it generates.
I must have completely missed the part about this being a romance novel, but I checked the synopsis and it’s clearly there, so the element of surprise was completely down to my own stupidity but it threw me off completely, and it took me a hot minute to warm back up to the story after the initial spark.
I really enjoyed the writing of Girlie, I appreciated all of the messages that Elaine Castillo was sending the reader but I really would’ve liked something a bit more, the story leans towards dystopian fiction but it also feels like it pulls back from itself, too much is left unsaid.
I enjoyed the audio narration 🎧
My thanks to W F Howes LTD and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ALC 🎧
July 10, 2025
This would have been so much cooler if it wasn’t also trying to be a romance.
June 16, 2025
This just didn't work for me. At times the writing was really engaging but a lot of the time I felt like skipping ahead. There were a few different elements to this story but none of them felt explored enough and the romance just didn't work for me. I didn't feel like either character actually liked the other - it felt more like Castillo realised that not much had happened by the end so needed to push it in a romantic direction.
Not every book needs to be full of action and answers but this didn't have enough of either for me.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!
Not every book needs to be full of action and answers but this didn't have enough of either for me.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!
August 1, 2025
3.5 because i do love elaine castillo's writing very much and she has such a gift for lush grounded imagery and tender painful family dynamics. however i find heterosexual yearning (especially of the woman-desiring-man variety) intensely boring and the anglophile parts of this were kind of physically embarrassing to read. "everyone looked hot and well dressed" on the tube in london? they had their final reconciliation outside a COSTA? don't piss me off
upon reflection, i also felt disappointed in the final arc and the way things were wrapped up: the decision to didn't sit right with me, because 1) it was rushed and 2) it removed a lot of the complexity we as readers had been feeling watching girlie fall for a (so we thought) rich guy who is in bed with some very bad people but also wants, or wanted, to do good. the final reveal turned that on its head and made it like, aww it was all okay because he got the bad guys in the end! in general this felt like two different books (a romance between two emotionally repressed people vs the savage social commentary on the tech world; both with money and trauma and complicated family stuff mixed in) mashed into one. letting each storyline breathe on its own in a separate novel would have made both of them stronger. for example, i was thinking about how little we as readers get to see of william, unless he's directly interacting with girlie. part of that is, i think, to preserve the mystery of him being but it also means that we don't really get his appeal or an understanding of his character besides being aloof and hot. i don't care about heterosexual yearning, true, but i can get behind a romance if i truly believe and understand why one of them desires the other. here i was like.... uhhh he's sexy? and he doesn't feel embarrassed to be around her family? i guess?
upon reflection, i also felt disappointed in the final arc and the way things were wrapped up: the decision to didn't sit right with me, because 1) it was rushed and 2) it removed a lot of the complexity we as readers had been feeling watching girlie fall for a (so we thought) rich guy who is in bed with some very bad people but also wants, or wanted, to do good. the final reveal turned that on its head and made it like, aww it was all okay because he got the bad guys in the end! in general this felt like two different books (a romance between two emotionally repressed people vs the savage social commentary on the tech world; both with money and trauma and complicated family stuff mixed in) mashed into one. letting each storyline breathe on its own in a separate novel would have made both of them stronger. for example, i was thinking about how little we as readers get to see of william, unless he's directly interacting with girlie. part of that is, i think, to preserve the mystery of him being but it also means that we don't really get his appeal or an understanding of his character besides being aloof and hot. i don't care about heterosexual yearning, true, but i can get behind a romance if i truly believe and understand why one of them desires the other. here i was like.... uhhh he's sexy? and he doesn't feel embarrassed to be around her family? i guess?
July 26, 2025
elaine castillo is a fucking marvel. i have known this since i read AMERICA IS NOT THE HEART (still the best wlw romance i've ever read <3), but MODERATION has cemented her as one of my top five authors. the way she writes romance is unbelievable - incredibly, ACHINGLY restrained until it becomes suddenly irrepressible and bursts like a dam and floods and floods in the hottest way possible. her prose melts me - dazzling and sharp imagery at every turn, repetition and callbacks that build upon each other to breathtaking effect. her protagonists are so deeply human, damaged and fallible and easy to love. the complexity of her women!!!! always gets me!!! ms castillo if i have to wait another 7 years for you to write your next novel i know it will be worth it <3333
August 19, 2025
A great start, am outstanding and intriguing set up, and such a promising main character. Then once the plot got interesting, it fizzled. Girlie is a content moderator at a social media company, it is an extremely stressful job and many people cannot handle the work. But Girlie is one that has thick skin. Certain people are more of a specialist in certain types of content.
She is then recruited to go to a VR firm and falls for William, the chief product officer. The book is great until William is introduced. I just couldn’t figure out- for the life of me- why Girlie was intrigued by this guy. He was boring in my opinion.
The back and forth and conclusion was very rushed and things wrapped up without actually being fully explained.
That said, it’s a great author and a good concept. I will read her other works. I just think this is not her strongest.
She is then recruited to go to a VR firm and falls for William, the chief product officer. The book is great until William is introduced. I just couldn’t figure out- for the life of me- why Girlie was intrigued by this guy. He was boring in my opinion.
The back and forth and conclusion was very rushed and things wrapped up without actually being fully explained.
That said, it’s a great author and a good concept. I will read her other works. I just think this is not her strongest.
December 11, 2025
i am the victim of falling for the cover. i really wanted to love this one but it was just all over the place 😭. this really didn't need to try and be a romance
October 27, 2025
Moderation explores virtual reality, technology, and the sometimes blurry lines between the real and digital worlds. The story is both unique and timely, and there were aspects I enjoyed, but the book attempted to pack a lot in too.
Girlie, an online content moderator, is offered a new, better paying job at Playground, a company that has created an immersive new VR world. It took me a little while to get into the story as, initially, I wasn’t super interested in Girlie’s personal life, but maybe that’s sort of the point — Delving into another, different world and recognizing it isn’t real.
While the book attempted to pack in a lot of themes, I appreciated the originality, realism, and futuristic elements in Moderation.
Girlie, an online content moderator, is offered a new, better paying job at Playground, a company that has created an immersive new VR world. It took me a little while to get into the story as, initially, I wasn’t super interested in Girlie’s personal life, but maybe that’s sort of the point — Delving into another, different world and recognizing it isn’t real.
While the book attempted to pack in a lot of themes, I appreciated the originality, realism, and futuristic elements in Moderation.
October 11, 2025
#️⃣5️⃣5️⃣2️⃣ Read & Reviewed in 2025 🍩🧁
Date : 🗓️ Wednesday, October 8, 2025 🎁💐🍝
Word Count📃: 92k Words 🎉🍬✨
— !! 𖦹「 ✦ 🍪 Happy Birthday🎂 ✦ 」✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩
My 27th read in "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY MONTH!!! :DDDD 👏🍭🍨" October.
5️⃣🌟, FILIPINO CULTURE REFERENCE LET'S GO #PROUDPINOY 🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭
——————————————————————
➕➖0️⃣1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣4️⃣5️⃣6️⃣7️⃣8️⃣9️⃣🔟✖️➗
This is one of the most unhinged examples of just extreme depravity but it's not done in a way of extreme horror/splatterpunk, it has its own weirdness and horror aspects that are both huanting and fun at the same time. Everything was interesting and the bizarre points and subjects that this book delves into has gotta be one of the most unique things I have ever read. It is almost set in a virtual world and the possible romance & love with that you can get from it which is a great theme to explore. She is a moderator and i already know a thing or two about reading a book which the main character is a internet moderator and I can say that this one definitely is the better one. See We Had to Remove This Post Review. The romance in here is extremely good and i love the relationship dynamic that they have. But the best parts of this book is just the amount of filipino culture references that it features is just.... 😍😍😍😍😍😍. At one point i even forgot about the story itself and only focused on the things that they are discussing especially with Maribel's character cuz like HOY CHISMIS NANAMAN?????🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 which all in all makes for a great addition to this book because that part just makes this book all so unique and very much unlike every single love story that ever happened, nothing ever references as many things about an entire country just like this one. Woooooooo 🇵🇭🇵🇭
Date : 🗓️ Wednesday, October 8, 2025 🎁💐🍝
Word Count📃: 92k Words 🎉🍬✨
— !! 𖦹「 ✦ 🍪 Happy Birthday🎂 ✦ 」✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩
My 27th read in "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY MONTH!!! :DDDD 👏🍭🍨" October.
5️⃣🌟, FILIPINO CULTURE REFERENCE LET'S GO #PROUDPINOY 🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭
——————————————————————
➕➖0️⃣1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣4️⃣5️⃣6️⃣7️⃣8️⃣9️⃣🔟✖️➗
This is one of the most unhinged examples of just extreme depravity but it's not done in a way of extreme horror/splatterpunk, it has its own weirdness and horror aspects that are both huanting and fun at the same time. Everything was interesting and the bizarre points and subjects that this book delves into has gotta be one of the most unique things I have ever read. It is almost set in a virtual world and the possible romance & love with that you can get from it which is a great theme to explore. She is a moderator and i already know a thing or two about reading a book which the main character is a internet moderator and I can say that this one definitely is the better one. See We Had to Remove This Post Review. The romance in here is extremely good and i love the relationship dynamic that they have. But the best parts of this book is just the amount of filipino culture references that it features is just.... 😍😍😍😍😍😍. At one point i even forgot about the story itself and only focused on the things that they are discussing especially with Maribel's character cuz like HOY CHISMIS NANAMAN?????🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 which all in all makes for a great addition to this book because that part just makes this book all so unique and very much unlike every single love story that ever happened, nothing ever references as many things about an entire country just like this one. Woooooooo 🇵🇭🇵🇭
July 20, 2025
This was fine to read but I didn't really connect with any of the characters and tbh didn't understand why she was that interested in this man
August 18, 2025
It seems like a bad thing that the best thing I can say about this book is that the author did a good job narrating it herself.
I’m not even totally sure I can tell you what this is about, aside from saying the main character is named Girlie and it shows her job a bit, her family a bit, and apparently her lusting after her boss but aside from one moment where she thinks of him in a very sexual way that didn’t seem developed at all (which made the ending feel random?).
This could have used a trigger warning page. There’s… a lot. It kinda felt like there was less moderation than I expected, however when it is, it tended to be quite graphic. For example, the word ‘rape’ is in this book 15 times. Literally within the first few pages, moderators have to watch a video of the rape of a young girl and ‘prove’ it’s a young girl but talking about her wearing child sized socks with Frozen characters on them. Suicide is implied for a couple people close to the MC’s as well, as well as suicidal ideations. Obviously everyone’s triggers vary, but the level of graphicness was unexpected to me.
The cover is beautiful, but has absolutely nothing to do with the story. The writing was… not my taste, I guess? I don’t personally need to know the race of every random security guard or whoever the MC notices (that will never be seen again) when I’m reading a book. I really didn’t care about how hot Girlie thought she was, but that was mentioned in detail a few times. The chapters are inconsistent in length but overall pretty long (this is slightly over 300 pages and there’s only 8 chapters - chapter 1 and 8 are both around 14 pages, yet chapter 6 is over 80 pages).
I don’t think I’m ever going to think about this book again after today. Which is a bummer, as I was intrigued by the premise of it.
I’m not even totally sure I can tell you what this is about, aside from saying the main character is named Girlie and it shows her job a bit, her family a bit, and apparently her lusting after her boss but aside from one moment where she thinks of him in a very sexual way that didn’t seem developed at all (which made the ending feel random?).
This could have used a trigger warning page. There’s… a lot. It kinda felt like there was less moderation than I expected, however when it is, it tended to be quite graphic. For example, the word ‘rape’ is in this book 15 times. Literally within the first few pages, moderators have to watch a video of the rape of a young girl and ‘prove’ it’s a young girl but talking about her wearing child sized socks with Frozen characters on them. Suicide is implied for a couple people close to the MC’s as well, as well as suicidal ideations. Obviously everyone’s triggers vary, but the level of graphicness was unexpected to me.
The cover is beautiful, but has absolutely nothing to do with the story. The writing was… not my taste, I guess? I don’t personally need to know the race of every random security guard or whoever the MC notices (that will never be seen again) when I’m reading a book. I really didn’t care about how hot Girlie thought she was, but that was mentioned in detail a few times. The chapters are inconsistent in length but overall pretty long (this is slightly over 300 pages and there’s only 8 chapters - chapter 1 and 8 are both around 14 pages, yet chapter 6 is over 80 pages).
I don’t think I’m ever going to think about this book again after today. Which is a bummer, as I was intrigued by the premise of it.
October 29, 2025
Long meandering chapters that gave little in the form of plot or romance made this one a tough read for me.
The future is AI. We keep hearing it and seeing it. Girlie works for a big on-line company. She is the quality control person behind reporting videos, comments, and groups. Girlie is very good at her job even though it is awful and traumatizing. So she gets recruited to the next new thing - an on-line virtual reality where you can explore an open sandbox type MMO world. You can explore new interests, crafts and hobbies you'd like to explore, or learn a new task like swimming. Girlie is brought it to monitor as an NPC and mute & kick anyone not going by the rules.
This part of the book sounded fascinating. The world sounded even more shutdown and chronically on-line than now I wanted to know more about how her job was evolving and what this company planned to do.
But somehow, the story got bogged down in Girlie and her boss meeting. They have few stuttering conversations where they are both trying to figure out each other's angle and both agree - they can't be a thing. I was so much more interested in the society and learning about the technology than I ever was about the two co-workers. Big work up for a let down ending.
The future is AI. We keep hearing it and seeing it. Girlie works for a big on-line company. She is the quality control person behind reporting videos, comments, and groups. Girlie is very good at her job even though it is awful and traumatizing. So she gets recruited to the next new thing - an on-line virtual reality where you can explore an open sandbox type MMO world. You can explore new interests, crafts and hobbies you'd like to explore, or learn a new task like swimming. Girlie is brought it to monitor as an NPC and mute & kick anyone not going by the rules.
This part of the book sounded fascinating. The world sounded even more shutdown and chronically on-line than now I wanted to know more about how her job was evolving and what this company planned to do.
But somehow, the story got bogged down in Girlie and her boss meeting. They have few stuttering conversations where they are both trying to figure out each other's angle and both agree - they can't be a thing. I was so much more interested in the society and learning about the technology than I ever was about the two co-workers. Big work up for a let down ending.
September 14, 2025
⭐️ 3.5/5
Definitely not my usual vibe, but it still managed to keep me reading. I kept waiting for more of the FMC + MMC falling in love in the virtual world (the blurb totally made me think that’s what we were getting, so I felt a little teased). Still, the story had me curious the whole way through, and the ending actually hit in a really satisfying way.
Definitely not my usual vibe, but it still managed to keep me reading. I kept waiting for more of the FMC + MMC falling in love in the virtual world (the blurb totally made me think that’s what we were getting, so I felt a little teased). Still, the story had me curious the whole way through, and the ending actually hit in a really satisfying way.
November 30, 2025
what a waste of my time.
October 6, 2025
I *LOVED* this. I read America Is Not the Heart ages ago, and loved it too. Elaine Castillo is just a stunning writer -- dense, dense sentences; deeply nuanced characters; a complex plot under her full control and key themes deftly sidled up to, built organically out of plot and character, not the reverse.
Full of humour, pathos, irony, big ideas -- about working in tech, the overtaking of humanity, indeed reality itself, by dehumanizing technologies, the terrifying and increasingly common alliance between tech bros and far right politics; about trauma, vicarious trauma, sexual violence, and how it shapes personality; about the Filipino diaspora and the immigrant experience, displacement, families in all their messy loves and loyalties; about how all this plays out in a technologically overcharged, end-stage capitalist, fraying democracy - set in the absolutely pitch-perfect location: Vegas, where reality parodies itself, and money and decadence and illusion and addiction dance an endless dance. About how people endure, find each other, stay aligned with some kind of moral centre despite it all.
Maybe I didn't entirely love , but while I might frown on this from a literary POV, I need it, now especially, from a social-emotional one. Also, Mona, the German shepherd, made up in spades for that. I read now that Elaine Castillo has had two rescue shepherds and has written a long essay about the relationship between dogs and people (Good Girl: Notes on Dog Rescue, part of the Roxanne Gay series exclusively on Everand -- with whom I'm now in a big snit because of the change to their subscription terms. I may have to buckle and re-subscribe just for this).
Another note: Castillo reads this herself, and she is GOOD. Also, she has an impeccable French accent. And her voicing of Maribel is HILARIOUS.
One final note: if you like high-end watches, and are into watch culture (I hear that's a thing), this book gets you.
Highly, highly recommended.
Full of humour, pathos, irony, big ideas -- about working in tech, the overtaking of humanity, indeed reality itself, by dehumanizing technologies, the terrifying and increasingly common alliance between tech bros and far right politics; about trauma, vicarious trauma, sexual violence, and how it shapes personality; about the Filipino diaspora and the immigrant experience, displacement, families in all their messy loves and loyalties; about how all this plays out in a technologically overcharged, end-stage capitalist, fraying democracy - set in the absolutely pitch-perfect location: Vegas, where reality parodies itself, and money and decadence and illusion and addiction dance an endless dance. About how people endure, find each other, stay aligned with some kind of moral centre despite it all.
Maybe I didn't entirely love , but while I might frown on this from a literary POV, I need it, now especially, from a social-emotional one. Also, Mona, the German shepherd, made up in spades for that. I read now that Elaine Castillo has had two rescue shepherds and has written a long essay about the relationship between dogs and people (Good Girl: Notes on Dog Rescue, part of the Roxanne Gay series exclusively on Everand -- with whom I'm now in a big snit because of the change to their subscription terms. I may have to buckle and re-subscribe just for this).
Another note: Castillo reads this herself, and she is GOOD. Also, she has an impeccable French accent. And her voicing of Maribel is HILARIOUS.
One final note: if you like high-end watches, and are into watch culture (I hear that's a thing), this book gets you.
Highly, highly recommended.
August 29, 2025
DNF. Just not my writing style.
Read
September 23, 2025Elaine Castillo has written Jane Austen fanfic set in the Nevada tech landscape. Haha. Been spoiling to read this since it was announced. I love Castillo and her voice (speaking and writing). Having read her How to Read Now both with the physical book and on audio, I had some difficulty separating Castillo from her main character Girlie del Mundo (not her real name). Virgo, Pinay (specifically Pangasinan Ilocano) immigrant, eldest daughter (in this case, an only child but eldest cousin, and if you're the eldest cousin, you know that's the same thing). There are enlightening insights about the Filipino immigrant experience, which I tend to read within the context of my secondhand knowledge from friends and family who now live abroad. But the truth is, I can only imagine the sense of community that emerges from shared isolation, but also shared origins, culture, and values. A lot of Moderation made me laugh, with Girlie's hardened view of the world combined with her sarcastic delivery of life observations. There are many references to classics and x-teenth century periods. But also there is a dog, a tribute to Xena Castillo, and she was all that mattered. There is also a chapter that, I think, is kind of a subversion of conventional plotting, in which the main girl and the main boy sit around eating fries and drinking Asahi beer. This is near the last third of the book when Things Should be Happening. But here, they're just talking, exposing but really safeguarding their hearts, letting themselves be held through full disclosure, with a dog snuffling asleep at their feet. For this chapter alone, Moderation to me was pure delight.
August 11, 2025
Oh FINALLY, a book I absolutely loved. It's been months of - at best - liking my reads and grading on a curve. I've done a lot of rereading just to feel something. But here we are, at last, a book that makes me remember why I love books. And not just because of its awesome, trippy cover.
Castillo's second lit fic novel (oh, how I wish she had a heaping backlist I could reach for), this time about a Girlie, a Filipina-American working as a content moderator in Vegas for a Facebook-like company in order to help support her large family and their large debt. When I say content moderator, think of the folks who have to watch horrifying, graphic videos posted to social media to see if they need to be removed. That kind of content moderator.
Low and behold, she gets a major promotion and raise to work a similar job for a VR startup her company has acquired, and her boss is real hot, and they have a real connection. A romance of sorts ensues that definitely plays with romance motifs and expectations, but is still extremely quiet and grounded.
There's just something so...intimate and specific about Castillo's writing. Her characters are so, so well-drawn, and they feel like actual adults, which is not always a guarantee in books allegedly about adults. And her books are dark in the way the actual world feels dark.
Major CW for brief, graphic descriptions of child sex abuse, primarily because of the nature of Girlie's job. Castillo shies away from basically nothing, ever, so be warned.
Castillo's second lit fic novel (oh, how I wish she had a heaping backlist I could reach for), this time about a Girlie, a Filipina-American working as a content moderator in Vegas for a Facebook-like company in order to help support her large family and their large debt. When I say content moderator, think of the folks who have to watch horrifying, graphic videos posted to social media to see if they need to be removed. That kind of content moderator.
Low and behold, she gets a major promotion and raise to work a similar job for a VR startup her company has acquired, and her boss is real hot, and they have a real connection. A romance of sorts ensues that definitely plays with romance motifs and expectations, but is still extremely quiet and grounded.
There's just something so...intimate and specific about Castillo's writing. Her characters are so, so well-drawn, and they feel like actual adults, which is not always a guarantee in books allegedly about adults. And her books are dark in the way the actual world feels dark.
Major CW for brief, graphic descriptions of child sex abuse, primarily because of the nature of Girlie's job. Castillo shies away from basically nothing, ever, so be warned.
August 31, 2025
3.5 rounded down. Loved the narrative voice and literary style, wish it wasn’t primarily a romance plot.
August 17, 2025
Moderation started with a really intriguing idea but ultimately fell flat. Girlie, our main character, is a content moderator who barely reacts to anything, which makes her perfect for the job.
When she’s offered a role at a tech company moderating VR theme parks, the story opens up a world of mystery, adventure, and a touch of romance with the chief product officer. At first, the book was clever and fun, but it quickly slid from a five-star start to a generous three.
Where it lost me was in the follow through. The VR world mostly takes a backseat to office politics, and the romance barely goes anywhere.
The story doesn’t really build to a satisfying arc, so the ending feels flat. Girlie (hate that name, by the way) is an interesting character, but her guarded nature keeps things from fully landing emotionally.
Overall, Moderation has some fun and creative ideas, but it just didn’t hit the way I was hoping for.
When she’s offered a role at a tech company moderating VR theme parks, the story opens up a world of mystery, adventure, and a touch of romance with the chief product officer. At first, the book was clever and fun, but it quickly slid from a five-star start to a generous three.
Where it lost me was in the follow through. The VR world mostly takes a backseat to office politics, and the romance barely goes anywhere.
The story doesn’t really build to a satisfying arc, so the ending feels flat. Girlie (hate that name, by the way) is an interesting character, but her guarded nature keeps things from fully landing emotionally.
Overall, Moderation has some fun and creative ideas, but it just didn’t hit the way I was hoping for.
September 25, 2025
Note to self: don’t pick up a book just because the cover looks cool.
I enjoyed the writing style, but I kept waiting for the plot to actually start, and... it just never did. Struggled to finish this one and found myself skimming.
I enjoyed the writing style, but I kept waiting for the plot to actually start, and... it just never did. Struggled to finish this one and found myself skimming.
September 10, 2025
no direction or payoff in this book. i caught myself asking ”what are we doing with this” multiple times throughout
June 21, 2025
I really didn’t read this one in moderation. It completely captured me from beginning to end and I consumed it in two days - spending all of my non reading time thinking about it.
I was drawn in by this fantastic cover art 👏 and promises of “if you like tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow (which I did) you will love this” (which I did).
I really really really loved this. World building was brilliant - didn’t really feel like I was in something that wasn’t realistic at all - but still far removed from my day to day experience enough that it felt like sci-fi. As a big (early seasons) Westworld fan I was initially sceptical when I read the blurb thinking it was perhaps too “inspired” but it didn’t feel that way at all.
Loved being in this world from the viewpoint of not the participant but the content moderator - felt like it was a fresh pov.
I must have missed somewhere before commencing that this was a love story and thus was not expecting it at all but it was such a nice surprise and I found myself really rooting for Girlie and William. Their chemistry was very well done and I could really feel the tension between these two social strugglers through the pages.
Side character of Dr Perera was a personal favourite of mine - enjoyed everything that his character brought to the story - and Mona too - the perfect addition to really get William to win over the reader.
Thankyou NetGalley and Allen and Unwin for this ARC in exchange for my honest review - I will very happily be recommending this to friends, family, reader and book clubs!
This will make a great book club book because there is so much to pick apart.
I was drawn in by this fantastic cover art 👏 and promises of “if you like tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow (which I did) you will love this” (which I did).
I really really really loved this. World building was brilliant - didn’t really feel like I was in something that wasn’t realistic at all - but still far removed from my day to day experience enough that it felt like sci-fi. As a big (early seasons) Westworld fan I was initially sceptical when I read the blurb thinking it was perhaps too “inspired” but it didn’t feel that way at all.
Loved being in this world from the viewpoint of not the participant but the content moderator - felt like it was a fresh pov.
I must have missed somewhere before commencing that this was a love story and thus was not expecting it at all but it was such a nice surprise and I found myself really rooting for Girlie and William. Their chemistry was very well done and I could really feel the tension between these two social strugglers through the pages.
Side character of Dr Perera was a personal favourite of mine - enjoyed everything that his character brought to the story - and Mona too - the perfect addition to really get William to win over the reader.
Thankyou NetGalley and Allen and Unwin for this ARC in exchange for my honest review - I will very happily be recommending this to friends, family, reader and book clubs!
This will make a great book club book because there is so much to pick apart.
August 27, 2025
I had a pretty good idea by the end of chapter two that this wasn’t going to be for me, but decided to stick it out to the end to give it a fair shake. My intuition was pretty bang on. Within the first five pages of the book there’s a highly detailed and description of a child rape in a CSAM video. While not completely unrelated to the plot, it really punches you in the face with heavy handedness. This is something that’s worth mentioning in the first paragraph of a review because HOO BOY.
The main character is endlessly frustrating. I think we’re supposed to sympathize with her generational trauma, and that would be true if she had truly any redeeming moments until she gets the hots for her boss. Everything she does, she does out of obligation and she’s PISSED. She has all the grace and palatability of trying to eat a pinecone. She’s a curmudgeon who is holier-than-thou, judgmental, and both a snob and a reverse snob.
The plot is also shockingly flat. There’s just a lot of exposition and then we meet William. He’s hot, he goes to a birthday party, the end. The things that really could have been interesting; confronting generational trauma head-on, the family dynamic, online privacy, tech companies, etc. It all was glossed over and sort of plopped back down at the end. I was unimpressed.
I don’t typically like romance and I didn’t like this either. To be fair, she does at least think he’s hot. I’ll admit, the way she wrote Girlie’s attraction was well done and believable. However, besides being a good employee and hot, there’s not much to recommend her to HIM. It’s very one sided. Like she’s a little grouch ball and he’s a robot version of a BBC talking head.
Not for me, I wish this wasn’t what I’d gone with for my Aardvark box this month.
The main character is endlessly frustrating. I think we’re supposed to sympathize with her generational trauma, and that would be true if she had truly any redeeming moments until she gets the hots for her boss. Everything she does, she does out of obligation and she’s PISSED. She has all the grace and palatability of trying to eat a pinecone. She’s a curmudgeon who is holier-than-thou, judgmental, and both a snob and a reverse snob.
The plot is also shockingly flat. There’s just a lot of exposition and then we meet William. He’s hot, he goes to a birthday party, the end. The things that really could have been interesting; confronting generational trauma head-on, the family dynamic, online privacy, tech companies, etc. It all was glossed over and sort of plopped back down at the end. I was unimpressed.
I don’t typically like romance and I didn’t like this either. To be fair, she does at least think he’s hot. I’ll admit, the way she wrote Girlie’s attraction was well done and believable. However, besides being a good employee and hot, there’s not much to recommend her to HIM. It’s very one sided. Like she’s a little grouch ball and he’s a robot version of a BBC talking head.
Not for me, I wish this wasn’t what I’d gone with for my Aardvark box this month.
September 15, 2025
Simply in terms of prose, Castillo is doing incredible work. A lot of her sentences made me look up from the page and be like motherfucker this bitch can write—it’s the type of writing I particularly enjoy, in that it is primarily interested in people and emotions. Yes, there were too many descriptions of watches and offices for my taste, but this book is incredibly intelligent about its characters.
Girlie in particular jumps off the page. Austen’s influence, which Castillo has been explicit about, is evident. I really really really wish the book gave us William’s perspective as well, though. Especially because toward the end it’s revealed he has had this huge internal conflict that was barely hinted at during the course of the novel.
This leads to the novel’s weakest aspect which is the lack of tension. There is not a lot of conflict between characters or inside the characters, not a lot of human messiness or texture to their interactions. Sometimes there seemed to be a tendency of therapy speak which is incongruous with the warmth of the relationships. I did get Girlie’s conflict, her changing desires and her growing self-awareness. So why does the book not allow her burgeoning self to come into conflict with her work.
Again, I think this books has amazing writing and character work, and probably because I enjoyed that so much, I felt let down by some structural weaknesses in its construction.
Girlie in particular jumps off the page. Austen’s influence, which Castillo has been explicit about, is evident. I really really really wish the book gave us William’s perspective as well, though. Especially because toward the end it’s revealed he has had this huge internal conflict that was barely hinted at during the course of the novel.
This leads to the novel’s weakest aspect which is the lack of tension. There is not a lot of conflict between characters or inside the characters, not a lot of human messiness or texture to their interactions. Sometimes there seemed to be a tendency of therapy speak which is incongruous with the warmth of the relationships. I did get Girlie’s conflict, her changing desires and her growing self-awareness. So why does the book not allow her burgeoning self to come into conflict with her work.
Again, I think this books has amazing writing and character work, and probably because I enjoyed that so much, I felt let down by some structural weaknesses in its construction.
October 4, 2025
I was lured in by the pretty cover and ultimately disappointed.
Honestly I may just not be the target audience for this book. I didn't especially care about any of the characters, pretty much nothing happens (until the end), the romance wasn't believable, and - my biggest issue - the writing was unbearable.
Don't get me wrong. The writing wasn't bad. But it was so aimless and overly descriptive that I had to constantly fight the urge to skim. I honestly could not care less about every single minor character Girlie had an encounter or two with and then proceeded to spend a page giving extensive background information on. I would have much preferred getting to the meat of the book.
The weird part is that I feel like Castillo does have some interesting ideas at the heart of the book. But so much of the book is spent on literally nothing that she crams it all into the last 70 or so pages which were entirely lacking impact since I couldn't be made to care about any of this stuff in the first 250 pages. Literally, what even happened?
There was barely any moderation, very little exploration of mental health/trauma, general allusions to business political inner workings, and then at the end I'm suppose to care?
The romance lacked any substance and I honestly didn't buy it. I think this book could have been so much more interesting if it focused on all of the other stuff and dropped the romance or brought the romance to the forefront and went down the fluffy route.
Honestly I may just not be the target audience for this book. I didn't especially care about any of the characters, pretty much nothing happens (until the end), the romance wasn't believable, and - my biggest issue - the writing was unbearable.
Don't get me wrong. The writing wasn't bad. But it was so aimless and overly descriptive that I had to constantly fight the urge to skim. I honestly could not care less about every single minor character Girlie had an encounter or two with and then proceeded to spend a page giving extensive background information on. I would have much preferred getting to the meat of the book.
The weird part is that I feel like Castillo does have some interesting ideas at the heart of the book. But so much of the book is spent on literally nothing that she crams it all into the last 70 or so pages which were entirely lacking impact since I couldn't be made to care about any of this stuff in the first 250 pages. Literally, what even happened?
There was barely any moderation, very little exploration of mental health/trauma, general allusions to business political inner workings, and then at the end I'm suppose to care?
The romance lacked any substance and I honestly didn't buy it. I think this book could have been so much more interesting if it focused on all of the other stuff and dropped the romance or brought the romance to the forefront and went down the fluffy route.
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