Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Hot Springs Drive

This book came onto my radar since it's on Roxanne Gay's imprint and I am a huge fan of her work, and it didn't disapppoint. I would definitely read more from this author.

She kept me reading to see where the story would go. I read it on a day when my young daughter was home sick from school and I was glad she just wanted to snuggle and sleep so I could keep turning the pages.

Very dark and open door spice, with lots of trigger warnings, wrapped in a story of friendship and the darkness in families. Not a lot of resolve at the end of the story, but I feel that's true to life and appreciate when an author doesn't give us everything in a nice bow.

The combination of a compelling plot line and a story that kept moving along with well developed (although totally unlikeable) characters was a hit for me. I enjoyed the reading experience I had with this book, and if the story/characters stick with me further into the year, I would increase my rating to 4.25.

Content Warnings

bookreviewswithkb's review

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

thank you @groveatlantic and @roxanegaybooks for the early copy!

“sometimes the sun will be the perfect yellow, not too hot, and there’ll be a breeze, and you’ll look up at just the right moment. that’s all you’ll remember, that’s all that matters, and thank goodness.”

this book was such a wild ride. i think the author is trying to say something about the pressure women feel to be beautiful, to take care of everything, to be invisible but present. how easy it is to ignore what you don’t want to see. how sometimes the lies become so big we can’t figure out how to get back to the truth

it was interesting and weird and sometimes too much for me and i never would have read it if it wasn’t published by @roxanegaybooks but i’m glad i did and if you like books that are somewhat on the thriller side with a lot of sex and betrayal and unlikeable characters, this book is for you

also WHY did the one Black character that was hardly mentioned have to be “good at soccer?”

Content Warnings

bella_cavicchi's review

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dark reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

HOT SPRINGS DRIVES occupies the same space in my brain as the trailer for Sydney Sweeney's ANYONE BUT YOU, except 10x darker. Roll with me.

In all seriousness, this was a compelling and well-crafted contribution to the growing cross-genre of domestic thriller and literary fiction. I really enjoyed it and managed to devour it in mere days!

Content Warnings

lorit1227's review

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challenging dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

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