I'm so grateful for this heavy, emotional, and poignant book. It handles a lot of difficult and painful topics (eating disorders, incarceration, violence against children) in a thoughtful and productive way. It took me a while to understand the characters and the timeline, but it was worth the wait. The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls has a strong ensemble cast of characters, each at a critical and painful moment in their lives. Anissa Gray talks about trauma, grief, and anxiety so well. This is an incredibly powerful story.

A debut novel by Anissa Gray about sisters and daughters and their perception of each other and their roles in a family stressed by the imprisonment of the eldest sister/mother, Althea. The story is told by the 3 sister's voices and the letters written by Proctor who is in prison to his wife, Althea. There are decisions to be made by all as they determine the care of Althea's and Proctor's two teenage daughters. A well-written novel, not easy to put down.

Interesting story about two sisters who must deal with their third sister in prison for defrauding the community where Althea and her husband Proctor had a restaurant. Althea’s twin daughters go to live with their Aunt Lillian while their parents are away.

The author of this debut novel spends a long time setting up the characters and their families. The third sister has an eating disorder. One of the twins has weight issues and is angry and sullen.

I kept thinking everything would come together in the end but I was left unsatisfied.

Notable debut novel about family, relationships, and forgiveness. The story focuses on the Butler family, three sisters, Althea, Lillian and Viola and their brother, Joe.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

Riveting and intense. The story was filled with twists and turns that I didn't expect. The family is at the heart of it and that isn't always easy to live with. Held my attention and gave me goosebumps.

This story is about a poor family that has stayed together inspire of abuse, neglect. and a mother's early death that forced a young girl into the adult role of Mother. Each sister has her own view of thing and what actually happened with the father and brother. It takes a while to sort out all the stories but it does come together in the end. There is a lot of drama and heartache but the situations fell real and the characters are believable.. A great read.

This book was sent to me- I thought it sounded interesting,
started reading,
Althea in prison - reflecting
she was sentenced to 5 years and her husband was sentenced for 7 years.
Althea needed to be there for her 2 sisters and brother, but more importantly for her 2 daughters.
She is attending jail Bible study,
thinking God, angels, and Bible stories may as well be dolls, unicorns and fairy tales to her.

The focus shifts around to different characters
Lessons are learned
Insight is realized

I really enjoyed this book! The dynamic between the family members and the trauma of growing up without a mother figure was quite moving. I especially enjoyed Althea and the relationships she developed while "away" from the family. What a moving storyline! A great read!

A very heavy story about a family trying to survive the many traumas in their lives. Althea, Viola and Lillian are sisters, in very different places in their lives. Althea and her husband, Proctor, are sent to jail while their daughters, Kim and Baby Vi struggle to make sense of their situation. Well written but slow moving and at times, my interest waned.

I read this book as background for a promotion on BookBrowse which is going very well. Currently among our member-reviewers it is averaging a very good 4.4 rating. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would and my appreciation of it continues to grow as I mull over the story weeks later.

This is an amazing story, a moving family drama. Proctor and Althea are arrested which astounds everyone. They seemed to be the least likely to have committed a felony, fraud. The story covers their relationship, within and without the prison system. It also portrays the struggles of their family. This is beautifully done!

Ok gang, so I have to do therapy for my knee twice a week. It takes two hours but the last half hour is 15 minutes ultrasound treatment, then 15 minutes TENS unit and ice.

It feels longer than that, so I took my Kindle Oasis with me last time I went.

#NetGalley sent me this book and as soon as I opened it, I could NOT put it down!

Great characters, great storyline!

I hope this becomes a movie one day!

In this searing, touching novel, the lives, loves, and traumas of the four adult Butler children are examined through alternating chapters when the eldest, Althea, and her husband Proctor are sent to prison for taking charity donations and using them to purchase items for their restaurant. Lillian, the baby of the family, lives in the family home she has rehabbed, and has taken in Althea and Proctor's daughters--quiet, studious Baby Vi and wild child Kim. She bears the scars of childhood abuse (physical but not sexual) by her brother Joe, who has followed in their preacher father's footsteps. Viola has earned her doctorate and lives in Chicago, where she is a therapist to young women with eating disorders like the one she has suffered from much of her life. They all have a strained but loving relationship with Althea, who served as a substitute mother when their mother died at a young age. The townspeople who held Althea and Proctor in high esteem have since turned on their daughters, shunning and verbally abusing them. When Kim disappears, it becomes clear that this family must come together to face the futre.

This is a wonderful telling of so many things---family loyalty, deceit, dysfunction and just how strong women can be when called upon to do the impossible. This is a book that is hard to put down and the characters remain in your thoughts long after you finish.

was given an advanced reader copy of The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

This is a quiet book about a family with lots of troubles. It is not one of those twisty, mysteries, with shocking endings. It is a true family story with arguments, illnesses, dysfunction, and a realistic happy ending. If you are looking for a book full of twists or excitement, this is not the book for you.

Enjoyable.

After the death of her mother when she was a young and the subsequent abandonment of her father, Althea, the oldest child, took charge of her three younger siblings. She eventually married, continued caring for her siblings, had children of her owner and built a successful business. The story begins digging deeper into the lives of the siblings and Althea's children after her and her husband, Proctor's, arrest and conviction for fraud. With Althea in prison, the rest of the family tries to continue on without the her direction. Althea and Proctor's two daughters become increasingly more troubled while the siblings confront issues from their past and the ramifications of those issues in their lives today.

This story seamlessly follows and weaves together multiple storylines giving the reader empathy for a family torn apart by a loving mother's death and the struggle to cope with the fall-out on many fronts: eating disorders, abandonment, poverty, abuse, and ultimately, white collar crime. In this story, good intentions do not always end up being what is best, and even though life does not work out perfectly, it works out the best it can when there is a will to make it work.

As a fan of Terry McMillan's writing, I was excited to read a new author that she recommended. I was not disappointed. The characters are well-drawn and sympathetic, and the plot is complex and not easily wrapped up with a happy ending for all. Relationships were complicated and emotional. I especially liked the fact that the chapters were written from the characters' different points of view so the reader can hear the voices of different narrators.

Starts slow, but is a wonderfully vivid story of complex women, and complex relationships.
I found myself rooting for all of the sisters of both generations.

Anissa Grays's debut novel is filled with anguish, and a love that is raw and sought and slowly recovered through the telling of this story. This multi-generational telling of a family of women coping with the past and future of their lives connects us with them and the community that they live in. Beautifully written.

Great multigenerational family drama. Too many missing parents in the story. Very well written, the story moves at a good pace. Could easily have read another 200 pages with everyone's backstory.