4 stars
Set during the Depression, this novel examines family and history in a small West Virginia town. Layla Beck is a privileged daughter of an American Senator sent to work for the Federal Writer's Project when she declines an advantageous proposal. Despite her privileged life, Layla embraces her position and gets to know the Romeyn family while she boards in their house. Told in alternating perspectives between Layla, Jottie Romeyn and twelve year old Willa Romeyn, family secrets are slowly revealed. While maybe a bit too long, I still enjoyed reading this book. The time period and richness of small-town life are well portrayed and the characters are all multi-faceted. Willa is an especially interesting character and I would love to read something from her adult perspective. I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Delicate Monsters by Stephanie Kuehn
3 stars
As an interesting insight into mental illness in children and teenagers, this was like no other book that I have read. It includes sometimes gritty details into the lives of three teenagers suffering from undefined mental and emotional distress. Sadie and Emerson played twisted games with each other as children and are reintroduced when Sadie starts attending Emerson's school. Miles is Emerson's brother and suffers from repeated illness and injury that defy explanation. There are clever twists and insights in this book but unfortunately it escalates to a bizarre and unsatisfactory conclusion. I ended up liking this more than I thought I would and it is definitely interesting but I felt it just lost something in the ending. I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
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