New Release: The Children

This was one of the first reviews I wrote after joining NetGalley earlier this year. Since that time, I've read a lot of books. About a hundred, to be exact. I kind of binged on ARCs like a kid loose in a candy store. The truth is, no matter how much you like a book, not all of them stick with you. Some fade; some lose their luster. I can honestly say The Children has very much permeated my conscious. It pops into my head once and a while, just to remind me how much I enjoyed reading it.

Title: The Children
Author: Ann Leary
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: 5/24/16
Version Reviewed: digital ARC courtesy of NetGalley
Rating: ★★★★

Charlotte Maynard is awkward. She writes a popular mommy blog, but nothing about it is real. She's agoraphobic and almost never leaves the house she shares with her mother. As a teenager, she sneaks into a nearby boarding school at night and reads student medical records. Her college education is comprised of hiding out in the back of large lecture halls at Columbia University, but she isn't enrolled there. She idolizes a deceased stepfather, Whit Whitman, who isn't worthy of her admiration. She stalks her stepbrother's girlfriend on social media, trying to know her before actually meeting her.

Charlotte has the potential to be a creepy character, but she's not. Her actions are born out of a lifetime of neglect. Even the people who love her best do so incompletely: a self-absorbed mother, a bipolar sister, a stepfather who prioritizes banjos over family, a part-time lover, a golden child stepbrother with secret rage. She's bored, unaccomplished, and stuck. Her mommy blog is just her latest escape-- her fake internet husband just happens to resemble the real life boyfriend who won't commit to her.

Even though Charlotte's world isn't quite real, it's peaceful and predictable, right up until her stepbrother Skip announces he's getting married to Laurel, a former almost-Olympic skier who the family has never met. Charlotte and her sister Sally alternate between sympathizing with Laurel, to being jealous and suspicious of her. There's just something about Laurel you can't put your finger on. No amount of stalking her facebook page prepared the sisters for the havoc she would cause.

There's a lot that goes on in this shortish book. Around the time Laurel comes into the picture, Mr. Clean, a person who breaks into homes and does housework, returns to the lake community where Charlotte lives, creating panic among her neighbors and mother. There are a lot of flashbacks back to when the vaulted Whit Whitman was alive. A new police officer moves into town and starts showing an interest in the family. But the main story is the introduction of Laurel into the Whitman-Maynard family.

I really enjoyed Ann Leary's writing style, and I devoured this book in about a day. I rarely get that hooked into a story. I give it four stars because the ending came too fast, and because Laurel was too obvious.

To purchase this book: CLICK HERE