Leslie Connor

A pretty perfect fit for me.

I’m a softie about animals, love them in life and love them in books, and this one features adorable dogs and goats. It isn’t all sunshine and roses for these animals, there’s some heart in your throat moments of worry, the dog in a number of ways reminded me of my own so whenever he was particularly vulnerable in the story that hit quite close to home, as did all the love between these humans and these animals, I thought this captured that feeling show more beautifully.

Creative processes always interest me so I really enjoyed reading about Lydia and her mom’s art, the raisin boxes, the goddesses and the thoughts behind them and how Lydia treasures them, it definitely added to my ever growing desire to give collage a try. Also, the dog sitting on art projects? Totally relatable.

More than anything I loved that even though Lydia’s been through hard things, and there’s still some scary or difficult moments for Lydia over the course of this story, too, this is ultimately such a comforting read, especially in the patience and warmth she receives from the new adults, friends, and dogs in her life. show less

This was a really nice book -- what a word, nice. What I mean is that I kept wanting to come back to it, to listen some more, to spend time with the characters some more. The audio book reader was delightful, the characters are really great -- from Elieen's braying laugh to Elloroy's anticipation of death, to Aunt Brat's calm and sometimes clinically rational responses on all occasions. Lydia's extraordinary bond with her mother is almost its own character, and Lydia, of course, is a really show more endearing, dry, buttoned-up girl, with private snarky thoughts and a remarkable resilience. And then there are the dogs. Funny how dogs creep into our lives whether they are invited or not, or whether we enthusiastically welcome them or not. This is a good dog story. A good goat story. A great art story, and a really excellent story about grief and love and found family. *spoiler* the main lgbtq contribution is Aunt Brat and Eileen's relationship. show less

Cassie Devlin is dead on town line. Her body may never be discovered in that in-between place, where the police are fuzzy on whose jurisdiction it is. Cassie is in-between in multiple senses, as the story is told from her perspective as she watches the rescuers/recoverers searching for her body. It is, indeed, ridiculously The Lovely Bones-esque.

This is how poetry should be. Not just a collection of disjointed sentences, but a collection of disjointed sentences that actually mean something. show more A poem is capable of proliferating emotion at a pace that a more structured narrative is incapable of doing and finally here is someone who seems to understand that. There isn't a plot, a narrative, or storyline; there's a girl and what happened to her, her discoveries afterward, her memories, her revelations, her regrets, and all the emotions involved in all those things.

I wish I could find more poetry like this. I wouldn't criticize the stuff, or modern art in general, if more people were capable of creating things as beautiful, haunting, or tragic as this. Maybe it isn't a timeless masterpiece but it is lightyears beyond most of the other dreck you'll find on most poetry shelves. show less

Mason Buttle is a bit of an outsider: his dyslexia, synesthesia, and over-productive sweat glands make finding friends not an easy thing. He's also different from other kids in that his best friend is dead. While making a few new friends, dealing with the disturbing actions of the local bullies, and trying to figure out what the police detective wants from him, Mason - with some help from a wonderfully supportive teacher - finds his way toward the ability to tell his own truth. I nearly show more abandoned this one after the first few pages because the narrative voice is so choppy. I realize that it's necessary to capture the voice of the main character, but I didn't think I could endure it for an entire novel. I'm glad I stuck with it, though, because the book, as it turns out, is very good. A great portrayal of a kiddo with learning challenges, and a cool mystery as well. show less