Clare Pooley

You are going to love this book if you enjoy comedic capers with a large cast of characters and the found family trope. We start out with a scene from the end of the book, which cleverly leads us through the rest of the book as we try to figure out a few mysteries. Who is Daphne, really? Why is Art all alone? Will Ziggy make the brave choices to have a better future for himself and his daughter? Who is the neighborhood guerilla knitter? And will Lydia's decision to start the Senior Citizens Social Club be the best decision she ever made for herself? There were great comedic touches and I loved the bits of absurdity that occur throughout the book. The author has a dry comedic style that works very well for this story, I snickered more than once. There was very little I disliked about this book, honestly. There were a lot of characters to keep track of and it can be difficult to have so many main characters with prominent storylines. But the author handled this well and each one was memorable with their own enjoyable quirks, right down to the dog. There's a very nice lesson here that nobody is what they seem, and the found family angle was sweetly and thoughtfully done. This was a new-to-me author and I truly enjoyed this read. Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.… (más)

This was SO good. I had trouble getting into it at first, because I am not a huge fan of POV jumping, that is, each chapter bouncing from character to character. But it worked pretty well, maybe because it was third person limited (I think) and so there was a continuity that played nicely.

And while there was some cancer stuff (one of the characters is an oncology nurse), it was never so grim that I was triggered (and I trigger very easily about cancer).

Such a lovely book deftly weaving together many interesting, even important themes, touching on tense moments, but without ever being heavy-handed or even predictable.
Upbeat goodness indeed.… (más)