This took me a while to get into due to introducing each character. Abby then became the main character for me and couldn’t wait to get to her next chapter

Do you ever read a book so beautifully written that you don't even feel like you're reading? Little monsters was that book for me. This wasn't a book full of twists, turns, and shocks. It was instead a story following a family whose lives were filled with secrets. As we slowly learnt more about what each family member was hiding, we began to understand the dysfunctional family dynamic more and more. I had a genuine interest in every character.

The author did an amazing job of showing that even the most seemingly perfect families can be harbouring deep secrets and maybe aren't as perfect as they seem. Seeing Steph's initial opinions as an outsider of the family captured what everybody else clearly thought of the family. But as time went on, her opinions changed, just like mine did.

This book showed a family full of secrets, and it's never just what meets the eye. A thoroughly enjoyable read, with amazing descriptions of Cape Cod, some lovable characters, and some equally questionable ones.

Publisher's blurb: Ken and Abby Gardner were raised in a remote home on Cape Cod. As adults, their relationship is strained, but their lives are still deeply intertwined. Ken is a successful businessman with political ambitions and a picture-perfect family, but when his wife walks in on him in an internet chatroom, she demands they go to therapy. Abby is a talented artist who depends on her brother's goodwill, in part because he owns the studio where she lives and works.

Their father, Adam, raised them as a single parent. As his seventieth birthday approaches and he begins to stare down his mortality, he comes off his bipolar disorder medication in order to make one last scientific breakthrough; he has secretly stopped taking his pills, which he knows will infuriate his children.

Meanwhile, Abby and Ken are both harbouring secrets of their own, and there is a new person on the periphery of the family - Steph, who doesn't make her connection known.

My Thoughts

A dysfunctional family of the middle class type, where everything is covered up but unravels very quickly over the course of one fraught summer.

Adam is so lifelike he walks off the pages. Nearly 70 and a distinguished oceanographer, his bipolar disorder gives him grandiose views of his achievements. He's excited about a party to celebrate his milestone, being thrown by Ken and his accomplished wife Jenny. He has been selfish in his relationships with women. The reasons why his second wife disappeared all of a sudden were hushed up, it seems.

Ken, who aspires to become a Republican politician, is deeply unlikable. He seems obsessed with Abby, jealous and dismissive of her, and not allowing her to own her artist's studio, which belonged to their mother.

Abby is bohemian and conflicted. She has pushed her lover David away because marriage seemed too conventional. But now she is pregnant, and knows he is not happy with his wife. But she doesn't know what she wants.

As the story develops there are hints about impropriety in the childhood relationship between Ken and Abby, and it creates an atmosphere of unease and tension.

Everything unravels at Adam's party when Abby unveils a huge painting called "Little Monster."

It's a fascinating insight into how sexual abuse can be perceived differently by the victim and the instigator. Abby's long buried reaction is captured in her visceral artwork with its hidden messages. Ken meanwhile has been dismissive all his life, believing all he did was "cop a feel", a phrase which jarred but suggested he'd never moved beyond adolescence emotionally. How complicit was Adam? We know he sent his second wife away.

I didn't see the Steph character adding much to the story, but in a sense she was a catalyst in helping the family members see their true selves, so they could finally move on.

A thought provoking read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK for the eARC.

I really enjoyed this book and it flowed well. I was concerned that the chapters from the POV of different family members would mean it was a little disjointed but that wasn’t the case and the pace was just right.
The family are well described and believable, most were likeable, even the old rogue Adam had his charms which obviously his son Ken did not inherit.
Lots of descriptions that really paint a picture about Cape Cod and its lifestyle, many went over my head as I live in UK but they did set the scene.
The various family relationships were covered well and became clearer as the reader understood the events of the past. I found that I didn’t want to put this book down.

With thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

Well - this was virtually unputdownable. Its basic premise of family secrets coming to light during a Cape Cod summer bears a resemblance to 2021's The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller - if you enjoyed that, then Little Monsters is a good bet.

At the heart of the story is the Garner family. Renowned marine biologist Adam, about to turn 70 and suffering with bipolar disorder, has brought up his son Ken and daughter Abby on his own after the untimely death of his beloved wife of an embolism following Abby's birth. Abby is an artist about to make it big, while Ken has a perfect waterfront house and a perfect-looking marriage and a promising political career ahead of him. But cracks are surfacing in the run-up to Adam's elaborately-planned 70th birthday party. Ken is seeing a therapist after being caught by his wife in an online chat room doing something undisclosed; at 38, Abby is pregnant by a married man. Ken's oh-so-perfect wife Jenny is quietly imploding, drinking far too much and realising how far she has strayed from her true self. Adam has stopped taking his medication in order to allow the surfacing of one last scientific breakthrough he is convinced is still in him. And into this scenario comes the illegitimate daughter he never knew he had.

The plot, in its bare bones, is a well-trodden path. But Adrienne Brodeur makes it feel fresh and riveting as secrets are tantalisingly hinted at and revealed in tiny degrees, and each family member faces their own demons as the summer unfolds. The Cape Cod setting is lavishly and lovingly described, and made me long to be there. The fragility of surface perfection is nicely conveyed without labouring the point too much, and in Jenny's skill with kintsugi, the Japanese art of mending broken things with gold to make them more precious, lies a message of hope. If anything, I wanted to book to go on longer and answer more of the questions it raises then leaves tantalisingly only half-resolved. This is an excellent read, a good story that is faultlessly plotted and paced. It feels like short-changing it to say it is an excellent holiday read, but it gets my highest accolade - a very good story, very well told.

After a slow start,,when I thought I wasn't going to enjoy this novel, I suddenly found myself gripped.
The novel explores the full meaning of family relationships and family loyalty........from Steph, who has suddenly discovered she isn't exactly who she thought she was, to Ken and Abby, who are struggling with a complicated past and a changing present.
Lots to think about!

I think I enjoyed this story! Lots happens, but also nothing really happens!

The story is told through the main characters of Adam, Ken, Abby Gardner, and Steph over the months of April til October.

Adam, the father is a research scientist specialising in oceanography, has bipolar and is currently off his medication and on the verge of a discovery - which he wants to do before his approaching 70th birthday.

Ken, his son is looking forward to running for congress, has anger issues stemmed from his mothers passing when his sister was born.

Abby, his daughter an artist who has recently finished a piece of personal artwork for father’s birthday, and for the first time ever feels like she wants to be seen.

And finally Steph, an outsider to the family who after learning some life changing information about herself, starts to position herself within the Gardener family.

I did enjoy this, but felt it was building up to something bigger than it was. The characters were all interesting, with some that were not that likeable. The chapters split into the perspectives were good to gain little pockets of information about each member of the family, revealing secrets as the story unfolds.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Cornerstone for my ARC.

An interesting novel exploring a dysfunctional family and the different members lives. This was good but not as good as I had been hoping. I did start to lose interest about half way through.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I was lucky enough to receive this ARC from Netgalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone in exchange for my honest review.

I’m glad that I didn’t find out that this book was recommended for those who enjoyed Paper Palace until after I read it, as I wasn’t keen on the former. This, however, was a completely different experience for me.

I must admit to being drawn to atmospheric, beautifully set meandering novels that at the same time are full of dysfunction and secrets and drama. This was all of those things and I absolutely loved it.

From the incredible descriptions of the ocean life and nature and scenery of Cape Cod to the rich, complicated characters that the author developed so adeptly I was completely captivated.

It’s clear that she knows and loves this place, and as somebody that has never visited the area it was a joy to be immersed in the day to day living and cultures and gave the reader such a great snapshot of her beloved Cape.

The story was well thought out and had the right amount of joy and pain, I think. Unlike some others of this genre that rip your heart out or try to shock when it’s really not necessary. I found it to be nuanced and emotional.

Tackling the subject of BPD in fiction is also no easy thing to get right and I thought this was done in an incredibly realistic way, not only for the person affected but the impact it has on a family. Very well done.

I highly recommend this book and will definitely be reading Adrienne’s memoir next.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"Little Monsters" is a very American book about a rather dysfunctional family living on Cape Cod. The story centres around the up-coming 70th birthday of patriarch Adam. Adam is a scientist specialising in humpback whales, but he is also bipolar and abuses drugs. His son Ken is a property developer with political aspirations, while daughter Abby is an artist. Both Ken and his wife Jenny are in therapy.

As the story unfolds through the summer of 2016, trauma from their childhood tests the relationship between Ken and Abby, and ultimately their attitude towards their father. This is a complex book, with individual chapters written from a number of different viewpoints. There are a number of Americanisms which I had to make assumptions about, but at least I now know what a clambake is!

Thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for the opportunity to review this book.

By the time I started this book I had forgotten what it was about. I was NOT a fan (to put it mildly) of The Paper Palace, so when I saw the blurb from its author I had a feeling I wouldn't enjoy this book (it felt like it would go in that same direction).

However, I really enjoyed this book. The family dynamics were complex and even though I disliked one of the main characters (Ken, who didn't?), it didn't take away from the experience of reading the book. It's well written, the pace was good (not too slow, not too fast). I wish we had gotten a bit more on the father (and his past).

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Heavily compared to The Paper Palace, this book details the lives of one family, leading up to the patriarch's 70th birthday party. Lots of drama, secrets and #whitepeopleproblems.

The author's descriptions of summer at Cape Cod were so absorbing and created a brilliant atmosphere for the story setting. I really enjoyed the interactions between the characters, and Brodeur didn't lean on well worn tropes, instead the characters were dynamic (if a bit self involved and unlikeable).

It did feel a little boring at times, and as though I've read a lot of books with this kind of drama, but then that's the kind of stuff I gravitate towards, so that's a me problem not the books problem.

Overall a 6, would recommend it but probably won't remember it.

By the time I came to read this I had forgotten everything about the blurb, so got to go in cold, and I really enjoyed the slow unfolding of the characters and the relationships.

I do rather hate it when characters' therapy sessions are related almost verbatim - I think it's lazy - but I did afterwards understand the reason for that in this instance.

This is quite classic lit fic - an easy read, but with something to get your teeth into.

My thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC.

Absolutely loved this book. Well written and good characters. I couldn’t put it down. I loved the complicated family relationships and the connections between them. Thank you for letting me read it.

A really interesting book although a little long winded at times. However the heart of the story was lovely and enjoyable to read.

This is an easy 5 star read. Absolutely loved it. The story of a family, living on Cape Cod, and their hopes and dreams, which become tangled up in the past.
This is a cleverly done, multiple point of view novel, with flawed and very real characters and a very satisfying (without being neat) ending. It deals with difficult subjects beautifully

Family, complicated relationships and secrets to be unveiled In a beautiful setting.. Not an original plot, non an impressive writing. The father is an interesting character but it's not enough for me, sorry.

I read this book but have very mixed feelings about it. On the one hand I found the dynamics of the family interesting as they were so diverse but I could not take to Ken and found him to be a strange character always seeming to want to rule the family. I did like the parts about the father, Adam. He raised the two children on his own even though he remarried a couple of times. Ken’s sister, Abby, is a school teacher as well as an artist and I felt Ken was always talking down to her and wanting her to abide by his rules. Into play comes Steph who is a police offer in the Boston PD. It comes to light that she is part of the family that she knew nothing about and this could easily cause drama. As the book progresses it becomes more and more apparent that Adam is more and more insular and completely focused on his belief in whales having their own music which he must prove, he being a famous oceanographer in his youth. Plans are being made for Adam’s 70th birthday but the family all have different ideas on how this should go. I must say I did not take to this particularly and found some of it hard to wade through. Although I finished the book it was not for me.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the characters, in particular seeing Jenny grow throughout the book. I would have liked to see some more of her at the end. The complicated relationships were interesting, I did find it odd that although she painted the picture of it, we never really got Abby’s opinion on her relationship with her brother. I also liked that at the end everything wasn’t tied up neatly, because sometimes that just isn’t realistic.

Due to be published in July, Little Monsters is a nicely written novel set in Cape Cod about a privileged white family, the Gardners, each of whom is going through somewhat of an existential crisis.

Adam, the patriarch is a marine biologist/whale expert who suffers from manic episodes and is approaching his 70th birthday. He has raised two children (Ken and Abby) alone following the sudden death of his wife.

Ken is a successful businessman and Congressman in the making, dealing with his demons and his marriage problems via therapy.

Abby is a sculptor and artist who, having made a conscious decision not to marry, is now at a crossroads with some big life changes ahead of her.

In the mix we also meet Steph, a police officer, gay woman and new mum who unexpectedly finds a connection to the Gardner family.

I’d describe this as an easy escapist read that would be perfect on holidays. It never really caught fire for me - I kept waiting for something to happen - but the writing was good enough to keep me reading. I enjoyed the author’s digs at older white men unable to handle their diminished place in the world! It’s set in 2016 when it looked as though Hillary Clinton would be President which is an interesting time period. Overall, a good read, but perhaps a bit forgettable. 3-3.5/5 ⭐️

*Many thanks to @hutchheinemann for the proof copy. Little Monsters will be published on 11 July 2023. As always; this is an honest review. *