Welcome to Litsy!

Loving my #springcardswap cards Thank you Christine for hosting- I love this so much!

This novel did not go in any of the several directions I expected it to, which was actually kind of delightful. It's a bizarre story of family systems, mourning, and discovering new ways of upholding responsibilities when the old ones no longer work. In a way, it's kind of a coming-of-age story for the painful growing up one does when our parents no longer carry us (literally and metaphorically), for whatever reason and at whatever age.

We'll see if Silo and I can make some reading progress before this one is due back at the library. I have not had near as much reading time so far this week as I would prefer. Or as Silo would prefer.

Best. Opening. Paragraph. Ever. I love it! 😹

“Calla was wearing the wrong bra. This sort of confrontation called for her sports bra, the one with the six non-nonsense hooks anchoring her down and all the sex appeal of old goulash. Instead, she was in her limpest bra, the one with the missing underwire, making her right breast pop over the cup like a gopher.”

My library literally just barely put the contact paper on when I checked this out!🫶🏼

I love that this book went in a different direction than I expected after the first few pages. What I thought was going to be a legal drama ended up being about the lives surrounding the death of a teenager at the hands of his sister. Their parents and her lawyers have history and secrets that get brought to the forefront after years of avoidance. Guilt, blame, forgiveness and characters I would never befriend but a story I could look away from.

Riveting from the word go, this book explores a family tragedy and its reverberations for each member as well as how it is intertwined with past events. I was fully engrossed and didn‘t want to stop listening.

4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - This was a really good read. I would have given it 5 ⭐️s but I was disappointed in the ending. It wasn‘t bad, just not enough to me. I hope you get what I mean. It was very interesting. Read it fairly quickly for me. Some language, but not much. No bad sexual content, but some. Just giving those who look for those things a heads up. Recommend to all. This was my Book of the Month for February. #BookoftheMonth #LitsyReads #Read2025

This is a brilliant debut novel about family, secrets, love, and ultimately forgiveness. While there is a murder that is central to the plot, and some legal drama, I do not feel it read as a mystery or thriller. Instead, it was a beautifully told story of families facing tragedies and trying to survive. It is both sad and thought provoking and I really enjoyed it. Thank you to both Edelweiss+ and NetGalley for the digital ARCs. 4.5/5

This was interesting story telling. The author had the chops to turn this into a legal drama but opted to keep it more family drama. I was a little frustrated the characters spent so much time inside their own heads, but as the story unfolded I was surprised at a major turn. I also thought the ending was complete, and I appreciate that in a mystery.

#quicklunchtimeread
It‘s been a while!