Happy Friday, my lovely peepsЁЯРг!
I haven't done First Lines Fridays in a while so it feels like it's been too long since I last said "Happy Friday", but this week went way too quickly and it's already the last day of May!
As part of the Books Forward blog tour for Almost Family, running from May 27th through May 31st, I'll be sharing my thoughts and review on this book! Having just recently been published on May 28th, let's give Almost Family a warm welcome and a happy belated book birthday!
Title: Almost Family
Author: Ann Bancroft
Genre: Fiction
Length: 296 Pages
Published: 28 May 2024
LINKS:
Goodreads: [LINK]
Amazon: [LINK]
Disclaimer: A huge thank you to Books Forward and the author for this e-copy of Almost Family! This copy was provided in exchange for a fair and honest review and all opinions are my own.
Liz Millanova has stage four cancer, a grown daughter who doesn't speak to her, and obsessive memories of a relationship that tore her marriage apart. She thinks of herself as someone who'd rather die than sit through a support group, but now that she actually is going to die, she figures she might as well give it a go.
Mercy's Thriving Survivors is a hospital-sponsored group held in a presumably less depressing location: a Nordstrom's employee training lounge. There, Liz hits it off with two other patients, and the three unlikely friends – Dave, a gay Vietnam vet, Rhonda, a devout, nice woman, and snarky Liz – decide to ditch the group and meet on their own. They call themselves The Oakland Mets, and their goal is to enjoy life while they can.
In the odd intimacy they form, Liz learns to open up and get close. They joined forces to have a good time – but what they wind up doing is helping one another come to grips with dying and resolve the unfinished business in their lives.
Life lessons learned and big bubbly tears rolling down my face, Ann Bancroft sure has a special way with words. Her storytelling is humorous, engaging, and has so much meaning to it. Every chapter feels either like a hug or a gut punch. There's themes of family, death, addiction, and illness and from the first sentence to the last, I couldn't tear myself away. The tone was so relatable, the dialogue and thoughts just as much so as the narrative writing. It's like listening to someone tell you about their day, what's in their mind; like reading a personal journal of theirs. It was so real, that I had to double check it was a fiction piece and not a memoir. A few sentences in and I was hooked. Then the closing sentence of the prologue? "And who's to say we're dying anyway, so long as we're still walking around?" It was going to be one of those books, where you cling onto it and just sob at the end of it (and that's exactly what I ended up doing).
The characters were wonderful, our main trio, Dave and sweet Rhonda who break off from the main support group to form the Oakland Mets (short for metastasis) with snarky and sarcastic Liz, as well as all of their own personal friends and family such as Lynette and Brent (Dave), Elton, Sally, and Cassie (Rhonda), and Bradley, Kate, and Marisa (Liz). Relationships are formed with new friends, other relationships are repaired and peace is made with old friends and family, and while this story's protagonist is Liz, within this short read, many of these important supporting characters have major impacts. This is just as much of Dave and Rhonda's story as it is with Liz; 280 quick pages packing a punch full of complex development and characters full of life and flaws, making peace with themselves and their family during these awful times, navigating hard emotions learning to let go. Because it's during these times, when the world seems to slow for a painful second, do we set aside our differences, griefs, and anger for a moment to connect and truly understand each other.
I really enjoyed this read. I wasn't expecting the end to go so fast. It came so quickly. I was a deer in headlights, not realizing it was already the epilogue. Peaceful, and then the brick wall of pain that you didn't see coming, even though you prepared months for this impact. Beautifully written, wonderful characters, and a story I will not forget for a long time. I laughed, sobbed, full on cried, and then left with a few new lessons to carry with me. Brilliantly done. I had the pleasure in getting to read this e-ARC by Ann Bancroft, and Almost Family is her debut novel, but this won't be my last from her. Whatever she writes next, will surely make its way into my TBR.
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