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annettenis 's review for:
The Forgotten Book Club
by Kate Storey
emotional
hopeful
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:
No
The Forgotten Book Club by Kate Storey is a book about grief and so much more. Grace is mourning the loss of her beloved husband Frank with the help of her daughter Rosie and beloved grandson Juan and at their suggestion she agrees to go to the book club he founded despite not being much of a reader. Once there she is surprised to find that it is nothing like she was expecting, instead it is a silent book club where a diverse group of members gather together once a week to read whatever books appeal to them . Grace struggles with the silence, it gives her too much time to think of Frank and so she rushes away only for one of the members, Annie, to follow and convince her to try again. Annie and Grace strike up a friendship and slowly but surely Grace embraces the silent book club and its members, and they in turn are overjoyed to welcome her. New found friendships are not the only thing that Grace finds as she embarks on this new adventure, she also learns more about her husband and the legacy that he has passed on to his daughter and grandson.
This is such a sweet and wholesome read, and one that many book lovers will enjoy. Each member of the group has their own story to tell and I really felt like I got to know and love them over the course of the book. There is so much compassion and empathy displayed by these characters that it really was a feel good read, but that being said the author is not afraid to tackle some difficult and heavy subjects head on including depression but with a strong emphasis on the value of connection and community. There is also a lot of discussion about neurodivergence and several neurodivergent characters and I think the author did a good job of pushing beyond the typical stereotypes and showing that it is a spectrum of experiences even if it did seem a little heavy handed in places. Finally I found myself making a TBR list of some of the recommendations that the characters made when discussing their favourite books, as someone who loves books about books this one ticked so many boxes for me.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.
This is such a sweet and wholesome read, and one that many book lovers will enjoy. Each member of the group has their own story to tell and I really felt like I got to know and love them over the course of the book. There is so much compassion and empathy displayed by these characters that it really was a feel good read, but that being said the author is not afraid to tackle some difficult and heavy subjects head on including depression but with a strong emphasis on the value of connection and community. There is also a lot of discussion about neurodivergence and several neurodivergent characters and I think the author did a good job of pushing beyond the typical stereotypes and showing that it is a spectrum of experiences even if it did seem a little heavy handed in places. Finally I found myself making a TBR list of some of the recommendations that the characters made when discussing their favourite books, as someone who loves books about books this one ticked so many boxes for me.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.