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A review by broccolimom
Little Lovely Things by Maureen Joyce Connolly
4.0
4.25 stars rounded down to 4?*
Admittedly drawn in by the title and cover art, I chose Lovely Little Things expecting a decent mystery with predictable plotlines and characters.
I was pleasantly surprised and completely impressed! Lovely Little Things isn't your garden variety missing-kid thriller. Firstly, it is beautifully written. Maureen Joyce Connolly has a gift with words and can turn a gorgeous phrase with the best of them. She writes with emotion but isn't overly emotional. She doesn't rely on any gimmicks nor try to trick her readers.
Lovely Little Things is an upsetting story- it opens with Claire Rawlings rushing to get her young daughters ready and dropped at daycare so she can get to the hospital where she is finishing her residency. Her husband left before she did and so although she feels terrible and is concerned that she is suffering from an extremely adverse reaction to the vaccination she received at work the day before, she has no choice but to soldier on and get the girls to daycare. On the road, the girls fall asleep and Claire struggles to ward off her fever and feels like she might black out or vomit. She makes a split-second decision to pull off into a gas station and run into the restroom, leaving the girls asleep in the car. She passes out in the bathroom and wakes to find her car, and her children gone.
The tale progresses across the next 3.5 years, as Claire & Glen seek answers to the questions of who took their daughters and what happened to them.
Kidnapping stories are never fun for mothers to read, but I enjoyed this tale and really appreciated Ms. Connolly's writing. Bravo for this debut novel! I will definitely look for more by this author!
*with thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Admittedly drawn in by the title and cover art, I chose Lovely Little Things expecting a decent mystery with predictable plotlines and characters.
I was pleasantly surprised and completely impressed! Lovely Little Things isn't your garden variety missing-kid thriller. Firstly, it is beautifully written. Maureen Joyce Connolly has a gift with words and can turn a gorgeous phrase with the best of them. She writes with emotion but isn't overly emotional. She doesn't rely on any gimmicks nor try to trick her readers.
Lovely Little Things is an upsetting story- it opens with Claire Rawlings rushing to get her young daughters ready and dropped at daycare so she can get to the hospital where she is finishing her residency. Her husband left before she did and so although she feels terrible and is concerned that she is suffering from an extremely adverse reaction to the vaccination she received at work the day before, she has no choice but to soldier on and get the girls to daycare. On the road, the girls fall asleep and Claire struggles to ward off her fever and feels like she might black out or vomit. She makes a split-second decision to pull off into a gas station and run into the restroom, leaving the girls asleep in the car. She passes out in the bathroom and wakes to find her car, and her children gone.
The tale progresses across the next 3.5 years, as Claire & Glen seek answers to the questions of who took their daughters and what happened to them.
Kidnapping stories are never fun for mothers to read, but I enjoyed this tale and really appreciated Ms. Connolly's writing. Bravo for this debut novel! I will definitely look for more by this author!
*with thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.