reviews

Old Soul: A Haunting Literary Horror Experience

by Stefani

Old Soul by Susan Barker

Published: January 28, 2025 by G.P Putnam’s Sons

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

In Osaka, two strangers, Jake and Mariko, miss a flight, and over dinner, discover they’ve both brutally lost loved ones whose paths crossed with the same beguiling woman no one has seen since.

Following traces this mysterious person left behind, Jake travels from country to country gathering chilling testimonies from others who encountered her across the decades—a trail of shattered souls that eventually leads him to Theo, a dying sculptor in rural New Mexico, who knows the woman better than anyone—and might just hold the key to who, or what, she is.

Part horror, part western, part thriller, Old Soul is a fearlessly bold and genre-defying tale about predation, morality and free will, and one man’s quest to bring a centuries-long chain of human devastation to an end.

Rating:

Review: **Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own. Thank you G.P Putnam’s Sons and NetGalley!**

I had some reservations about this book when I saw it being described a literary fiction and horror. I had a hard time seeing how those two genres meshed together and it made me nervous about the book. But, in the end I loved the book and I completely agree that it is a combination of horror and literary fiction.

This book wasn’t your typical scary horror book. It was haunting. Unsettling. Uneasy. It makes you read with a pit in your stomach that you can’t quite explain. And as the pieces get put together you find yourself reflecting on the book long after you’ve put it down. That was my experience. I was haunted by thoughts on this book long after I put it away and moved on to my next book.

But apart from the horror aspects of this mysterious woman this story is a character study. Each of the main characters are people that are explored in depth by the author. I found this part fascinating. I loved learning more about these people. It also made the horror aspects even more horrifying because I grew to care about them and knew what was likely going to happen to them.

When we got to the ending, I honestly felt like I wanted to scream helplessly into the void. It wasn’t the ending I expected. But, truthfully, it was the correct ending for this book. The ending makes the book even more unsettling than it was before. This was a great book, I highly recommend it.

Exploring Marriage Struggles in ‘Out of the Woods’

by Stefani

Out of the Woods by Hannah Bonam-Young

Published: January 28, 2025 by Dell

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Review:

High school sweethearts Sarah and Caleb Linwood have always been a sure thing. For the past seventeen years, they have had each other’s backs through all of life’s ups and downs, achievements, losses, stages, and phases.

But Sarah has begun to wonder… Who is she without her other half?

When she decides to take on a project of her own, a fundraising gala in memoriam of her late mother, Sarah wants nothing more than to prove to herself—and to everyone else—that she doesn’t need Caleb’s help to succeed. She’s still her mother’s daughter, after all. Independent and capable.

That is until the event fails and Caleb uninvitedly steps in to save the day.

The rift that follows unearths a decade of grievances between them and doubts begin to grow. Are they truly the same people they were when they got married at nineteen? Are they supposed to be?

In a desperate attempt to fix what they fear is near breaking, Sarah and Caleb make the spontaneous decision to join a grueling hiking trip intended to guide couples through rough patches.

Rating:

Review:

My success with books this week is 0 for 3. 3 books started, 3 books abandoned. I am in a slump that I hope doesn’t continue any further. I only made it about a quarter of the way through this one so the review should be short.

What I hoped to get: A cute little romance about a married couple who have lost each other in the years since their marriage and go on a retreat to find that cute, romantic love story again.

What I got: A rich, spoiled girl who regrets her life choices and decides that it is her husband’s fault that she is unhappy. Proceeds to drag him to a marriage retreat so she can further whine about her own choices.

I hated Sarah so much. Initially I had sympathy for her given the tragedy of her mother. But that sympathy disappeared the longer the book went on. She decided to be a stay at home wife and defers all of her decisions to her husband. She wants him to take charge because she didn’t feel worthy of being with him. So she defers to him for 15 years. And then the one time she decided that she didn’t want him to intervene, she blames him for over a decade of her unhappiness. Caleb is wonderful. He loves Sarah so deeply, and loved her mother too. He became part of their family and it was lovely. Hell, even when Sarah is threatening him with divorce he remembers to bring her Kindle on the retreat, with a portable charger AND remembers what she was reading. WTF?! This is the man she is dissatisfied with? Girl, get a therapist or leave that man alone!

The God of the Woods: Why do people love this?

by Stefani

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

Published: July 2, 2024 by Riverhead Books

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Review:

When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide

Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow,

Rating:

Review:

This book was one of the biggest examples of “everyone loved it but me” that I have ever seen. EVERYONE loves this book. It feels like everyone on the planet has rated this one five stars. And I hated it. I stopped about 40% of the way through because I just couldn’t wait for something to happen anymore.

I would tell you what happened in this book but I can’t. Because nothing actually happened. There are 1, 001 characters and we get to hear all of their POVs. And some of them even have multiple names, oh joy! I was so confused. All of the characters seemed exactly the same and I had no idea who was who. I hoped that we’d get past the constantly shifting POV to some actual story but alas, all that happened was to add in another timeline too. I had the most difficult time following along of any other book I’ve ever read. And there’s a lot of meandering in this plot that doesn’t accomplish anything.

After about 8 hours of nonsense I asked myself if I was willing to listen to this for 10 more hours. And I quickly decided that I was not willing to do that. So, I Googled the ending. It didn’t get better, but I saved myself a bunch of time.

Sociopath: A Mean Girls Sequel

by Stefani

Sociopath by Patric Gagne

Published: April 2, 2024 by Simon & Schuster

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

Patric Gagne realized she made others uncomfortable before she started kindergarten. Something about her caused people to react in a way she didn’t understand. She suspected it was because she didn’t feel things the way other kids did. Emotions like fear, guilt, and empathy eluded her. For the most part, she felt nothing. And she didn’t like the way that “nothing” felt.

She did her best to pretend she was like everyone else, but the constant pressure to conform to a society she knew rejected anyone like her was unbearable. So Patric stole. She lied. She was occasionally violent. She became an expert lock-picker and home-invader. All with the goal of replacing the nothingness with…something.

In college, Patric finally confirmed what she’d long suspected. She was a sociopath. But even though it was the very first personality disorder identified—well over 200 years ago—sociopathy had been neglected by mental health professionals for decades. She was told there was no treatment, no hope for a normal life. She found herself haunted by sociopaths in pop culture, madmen and evil villains who are considered monsters. Her future looked grim.

But when Patric reconnects with an old flame, she gets a glimpse of a future beyond her diagnosis. If she’s capable of love, it must mean that she isn’t a monster. With the help of her sweetheart (and some curious characters she meets along the way) she embarks on a mission to prove that the millions of Americans who share her diagnosis aren’t all monsters either.

Rating:

Review:

There have been a lot of interesting opinions and theories about this book and its author. It appears that the “university” that gave her a Ph.D merged with another university and may/or may not have been a diploma mill. And it’s not clear if they even had a Ph.D program in the thing she claims to have gotten her degree in. She has no published papers. Even her doctoral thesis isn’t available because, according to her uploading them online wasn’t mandatory at the school. Frankly, I don’t even think it’s clear she was “diagnosed” as a sociopath. First, sociopath isn’t a diagnosis in the DSM. Sociopathy is a colloquial term for antisocial personality disorder, and is considered a less malignant version of psychopathy. Her therapist had her take a test and then said it sounded like she was a sociopath. Technically I guess therapists are considered trained to make diagnoses but that seems a little simple and not remotely the experience of a lot of people who are trying to get a diagnosis for their mental health concerns.

Anyway, moving on from these points I am not going to speculate on whether the author is, or is not, a sociopath. I am certainly not trained or educated to make such a claim either way. Some of the things she describes seem to be evident of symptoms of the disorder but others are not. For someone who claims not to care about how others feel she certainly seems to care about upsetting people throughout the portion of the book I read. She falls in love, she has children that she claims to love. But if you have no feelings about other people and don’t care how they feel, then……how does that happen? I guess this is the problem with telling me on page 1 that you’re an unreliable narrator and a liar. I will never be able to tell if you’re lying to me or not.

This book was just really lame in the end. I got bored with it halfway through and put it down. There’s only so many stories I can listen to about Patric being mean to someone and then whining about being a sociopath and no one understands her. She talks so much about her “deviant” behavior but most of the “illegal” or deviant” things that she does are just lame. Like going into her neighbor’s house when they aren’t home. Sure, technically it’s breaking and entering but all she did while she was in the house was sit in the living room and look at their belongings. She says she steals things all the time but it’s never anything of value. It’s stupid stuff like a lost necklace or a hair barrette. She claims she steals people’s cars in college. Which is not even technically true. She convinces drunk frat boys to give her their keys to go get snacks. The drunk frat boys agree with the hopes that she’ll sleep with them when she returns. She drives the cars around for awhile, gets the snacks, fills the gas tank and brings it back. Wow, so deviant!

In the end this book was about a rich white girl who didn’t want to be boring. So she decided to be edgy and not care about anyone. But she still has an excuse to be rude and mean to people sometimes, she’s a sociopath so of course she was mean! I have no idea how she thinks this book is going to help all the poor misunderstood sociopaths out there, the whole book is just Patric being a mean girl. How is that helping anyone? I gave up, it was boring and a waste of my time.

Podcast Confessions: A Deep Dive into Tell Me What You Did

by Stefani

Tell Me What You Did by Carter Wilson

Published: January 28, 2025 by Poisoned Pen Press

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Review:

She gets people to confess their crimes for a living. He knows she’s hiding a terrible secret. It’s time for the truth to come out…

Poe Webb, host of a popular true crime podcast, invites people to anonymously confess crimes they’ve committed to her audience. She can’t guarantee the police won’t come after her “guests,” but her show grants simultaneous anonymity and instant fame—a potent combination that’s proven difficult to resist. After an episode recording, Poe usually erases both criminal and crime from her mind.

But when a strange and oddly familiar man appears on her show, Poe is forced to take a second look. Not only because he claims to be her mother’s murderer from years ago, but because Poe knows something no one else does. Her mother’s murderer is dead.

Poe killed him.

Rating:

Review:

This book was perfect for an audiobook. I liked having two voice actors, especially when it came to the chapters that were transcripts of the livestream podcast. It created a lot of great tension because it actually felt like a conversation, not just reading a conversation. I love that. And the male voice actor had a perfect voice to sound arrogantly menacing.

The pacing on this book was literally perfect. In one narrative we are following Poe, who had an odd encounter with a man who claims to be her mother’s murderer. She ends the podcasts recording immediately, upset by the interaction because she knows that her mother’s murderer is dead. But, Ian doesn’t go away. He wants to do another podcast together. He wants to tell his story. But he wants to do it live, not pre-recorded. And it needs to be two parts. This narrative is interspersed with transcripts of the livestream show that Poe and Ian are doing together. But, the podcast portions never spoil the good parts. They tease the good parts, which creates a wonderful tension as the plot moves forward. You know that this interaction isn’t going to go well, but you also need Poe to figure out the answers before any else horrifying happens!

I really enjoyed this book. I couldn’t stop listening to it, I wanted to know how it ended. The ending was rather weak, much to my dismay. Poe was a very smart character who inexplicably decides to just stop using her brain for the ending. That was frustrating. And the “twist” was not very twisty. In hindsight it was rather predictable and I would have preferred that the author go a different direction. But, lackluster ending aside, this was a fun ride.

Rant review: Clear by Carys Davies

by Stefani

Clear by Carys Davies

Published: April 2, 2024 by Scribner

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

1843. On a remote Scottish island, Ivar, the sole occupant, leads a life of quiet isolation until the day he finds a man unconscious on the beach below the cliffs. The newcomer is John Ferguson, an impoverished church minister sent to evict Ivar and turn the island into grazing land for sheep. Unaware of the stranger’s intentions, Ivar takes him into his home, and in spite of the two men having no common language, a fragile bond begins to form between them. Meanwhile on the mainland, John’s wife Mary anxiously awaits news of his mission.

Rating:

Review:

This has to be the most astoundingly confusing book that I have ever listened to or read. Which is saying a lot because I have read a lot of very strange books. Warning! This review might get a bit ranty. And when I get ranty I tend to post spoilers, so consider yourself warned. But in reality, don’t read this book, it’s not worth your time.

This book is only 196 pages and the audiobook runs barely three hours. I would consider it barely a novella, but it sounded very interesting. The Highland Clearance period hasn’t been written about much and I found myself doing some research on this time in history once I was finished with the book. And wow, this book did a huge disservice to history here.

Let’s start with the good stuff. This will be brief. The writing was lovely. Emotionally evocative, lyrical, perfectly set the scene to a misty Scottish morning on a remote island with nothing but sheep for company. It was delightful. I didn’t even mind that 90% of what we were writing was about the wildlife and weather, I was captivating by the descriptions and the writing. I was really invested in what was going to happen. John had gained Ivar’s trust and had become his friend, how would he handle the job he’d been hired to do. Would he actually evict Ivar from the island? Would he refuse and someone else come to finish the job?

About 20 minutes from the end this book fell apart. Completely. Entirely. Rather than actually address any of the deep, heavy issues that the book had set up the author decided to side step all of them. John decided to engage in a sexual relationship with Ivar. Which is an odd choice for an 1840s pastor who is deeply devoted to his faith and his wife. Even more inexplicably John’s wife jumps right on board with their new relationship and decides that the three of them should leave the island together and all live together. And 1840s throuple everyone! And so Ivar sails off into the sunset with his new lover and his wife. Wow. I legitimately had no words for that ending. It makes no sense in the context of the time period. It makes no sense in the context of the characters the author created. And it, somehow, managed to try and sidestep any of the real issues within the narrative with a happily ever after ending. Rather than making some kind of point about the brutality of the Highland Clearances, we just ride off into the sunset together. Isn’t that so wonderful? It doesn’t matter that John was supposed to kick him off the island, strip him of everything he’d ever known because the landlord wanted to stick a bunch of sheep there instead. Ivar fell in love and wanted to leave! Problem averted.

A Day in the Life of a Dull British Man: Alan Rickman’s Diaries

by Stefani

Madly Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman

Published: October 18, 2022 by Henry, Holt & Co

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

Madly Deeply is a rare invitation into the mind of Alan Rickman—one of the most magnetic, beloved performers of our time.

From his breakout role in Die Hard to his outstanding, multifaceted performances in the Harry Potter films, Galaxy Quest, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and more, Alan Rickman cemented his legacy as a world-class actor. His air of dignity, his sonorous voice, and the knowing wit he brought to each role continue to captivate audiences today.

But Rickman’s ability to breathe life into projects wasn’t confined to just his performances. As you’ll find, Rickman’s diaries detail the extraordinary and the ordinary, flitting between worldly and witty and gossipy, while remaining utterly candid throughout. He takes us inside his home, on trips with friends across the globe, and on the sets of films and plays ranging from Sense and Sensibility, to Noël Coward’s Private Lives, to the final film he directed, A Little Chaos.

Running from 1993 to his death in 2016, the diaries provide singular insight into Rickman’s public and private life. Reading them is like listening to Rickman chatting to a close companion. Meet Rickman the consummate professional actor, but also the friend, the traveler, the fan, the director, the enthusiast; in short, the man beyond the icon.

Madly, Deeply features a photo insert, a foreword by Emma Thompson, and an afterword by Rima Horton.

Rating:

Review:

Inspired by the Tom Felton memoir I decided to give this one a listen. Seeing that I am a huge fan of Alan Rickman and knew that he kept diaries for many years, I had hoped to find something inspiring, sweet, fulfilling, or even insightful. Unfortunately, this book badly needed an editor.

“Jurassic Park—what the hell is the plot? Great dinosaurs.”

While the quote is amusing, this is about as deep as the book ever goes. There is an awful lot of musings about friends coming over for dinner, or a new person that Alan had an encounter with, or something that happened during his day to day. Unfortunately, that’s about all there is. The writing is disjointed with little explanation of what is going on. Names are dropped with no explanation of who those people are until much later, events are described but not explained to the reader at all. This could have had a lot of potential if an editor went through the bits about the daily life and extracted the interesting tidbits and then tidied those up for publication. Instead we get over 400 pages of disjointed thoughts, incomplete sentences and random asides.

A disappointing result that could have been so much better. I gave it two stars because there were a few laughs but I ended up calling it quits about a third of the way through. I just couldn’t listen to another dull British day.

“Good food but on my top ten hate list would be over-attentive waiters – I like watching my wine glass get emptier. I am close to slapping the arm of the next waiter who refills my glass after every sip.”

Daughters of Shandong: A Tale of Resilience and Liberation

by Stefani

Daughters of Shandong by Eve J Chung

Published: May 7, 2024 by Berkley

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

Daughters are the Ang family’s curse.

In 1948, civil war ravages the Chinese countryside, but in rural Shandong, the wealthy, landowning Angs are more concerned with their lack of an heir. Hai is the eldest of four girls and spends her days looking after her sisters. Headstrong Di, who is just a year younger, learns to hide in plain sight, and their mother—abused by the family for failing to birth a boy—finds her own small acts of rebellion in the kitchen. As the Communist army closes in on their town, the rest of the prosperous household flees, leaving behind the girls and their mother because they view them as useless mouths to feed.

Without an Ang male to punish, the land-seizing cadres choose Hai, as the eldest child, to stand trial for her family’s crimes. She barely survives their brutality. Realizing the worst is yet to come, the women plan their escape. Starving and penniless but resourceful, they forge travel permits and embark on a thousand-mile journey to confront the family that abandoned them.

From the countryside to the bustling city of Qingdao, and onward to British Hong Kong and eventually Taiwan, they witness the changing tide of a nation and the plight of multitudes caught in the wake of revolution. But with the loss of their home and the life they’ve known also comes new freedom—to take hold of their fate, to shake free of the bonds of their gender, and to claim their own story.

Told in assured, evocative prose, with impeccably drawn characters, Daughters of Shandong is a hopeful, powerful story about the resilience of women in war; the enduring love between mothers, daughters, and sisters; and the sacrifices made to lift up future generations.

Rating:

Review:

I have been on something of an audiobook spree the past month or two because it is such an easy way to listen to some great books when relax my brain. My life has been insanely busy and stressful so it’s a good way to get in more reading time while I am busy cleaning the bathrooms, making dinner or running a bath for a tiny human. I picked this one up based on the synopsis alone and it was worth the listen.

This book is the fictionalized story of the author’s grandmother. The family had always talked in hushed tones about her grandmother’s flight from the Communist Revolution in China but everyone refused to talk about it further. So the author went on a quest to further understand what her grandmother had gone through and started researching. Once she discovered as much as she could she wrote this book and filled in some of the missing details with fiction.

It was a beautifully written story. The prose carries you along like a gentle river before suddenly plunging you down a steep waterfall when something shockingly evil happens. The trauma of this entire family of women is laid out in horrifying but hopeful detail. In the story the mother never gives up hope. She never stops trying to better the lives of her children. She never stops sacrificing for her children’s benefit, even when they hated her for it. A true mother is displayed on these pages. The kind of mother that will endure anything without complaint if it saves her children an ounce of pain. This book brought me to tears quite a few times.

The only detractor from this book was that the plot lags for a little while in the middle. While the family may have been in a transition period, I didn’t want to feel like I was also in a transition period too. My attention started to wander and I hoped the pacing would eventually recover. It did recover and the ending was logical and…well, it wasn’t exactly satisfying but it was sweet on many levels. But given the entirety of the story I don’t think it was supposed to be a satisfying ending. There isn’t a happily ever after when you’ve lived through such horror. Sometimes the happily ever after is being safe with your children, and trying to make it a better life again tomorrow.

The author’s note at the end put a very touching end to this story. It tells another tale of love and devotion. One of hers to her family and to telling the story of their generational trauma so that no one forgets what it took for her family to thrive. It put an extra poignant touch to the story.

Beyond the Wand: Tom Felton’s Wizarding World Adventures

by Stefani

Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard by Tom Felton

Published: October 18, 2022 by Grand Central Publishing

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

Tom Felton’s adolescence was anything but ordinary. His early rise to fame in beloved films like The Borrowers catapulted him into the limelight, but nothing could prepare him for what was to come after he landed the iconic role of the Draco Malfoy, the bleached blonde villain of the Harry Potter movies. For the next ten years, he was at the center of a huge pop culture phenomenon and yet, in between filming, he would go back to being a normal teenager trying to fit into a normal school.

Speaking with great candor and his signature humor, Tom shares his experience growing up as part of the wizarding world while also trying to navigate the muggle world. He tells stories from his early days in the business like his first acting gig where he was mistaken for fellow blonde child actor Macaulay Culkin and his Harry Potter audition where, in a very Draco-like move, he fudged how well he knew the books the series was based on (not at all). He reflects on his experiences working with cinematic greats such as Alan Rickman, Sir Michael Gambon, Dame Maggie Smith, and Ralph Fiennes (including that awkward Voldemort hug). And, perhaps most poignantly, he discusses the lasting relationships he made over that decade of filming, including with Emma Watson, who started out as a pesky nine-year-old whom he mocked for not knowing what a boom mic was but who soon grew into one of his dearest friends. Then, of course, there are the highs and lows of fame and navigating life after such a momentous and life-changing experience.

Rating:

Review:

I am not entirely sure what made me get this audiobook. I have followed Tom Felton on social media for years, I adore him! He’s such a funny, kindhearted, sincere human being. And I knew the book existed. And I just decided to listen to it. Admittedly it feels quite strange to be giving a memoir 5 stars, but here we are!

“An audience can go back and watch a film any number of times they want. It’s always there for them. For the cast and crew, the relationship with a film is more complex. The magic is in the making, and that process is a discreet unit of time in the past. You can reflect on that unit of time, you can be proud of it, but you can’t revisit it.”

It was a very good choice for this audiobook to be read by the author. I think it might not have had the same impact if he wasn’t able to add his own inflection, timing, humor and silly voices to the narrative. Having him read his own story enhanced the entire book. It was so funny and vulnerable. From his ambitions about wanting to be a carp fisherman, to discovering the wonders of room service, it was all written with an honest vulnerability and a lot of wit. I loved the stories of his time on Harry Potter of course, I am huge Harry Potter fan. But I loved everything else too. He covers everything from his first days of filming a commercial to seeking help for his mental health and alcoholism. I find myself without a whole lot to say because it was just so perfect.

One story in particular made me laugh so hard that I had tears leaking out of my eyes and my sides ached. And then just a few chapters later, I was sobbing. I didn’t expect it to be as good as it was, but I just can’t recommend it enough.

I’ll end the review with my absolute favorite line in the book. Tom is commenting on why he hasn’t ever reread the Harry Potter books or watched the movies (beyond going to the premieres). He says “I’m saving them for the moment I look forward to most…sharing these stories with my own little Muggles.” If that isn’t the most beautiful sentiment about what this fandom means to those who love it, I don’t know what is.

The Berry Pickers Review: A Heartbreaking Tale

by Stefani

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

Published: October 31, 2023 by Catapult

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

A four-year-old Mi’kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a tragic mystery that haunts the survivors, unravels a community, and remains unsolved for nearly fifty years.

July 1962. A Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, vanishes. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on a favorite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain distraught by his sister’s disappearance for years to come.

In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. As she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren’t telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret.

Rating:

Review:

I was interested in this one because it got a lot of buzz last year. I saw it win a bunch of awards and was talked about all over the book stratosphere. So I picked it up as my audiobook of the week. Though, truth be told, I have been so busy with work and children that audiobooks are about the only thing I have had time to read lately. Anyway, on to the book.

This book was so wonderfully written. It was striking and beautiful. The plot immediately introduces us to Ruthie and her family. They are an Indigenous family from Nova Scotia who travel to Maine every year to assist with harvesting blueberries. Except this year, Ruthie disappeared. They saw her sitting on a rock near the edge of the field and then she was gone. One second she was there and the next second she wasn’t. The police are called and searches commence but it doesn’t last long. They’re migrant workers, Indigenous, no one really cares. The police tells them that maybe their daughter just wandered off, they’ll likely never find her and she’s gone. The property owner sympathizes with their desperation to find her but reminds them that he has work to be done, he can’t afford for them to be searching the woods for Ruthie anymore. It’s heartbreaking and also very realistic, particularly for the timeframe. She is a girl who is easily forgotten.

We are also introduced to Norma. She grew up with a very exacting and manipulative mother. Her mother was a bit paranoid. Norma was rarely allowed to leave the house and definitely not to talk to other people. Honestly, it wasn’t hard to connect the pieces of the story here. I am not entirely sure it was supposed to be a mystery. The real story is how the truth comes to light.

I absolutely loved this book. It might make the short list of one of my favorite books ever. My only complaint was that it got a little too wordy in the middle. I started to lose interest because Norma just wasn’t really that interesting until later in the story. But despite the laggy middle it recovered quickly into a heartbreaking ending. I was left in tears for hours. I still feel a little weepy thinking about the ending of the book again. This is a wonderful book, I highly recommend it.

“Over the decades, the walls of this house have been torn down and built again in different places and painted in different colors, but a closet still holds a very old pair of girl’s boots with the head of a doll sticking out of one of them on the top shelf,” – The Berry Pickers