Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Release Date: June 26, 2012
Format: Paperback
Pages: 366
Source: Publisher
From Goodreads: For her previous novels (Things We Didn’t Say, The Life You’ve Imagined, Real Life & Liars), author Kristina Riggle has garnered fabulous reviews and established herself as a rapidly rising star of contemporary women’s fiction. In Keepsake, she explores that most complicated of relationships, as two sisters raised by a hoarder deal with old hurts and resentments, and the very different paths their lives have taken. As always, Riggle approaches important topics poignantly and honestly–including hoarding and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in her remarkable Keepsake–while writing with real emotional power and compassion about families and their baggage.
My thoughts: When I signed up for this tour, I didn’t realize this book was about hoarders. I mean, sure, it’s mentioned in the summary thing on GR, but this book is REALLY about hoarders. As I’m a bit of a neat-freak this was a bit unsettling for me. The story and descriptions were giving me the shakes…making me want to clean and organize my house.
The actual plot and character piece of the story was interesting and kept me reading. Nothing mind blowing, but decent flow and development. The ending was good without being unrealistic or annoying. I always hesitate to read the endings of “issue” books like this because sometimes they are so perfect they are no where near reality. This book seemed in line with a real human dealing with hoarding.
I had one major issue with this book though…this might be a spoiler but I’m putting it out there anyway. There is a large plot point regarding a miscarriage. As I was reading this in the early to mid part of the first trimester in this pregnancy I was emotionally not prepared for this. There was a lot of time, pages, and words dedicated to this loss and that was almost too much for me at that current time in my life. Therefore, I caution anyone who might be sensitive to such an issue – don’t read this book.
Check out some other reviews on the tour:
Tuesday, July 10th: Life In Review
Wednesday, July 11th: Proud Book Nerd
Thursday, July 12th: Peeking Between the Pages
Friday, July 13th: The House of the Seven Tails
Monday, July 16th: No More Grumpy Bookseller
Have you read any of her other books? She seems to be popular among bloggers but I haven’t read any of her books yet.
Oh, yes, that might not have been the best timing for reading this book!
I can completely understand how that one plot line would be very difficult to read at present. Hopefully it didn’t take away too much from your enjoyment of the rest of the book.
Thanks for being on the tour.