This wasn’t a winner for me, I think the timing between the two of us (this book and I) was just off. I’m finding I have to be choosy in my quarantine reading!

Ariel returns home to her mother's animal sanctuary in Kansas after a fire destroys a barn and she learns the sanctuary is up for sale. She and her mother have been estranged for six years and Mona isn't happy to have her daughter back expressing opinions on everything that's wrong with her business and home. Will they be able to patch their relationship and save the sanctuary?
Like so many other reviews I've seen, I didn't like the politics entering into my pleasure reading. This book could have been so much better without it. But I decided to ignore it and struggle through. I loved the idea of the sanctuary, the care that Mona and Gideon showed to the animals they took in. But I hated the main character, Ariel. I thought she was selfish and self-centered.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is just one that makes you feel good. I absolutely could and probably will read it again and again. I felt the characters were super realistic and the plot was just great. I enjoyed it a lot.

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

This is what I call a feel good book. A family, not by blood but choice, must work through and around the many roadblocks thrown out to keep them from being happy. The story of the animal sanctuary unwinds slowly while the characters rush towards what they see as happiness. Happiness does eventually come but the ups and downs as they struggle to get there rival any rodeo rider's 8 second thrill!!!!

I can’t go wrong with a book about an animal sanctuary, can I? Apparently, I can. Ariel grew up on a farm sanctuary in Kansas. Her father left. She left, too, and has now returned after 6 years. I didn’t find any of the characters likable, and the book started out with talking about the 2016 election. I really try to avoid anything about “he-who-must-not-be-named,” so I wasn’t happy to have to read about his supporters when I’m supposed to be reading for pleasure. Thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The writing in this book is adequate, but flawed - in places it lapses into cuteness, and tries way to hard to be more than it ever manages to be. The main characters - mother and daughter - are unlikeable, selfish, and not fully developed. There is a heavy-handed thread of politics which serves only to highlight the author’s feelings about the current political climate and adds nothing to the story or to a deeper understanding of the characters or their motivations. Disappointing at best.

Thank you Net Galley for the free ARC. I thought this would be an uplifting book about rescuing animals, but as it turn out it is a book about broken promises, racism and misunderstandings. Good, if depressing read.

I really wanted to like this book, but I couldn’t get past the swearing. To me, it felt gratuitous and overused and really distracted from the story. I was unable to finish the book.

Thanks for the ARC.

I enjoyed this book, although it didn't blow me out of the water. After running off to college against her mother's wishes and then not returning for six years, Ariel has a change of heart when she learns that her mother's animal sanctuary is struggling. The book follows Ariel's reunion with her mother -- and with her former love. Honestly, I was expecting this to lean more romance, base on the descriptions, but it's definitely more of a family drama. It felt a bit slow at times, especially early on, but I eventually got sucked in and ultimately enjoyed it. Be warned if you are still tender about the 2016 election results -- it's a major theme throughout the book.

If you’re a Trump supporter, you’ll hate this book. I loved this book.

It is set after Trump is elected but before he takes office. Ariel left her small town in Kansas for the relatively big town of Lawrence, KS, to attend college. She left her mother with such a rift between them, they haven’t spoken for six years. But when Ariel hears that the animal sanctuary Mona has nurtured for years was the victim of a hate crime and was already up for sale, she decides to leave her fiancé behind for the time and return home.

I loved how incredibly real all of the characters felt. The man Ariel left behind—the solid, good man Gideon and his new love, Joy. Her mother Mona, her fiancé, Dex, and Dex’s uncouth friend, Buddy.

The novel also illustrates how animals can heal humans and politics can rift us. It’s a well-written story about the complex bonds between mothers and daughters, our pasts, and how the futures we imagined rarely go as planned.

Thanks so much to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this novel, which RELEASES AUGUST 4, 2020.

It starts off slow and kind of dense, but once the action begins, it's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. It reads as a true epic, one that makes you feel the world really has been reshaped as you read it. Would recommend.

Thanks to Netgalley for this book. What an emotional rollercoaster. I really enjoyed this one. So much feeling. Look forward to more by the author.

I’m pretty much a sucker for animals. But absolutely will avoid novels where animals play such a heavy role. As you all know, animal deaths hit harder. You have to mentally be up for uncontrollable ugly crying on the couch over an animal that never existed. Yet it happens every damn time. So, you can see why I was apprehensive. Fortunately, still interested. Send request!

Upon approval, I knew exactly what I could expect. We’ve seen shows, heard firsthand stories, and know a few novels where a farm or sanctuary is on the chopping block. This story line isn’t new or original, but it does apply more modern views and beliefs into it. Overall, I liked the story enough. But the ending was infuriating and unnecessary. Took my 4-star rating down to a 3.

Beyond animals, The Bright Side Sanctuary for Animals has a few other story lines going on. There is a major disconnect between a few of our narrators. Mona (mom) and Ariel (daughter) are essentially estranged. After a pretty bad incident, Ariel returns home after disappearing with no contact for years and years. And all this does is muck up the works especially for Mona and Jake. Lastly, we have Ariel’s recent engagement to celebrate. All of these pieces with a little political jargon and you have a decent enough story. Minus that horse shit Mandelbaum called an end.

As far as characters go, I find the men to be the better in the bunch. Which is interesting
considering our main protagonists are female. The female characters kind of suck. Ariel especially, I found her hard to like and even more so as the story progressed. She was a selfish dick and that really didn’t change (in my opinion). Jake is unreasonably good and Dex while a goof is also a good dude.

Now let’s talk about that shit show of an ending. Everything I’ve discussed has been pretty average drama. There was nothing profound. Farm is in trouble. Engagement is rocky. Mom-Daughter relationship non-existent. Old lover returns. All story lines that should have some sort of wrap up. But Mandelbaum for some un-fucking-known reason decided she didn’t have to wrap up any story lines with anything definitive. No answers. I’m sorry but this story wasn’t good enough, deep enough, or profound enough to be left subjectively. This isn’t The Leftovers homie, people aren’t disappearing. There was absolutely NO reason for all of the loose ends to remain unresolved. This book is too simple and too overdone for you to leave readers with no answers. And if Mandelbaum did because she is thinking a sequel, then the Flannery O’Connor award went to her damn head.

Fortunately, my opinion matters very little in the grand scheme of things. But I am curious to see how others feel about this awful approach.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for approving my request.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review. I genuinely enjoyed this story about forgiveness and love. As an animal fanatic I was initially drawn in by the idea of the sanctuary, but it was written in such an honest, real way. The struggle, the drive to care and protect for something you also had a painful history with hit on so many levels. The characters were well written, full, and wonderful and you felt as though you had developed a real relationship with the, by the end. At turns funny, sweet, and moving I would definitely recommend this book.

Ariel left home for college against her mother’s wishes. After not speaking for six years, Ariel finds out that her mother, Mona, was the victim of an anti-Semitic act in their small town in Kansas. Ariel never told her fiancée about her mother or her home life, as she returns home to the farm that is an animal sanctuary. The story is unique, as is the character of Mona. The mother daughter relationship is at the heart of this quirky novel. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Recommended for a quick but worthwhile read.

There is much to enjoy in this book from the deeply flawed main characters, who I never got around to liking very much but still cared about a great deal,to the the beautifully descriptive writing, especially in regards to animals. Mona and Ariel’s relationship had so much to unpack -the myriad of ways they are connected and let each other down. The dynamics of their mother/daughter relationship spilled over into the other relationships in their lives but I didn’t care as much about the other characters. I found them less vibrantly portrayed and distracting. Buddy was so annoying I almost put the book down when I realized there would be more of him in upcoming chapters. There were moments that were lovely and moments that were so heavy handed it was off putting. The author shows so much promise and I am eager to see what she writes next.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received a free copy of The Bright Side Sanctuary for Animals and honestly, I tried, but I cannot get into it. What could have been a heartwarming, cute book did nothing but annoy me. You instantly brought up politics which just downright annoyed me. Guess what, I voted for Trump, I'm glad I did, and this just made me roll my eyes and think "He won, just get over it already". Needless to say, I'm not finishing this book.

Very interesting read that definitely held my interest. A delightful mix of dysfunctional relationships, politics, and the power of dogs to heal a hurting heart. The dynamics between Ariel and Mona, Ariel and Gideon, and Ariel and Dex were the core of the novel. Loved Gideon who seemed so sincere. Dex and his obnoxious friend, Buddy, had me laughing while cringing at the same time. A jar of peanut butter will long remind me of Buddy. Loved the parts with the escape and subsequent recapture of my favorite characters. Becky must be an animal lover as she evokes such camaraderie, love and comfort when writing about them.Many thanks to Becky Mandelbaum, Simon and Schuster, and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read this delightful book, to be published in August, 2020. Between these pages lives a story that everyone would enjoy.

The Bright Side Sanctuary for Animals by Becky Mandelbaum

Ariel Siskin, a Kansas native in her early twenties travels back to her estranged mother’s animal sanctuary when it is targeted in a hate crime on the heels of the 2016 presidential election. Once there, Ariel grapples with what it meant to leave and what it means to come back to those she left behind to pursue a different life.

Political without being preachy and sentimental without being precious, The Bright Side Sanctuary for Animals offers the reader a full and gripping portrait of Ariel’s inner tumult as she tries to navigate a new adulthood that is not the comforting blanket she thought it would be when she made the decision to leave home. The main characters felt nuanced and real and the setting endeared itself to me immediately being a native of Lawrence, Kansas. Despite making a number of frustrating decisions, Ariel maintained her sympathy and kept the momentum of the story going as the conflict between she and Dex as well as she and her mother came to a head. I never found myself bored with the story despite it being one where very little actually happens. I found myself not being sure what or who exactly to root for, a dilemma that kept me interested as the story unfolded.

The ending felt rather abrupt, not because it wasn’t earned but because it seems to have left certain decisions unexplained, and I would have liked one more chapter from Dex. It seems that his stance at the end does not necessarily adhere to what Ariel is counting on, and I felt conflicted leaving the story that way. I didn’t need a certainty of what exactly would happen, but I wish I had had one last peek into Dex’s brain there at the end.

Overall, it was a great story that any number of readers will see themselves and their loved ones in, and animal lovers will melt at many of the descriptions. Mandelbaum’s writing is vivid and accessible and I anticipate this to be one of my favorite reads of the year.

(I will be posting this review to Goodreads closer to the publishing date and will provide a link when I do so)

For a full-length novel, it seemed to me there was a serious shortage of forward momentum here. Backstory, yes, there’s scads of it. And some sensitive drilling down into character and psychology. But a book needs a plot, and this one seems pretty light on forward movement. This reader became pretty frustrated with the repeated deferral of narrative in favor of flashback. Perhaps the novel’s heavy load of sentiment will carry it forward for some readers, but personally, I’m dubious.