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#12BooksOf2025
In June, my family continued our tradition of listening to Kevin Wilson books on road trips with Run for the Hills. It wasn't our favorite of Wilson's novels, but it was my favorite read from June.

@TheEllieMo

I enjoyed this! Perhaps I needed more of a lighthearted and easy to follow story while hosting family and creating Christmas magic for my kids. Super exhausting, but being accompanied by this band of siblings during their cross-country roadtrip was a welcome addition to my own chaos. Interesting, as I read it following Lion, another #ToB26 longlist title, and both are focused on fathers.

Kevin Wilson is hit-or-miss for me but this was a hit. I really liked the premise, found the characters to be quirky and loveable and just enjoyed the funny stuff that happened along the way.

I really enjoy Wilson‘s writing & was excited this was one of the options for the #BiteSizedBooks portion of the #GoodreadsChallenge! This quick family drama starts with Mad in TN, who is shocked to have a half-brother show up in a PT Cruiser—& news that their dad has more children & is in CA. A sibling road trip ensues with the climax proving that it‘s not so much the destination as the journey. Funny moments, big secrets & room to define family!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25

Loved hearing Wilson speak, then meeting him afterward, recently in Nashville! He‘s so funny, quirky, and sweet. This was not my fave of his, but still enjoyable.

I hadn't read Wilson before and this was quieter than I was expecting. Quietly amusing, quietly revealing, quietly affecting. Perhaps a bit thinner than it could be, but I quietly enjoyed it.

#HauntedShelf #ScreamTeam

#Chocolatiers #OneSnackToRuleThemAll @Bookwormjillk

#SPNBookBingo2025 @OutsmartYourShelf square: baby

Here‘s the puzzle from my previous post glowing. 👻 Kinda fun!

#audiopuzzling

Another spooky puzzle. 👻🎧🧩 This one glows in the dark.

Galison: Haunted House
#audiopuzzling

There is nature vs. nurture, and then there are the things that shape us because we don‘t have them. For the.Hills children, that absence is their father and when they go on a cross-country road trip to meet each other and confront him, they realize what it means to be family and what home truly is. I absolutely loved this. Each character felt so real and distinct. I was happy to be along for the ride on this adventure.

While I am the target audience for a Kevin Wilson book, I‘m definitely not the target audience for any book involving estranged families coming together. This was that and it was okay and sometimes good and then it ended too abruptly.

This book had a lot of hype; while it was good, it wasn't amazing to me. Sort of funny, a bit heartwarming, but likely not one that will stick with me. There were a lot of questionable characters especially Tom's mother.

Well shoot,I really liked Wilson‘s previous books and loved the idea of half siblings were complete strangers embarking on a a road trip to find the father who abandoned them all. The problem is that there seemed to be only the idea of a story here. The characters were one dimensional, the journey itself was kind of boring, and the ending was so unsatisfying. Happy others seem to be enjoying it but I didn‘t like this one at all.

June's #WeeklyFavorites, at long last. Traveling threw me off, and I didn't finish any books between the 7th and 14th, so here's a cardinal for that spot. I think my favorite of these was the tagged.

@Read4life

Are we completely sure this was written by Kevin Wilson? It lacks the humor and the wittiness and weirdness we know him for. It really doesn‘t feel like him at all. But maybe he was trying something different?

I did enjoy it, I thought it was an interesting story. It just wasn‘t what I expected at all. And the ending felt abrupt, like the book was unfinished.

Oh well, hopefully he‘ll return to his old style with the next book.

This was so disappointing. A bunch of siblings goes on a roadtrip in search of their father, who left them all with a different mother. The characters aren‘t worked out at all, nor is the father or are his reasons for leaving them all. Nor, for that matter, is the roadtrip across the US.

Kevin Wilson did much better in Nothing to See Here.

📸 Syros, Greece

I listened to this bit by bit on a series of drives across Ohio and Michigan with my family. On a road trip is a great way to listen to Kevin Wilson (this is our third), and the premise of this one in particular fits road trip listening well. Wilson's characters are so immediately engrossing, all of us were engaged, alternately moved and laughing as Wilson led us through the complicated nature of "family," via Marin Ireland's narration.

I read this last week and have just dragged my feet on reviewing it. There‘s some genuinely funny lines and I like the characters, but I expect something special from KW and this is not. I‘ve read this book before and he‘s usually so fresh and new. Plus, the ending is pat and not fully developed.

I love Wilson‘s dysfunctional family stories. This one has newly discovered siblings on a cross country road trip trying to track down their absent father. It‘s amusing and odd and just what I‘ve come to expect and appreciate about Wilson‘s characters. Loved the audiobook.

I enjoy Kevin Wilson. He does such a good job with quirky characters. While this one doesn‘t replace Nothing to See Here as my favorite, I liked it a lot. In this one, a set of half-siblings who don‘t know each other go on a road trip to find their father. It was especially interesting to see how the dad changed in every family and how that influenced who the kids became.

This one was so good! It may be one of my favorites of the year! Its about siblings that didn‘t know each other existed and they all embark on a road trip to find and confront their dad. The wit and humor was perfect. It was an easy read but still had a lot of heart.

Started this one on my lunch break. I can already tell that I‘m going to like it!

I‘m afraid this one is headed back to the library unread. A road trip novel isn‘t appealing this soon after reading the ultimate feel good road trip book, The Road to Tender Hearts. Maybe I‘ll pick it up later and give it a fair chance.

Run for the Hills, by Kevin Wilson (2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: Very different people become an unlikely family discover they share the same father and embark on a cross-country road trip to find him and ask why he abandoned them all to forge very different lives for himself.

Review: Wilson is the king of profound but off-kilter fiction, and this is no exception. Cont.

I‘ve been using Libro.fm solely for this year and partially for a few more, and I‘ve hit a point of having the same number of finished and unfinished books. 😁🎉 Still not anywhere close to the 900+ I own on Audible, but I love supporting my local bookstore.

I‘m really enjoying Run for the Hills! Fun fact: Marin Ireland narrates both it and My Friends. I like her as a narrator. She‘s one that will swing me to the audio side.

This was a messy family road trip novel. These complex characters filled the pages with sadness, determination, anger, and regret. However, as the trip progressed, they made room for love. The resolution was a bit quick and frustratingly incomplete. Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for an ARC.

I never cease to be amazed by the creative mind of Kevin Wilson. He nailed magical realism in Nothing To See Here, and coming-of-age in Now Is Not The Time To Panic, and now he can add the road trip novel to his trophy shelf. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/run-for-the-hills-kevin-wilson/

In true Kevin Wilson style, this book deals with dysfunctional families. A group of strangers who discover they share the same father set out on a road trip to find their dad.

Although this isn't my favorite by him, it was still a good read. At times, scenarios felt too easily resolved, but I enjoyed seeing the relationships between the characters grow as the story progressed.

#NetGalley #ARC

#readingbracket2025
@CSeydel

Rube is traveling cross country to see his father who left him at a young age and who hasn‘t been in contact with him since. On his way he is picking up his siblings, all of which have been abandoned by their father, a man who is totally reinventing himself whenever he leaves. Kevin Wilson has once again written a book full of unique characters and I absolutely loved it.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. Out May 13