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Casual

ebook
0 of 1 copy available
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0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: Not available

One of LitHub's Most Anticipated Books of 2025!

"Eerily believable, incredibly relatable and heartbreaking."

  • Booklist
  • About CASUAL:

    Valya's neural implant is amazing.

    Its game-like app, CASUAL, has managed her depression and anxiety, stabilized her mood, and helped the infertile Valya get pregnant. But new laws forbid her from using the device when she's sole caregiver for her infant. Her gaslighting ex won't help her, and she can't afford a nanny, so her obstetrician insists that Valya wean off CASUAL before giving birth.

    Despite a will to quit and a supportive new love interest in her birthing class, disabling CASUAL turns Valya's anxiety into full-blown panic attacks. Her psychiatrist offers to enroll her in a controversial clinical trial that would place a tandem implant in the baby and allow Valya to keep hers active. Valya must decide whether she should attempt parenting without CASUAL or install a minimally tested device in her vulnerable child.

    Casual is a stark and cutting glance at a near future that looks uncannily like our present, exploring themes of bodily autonomy and the struggle for mental health in a world increasingly divided.

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    • Accessibility

      The publisher provides the following statement about the accessibility of the EPUB file supplied to OverDrive. Experiences may vary across reading systems. After borrowing the book, you may download the EPUB files to read in another reading system.

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      • No information about appearance modifiability is available.

      • Not all of the content will be readable as read aloud speech or dynamic braille.

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    • Reviews

      • Booklist

        February 1, 2025
        Valya lives in an eerily believable future not far removed from the present day. Single and seven months pregnant, she uses Casual to keep her ""dexiety"" (depression and anxiety) at bay. Casual, a brain implant that allows people to play immersive games, helps to calm her and ward off panic attacks. She can afford to pay her bills but not much else, and her career as a vlogger stalled after breaking up with her influencer boyfriend. Things look bleak for Valya until her psycher (therapist), Orlav, tells her about a clinical trial in which she could have a Casual implanted in her newborn baby and have both Casuals connected. At first she refuses, but as her mental-health struggles continue, she considers the offer. Valya's reluctance to confront the source of her trauma is incredibly relatable and heartbreaking, and she is someone readers will easily identify with as she stumbles through her life as it gradually spins out of control. Her ultimate decision leads the novel to a satisfying conclusion. Casual deftly explores making decisions through a new lens as an expectant mother with changing priorities.

        COPYRIGHT(2025) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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    Languages

    • English

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