Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Mickey Morris has just learned that her estranged, now deceased father has left her his entire fortune. It's substantial, to say the least - Mickey is set to be a multi millionaire. But it's conditional: she must attend seven therapy sessions with Arlo, her father's chosen therapist Mickey isn't in a good place: she's not doing well at work, her personal life is a mess, and she's becoming increasingly more dependent on alcohol to get through her days.
Arlo is spiralling - she has just found out that the father she adored has cut her out of his will, and she is determined to get to the bottom of where exactly her fortune has gone. She's also dealing with the repercussions of something that happened to a client, but she won't let that get in the way of treating her new patient, Michelle "Mickey" Morris.....
I absolutely loved this. Mickey was an absolute mess, but Arlo wasn't too far behind her - both women had a lot to work through, and both had more in common than they thought. The writing style reminded me a lot of Catherine Newman, and I absolutely loved the sharp wit that cut through the more serious themes. Yes, it's a novel about addiction, loss, and grief, but it's also a novel about sisterhood, love, and closure.
The lawyer character added a layer of (darkly) comic relief (I imagined him as a Sam Rockwell type) and I enjoyed his interactions with both women. The side characters didn't overpower the main storyline, they enhanced it.
I didn't expect to love this as much as I did, but it ended up being one of my favourite reads so far this year.
Thank you to @vikingbooksuk for granting me approval to read an ARC via @netgalley.
Arlo is spiralling - she has just found out that the father she adored has cut her out of his will, and she is determined to get to the bottom of where exactly her fortune has gone. She's also dealing with the repercussions of something that happened to a client, but she won't let that get in the way of treating her new patient, Michelle "Mickey" Morris.....
I absolutely loved this. Mickey was an absolute mess, but Arlo wasn't too far behind her - both women had a lot to work through, and both had more in common than they thought. The writing style reminded me a lot of Catherine Newman, and I absolutely loved the sharp wit that cut through the more serious themes. Yes, it's a novel about addiction, loss, and grief, but it's also a novel about sisterhood, love, and closure.
The lawyer character added a layer of (darkly) comic relief (I imagined him as a Sam Rockwell type) and I enjoyed his interactions with both women. The side characters didn't overpower the main storyline, they enhanced it.
I didn't expect to love this as much as I did, but it ended up being one of my favourite reads so far this year.
Thank you to @vikingbooksuk for granting me approval to read an ARC via @netgalley.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is the kind of messy family dynamics I enjoy but boy, is it hard to root for either of these sisters here. Not impossible, but rough.
Mickey, aka Michelle and her mom were abandoned by her dad and left holding the bag for his debts, along with their abandonment issues. Arlo, aka Charlotte, was the daughter of the same man after he abandoned his first family and got the apparently happy home life and dad support that Mickey never did. Now, after Arlo cares for every aspect of his declining health over his last years, her dad has died and left all his money (5.5 million dollars) to Mickey and nothing to Arlo.
Meanwhile, Mickey, who has resolutely never thought of her dad for decades, finds her quiet, solitary life as a kindergarten teacher in peril due to her own bad decisions, and then gets a call from lawyers telling her she's going to inherit a lot of money if she goes to seven sessions of therapy at a specified practice. Little does either woman know that their dad has sent Mickey to Arlo's psychiatry practice for these sessions, but neither woman knows the other's full name.
What ensues is a messy story of two women blowing up their lives over a horrible father and a redemptive story about two strangers coming together as maybe friends and sisters after a lifetime of never knowing the other. Messy, dramatic, and with some pretty unlikeable characters who are trying to be better, this is a solid read for complicated family dynamics and bad decisions.
Mickey, aka Michelle and her mom were abandoned by her dad and left holding the bag for his debts, along with their abandonment issues. Arlo, aka Charlotte, was the daughter of the same man after he abandoned his first family and got the apparently happy home life and dad support that Mickey never did. Now, after Arlo cares for every aspect of his declining health over his last years, her dad has died and left all his money (5.5 million dollars) to Mickey and nothing to Arlo.
Meanwhile, Mickey, who has resolutely never thought of her dad for decades, finds her quiet, solitary life as a kindergarten teacher in peril due to her own bad decisions, and then gets a call from lawyers telling her she's going to inherit a lot of money if she goes to seven sessions of therapy at a specified practice. Little does either woman know that their dad has sent Mickey to Arlo's psychiatry practice for these sessions, but neither woman knows the other's full name.
What ensues is a messy story of two women blowing up their lives over a horrible father and a redemptive story about two strangers coming together as maybe friends and sisters after a lifetime of never knowing the other. Messy, dramatic, and with some pretty unlikeable characters who are trying to be better, this is a solid read for complicated family dynamics and bad decisions.
funny
reflective
challenging
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review.
I went into this book completely blind and I couldn’t put it down.
It’s a book that encompasses found family and deals with struggles of mental health and addiction in a well written way.
The book follows two half sisters, Michelle- who goes by Mickey, and Charlotte- who goes by Arlo. One is a kindergarten teacher and the other is a therapist. Mickey got abandoned by her father at a young age, he raised Arlo- but it’s Mickey who gets the money in his will.
There is confusion, anger, and all sorts of emotions flying from both of them. Then they meet without realising and things start to shift.
I think I liked Mickey better, she’s the underdog of the two. It upset me when she was put on suspension from her teaching job as you can tell from reading that she loves it. Her struggle with alcoholism was well told and I stuck to the story because I wanted and hoped she would be able to fight it and make herself well.
Addiction is a topic I haven’t read a lot of and I felt it was handled well, and not just for story telling purposes. It felt real.
Arlo- she grew on me. But I wasn’t a fan- she’s privileged and it shows. Her character development was great though.
As much as there are other background characters, the focus is on the sisters and I liked that. Things happened in their lives but it always came back to them.
This book is unlike anything I’ve read before and I was committed to the story and couldn’t put it down.
4/5 stars.
I can’t give it a 5 because of the topic of addiction as I know that can be a trigger for some people.
I went into this book completely blind and I couldn’t put it down.
It’s a book that encompasses found family and deals with struggles of mental health and addiction in a well written way.
The book follows two half sisters, Michelle- who goes by Mickey, and Charlotte- who goes by Arlo. One is a kindergarten teacher and the other is a therapist. Mickey got abandoned by her father at a young age, he raised Arlo- but it’s Mickey who gets the money in his will.
There is confusion, anger, and all sorts of emotions flying from both of them. Then they meet without realising and things start to shift.
I think I liked Mickey better, she’s the underdog of the two. It upset me when she was put on suspension from her teaching job as you can tell from reading that she loves it. Her struggle with alcoholism was well told and I stuck to the story because I wanted and hoped she would be able to fight it and make herself well.
Addiction is a topic I haven’t read a lot of and I felt it was handled well, and not just for story telling purposes. It felt real.
Arlo- she grew on me. But I wasn’t a fan- she’s privileged and it shows. Her character development was great though.
As much as there are other background characters, the focus is on the sisters and I liked that. Things happened in their lives but it always came back to them.
This book is unlike anything I’ve read before and I was committed to the story and couldn’t put it down.
4/5 stars.
I can’t give it a 5 because of the topic of addiction as I know that can be a trigger for some people.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Grief
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Mental illness, Death of parent
Moderate: Abandonment
Thank you to Netgalley, Penguin General UK, and Viking for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review
Michelle is a kindergarten teacher, she and her mother were abandoned by her father when she was a child, he was an alcoholic and abusive. She learns of his death through the obituary in the paper, and she later gets a call from a lawyer who is handling the estate that her late father left her 5.5 million but she has to meet conditions in order to inherit the money.
Charlotte is a therapist, who ideally should have all the tools to handle her father's death, but she is struggling, and when she learns her father left her nothing in the will she spirals. But little does she know her father had a plan for her after his death, and coming face to face with her half sister may be the key to them both finally healing from the devastation their father left in their lives.
I think the author did an incredible job of writing very flawed and broken people. Both Michelle and Charlotte were absolutely awful people, and I hated them for practically the whole book. I had a lot of trouble relating to them and did not feel sympathy for them which was my main problem with the book. The author also really nailed the therapy portion of the book, and how is takes rock bottom to really recognize you need to make a change. The book just did not invoke any emotion from me.
Michelle is a kindergarten teacher, she and her mother were abandoned by her father when she was a child, he was an alcoholic and abusive. She learns of his death through the obituary in the paper, and she later gets a call from a lawyer who is handling the estate that her late father left her 5.5 million but she has to meet conditions in order to inherit the money.
Charlotte is a therapist, who ideally should have all the tools to handle her father's death, but she is struggling, and when she learns her father left her nothing in the will she spirals. But little does she know her father had a plan for her after his death, and coming face to face with her half sister may be the key to them both finally healing from the devastation their father left in their lives.
I think the author did an incredible job of writing very flawed and broken people. Both Michelle and Charlotte were absolutely awful people, and I hated them for practically the whole book. I had a lot of trouble relating to them and did not feel sympathy for them which was my main problem with the book. The author also really nailed the therapy portion of the book, and how is takes rock bottom to really recognize you need to make a change. The book just did not invoke any emotion from me.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a story about disfunctional families, how your beliefs and upbringing can impact on you as an adult. The catastrophic impact addiction can have on an individual and their sense of reality and what is right and wrong. The benefits of therapy.
I found this a hard read at times but l loved it.
I found this a hard read at times but l loved it.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced