Welcome to Litsy!

I intended to listen to this novel while in Maine earlier this summer, but I didn't have time. I've been to Damariscotta, but this most recent trip, although we drove through, we stayed further up the coast. Based on the sense of the underlying community I got from overheard conversations and watching the town react to the discovery of a body in a ditch---an apparent hit-and-run victim---this novel seems to capture the vibe of the area well.

#weeklyforecast
I will be in Acadia as of Wed of this week & return on 8/6. So I do not have high expectations for my reading. 😁⛰️🚤🦞🎒👨‍🦯

She remembered being happy. Right? She hoped she had been happy. What she didn‘t know was if she had been happy since. But nobody‘s happy all the time. It‘s no way to go through life. If you‘re happy all the time, you don‘t appreciate anything. You have to have contrast, to have low moments to bring out the high moments in relief 🦞

This one started a bit uneven for me, and it took some time to get into. But the second half whipped by in a flurry of rapidly turned pages. Some POVs were more effective than others (EJ and Allie had the most intriguing sections, IMO). Overall, a worthy read, and one I'd never heard of before #auldlangspine

@Chelsea.Poole @monalyisha

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 I found the timeline a bit disorienting; apparently I can be led through different years and decades without much difficulty, but narrow it to months or weeks or days inconsistently and I‘m like, wait, what? 🤔 Also, if not for the fact that I am geographically familiar, I think I might have been hella lost. YET: The book was good! Really! The acknowledgments tipped the scale to a pick. 11 years in the writing?! I bow to you, sir.

It‘s a wicked snowstorm here in Maine today! There will be hours of shoveling and swearing later, but until then we are going to attempt to achieve maximum snow day vibes. 🐾❄️📚

I often get frustrated with marketing that insists on comparing a new book to a past sensation (see: any of the million books that are the "new Bridget Jones" or "Harry Potter for grown ups"). But when a book is actually a retelling of a classic, it should probably be mentioned in the blurb! Marketing this as a crime saga does a disservice to the book. It's a Gatsby retelling. And once I realized that, it totally flipped the reading experience ?

Unfortunately I didn‘t like this book as much as I expected. It is a slow read, and it takes so long to get to the point. A point that was obvious from the beginning. So, more than fiction, the book was about exploring class in Maine. And this could have been much more interesting without the plot and half of the characters. So it felt like a mixed bag to me.

#WeeklyForecast 52/22

The last forecast of yet another year! I chose four book I am looking forward to but I am not sure how much reading time I‘ll have, staying with a group of 12 in a holiday home in the French Alps. I don‘t complain though, it‘s wonderful to have these people around!
In progress I am having Touch, which I am LOVING!

Happy holidays everyone ❤️❤️

Starting this one tonight.

This is an incredible debut set on the Midcoast of Maine. There is some crime and some good writing on class and small town dynamics but in the end this book is about what we would do for those we love and it‘s cost. When you do something wrong for a good end how wrong is it? Probably pretty wrong.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Adam spots an intriguing girl who doesn‘t pay much attention to him, and he finds her years later married to a local lobsterman who has become quite wealthy. The book slowly digs beneath the surface of this family to reveal their secrets and fate. This is a kind of mystery that I really enjoyed with a great Maine setting.

This lived up to the hype for me. I loved reading about a small town boy moving back as an adult and finding the high school dropout and his wife considered pillars of the community. If a situation seems too good to be true, it probably is. 🤔

I can‘t believe this is a debut. Really well written, crafted, paced and delivered. It‘s more a literary thriller than mystery. The rise & fall of a local mid coaster from lobsterman to wealthy businessman, much to the bafflement of a long ago classmate. Most of this novel rang true which I appreciated and it beautifully captured the constraints and pleasures of a small town. Not sure who put this on the #CampLitsy longlist but THANK YOU!

Really enjoying this book! It‘s the right blend of escape and believability. If you grew up in a small town, then you‘ll find plenty to recognize/ imagine/ re-live.

I‘ve only read the prologue but I‘m getting #GoodVibes #promising I know @Megabooks really loved it so my expectations are amped ❣️

This was a great debut.. really enjoyed White‘s writing and this storyline.

A soft pick. Not too much of a mystery since the crime, criminals and their motives are revealed fairly early on. I think this is more an exploration of class in America wrapped up in a fictional “true crime” book. The narrator (who has a bit of an ax to grind) moves back to small town Maine, only to discover that one time lobster fisherman is now rich and a major benefactor…only no one quite knows where the 💰comes from. Read for #JubilantJuly

This was a great read! A mystery, but not at the expense of character development, as well as a wonderfully developed setting of small town Maine. I‘m from a small town and I could so picture this scenario playing out, though without the ocean as the backdrop. In some ways I was very moved by Ed and Steph‘s relationship (the catalyst for the entire novel) and the way Ed was dedicated to making her happy. At any expense. Would be great to discuss!

I enjoyed this quite a bit on audio. Setting, characters, and a somewhat matter-of-fact writing style were highlights for me. Another was the way many important details/investigative discoveries were just sort of casually dropped into the narrative - kept me listening closely! (I feel like this is inadvertently becoming a Summer of Maine Books for me, and I‘m fine with that. 🤣)

The timing is perfect for this book with the Maine backdrop, I just came home from there! It kind of is “the way life should be‘.” 🦀

Rainy, cloudy Sunday afternoons are the best for reading. Enjoying the tagged book.

#BookReport

Having an unexpected week off from work due to cold I was able to read to my heart‘s content. True Biz gets 4 🌟 because I learned a lot about deaf culture more than liking the story itself. Both Love After Love and The Midcoast were great on audio.

Up next..

Is anyone else on Pango? I just started selling some books on there (to make room for more books) and like it so far.. sharing in case anyone else misses having a reliable used books option managed by other book people, and not a big distro warehouse.. pangobooks.com/bookstore/kbuggle

Andrew moves back to his sleepy Maine hometown and discovers his old acquaintance‘s rise to riches may not be what it seems. This isn‘t so much a suspense story as it is a focus on character and how things are not always black and white. The reader follows Andrew as his weaves the story together through flashbacks and town gossip. This was a solid & compelling debut from Adam White and I look forward to his next one! #TheMidcoast #NetGalley

This is a fantastic literary mystery! It deserves of all the buzz! Despite its complexity, the #audiobook worked great.

After bouncing around, Andrew ends up back on the midcoast of Maine with his wife and children in tow. Ed and Steph, one time cash-strapped teen parents, are the wealthy couple at the center of town life. But it‘s unclear how it happened. After Andrew finds a disturbing photo in their house, he begins an investigation.

TFW you are so tempted to stay up until 1 AM and finish your audiobook. It is THAT good! Winning narration, plot, and characters. This is a #CampLitsy longlist gem!

Might‘ve picked up another one from the #CampLitsy longlist! 🤫

What can I say? It‘s a really good #NewReleaseTuesday!

Andrew and Maeve move to Maine where Andrew once worked on a lobster boat. But of course a quaint town is not always a peaceful tight-knit community and soon Andrew discovers deception running rampant! Corruption, greed, class differences, and inequality are rooted in this small town. Many twists and turns as people are not who they pretend to be.
#NetGalley Out June 7