I really enjoyed reading The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls. I absolutely loved the characters and their relationships with each other. It all felt so much like something lifted from real life. This book also kept me engaged almost the entire time I was reading it. I never wanted to take a break from it. I also liked this book's premise a lot. It wasn't something overdone. I did wish that some plot points had been expanded on a little more, however. Overall, I liked this book a lot.

This was a good story with very flawed characters and some hard topics. Overall I don't think it will stick with me for the long run, but it was enjoyable when I was reading it.

Content warning for child abuse and eating disorders.

I could not get into this book, sorry. Trying to clean up my netgalley. Didn’t realize that I was forgetting to leave reviews on netgalley itself, My apologies.

For some reason this book was a really slow read for me. I enjoyed hearing from multiple characters' perspectives, but I never felt like I really connected with any of them. The plot didn't always seem to flow very well, and at times felt very heavy. I'm sure this is the right book for many readers, but I just didn't enjoy it as much as I expected to.

Multiple perspectives on an extended family dealing with a lot of generational trauma and pain. A little scattered, but powerful.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange tor an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. There were several layers to the story and the characters were very well developed and relatable. The story flowed well and kept me interested.

THE CARE AND FEEDING OF RAVENOUSLY HUNGRY GIRLS is the story of the four Butler siblings --- Althea, who is the oldest; middle children Viola and Joe; and Lillian, the youngest. After a sad and turbulent childhood that left them with some deep scars, they are forced to meet again.

The reason for this unwanted get-together is the trial of Althea and her husband, Proctor. The two have committed a fraud, and when the novel opens, they are awaiting the verdict. Thirty years earlier, the Butler siblings’ mother passed away. At the time, Althea was not yet a teenager, while Lillian was just a baby. Although the children were left with their father, it was Althea who took care of her sisters and brother. This burden, laid on Althea at such a young age, will have a lasting impact on her.

Following the verdict, the story of the Butler family starts to unravel. While Althea is in jail, waiting for a transfer to another prison, she has a lot of time to think about her past and her relationship with her sisters and children. On the other side of the prison wall, Viola and Lillian --- while taking care of Althea’s teenage daughters, Kim and Baby Vi --- are also forced to re-examine their lives. Along with taking care of her nieces, Lillian attends to her late ex-husband’s grandmother. Both Viola and Lillian have a lot of issues, not so much with one another, but with other members of the family. Viola’s marriage is falling apart, and she is fighting some pretty hard internal battles. Lillian still cannot reconcile with her past, and has plenty of unresolved traumatic experiences.
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A compelling look at a family whose center has fallen apart. Secrets are revealed as old wounds come to light, and Gray does an excellent job drawing complex characters.

The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls is an emotional story of dysfunctional family relationships. Anissa Gray has penned a solid debut!

As a fan of An American Marriage, this book reminded me a lot of that book. The Butler family is a tight-knit family and when the eldest, Althea, and her husband are arrested for embezzlement, it sends the family into a tailspin with everyone finding their new role in the family. The other two sisters take over caring for Althea's teenage girls and the struggles that the girls encounter. It's a wonderful portrait of how family comes together in a time of crisis and the challenges that teenagers face today.

Sisters Althea, Viola and Lillian have had their share of misfortune, but things get worse when Althea and her husband are arrested. Althea, as the eldest sister, has always been the matriarch of the Butler family. The others are a bit lost while they await the outcome of her trial.

This was an emotional read about a dysfunctional family who nonetheless stick together in times of need. The writing was raw and honest. It was difficult for me to get through this book because it was so intense and delved into so many important issues in a very real and honest way.

Thank you to NetGalley for the copy to review.

Although I overall liked this book, I didn't completely commit to the characters. I wanted deeper backgrounds on each of the sisters or something to make me want to know them more intimately and that just didn't happen for me. I was a lot more interested in learning more about Mercedes!

Due to personal reasons and unforseen circumstances, I had a hard time trying to finish this book. The pacing was a bit slow and because of my own personal issues at the time, it became difficult for me to stay invested in the story. However, I am hoping to revisit this book at a later time.

I could not get through the first few chapters. The characters and the plot were laid out disjointedly, I did not connect with anything that made me want to continue reading.

Wow.

The title alone made me curious to read this book, and let me tell you, I was not disappointed.

Althea and Proctor are jailed for scamming their community, and they leave their twin daughters to be raised by Althea's sisters. Althea, as a young child, was forced to raise her younger siblings while their father traveled as a minister. Revelations, family issues, and healing is what this book is about.

This book reminds me of the saying the sins of the father/mother visit the children. I felt for Althea the most because of the position she was put in at a young age. Of course, her experience influenced the way she raised her siblings and her children.

This is a deep book, indeed. This book will make a great book club pick.

The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray is a 2019 Berkley publication.

Even healthy and happy families are complicated and complex. This is especially true with mother and daughter relationships, and the connections between sisters. In this novel, Gray examines the darker aspects of the relationship between three sisters as they struggle to make peace with a turbulent past.

The reader must watch as they slowly, and often painfully, accept a new set of equally challenging circumstances, and learn to cope with personal demons, while trying to do what is best for the next generation.

Althea helped to raise her younger siblings, often taking the brunt of their abusive father’s righteous wrath. Now, as adults, Althea and her husband, Procter, are facing prison time, which means their twin daughters, Kim and Baby Vi, are staying with Althea’s sister, Lillian.

Lillian, a widow, who is already taking care of her aging former mother-in-law, is at a loss about how to deal Kim’s problems. Lillian is haunted by her own experience with abuse, while Viola, on a break from her long-term girlfriend, is struggling to keep her eating disorder at bay.

This novel is a poignant, yet powerful debut novel. The story alternates between the first- person narrative of the three sisters, as they each share their own journey from the past to the present.

This technique is especially effective here, as the reader can see the same set of events from different perspectives. Each sister endured a traumatic childhood, and is coping in her own individual way, while harboring unique memories, fears, and resentments.

However, Lillian and Viola rise to the occasion when they become responsible for their nieces, while Althea must take responsibility for her actions, and accept the reality of her own proclivities and shortcomings.

The future offers hope, as they all begin the journey towards forgiveness, acceptance, and healing, not only as individuals, but as strong women, mothers, daughters, sisters and family.

Even though the story lags in a few spots, it is realistic, raw, and unflinchingly emotional, but above all, hopeful. I know I will think of these characters often and wish them well.

A very solid and personal debut novel!

I loved this story. The drama between the sisters and the mother was fierce and fascinating. I will definitely recommend at the library.

This book is centered around a fractured family. A family that has been force to come together after their oldest sister Althea, and her husband, Proctor, are sentence to prison for fraud. With Althea in prison, youngest sister Lilian is forced to step in as a caregiver to Althea’s daughters Baby V, and Kim. Another sister, Vivian joins in their care, as she is quietly battling her own issues. But everyone in this family is struggling with something. Baby V barely speaks, and Kim, who already had a difficult relationship with her mother is both rebelling and deteriorating mentally. Vivian is struggling with an eating disorder, and Lilian is coping with the torture she experienced at the hands of her brother Joe, and the role she played in her failed marriage, while also caring for her former mother-in-law. All under the roof that houses few good memories for them.

The best way to describe this novel is heavy. This family’s issues run deep, and is only brought to the surface because of Althea’s and Proctor’s incarceration. The characters felt real, their struggles relatable and their feelings comes right off the page. Baby V, Kim, Lillian and Vivian are all very sympathetic characters. It was hard not to feel for them. However, with the numerous conflicts, characters who are battling something, those emotions were overwhelming for me as a reader. I found that each character required a certain amount of emotional capacity. At the conclusion of this book, I felt exhausted. Emotionally exhausted.

Overall I give this book 3.5 stars. This was a great introduction to Anissa Gray, and I would definitely recommend this book.

I was not able to enjoy the book as much as I'd hoped. Partly to things in my personal life at the time. It seemed well written, and sagas are always fun to read. I plan on revisiting this title again in the future.

Trigger Warnings: Eating Disorders, Suicide Attempt, Physical and Mental Abuse

This was a beautifully moving story on what defines family and how family can get you through both the good and the bad.