Wants and Needs

by Roxy Dunn

A novel about coming of age when you thought you already had: a story about commitment and independence, about starting all over again, and finding different ways to love along the way

Independence seems to be drifting away from Misty. Just months ago, she was living with her fiancé and planning their life together. Now she’s single, back in her childhood bedroom, on crutches from knee surgery, and relying on her mother to help her with the smallest of tasks. This isn’t how thirty-two was meant to look.

When Misty turns to dating apps, she's immediately intrigued by charismatic, handsome Christopher – so intrigued that she doesn't even notice the acronym 'ENM' on his profile. By the time she discovers that it stands for 'Ethical Non-Monogamy' – and that the man with whom she feels such undeniable, dizzying chemistry, is in a long-term open relationship – she decides to give things a go.

And so Misty makes a pact with herself to date Christopher for the next six weeks while his partner is away. It’s all part of her plan: she wants to learn to become less attached, and to prepare herself for her next ‘real’ relationship. But is what she wants really what she needs?

Genres: Fiction

304 pages, Paperback

Expected publication February 10, 2026

About the author

Roxy's debut novel, As Young as This (published by Fig Tree, Penguin) was sold at auction and was a Best Book of 2024 in The Independent, Harper’s Bazaar, Stylist, Cosmopolitan, and Sunday Times Style. She is also a screenwriter and alumni of the BBC Comedy Room. Her scripts have been optioned by several production companies and her pilot Useless Millennials was commissioned and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Wants and Needs is her second novel. She lives in London.

Reviews

[gasbolina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh ow, oh wow.
I’m a child of divorce. I don’t believe there is anything ethical about non-monogamy (don’t bother proving me wrong). I grew up with a struggling single mum and a mostly physically absent father, and this book had me holding back tears at (so, so, so) many of its fleeting but poignant moments as I devoured my way through it.
I had a feeling right away that this wasn’t going to be simply about ENM. Wants & Needs is a beautifully modern coming of age story of almost mid-thirties raisin lover Misty, and it sets off in the middle of her fiancé breaking up with her, leading her back to living with her mum in Brighton.
“It’s oddly gripping, and well, quietly devastating” is, among all of my several highlighted quotes, maybe the best way to describe this, even though it describes a different book inside this one. Misty doesn’t know much about anything she wants, other than getting others to take care of her needs, as she saunters aimlessly through her life, trying to write and publish a book and failing, because she keeps worrying about what other people might want to read.
It’s very easy to hear Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag at some points, especially the bits where she’s “going to therapy” and refusing to fall into the cliche of talking about her mother/their relationship/how she feels about her, but very much in an original voice kind of way. A way that had me enthralled and devastated all at once.
I’m going to be thinking about this book for a very long time. I might even get it for my mum.
“We humans are such funny contradictory things with all our massive little wants.”

Thank you to Netgalley and Fig Tree for the book, and to Roxy Dunn for all the repeated gut punching feelings I got from this. Goddamn. Ow.

[Nadia · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC from NetGalley

I wasn’t sure what I thought of this book but ultimately ended up enjoying it. I don’t think I’ve read any books with plots around ethical non monogamy (Not to be confused with NME magazine) and I found it really interesting.

I also enjoyed the exploration of the relationship between the MC and their mother.

I will always love a book in which the main character is flawed, frank and complicated but ultimately likeable. I will keep an eye out for more by this author!

[Bobuan · Rating 4 out of 5]

We all tend to avoid facing our fear and deny the existence of our own flaws. Having a fully honest and vulnerable conversation with your inner self can be the hardest thing to do sometimes especially when the stakes are high. This book is not a biblical guide about how to navigate through your deepest private thoughts, but it has done the job serving as a reminder for readers to fight against this human instinct of being in denial!

[Lucy Skeet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh I loved this one, Roxy has done it again. Full review to come soon on Instagram, thanks so much to Fig Tree for my copy!

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Wants & Needs, we follow Misty on a belated coming of age journey as she comes to learn what she really wants from her relationships with partners, friends and family. After an abrupt end to her 8 year relationship, Misty’s world is rocked and the stability she thought she had is gone in an instant. Misty then meets Christopher through Hinge, but is initially wary when she finds that the ‘ENM’ in his bio stands for ‘ethical non-monogamy.’ Throughout the course of the novel, we see Misty grappling with her wants and needs regarding Christopher. Can they ever truly align?

Dunn’s writing finds the perfect balance between tragedy and comedy. I did not expect to laugh out loud as many times as I did at Misty’s dry wit and her mother’s curious habits, and then to turn the page and be hit with the hard truth of both of their struggles. Throughout the book, I often felt the same way as I did watching Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag, or reading Nora Ephron’s Heartburn. Dunn is also a screenwriter, and she really does play to her strengths when it comes to witty and pithy dialogue.

I did think that Misty and her friends had an unrealistic number of casual-but-also-extremely-profound conversations, but the truths, maxims, conclusions, etc (basically all of the meaty philosophical stuff) I found to be really well written and astute observations on what it means to be human and to love in the present day.

I actually enjoyed seeing Misty’s relationship with her mother develop more than her fling with Christopher, which on the whole frustrated me more than anything else.

Christopher didn’t feel very fleshed out for a character with so much presence in the book. Even as we learned more about the parameters of his open relationship and his own wants and concerns, Christopher still seemed like a vessel for Misty to use to learn more about herself and grow as a person. I guess that makes Christopher into a sort of male version of the ‘manic pixie dream girl’ archetype. A manic pixie dream boy?

I found Misty childish and needy, and although Dunn does go into how her upbringing might have played into this, I was left wanting more regarding both Misty’s childhood and her mother’s own experience growing up, which readers are led to believe formed her tough exterior without us really being shown how or why. I did like the whole motif of Misty’s own personal internal therapist, though.

Overall, I think that the writing of this book is perfect. I really enjoyed Dunn’s style and look forward to seeing it more in future works. This book just needed a lot more character depth for me outside of Misty herself, but I would still definitely recommend to fans of Dolly Alderton, Sally Rooney, and books about women who are still trying to figure themselves out.

Thank you to Roxy Dunn and Penguin Fig Tree for the opportunity to read and review this ARC copy!

[Lilly Hannelore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve had ‘as young as this’ sit on my shelf for quite some time (since, like so many other readers, i buy more books than i read), so when i saw an opportunity to pick up ‘wants and needs’, I didn’t hesitate. In this novel, we follow Misty, fresh out of a long-term relationship and with significant daddy and mummy issues, navigating her newly single life. And more or less immediately falling into an ethically non-monogamous arrangement with Christopher.

I’m going to be honest: I do not enjoy ENM, why-choose romances or anything of the sort. This made me in many ways all the more intrigued to read this and find out what maybe I have to gain from that experience. Ultimately, I think this book is great exploration of (as the title says) what we think we want, what we actually need and in how far we might not actually know what we want and need. It’s a coming of age story. I’ve read a couple of other reviews, any many see to comment on Misty’s immaturity. And I disagree, actually. She might seem immature for her age, and it is frustrating to read about her burrowing herself into a relationship she clearly doesn’t want and that she’s clearly only in because she’s terrified of being alone, but I think that’s a depressingly accurate description of many people. Misty just got out of a very long relationship, she spent most of her life in intimate relationships (including the one with her mother) where she was being cared for and didn’t really have to be independent. When you do that, it doesn’t really matter how old you are, you’re still kind of sheltered. And it’s only natural human instinct to try and throw yourself into the next best thing because it is the quicker solution than figuring out what you need first. This does make for a novel with a mildly to severely frustrating man character. If you cannot cope with that, this is not the book for you. But if you’re open to flawed, frustrating, deeply human narration, this might be the book for you. Roxy Dunn has a very sharp, witty and honestly funny writing style in this. It’s very direct and unashamed. ‘Wants and needs’ isn’t entirely unlike other books i’ve read, and so it wasn’t particularly enlightening but it was gripping nonetheless. But Misty should really get a real therapist.

Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book.

[Chelsea Knowles · Rating 1 out of 5]

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.*

This just wasn’t for me. I was going to write a long review for this but I don’t actually have that many feelings towards this book. As soon as I started it I knew it wasn’t going to be for me. The tone was completely off for me and didn’t fit the book in my opinion. I don’t think this explored ENM in the best way, it just felt like Christopher was cheating on his wife rather than an open dynamic. There was jealously there from Christopher’s wife and I don’t think it was great. I didn’t believe in the romance between Misty and Christopher. There was some weird jokes made that made me uncomfortable particularly one about Misty’s mum tricking her dad into having a child by saying she was on the pill when she wasn’t (I understand this is supposed to be funny but it did not hit for me). This just wasn’t for me and I probably shouldn’t have requested the arc in the first place.

[Kritikal Reading · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to come

[Lucxi ✨ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an interesting read but unfortunately not one for me.

Misty as a character felt underdeveloped. I kept having to remind myself that she's supposed to be thirty-two but her intense naivety and lack of seemingly any knowledge make her seem almost teenage-like. This is not helped by how unlikable she can come across - her joyful retelling of tripping over a toddler and hearing it cry doesn't paint her in the best light when the reader is still getting to know her character.

Christopher just felt like a sex object - if he's in a scene I know there's going to be a sexual encounter, joke, innuendo, conversation....etc. It made him feel two-dimensional; his character can be summarised as "a smart guy who is in an open relationship, also he has a kid".

I think the humour is odd. There is a "humourous story" about how Misty's mum baby-trapped a man by lying about being on birth control. If the genders were reversed I don't think it'd be seen as humourous.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

(side note: the ARC contained instructions on how to throw away the book at the end, seems a bit harsh).

[Saffy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved the author’s debut As Young As This so was thrilled to have the opportunity to read Wants and Needs. The main character is thirty something Misty, newly single and recuperating from knee surgery at her mother’s house in Brighton. When she meets Christopher through a dating app she doesn’t realise that he is in a non monogamous relationship and has a son. I loved the character of Misty, a smart, funny and vulnerable woman who goes on an emotional journey during the novel. I felt that the polyamorous relationship did not benefit Misty, I felt angry and protective of her and felt that Christopher was a selfish character. I loved the sections with her imaginary therapist but did feel some of the sections with her best friend Erica went on too long and lost focus. Overall this was an insightful, funny, moving and hopeful novel that I would recommend.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC,

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wants and Needs by Roxy Dunn explores the unsettling moment when you realise the life you thought was settled no longer fits. The novel follows Misty, whose carefully planned future with her fiancé abruptly unravels, sending her back to her mum’s house and into an uncomfortable reassessment of what she actually wants from adulthood.
As Misty tries to rebuild herself emotionally and romantically, she meets Christopher on a dating app and discovers that he and his wife are in an open relationship, or ethical non monogamy (ENM). Misty strikes a six week deal with herself to date Christopher while his partner is away, viewing it as a controlled experiment rather than a real relationship. Her aim is to become less attached and better prepared for whatever comes next. This idea was really interesting, and I appreciated what Dunn was attempting to explore.
That said, I struggled to connect with Misty. I found her quite unlikeable and surprisingly immature for a 32 year old woman, with behaviour that felt far more believable for someone in their early twenties. This made it hard for me to fully invest in her emotional journey. I also never quite warmed to Christopher, who felt rather two dimensional, although I did occasionally enjoy their dynamic.
Where the novel worked best for me was in its humour. Dunn’s writing is sharp and observant, often genuinely funny, and this helped keep the story moving even when I felt disconnected from the characters. I can see this appealing to readers who enjoy contemporary, voice driven fiction that leans heavily into introspection.
While I admired the intent and themes, the characters never fully came to life for me, and the novel did not quite land on a personal level.
AD/PR – Publishing 29/01/26
Thank you @penguinfigtree for the advanced copy.

[charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in a day. Shit this was soooo good.
Loved loved loved.