Ravenous

by Sara Cooper

Breigh is a hot elder millennial who is obsessed with the brands she is ambassading for. Her policy is YES, and her livestreams are viral. But she’s pregnant now, and her body’s changing. It's not that she's hungry. She's definitely not depressed. She just sometimes eats boxes of makeup before passing out.

Daddy’s bought a brand-new home for Breigh and Baby, complete with a Greenguard Gold-certified, twice-imported velvet infant chaise — but is he cheating on her with a hotter, younger coworker? Breigh has to get Baby out before it ruins her. She has to create more and better content than the other Momfluencers. She has to unbox something new. She has to unbox … Baby! Baby approves of her seven-step marketing plan. Welcome to #LiveBirth.

Breigh’s increasingly unhinged life reflects her generation’s anxieties around psychological manipulation through social media platforms. Multi-award-winning author Sara Cooper presents a wild debut novel in this incisive satire of consumerism, performative femininity, and social media.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Literary Fiction, Social Media, Horror Thriller, Book Club

286 pages, Paperback

First published August 13, 2026

About the author

Sara Cooper is a novelist and playwright-lyricist whose work blends dark humor, psychological insight, and sharp cultural critique. Her debut novel RAVENOUS was a finalist for the 2025 Tucson Festival of Books Literary Awards and will be published August 13, 2026 by Fernwood Publishing, Roseway imprint. Her second novel, DEAD CENTER, is under contract for publication in Spring 2027. In theatre, Sara’s work has received awards and honors from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, American Theatre Wing, New York State Council on the Arts, National Alliance for Musical Theatre, and ASCAP, and she holds an MFA from New York University’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. Sara currently teaches at Purchase College and NYU.

Reviews

[Rea ♡ㅤ✧ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley, Roseway Publishing, and Sara Cooper for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

5/5⭐️!


This book?! Like, Slay. Bet. Chef's kiss. Honestly?! Bury me with it. Yes. Obsessed! Its giving. Old-money quiet-luxury core. Corporate-baddie corecore. Like!! Omigosh!! TikTok ambassador, send me more galaxies. TJ Maxx jam packed aisles at Christmas time type vibes. You need this new cup! New Tote! New design! Bows! Avocado toast low fat carb free gluten free super dewy hydro cream clean girl unboxing! Classic short Uggs in everyone's favorite (sand)!!

If this triggered your fight or flight response, or piqued your interest, you'll probably love this just as much as I did. I'll be thinking about this one forever. Overconsumption and chronically online meets weird girl lit fic. It hits.

Breigh, wannabe millennial momfluencer, is pregnant with her first baby, and she is a disaster. She is hyper-focused on her content, branding, livestreams, appearance, and weight, to the point of insanity. She is desperate to perfectly portray her life to her following. To keep growing her following. More brand deals, more unboxings. The only joy she seems to feel in the book is the spiritual high she gets from consuming. The book is all in her point of view. No separate chapters, just one long, 280-page stream of absurd consciousness. Breigh spends most of the book speaking mentally, sometimes audibly, to the baby in her stomach. We're talking Lady Jessica from Dune 2, talking to her unborn baby.

Breigh and her baby, unbeknownst to her husband, decide that the best content they could make would be a #LiveBirth! An unboxing! A real, raw, unboxing of her own baby, live streamed right to you. Yes. Obsessed!! It doesn't matter that she's only 27 weeks along! She can make it happen. For content.

This book had me HOOKED from the beginning, all the way to the shocking end. The writing style is constant, flowing, and overstimulating in the best way. Sara Cooper calls out influencer culture and the world's obsession with 'more' in the most satirical way possible. The only way brain rot makes you smarter is if it's satirical! If you can read through the mania for the deeper meaning, you'll hopefully find this eye opening to the culture the world is sadly creating. Hopefully it makes you stop and think for a while. Hesitate before buying your 8th limited edition insulated 200oz cup. A new iPad, in a new color which the case covers anyways.

I hope you'll all be tripping over your cryptocurrency to get this book when it comes out on 8/13. Hype, thou art built.

[Aleena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Omigosh. What the actual f*k did I just read.

Obsessed.

[Joshua Waselynchuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

One word - "obsessed"

This book was like a fever dream in the best way. I could not look away. This was such a unique fresh take on the obsession people have on social media and the way we curate our lives to look "perfect"

And that ending 🤯🤯. A good psychological horror that I will be thinking about for a long time

[Ariel]

This book is definitely a satire on tik tok overconsumption influencer culture. Lots of live streaming product unboxings and online shopping to fill the void of emptiness and depression. Our main character Breigh is pregnant and you can tell right away that she cares more about the views and content the baby will give her, than actually caring about her baby. There is also a lot of commentary on women’s bodies and eating disorders while pregnant.

Reading the synopsis it reminded me of recent books I’ve loved like Trad Wife and Julie Chan is Dead, so I thought I was going to love this, but unfortunately it did not meet my expectations. About 25% into the book I made the choice to stop reading, the writing style was mainly the reason. I felt like the writing was very stream of consciousness, which I tend to not like. Breigh was almost a caricature of influencer culture, and she didn’t feel like a real person to me. I honestly felt like I was reading the inner mind of someone who is high on cocaine, which could definitely appeal to readers who like a chaotic voice.

[mood_reading_menace · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was a hell of a dermaplaner. Yes, mama. Obsessed.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

completely batshit crazy. insane stream of consciousness writing (I think???). completely deranged and unhinged woman so obvs I loved it

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

”The carnage of my rampage lies before me, a cardboard wasteland of dilapidated dreams, an asteroid-sized crater of misery where my manic delight once lived”.

Omigosh.

Ravenous is first class weird girl-lit. I savoured every fxxing sentence of this rollercoaster on speed novel.

Weird girl-lit is one of my all favourite genres and combined with horror my black readerheart’s somersaulting.

Sara Cooper have done an amazing job writing this firecracker of novel. Is it satire? Is it real? Balancing on the thin rope of the human need to be seen, to make an imprint in the world before our time is up. About the human hunger in a world spinning faster for each day and if no one sees you - do you even exist?

Omigosh. Highly recommend. Obsessed. Chef’s kiss👌🏻🖤 … ”I’m not myself. I need to unbox something”

[Britt | Britt Reads A Little · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hello?????

I’ve never read anything like this before. The buildup was fantastic, the delusion was flawless, the derangement was perfect.

Obsessed

[imogen · Rating 2.5 out of 5]

this was incredibly extreme - not in its content but in its writing. it doesn't build to a point of craziness, it begins there. breigh is a mother to be who is trying to control everything in her life and has clearly suffered a psychotic break. i think this book could've been so much better if we had seen breigh before she started hallucinating and plotting, but as we meet her that way it just feels like a ridiculous, wild ride. it made me physically anxious at times. i think if you want a book like 'nightbitch' or 'boy parts' without any of the subtlety, this is for you.

[Rat Queen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Roseway Publishing for this arc.

Absolutely bonkers, fast paced and full of satire and internet culture, “Ravenous” is an unhinged influencer joy ride that will have you chomping at the bit!

Breigh (not Bree!) is an elder millennial influencer who is obsessed with being relevant and going viral. The only downside is, she’s pregnant and that is so not hot.
Before the baby destroys her figure she hatches a new plan to keep her body attractive AND get views! Introducing… #LiveBirth. Yes, you heard that right.

A descent into madness that sheds light on the toxicity of consumerism, the psychological impact of social media and the reality of influencer culture - “Ravenous” is completely wild but also way too on the nose for its own good!

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The writing was extremely clever and filled with many laugh-out-loud quips. For that, it’s five stars. But boy howdy is this book relentless. All gas, no brakes. At times I thought- what is the point anymore? But the one-liners are so fucking good, it doesn’t matter what the plot is really. I also loved the constant vomiting. A really good bit.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breigh is officially my #1 favorite unhinged FMC of all time. She is absolutely nuts, full stop. If you know me, you're aware that stream of consciousness and fever dream books are my least favorite, but it really worked for me here. The way Sara Cooper wrote this tickled my brain in a satisfying way. I felt like I shared a brain with Breigh the way her thoughts go 9000mph. Breigh is an overconsuming momfluencer who is obsessed with nothing but herself and her content. Her actions throughout the book are hysterical and I found myself laughing a lot throughout. The things she does are so ridiculous and it was a wild ride seeing her lose her marbles more and more. Her conversations with her baby are my favorite. The ending is crazy and I'm so happy with the way it concluded. I highly recommend you add this to your weird girl tbr if you like your reads messy and feral.

[whatzoreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the girls with a parcel arriving tomorrow who absolutely did not need to read this.

Ravenous by Sara Cooper got me in a full menty b spiral. The math is finally mathing…
We are literally fully consumed by the consumerism and yet starved. Our brains instantly spawning a new hyper-fixation the second a package arrives.

OUT FOR DELIVERY: Me tracking the Evri driver like he’s transporting a donor organ.

DELIVERED: 5 seconds of joy. And somehow, almost immediately the dopamine leaves the chat. I am back in the trenches.

Sara Cooper has clocked my tea, called me broken, and left me for dead. Ravenous has understood something about consumer culture that made me feel personally attacked. We’re not buying products. We’re buying better versions of ourselves. Every product arrives with an imaginary woman attached. Prettier. Thinner. Happier. More organised. More desirable. More successful. More. Sara Cooper takes that idea, throws it directly into the terminally online brain of pregnant millennial influencer Beigh (with one e), and proceeds to make it increasingly grotesque.
One e Breigh is both the dealer and the addict. She’s literally running a pyramid scheme of fake happiness, buying the delusion just to resell it to the next insecure girlie on her feed. There’s something so brilliantly nasty about the double standard Sara Cooper clocks. Society literally screams “buy more, want more, expand your horizons!” but the second a woman actually shows she’s hungry, they label her as unhinged and greedy.

The modern female checklist is a literal simulation:
Be ambitious, but don’t look greedy.
Be beautiful, but look effortless.
Be successful, but don’t look like you worked for it.
Want more. Just never, ever look ravenous.
The system requires your hunger, but it absolutely despises your appetite.

The way Breigh literally starts eating the makeup she’s unboxing is so gross but absolutely brilliant. Sara Cooper takes the clean girl aesthetic, smashes the mirror, and makes hunger physically visible. It’s disgustingly honest.
And then comes #LiveBirth.
The ultimate unboxing video. Absolutely deranged.

The prose is giving a literal 14-hour screen time panic attack, and I am completely obsessed. It’s frantic and overstimulated, mimicking Breigh’s brain slipping into the void. It literally reads like a mind that has been frying on TikTok for 72 hours straight. I know some people find the formatting exhausting, but for me, the mental fatigue was the experience. You are meant to feel the burnout.

Breigh is unhinged, narcissistic, an insufferable nightmare… I would literally die for her.

Beneath all the chaos and influencer brain rot, Ravenous left me with one genuinely uncomfortable thought actively keeping me awake at night. What if nothing ever makes us feel full because we’re not supposed to?
A satisfied woman stops clicking. A woman who believes she has enough stops buying. The second a woman likes herself, the entire economy collapses.

Ravenous is nasty, chaotic, funny as hell, and absolutely understood the assignment.

Thank you @NetGalley @ColumbiaUniversityPress for the advanced reader copy. These are my honest thoughts.

5 stars. Ohmigosh. Obsessed.

[Krys C · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐ (3.5)

This book is... absolutely unhinged.

Imagine if influencer culture, pregnancy anxiety, capitalism, parasocial relationships, and body horror all climbed into a blender, hit "purée," and somehow produced a novel. That's Ravenous.

Breigh is the kind of character you spend the entire book wanting to shake while also feeling deeply sorry for. Every decision she makes is driven by algorithms, sponsorships, and the need to stay relevant, and watching her unravel is equal parts horrifying and weirdly hilarious.

The satire is razor-sharp, and Sara Cooper clearly understands how exhausting online performance has become. There were moments where I laughed out loud, moments that made my stomach turn, and several where I just stared at the page thinking, "Did that really just happen?" The relentless chaos started to lose a bit of its impact by the final stretch. Even so, I had a great time reading something this original.

If you like your horror weird, your satire biting, and your protagonists delightfully chaotic, you'll probably eat this one up. (Unlike Breigh... maybe don't eat the makeup.)

(Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!)

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

OH MY GOD!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me an advance copy of this book

This book was a wild ride. There are so many niche references to such a wide array of topics along with really good satire commentary. I LOVED the stream of consciousness style of writing for this book. Oh my god, please read this book I beg you. There are so many good quotes, I wish I could list them all here

[Szarygolab · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book.

yes, obsessed!!

unhinged unreal batshit crazy
po prostu rollercoaster przeczytałam praktycznie całą na raz

i cytując główną bohaterkę

Slay. Bet. Chef's kiss. Fire. Honestly?! Bury me with it. I mean, this is next level, game-changer, must-have, life-saver. It's giving old-money quiet-luxury corporate-baddie tomatogirl summer patchouli Wes Anderson goddess trashbag indigo baby corecore divinity oolong tamtam crwth hallux interrobang goodness!!

[Shae Bentley · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️ - Okay, don't get me wrong, this book is absolutely insane... but it's also kind of brilliant?! Ravenous is what happens when influencer culture, consumerism, pregnancy anxiety and body horror all get thrown into a blender and somehow come out as a book. 😂 We follow Breigh, a pregnant influencer who is completely obsessed with staying relevant, chasing the next sponsorship, unboxing the next product and turning every moment of her life into content. The more desperate she becomes for attention and validation, the more unhinged things get.

This book is absolutely ridiculous and I loved how committed Sara Cooper was to the madness. The stream-of-consciousness writing style completely puts you inside Breigh's head and let me tell you... it's a LOT. She's frustrating, selfish, deranged and honestly pretty exhausting, but that's what made her such a fascinating character to follow. The satire on influencer culture was brilliant, especially with Breigh treating pregnancy, motherhood and even her own body as something to be consumed and monetised. There were moments where I was laughing, moments where I felt genuinely uncomfortable and plenty of times where I just sat there thinking, "what on earth did I just read?"

I think this one will definitely be divisive because Breigh's voice is intentionally absurd and over-the-top, but I had such a good time with it. It's weird, gross, darkly funny and completely unlike anything I've read before. This was such an original and memorable (but freaking weird?!) horror read. Sara Cooper absolutely nailed the uncomfortable side of living in a world where everything can become content and I can't wait to see what she writes next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Columbia University Press for the ARC.

[Brittany | Lady in Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breigh is an "Elder Millennial" mom-to-be with her own mommy issues, abandonment issues, self-esteem issues, and probably 65 other issues wrapped up in a malnourished body draped in every name-brand item that exists. The novel is written as Breigh's stream of consciousness, and that’s the only way this book should exist because all we are supposed to care about is what Breigh thinks FOR FUCKS SAKE. So SHUT UP and listen.

Reading this book was literally exhausting. Because when you’re in it, you’re IN IT. And you’re going 100 mph because SHE’S going 100 mph. You don’t stop. You don’t breathe. You don’t blink. Because she doesn’t, doesn’t, doesn’t. I drank a THC seltzer while reading one night, and I started crying because I couldn’t keep up with how fast she was speaking. I think that says more about me, but I digress.

Breigh is a paradox of a woman: she wants every expensive, popular, indulgent THING while simultaneously recognizing the vapidity of it all. She’s so terrified of becoming her mother so she over-corrects into mania. She will never break the cycle, though, because she cannot just stop. She isn’t just some psycho millennial. She’s smart and aware. She just cares too much about STUFF filling her up and her debilitating need to be seen - and that’s why (among a brazillion other reasons) she is relentlessly unlikeable and painfully frustrating. In fact, every single character is awful, and I’m so so so here for it.

I love books like this, and I love Sara Cooper, because as frustrating as these characters were, Cooper made the whole experience wildly entertaining. I laughed out loud at almost every page and not because it was a lighthearted romp about silly women and their silly wants. Breigh represents a type of person who can't see beyond themselves, and what she says and what she does are so unhinged that you have no other choice but to laugh.

I'm buying this book immediately, and you should too. O B S E S S E D.

*Thanks to NetGalley, Roseway Publishing, and Sara Cooper for this eARC. This review contains my honest, authentic thoughts and opinions.*

[nicolealese · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

wtaf 😂

[Jarrahlee Hurrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a wild and anxiety inducing story. Our pregnant FMC is an influencer trying to be more, have more followers, go viral. Breigh has such a toxic relationship with everyone around her and tries to gain love from those online interactions.

You feel her self loathing, body dysmorphia, and stress in the writing style of this book. It’s chaotic and messy, giving you a glimpse into her brain. I felt the anxiety for myself. Breigh is constantly talking to her unborn baby, which just adds to her unhealthy mental state.

To me, this is message about how the world is messing with women. The unhealthy relationships we have with bodies, socials, and men trying to fit us into a box (that no one even wants). I think this did an amazing job of giving the reader a glimpse into an absolutely unhinged and unhealthy brain. Some conversations had me so confused. 😂

Thankyou to NetGalley and Columbia University Press for this advanced reading copy.

[Krissy (books_and_biceps9155) · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

Obsessed, thank you so much….

This book is unhinged and has a fever dream style quality to it as we watch the unraveling of our FMC and social media influencer. I think this book encapsulates a lot within the satire style writing including pregnancy, motherhood, influencer culture, body horror and even capitalism.

Most of it is pure and utter chaos. I had to reread parts of it to make sure I understood what was happening. One thing Cooper does well is writing about the exhausting and tiring life of a social media influencer and all the highs/lows that come with it. I don’t have children so I can’t officially speak to the effects birth/body changes that occur, but I do believe Cooper does a good job of explaining the mental changes a woman goes through and that in and of itself terrified me.

[Lili Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a wild rabbit hole to dive into. It is heavy with obsession, psychological horror, body horror, and set in modern times. I devoured it in one night because it chronicles a trainwreck you just can't look away from. Breigh is driven by desire for fame, collecting likes, gaining views, and she'll stop at nothing to secure top spot. Thank-you, Columbia University Press and Sara Cooper, for this complimentary copy. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC copy.

I loved this hot mess of a protagonist, Breigh. She is pregnant and chronically online, constantly unboxing products and living for the next dopamine hit. This book is clearly a satire on the brainrot TikTok culture, but what makes it more delightful is that Breigh has some moments of clarity, but just can't seem to follow through. It's written in a stream-of-consciousness, which may be off-putting for some readers, but it's worth sticking around for.

[Chantelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh how I love you weird girl lit, this was a wild and unhinged experience but I had the best time of my life

[Lexi Brethauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this e-ARC!

I’m having a hard time putting my thoughts into words because the book constantly kept my head spinning and never gave me a chance to think, which was great! It was hard to put down, made me laugh out loud, and gave me whiplash (in a good way!!!!!)

A caricature of influencers, satirical, stream of consciousness writing, unreliable narrator, descent into madness, fast paced - it was a lot of fun.

[yam · Rating 4 out of 5]

loveeeeeeeeeee stream of consciousness from a real horrible woman so i could not put this one down. breigh really reminds me of massie block from the clique all grown up in a way. omigoshhhhh.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, this felt like sticking a fork into an electrical socket.....
I mean that in the best way, honestly, I'm OBSESSED (iykyk)

This was a riot of a book, so fast paced that it felt at times like I had whiplash reading it. I mean that in the best way, honestly. I'M OBSESSED.

I honestly dont want to give too much away, I would reccomend everyone go into this as blind as possible. Like I did. I have no regrets. This was satire at its finest,  observing a world so convuluded with image and influencer culture. My only real critique isnt even about the book itself, but more about the ARC's formatting which made it a bit hard to read at first.

Very high 4 stars, maybe even a 5. I am obsessed after all. 

[Anna W · Rating 1 out of 5]

Breigh is a 38 year old, pregnant, influencer trying to stay relevant and find validation through social media. She is addicted to likes, comments, and has attached her entire self worth to her online persona. But what do people online want to see, how does she keep them obsessed and differentiate herself from other influencers? By being thinner, more extravagant, and doing things on camera that others haven't or wouldn't do, obviously.

This book was frenetic to the nth degree, beginning with the energy at 10 and tries to ramp up but it starts so high already that the experience was exhausting. We open in Breigh's erratic ramblings and the stream of consciousness continues throughout. As the situation devolves, we start losing segments of time and grasp on reality.

I do like satires, but I tend to like when they ride the line between believable and not. This one was dialed all the way up and likely deliberately given the cultural topics it's trying to address. It will be the right book for some, not me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Roseway Publishing, and Sara Cooper for the advanced ebook copy.

[Pamela · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

4.5 It’s Book Review Day for Ravenous! Stick around for the unboxing of my thoughts. Obsessed.

Breigh (with one e) is a hot mess. She’s an elder millennial momfluencer who both loves and hates her hubs. He buys her love, but won’t looove her, if you catch my drift. She’s pregnant with her first child, and let’s just say, she’s not handling it well.

She seems cognizant of the state of the world, but all she cares about is views and unboxing. I loved her first unhinged actions on page 23, and I was completely rapt by her spiral at the end.

It’s written in a stream-of-consciousness style, that’s also delusional. Definitely for weird girl horror fans. I really enjoyed myself!

You love listening to me? Omigosh, thank you so much! YES. Obsessed.

Thank you so much to Fernwood Publishing for the ARC! Pub date is August 13th!

[Kaylyn · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

Breigh (ONE E) might actually be one of the most unhinged, batshit-crazy FMCs I've ever had the pleasure of being trapped inside the head of.

Ravenous is basically 286 pages of Breigh thinking the most unhinged shit imaginable, including having full-blown conversations with her unborn child, while her grip on reality slowly loosens.

What really worked for me was the writing itself. The disjointed sentences, the chaotic train of thought, the sudden pivots from one obsession to the next, it all felt like being dropped directly into Breigh's brain and left to fend for yourself. It could've easily become exhausting, but instead, the style enhanced the experience. The writing doesn't just tell us she's unraveling; it makes us feel like we're unraveling right alongside her.

And underneath all that glorious madness is some genuinely sharp commentary on influencer culture, consumerism, and the pressure for women to turn every part of their lives into content. Breigh is obsessed with brands, attention, and staying relevant, even as her pregnancy threatens the carefully curated image she's built. Her relationship with her own body becomes increasingly disturbing, and watching her spiral while justifying every decision to herself (and, naturally, Baby) was WILD.

My one real complaint is that not a whole lot happens for a decent stretch of the book. I was happy to live inside Breigh's absolutely deranged internal monologue, but eventually I needed the plot to catch up with the chaos. Thankfully, once things finally picked up, I was locked the fuck in. YES, OBSESSED.