The Roadrunner Cafe

by Jamie Zerndt

One year after his father's suicide, Carson Long feels cheated. He hates his father for leaving him and his sister, Georgie, alone. He hates him for turning his mother into a young widow who hasn't left the house in months. And he hates his father for leaving behind his stupid tree. Four of them are planted outside the restaurant, one for each family member. That is until Carson's mother, no longer able to stand the sight of the tree, hires a local landscaper to remove it in the middle of the night. This seemingly unremarkable act soon sets in motion of series of events in the small Colorado ski town that leaves more than just young Carson groping in the dark for answers.

The Roadrunner Café is a unique novel told from multiple points of view about loss and the lengths some will go to heal the human heart. Ultimately, it is a story about what it takes to go on living even when everything in the world might be telling us it isn't possible to.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Family, Amazon, Ebooks, Drama

300 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 2, 2015

About the author

Jamie Zerndt is the author of THE CLOUD SEEDERS, THE KOREAN WORD FOR BUTTERFLY, THE ROADRUNNER CAFE, and JERKWATER. His short story, "THIS JERKWATER LIFE", was recently chosen as an Editor's Pick in Amazon's Kindle Singles store. He now lives in Portland, Oregon, with his son where he is probably trying to take a nap. And failing.

Follow him on the Bookbub here: bit.ly/3tU1EZP

Reviews

[Mackey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very solid 4.5 star read....

Jamie Zerndt has crafted a solid, domestic noir saga that deals with a family who experienced loss and whose grief touches everyone in the small, intertwined town. The Roadrunner Café is dark, at times overwhelming but, ultimately, a story of hope for us all. 

Carson Long's father has committed suicide. The grief over his loss and the unanswered questions permeate their home which Carson describes as a "two-story coffin." His mother, Judith, is both sad and bitter. His sister, Georgie, is depressed and angry often acting out in ways that teens do when they cannot get a handle on their intense emotions. Their neighbors and former customers are affected by their own sense of loss and grief. And then there are the trees planted outside the café to represent each member of the family. They become symbolic of this family's life, their choices and ultimately their future. 

There were times that I felt as though I was chasing a roadrunner as the book weaved and dodged from one member of the large ensemble cast. We are introduced to the family first, the neighbors and then members of the community. To say that I was incredulous that Zerndt could tie all of these characters together in any logical way is an understatement. I finally let go of my expectations for the characters as well my insatiable need to know what their role would be and simply flowed with each ones unique story. And yes, they all do fit together in the end. 

Parts of the story are very depressing, others are incredibly graphic. I'm not sure that I would want a young teen to read this story but it is one that needs to be told, has an excellent message and could be read by older young adults. It is perfect for those of us who love noir writing and strong, well formed characters. 

This book is not going to be for everyone; it is not a fast paced book but rather a story of love, compassion, forgiveness and, simply, a people's need to grieve. I highly recommend The Roadrunner Café but with a warning to take the book slowly, get to know the characters and allow them to grow as you read along. You will be glad that you did. 

Thank you to Goodreads Giveaways and Amazon Kindle for my copy of this book. 

[Larry H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Many thanks to NetGalley and Fliterati Press for making it available!

Scrabble fans, the word "brailling" means feeling the surface of a tile while your hand is in the bag in order to draw a blank or other specific letter. This practice is strictly against the rules. (Don't worry, this isn't a book about Scrabble.)

At times while reading James Zerndt's moving but slightly scattered Brailling for Wile , I felt as if I could benefit from brailling to help me find my way to the beautiful heart of this book. At its core, this is a book about love, loss, redemption, and recovery, and it touches you and makes you think. It's just at times it loses its way a little bit.

Thirteen-year-old Mattias Long and his older sister Georgie have been left reeling since the suicide of their father Wile (so called because "his crazy plans to build his family a better life...ended up with an anvil falling on him," like Wile E. Coyote) one year ago. Mattias has been responsible for watching over their mother, who is so consumed with grief that she hasn't been able to reopen the family's Colorado restaurant, The Sad Cafe. And then their mother makes a discovery that changes all of them, sending them reeling and pondering their next steps.

Mattias and his family aren't the only ones struck by life and loss. Brailling for Wile follows a number of other people in the small ski town where they live, and many are trying to overcome their own dilemmas and figure out their own lives. And then a seemingly simple request from Mattias' mother sets a course of events in motion that affects an ever-widening circle of people and forces them to confront their own issues.

As you might imagine from a book about loss, there is a lot of emotion conveyed in this story, and it's very engaging. There are a lot of different threads of the plot to keep straight, although they eventually intersect, and while most of them work, one subplot involving Mattias' friend Helyana and her ultra-religious grandfather seemed utterly unnecessary and unrealistic, and I found it tremendously distracting. I don't think the book needed to artificial chaos that those characters brought about—it was almost as if Zerndt didn't trust the power of his story without that, and it was moving more than fine on its own.

But despite the one discordant thread of the story, this is still a moving, well-written book that I felt in my heart and my head. It definitely makes you think how you'd handle the situations the characters find themselves in, and I was left thinking about these characters even after I finished the book. I'm glad I read this one.

See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo....

[Iris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good descriptions of human grief. I liked this author's style but I couldn't help but feel there was something missing in my experience of his book. I'm not a writer or an editor but I came away with a feeling that there's potential for something better. What do I know? Not much to be sure. I'm just a fan of a good story well told.

[Jim Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a novel: a story about a significant portion of a person’s life. In fact, it contains several characters, many of whom grow and succeed, while others fail disastrously.
The writing is fresh, with strong characters. For example, “Mattias wonders what’s flashing through his mom’s mind. He hopes it’s nothing. He wishes memories were like car windows and all you had to do was squeegee them clean.”
And this: “The mountain looks neon in the moonlight, like there’s a spotlight lodged in its belly. With every step, Easy hears voices in the trees, coyotes nipping at his heels, laughter, all sorts of weird stuff. The only way he can silence it is to stop and hold his breath. Then there’s quiet. A frozen kind of quiet with the trees all still and brittle looking. Even his shadow looks frozen. Then, with that first step, everything chattering again. Like he’s being followed. By a mountain.”
There is action: “The kid studies the floor like he’s looking for a good place to spit, then, and it happens so quickly Norwood isn’t sure the kid ever looks up at all, he slams his empty pint glass into the side of the man’s head. Just about the last thing Norwood is expecting.”
There is personal choice, lots of it. Pretty much every character makes a key decision that changes a key situation.
No carps. Maybe a single typo. Nothing.
There is interpersonal action, for example this: “He turns back over, wraps his arms around Deana and feels her small calloused hand slide into his. Suddenly the bed doesn’t feel so crowded anymore , and he closes his eyes, a feeling like something may have just been decided coming over him, like somehow his life has just shifted in the space of that one small touch.”
One final quote: “She stares at her phone as her father’s tree sways back and forth outside the window. Like it’s shaking its head at her. Judging. Which would be just like him. She can still feel him, see him, everywhere. Her father was like a bruise she sometimes mistook for a smudge of dirt. It was only when she went to try and scrub it off that it started hurting.”
While there is sex, it is not graphic, and it is essential to the characters. This is suitable material for adults, and probably mature teen-agers.
Stars. My personal guidelines, when doing any review, are as follows: five stars means, roughly equal to best in genre. Rarely given. Four stars means, extremely good. Three stars means, definitely recommendable. I am a tough reviewer. This is a bit like Hemingway, a bit like Faulkner, and uniquely Zerndt, and clearly in the five-star category. Brailling for Wile is highly recommended.

[Ms.pegasus · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the pleasures of small town life is the surprising connections. Meet someone new and surprise! The two of you have a close mutual acquaintance. Here, the small town is Crested Butte, Colorado. It's just north of Gunnison (population around 5000+). Characters are introduced and in the same casual way their connections are revealed.

The story opens in the shuttered Sad Café. (The name is literary, an illusion to Carson McCullers' BALLAD OF THE SAD CAFÉ). Twelve year old Carson is trying to anchor his family after the suicide of his father Wily. It's a remarkable opening chapter. Carson's mother Judith has like countless previous nights been drinking. She sits before a scrabble board, but the words that emerge are grim reminders of her husband. She has learned Wily was having an affair, but now, the anger steels her resolve to move forward, to move what remains of her family forward. She will re-open the café; rename it the Roadrunner Café — the Roadrunner always triumphs, doesn't he? The reader can only admire the force of will this grieving woman summons.

Later chapters introduce other interesting characters. Easy is a rootless 22-year-old employed for the season as janitor/maintenance man at a nearby ski resort. His father died prematurely of a heart attack. Drinking helps numb some of his bitterness. Norwood is over 40, a recovering alcoholic afraid to take the next step in a serious relationship: start a family. Gordon is a Vietnam vet haunted by memories of the war and a sensitive observer of the troubled people around him. Georgie is Carson's 16 year old sister looking for a way to fill the emptiness left by her father. Helyana lives with her grandfather Seth. Her parents were killed in a car accident when she was four. Sally White is the woman Wily loved.

Zerndt seamlessly connects these people. His pace is unhurried but not slow. 'Simply watch and listen,' he seems to tell the reader. We listen not just to what these characters say but to what they are thinking. Through them we learn much about Wily, a man with a romantic, painfully sentimental bent. In the yard he planted trees. There is one for each family member and his tree now reminds them of his absence. He wrote poetry. Was he a frustrated writer? Maybe, or maybe writing was another of those impossible imaginings that dissolved under scrutiny like Wily Coyote's foothold when he looked down and found himself standing on air.

Zerndt writes without ostentation. It makes his occasional expansiveness all the more effective. Here is Deana, Norwood's girlfriend, recounting how she came to yearn for a baby: “Babies were for people who had empty lives....And Deana never had much time to worry about that seeing as she was always working. But then, one day, there it was. First it was just the word: baby. It set out a lawn chair along the sidelines of her brain somewhere, content at first just to watch the usual parade of thoughts passing by. But, over time, it slowly ceased to be just a word. It became a feeling. A longing for a person she'd never met but suddenly couldn't wait to.” (Location 1155)

Zerndt leavens his story with humor. He sets one scene in a pasture during Cattlemen's Days. A betting pool is in progress. It entails cow patties, a cow with the unsuitable name of “Rocket,” and Deana. As if the situation weren't amusing enough, Easy plays an unexpected part in helping Deana.

One plot element of the book, however, felt forced. Helyana, Carson's close friend is incompletely developed as a character. Throughout the book she has been a catalyst, provoking Carson with just enough curiosity to leave the confines of the house. However, Zerndt tacks on an implausible event and invokes mystical elements that simply didn't fit.

Despite it's flaws, I'm glad I read this book. Although it dealt with grief and loneliness, it also presented characters determined to confront their fears. This was a free book and I was pleasantly surprised by the understated style and strength of the writing. On that basis, I have given it four stars.
NOTE: Apparently, this book has undergone several revisions. I downloaded this book in July 2016.

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

`Wile's a proper noun'... `There was nothing proper about your father.'

For those who have had the privilege of reading Portland, Oregon writer James Zerndt's second novel THE KOREAN WORD FOR BUTTERFLY then the magic he weaves so successfully in his debut novel THE CLOUD SEEDERS came as no surprise: it is every bit as satisfying a read as his other book. Though some critics and reviewers referred to this as a post apocalyptic tale (think José Saramago's BLINDNESS, Cormac McCarthy's THE ROAD, Kurt Vonnegut's CAT'S CRADLE etc) - and Zerndt's story is up there with the best of those - this tale of the drying up of the skies and the resultant drought that must be fought by humans if they/we are to survive is a novel that could easily take place in the rather near future if we do not care for the environment more strongly. As for his second novel, not only did Zerndt grasp the secret of how to unravel a well-constructed story, complete with a slow character build up, an interplay of all the characters with a natural evolution, a denouement that is transcendent, and a resolution that leaves the reader with a feeling of complete satisfaction, but he also has elected in THE KOREAN WORD FOR BUTTERFLY to use a writing style that follows the tilt of the story - a mixture of Western prose with isolated lines that resemble Eastern haiku that spaces his interwoven tale in chards that the reader can assemble as a part of the reading process. Zerndt's time spent in Korea enhances his ability to pulse Korean language and customs and manners naturally, and that is one of the reasons the balance between the Korean aspect and the American aspect is so smooth.

But on to his newest achievement - BRAILLING FOR WILE - and if anything Zerndt proves that his first two successes were not serendipity. Always concentrating on major issues, this book probes life, death, and suicide and how families respond with those final acts. He underlies the importance of his title by explaining a term with which we are unfamiliar: `BRAILLING: Feeling the surface of a tile while your hand is in the bag in order to draw a blank or other specific letter . This is strictly forbidden. -from Scrabble's Official Glossary of Terms'. Or as he summarizes his story, `Brailling was something twelve-year-old Mattias Long learned to master during the games of Scrabble he used to play with his mother while they waited for his father, Wile, to close up the family restaurant. But now, one year after his father's suicide, it's Mattias who feels cheated. He hates his father. He hates him for leaving Mattias and his sister, Georgie, alone. He hates him for turning his mother into a young widow who hasn't left the house in months. And he hates his father for leaving behind his stupid tree. Four of them are planted outside the restaurant, one for each family member, his father's now casting the biggest shadow. Both literally and figuratively. That is until Mattias's mother, no longer able to stand the sight of the tree, hires a local landscaper to remove it in the middle of the night. This seemingly unremarkable act soon sets in motion of series of events in the small Colorado ski town that leaves more than just young Mattias groping in the dark for answers.' Take an unusual story and from that create the strength of character that it takes for a child to restore meaning to life after major trauma and that is the sense we take from the first reading of Zerndt's book. But as this reviewer has said before, few young contemporary writers share the solid impact James Zerndt has on his readers. He seems settling in to be one of the major talents of the day. Highly Recommended.

[Sally White · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the spirit of full disclosure, I know Mr. Zerndt through a writing community. It is no coincidence, then, that I share a name with the home-wrecking veterinarian, Sally White, featured in the novel. However, aside from our name and hair color, I actually have very little in common with the character. My voice, for example, is not "...bitter and full of serpents," as perceived by Knut, Brailling's religious zealot and the fictional Sally's masseur. Nor has the devil "...already autographed... [my] soul." Since our similarities our purely superficial, nothing kept me from fully relishing every moment of this compelling story, hilarious and poignant, in turn.

In Brailling for Wile, Mr. Zerndt creates a host of colorful characters who remain genuine and relatable, despite their wonderful eccentricities. The small Colorado ski town in which the story unfolds has a "Northern Exposure" flavor, with the lives of the wonderfully quirky characters cleverly intersecting throughout the novel. Zerndt's trademark style, simple but elegant, makes this a nice, easy read, and investing in these rich characters comes naturally. I highly recommend it for summer - or any season.

[Namitha Varma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of late, I've realised that I have a soft spot for stories that are told with a rawness of human nature, and I definitely do not like books that pretend all is well with the world. (Wodehouse is an exception. He will ALWAYS remain an exception, even if I start favouring stark sci-fi and horror with blood and gore galore.) This does not mean that I like tragedies only, but that I do not like stories that desperately insist on ending in complete happiness.

That said, Brailling for Wile is a sad-happy book, the kind that will remind you of your worst memories, make you sympathise with characters and situations that you'd never wish happen to anyone you know, and build a small knot in your heart and stomach - but the memories will only make you stronger, the sympathy will make you more appreciative, and the knot will not grow bigger though it might decide to make a permanent home there. The story is not just about the Longs who are dealing with the loss of the father, but of a lot of people coming to terms with losses of different kinds.

[Nathan Beauchamp · Rating 5 out of 5]

While set at the foot of the Rockies in the towns of Gunnison and Crested Butte Colorado, the style, themes, and prose of James Zerndt’s BRAILING FOR WILE places it alongside the work of other literary “Midwestern” writers such as Kent Harruf and Richard Russo. Zerndt understands the interconnectedness of small towns and weaves together a half-dozen storylines into a cohesive whole. Each character stands distinct. Zerndt allows them the dignity of their beliefs, be they a fanatical masseur or a twelve-year-old boy flirting with nihilism after the suicide of his father. No condescension can be found in these pages, no hint of pedantry or sarcasm. Zerndt gives his characters their due and leaves the reader to draw their own conclusions.

Thoughtful nuance here and there prevent the novel from overwhelming the reader with the intensity of its themes. Suicide, alienation, religious extremism, loss of faith, the way families can fragment after tragedy—Zerndt is honest about all of them and doesn’t provide easy, trite answers, either as the author or using his characters to sermonize. Instead, he shows characters in flux, characters struggling with their circumstances, themselves, and the human condition. All with prose that is simple, poignant, and lovely. There’s a hopefulness to the narrative as well, a necessary offset to the themes Zerndt takes on. While darkness can enter any of our lives at any moment, the tenacity of the human spirit will win out in the end.

Perhaps this is the defining characteristic of Midwestern fiction: the belief that we are made better by community, made better by being known, made better by the togetherness that small towns and small communities can provide. While some writers romanticize the small town and others portray them as cesspools of dysfunction, Zerndt treats them as he does his characters: not as black or white but in necessary shades of gray.

The controlling metaphor of the novel (brailing; the act of feeling the surface of letters in a Scrabble bag in order to find specific ones) works well enough, though non-Scrabble players may not fully “get” it. There is a sense in which Zerdnt has tried to accomplish too much in this short novel. Some of the supporting metaphors and symbolism around coyotes felt a touch heavy-handed. Another minor weakness is that the language used by Mattias, a twelve-year-old boy, reads as a bit too sophisticated, too adult. His characterization wobbled here and there, but I suppose that exposure to death does have a way of aging children. Regardless, the narrative never strayed into outright unbelievable territory.

Compelling and evocative, BRAILING FOR WILE isn’t an easy story but it is a worthwhile one. The well-drawn characters, lack of melodrama, and lovely prose make for a quick, intelligent read. I eagerly anticipate reading more of Zerndt’s work in the future.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

** I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.**

'Brailling For Wile' is one of those books that is full of raw emotion. I loved how the story portrayed true feelings and how tragedy effects more than one life. The emotional roller coaster that the characters went through turned out to be a beautiful transformation of their souls. Each character had a story of loss, which brought them closer to each other in one form or another. Mattias and Georgie were great characters who had a hard time dealing with their father's suicide. But in time they found a way to lessen the pain. Like I said, raw emotion. The characters that were a part of this story each had their own path to travel. Some crashed, while others flourished. I felt connected to each person through the sadness, anger, joy and even forgiveness. James Zerndt has a way of bringing life to his stories, and this book was one that held life in a true form. A great add to your tbr list.

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read about a family dealing with grief and the community around them. A story of suicide, human emotions, secrets, coping strategies and dealing with the fall out of a sudden death.
Wile is the central character who has a strange and unusual friend who tries to help him through it but who creates more issues in doing so. He is watching his Mother and Sister grieving whilst trying to deal with his own grief and feelings.

[Miranda Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I really didn't know what to make of this one at first. It started off a little slow, but I was really floored by the end of it!

Brailling for Wile is a great story to sink your teeth into if you like interweaving story lines where all the characters play a role and collide together. The author, James Zerndt, does this quite masterfully. This is honestly one of the best books I've ever read with this kind of story line.

Matthias is having a hard time dealing with his father's suicide. It really doesn't help that his mother reveals to him that his father was having an affair. Throw in a crazy religious girl that is madly in love with Matthias and will do anything to make him "see the light" and his older sister that is drifting further and further away, and you can probably see why Matthias thinks he may go insane.

In sync with Matthias's plight is the ballad of Norwood and Easy. Norwood has to decide if he finally really wants to become a man in his older age and raise a child with his long time girlfriend who believes that her biological clock is ticking. While, Easy is trying to let go of a destructive past love and perhaps let a young girl named Georgie in.

Brailling for Wile is a great look into the stages of grief, maturity, and forgiveness. There's also another darker message shown here about what happens when you let religion consume you.

[Nicola Hawkes · Rating 3 out of 5]

A relatively short book, but one with honesty and some very good writing. I was initially worried that there were going to be too many characters with only superficial treatments, but fortunately I was wrong. I thought the emotions of suicide were really well portrayed, although (luckily) I don't have such direct experience of a family suicide. The involvement of the coyotes was interesting; the quirkiness of the tree plotline was enjoyable; but the weirdness of Helyana and her grandfather was over-done I thought - I felt a little like her complex character had been sacrificed for a dramatic ending. It wasn't clear to me why her friendship suddenly became overtly malevolent; I don't quite believe the intense religiosity. I'd give it 3.5 stars if I could.

[Sheri Meshal · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Zerndt has done it again. Best book I've read in a long time... this author seriously delivers. Each book is better than the last. Can't wait for the next one. His style is tender and cozy, yet chock-full of the gritty realness of life without so much as a hint of melodrama. I'm already missing these hauntingly complex characters. If you can't stand cliches and predictability, this is the book for you, an unapologetic original. This indie author's going to make it to the New York Time's Best-Sellers list. Mark my words.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Good Cast of Characters

And a quirky plot. Set in a small community mountain resort, Georgie, Carson, Judith, Easy, Norwood, Helyana and Sally are all running away from something and towards theirselves. In loss, adversity, love and community finding meaning and a way to move on.

A decent story for talking about suicide, death and who we chose to love.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting read. My full recommendation can be found here: http://wp.me/p4S5rI-7R

[Red · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ve had this book in my reading queue for a few years, decided it was time to dust it off. I’m about 68% through the book and am abandoning ship.

I hit the third major scene of explicit brutality that turned my stomach enough to make me skip ahead. And then I began to wonder how many more characters are there just to ‘reveal’ scenes. Apparently I will tolerate brutality to humans a but more willingly then to animals, but I’m not happy with either. I wish I didn’t have the images stuck in my brain of a pig being sodomized by a soldier’s rifle; or the explicit details of how a vet would cut off a dog’s head. Even though I jumped ahead as soon as I figured out what was written, they are still stuck with me. (Shudder) The worst part of these passages, is that they are apparently gratuitous. There hasn’t been a reason for the reader to be subjected to these grisly horrors. In fact, I think the only reason that the character who has the pig story is in the book, is so that he can remember that incident for the reader. Why? Where is the editor?

There was a time, when I was newly introduced to Bookbub and the Kindle Deal of the day emails, when I would ‘buy’ any free books that I thought *might* interest me. I didn’t realize that a lot of them were self-published. I’m finding that out as I dig deeper into my to-read pile. Such is the case here. Self-published, and so completely NOT for me. Not only am I not finishing the book, but I am deleting it from my library. I don’t want to mistakenly pick it up again a few years down the road. (Off to find something light-hearted to cleanse my brain.)

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars
Giveaway- thank you for the opportunity to read this book!

The Roadrunner Cafe slowly, yet seamlessly, twines together a rather large cast within a relatively short book. In a small Colorado mountain town unfolds a saga of loss and heartbreak, anger and forgiveness, and ultimately the road to finding healing in the small things.

Something I really appreciated about Zerndt’s writing style is that he didn’t simply hand out all the details of the story, but rather lets the story reveal them through many subtleties that are trickled throughout. It was a very thoughtful way to reveal information and connect the dots.

There are a couple of scenes that don’t seem to fit with the story, as well as moments that are slightly confusing or that feel incomplete, but overall the book is thoughtfully written with a unique style, and there are a handful of profound or thought-provoking gems to be found within.

[Amanda Turenchalk · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I know what you think of me, kid. And believe me, it is kid. You’re still just a pup. When you learn to stop judging people, when you learn that we’re all pretty much just flies dodging the swatter, your pretty-self included, then you’ll be all growed up. And not a moment sooner.”

Growing up can be hard, especially for Mattias and Georgie, whose dad has died from suicide. This story has some interesting and quirky characters and plenty of sad and humorous moments. This story follows multiple characters in this small Colorado ski town and their experiences dealing with love, loss, forgiveness and friendships.

It's different that what I usually read. It had me chuckling and feeling really drawn to these characters. They felt like real people to me with all of their flaws.

[Lexxi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm struggling with how I feel about this book. The book flowed well and I read this in 3 days. Different characters were the central focus of different chapters which the author did very well. It was mostly clear who was who within the story.

Where I struggled with this is that almost nothing happened in the book. It was interesting enough to hold my attention, but I kept waiting for something to happen. From the synopsis, when the mom cuts down the tree, then events get set in motion... and I kept waiting for the events to make the book interesting....

All in all, it wasn't a bad book, but it was very forgettable and unremarkable.

[Andy Bird · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but not a classic. I did think this was a good book, however I came away a bit nonplussed about it. I'm not too sure why. The multiple stories were interesting and well woven together, the pace is good, the characters are fine. I think my problem was that, because there were quite a few characters and different perspectives, and there wasn't really any main plot, I couldn't relate to any of the characters. It was also quirky, which I normally like, but this time it seamed to make the characters a bit less real. Maybe I was just in a funny mood when I read it.

[Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book with no real story

Although there is a mix of characters in this book the author never really lets the reader see them properly. Maybe there's a sequel that develops the more interesting ones and lets the reader in on the developing relationships that may be at the heart of this particular story. It keeps you reading however just to try and work out what might happen. Nothing really does. There's a beginning to this story and a middle but no really satisfying conclusion.

[Princess Pie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful book

This is one of the only self-published &/or books I downloaded for free that I can say is every bit as good as some of the works of the best contemporary authors, and the silly, redundant superficiality I find in many other books of this type are completely lacking in that vapid nature. This book is insightful, deep, swelling with compassion and humanity, & life. Am excellent read, page turner, & one of the few books I’ve read recently that touched me & that I felt deeply impacted by.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chilling book?...yes, it was. In life, as well as this book, people who are experiencing similar things in their lives seem to gravitate to one another. The people in this book are mostly experiencing grief from a loss in their lives, but there is also redemption and hope for the future. So many interesting threads tied together by a small town and a connection to loss. And then there are those who have gone off the deep end...the chilling part. Well-written, interesting book!

[Mellarkey · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I'm frustrated because I feel like this has a lot of potential, but the execution falls short. I want this to be 100 pages longer. With a different title (neither work imo) and a different cover. I read the first version of this novel before I realized it was re-released with a different name and with a name change for a MC so I'm curious to know if anything else is different.

[Patti · Rating 3 out of 5]

***Received via Goodreads Giveaway***

This was a pretty decent book, but there were aspects of it that bothered me. Easy and Georgie, for one. Formatting was pretty bad, and there were some spots that needed a better editor, but I could manage to muddle through. There were some really good passages that had me stop to think "Great writing."

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not what I expected

I have a vague memory of getting this book but didn't remember why I had. I started reading without reading the blurb. I was happily surprised and although the book deals with tough topics, the end left me feeling like when the sun starts to peak out on a dark and cloudy day.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly poignant and oddly hopeful

The cast of characters in this interwoven small-town tale are like a choir of soloists; each deeply focused on their own inner lament, until they find, slowly, that they are part of something bigger. I was truly touched, and very satisfied with the ending.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay

Wasn't a bad read, but the ending leaves you wishing for more information, more resolution. After 4 hours of angst ridden prose, I want a better ending for the characters unless this is the first in a series

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this for an A-Z challenge. It was the book I read on lunch breaks at work, which seemed to disappear over the last couple months. The book itself was okay - though I'm not sure who the audience was or who I would ever recommend it to.