KINGS COUNTY is a New York City love story like no other I have read. It captures what being in the city and falling in love is in an honest and richly compelling way. This is a must-read for anyone who loves a good book about NYC, life choices, and timely issues.

Although there are a few red flags in the author's handling of writing a female character, I cannot deny that KINGS COUNTY absolutely delighted me and it's a clear 5-star read. This one came out just under a year ago and I'm kicking myself for waiting so long to dig in. Set mostly in 2011 Brooklyn, a setting I know extremely well, the story follows two thirty-something misfits who have found each other in the jungle of New York City but have their relationship tests as secrets from the past begin to surface in thrilling and unexpected ways.

I love an epic book that spans decades and has both a solid plot and the time to dig deep into characters. This one totally delivers and while it's dense, and the ending will have to racing to finish at the expense of having to stop yourself from skimming, if you are a New Yorker (especially if you were there in the late 2000s, and early 2010s, you will love all the specific references and indie band name droppings) or simply enjoy a good story told well, this is one that you cannot miss. The paperback comes out on July 13th, 2021!

I tried several times to get into this one. I kept waiting for something to pull me in, but in the end I had to set it aside.

I think fans of literary fiction will enjoy this one.

I was hoping to be wowed by this book but it fell a little short for me! I think I may have read it in the wrong season of life - I could see someone older than me really loving this book.

Really enjoyed this one. The characters were well developed and their stories were interesting -- it kept me fully engaged. I'd recommend this book.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me. I hate having to DNF an ARC, but I gave it the old 100 page go. I generally enjoy reading books written in NYC, but I think it was the authors writing style that just didn’t grab me. Many others enjoyed this however.

Went into King County having read a quick synopsis, and I can say it was nothing like what I was expecting it to be. One chapter in, and I assumed it was going to move along the lines of Daisy Jones and the Six or Perfect Tunes - heavily music/band focused, and that turned out not to be the case.

This is actually a slow burn mystery/drama that spans a lot of different characters and a lot of different places (in addition to New York, Cape Canaveral Florida and Lawrence Mass are also heavily discussed). It's a long story (at some times I thought a little too long), but I did like the jumping back and forth in time - I think it helped the story flow well. Overall, I didn't *love* it, but it's a solid drama that I think would make a great mini series.

3.5 stars

Kings County is a sprawling, fun and satisfying thriller centered around a group of young adults trying to make their way in early 21st century New York City, mainly Brooklyn (Aka Kings County).

Focused on four friends from different geographic and social backgrounds, “Kings County” dips into the diverse worlds of Florida trailer parks, eastern dead mill- towns, indie bands and the Occupy movement, and then ties it all together through an old, ill conceived extortion scheme. This book is cool and smart and you’ll finish it before you want to.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via Net Galley.

The experience of reading this book is exactly what readers look for: it is engrossing, funny, and has a great depth of understanding humanity on every page. The characters feel like your friends - they are flawed, they overthink and self-doubt, and they make mistakes. Yet they're lovable and you root for them throughout the book. The prose in this book is itself a work of art. Beyond being interested in the characters and the story, I couldn't help but be interested in the next sentence and how it was formed, what wordplay would be waiting for me, and what new perspective on the English language would be offered. While it is a bit lengthy, it offers new stories in each chapter and keeps you engaged. There is also an underlying mystery at the center of the novel that pushes you to finish, but the writing makes you want to take your time and enjoy the journey.

I think people that live in or have lived in New York will find a lot to love in this coming of age tale. I couldn't connect with a lot of the setting and events, but everyone can connect to coming of age!

I only read a few pages of this, but it immediately made me think of Daisy Jones and the Six. I liked Daisy Jones fine, but I wasn't interested in reading another book in that realm.

Wonderful read literary fiction with mystery thrown.A book that I enjoyed from beginning to end.New York the characters the story will be recommending.#netgalley#kingscounty

This story was about two people whose lives in the past caught up with them. It's about relationships, choices, survival, and love in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Set among the music scene, the death of an acquaintance brought about emotions and turmoil. The description of the cities and restaurants added some nostalgic moments. I thought this was an interesting read. There were some parts where I struggled but overall, this was a good read.

I got 25% in and stopped... I wanted to love this but nothing had happened within the first 75/100 pages - very, very flowy descriptive writing. It felt like a little too much for me. If you're a native NYer, you might love this but some of the nostalgia was lost on me I'm afraid. Fans of NYC stories, I'd still try this one!

Kings County follows Audrey Benton, a woman who arrived in early 2000s Brooklyn on a bus from nowhere ready to make a name for herself. Audrey finds ways to survive as a broke young woman and soon finds success in the indie music scene. Flashing backward to Audrey's beginnings in Brooklyn and chronicling her present in Occupy Wall Street New York, this novel synthesizes the things that make New York what it is -- endless possibilities, art, sex, violence, and attempts to make a secure future in a ever-transforming landscape that can get the best of people.

As I started Kings County, I knew I would love this book. There’s a moment, early on, when the writing is so engrossing and I love the rhythm of it, especially because music plays such a large role in the novel. The moment that got me is when Theo, Audrey’s book editor boyfriend, is standing in a bar, waiting to order drinks, and Goodwillie is describing the atmosphere: “Patience. Positioning. Incremental gains. God, this really was like football … Shaking and pouring, shaking and pouring, ice, ice, ice, and no one looking up. At least at him. It was the paradox at the center of Theo’s life.” I love the musicality of the storytelling, I love that you can hear and see the bar, and are also learning about the characters through a mundane interaction with their world—such as grabbing drinks at the bar.

This story offers a commentary on choices made, opportunities forgone, and combating the demons we bury. Specifically, what happens when vibrant and enticing city life brings together unlikely characters then pulls them apart and then brings them back together? Audrey and Sarah’s relationship is particularly compelling as a contemplation on female friendship. Audrey is the grittier of the two, having a more complicated past and desire to remain in Brooklyn’s music scene. Sarah and Audrey became friends through circumstance but morphed into roommates and then best friends. But as friends who became friends out of convenience, sharing an unknown bond, know, when the circumstances that bring people together change, the glue loosens and melts away until two people are just floating in each other’s orbits, but are no longer connected.

Sarah always saw her life roaming Brooklyn streets until the wee hours of the morning, downing drinks, and getting laid as temporary. When she meets Chris, the financier from a well-off family who finds excitement in dating a woman with a little roughness, Sarah decides to upgrade her life, which results in a distorted view of her best friend. Suddenly, the things she used to bond with Audrey over becomes the things she judges her for – staying in Brooklyn, her involvement in the music scene, and the fact that what Sarah always saw as temporary, Audrey made permanent.

Theo and Audrey fell in love quickly and unexpectedly – unexpectedly in so far as they don’t necessarily seem to fit together, but fit together they do. However, when a friend from Audrey’s past goes missing, the disappearance shines a light on secrets Audrey’s kept hidden and complicates her present. Theo and Audrey must reconcile the person they were the people they are and evaluate if the differences they find diminish their relationship.

This novel is a love story, a mystery, and a consideration of the paths we take that lead us away from people and back to them. Each character is genuinely imperfect, with things they hide and things they amplify in an effort to live the life they want. As soon as you begin reading, you’re in it. You feel like one of the gang, deep in early 2000s Brooklyn.

I highly recommend this book, particularly if you enjoy novels set in New York City, but want one that feels different from just another NYC novel.

I really enjoyed this book. The writing was witty and fast paced. It creates a fully realized world with characters that felt real. What made this book good was the small observations that are made throughout the story and they add a depth and richness to the characters. I definitely recommend this book to everyone.

I don’t even know how to begin this review. I’m worried that if I gush over it too much, it’ll get overhyped and others will be disappointed when they read it. But it was amazing and I loved every minute of reading it. I know some of why I loved it is personal - I’m a former Brooklynite and I really miss it. I’m also a NASA superfan and was just tickled to see a few scenes set in the Space Coast of Florida. But a big part of it is universal: beautiful language, relatable characters, interesting plot.

Kings County is one of those rare books that is both plot and character driven at the same time, and it’s really well done. In a clearly self-referential moment, one of the characters describes a similar novel: “It was completely original, in that the plot that drove the narrative forward became a ruse that served only to illuminate the characters themselves. Their fears and foibles. Their quiet hopes.” The plot of Kings County is sort of a “mystery” and it kept me invested, but really, it’s a love story to New York. At the heart of the story is the dichotomy between the Brooklyn music scene and the Wall Street banker life. Presenting it against the backdrop of the Occupy Wall Street protests was pretty genius on the part of Goodwillie.

I also enjoyed the portions of the book designed to give the characters depth. These characters are real, and, through a series of flashbacks, you can see how much they’ve gone through and how much they’ve grown. Some of the characters are self-righteous enough to think that they’ve grown up more than others, based on their decision to leave Brooklyn for the shininess and stability of corporate jobs and Manhattan living. By the end of the novel, Goodwillie divests these characters of such notions - they realize everyone makes their own choices and the right path for one person isn’t necessarily the right one for another.

Lastly, the writing is beautiful. There are just so many gorgeous passages that I want to share with the world. Goodwillie really knows how to take a feeling that you thought no one else knew, that you thought was unique to you, and put it into words. I’ve included a few of my favorites at the end of this review.

I just loved this book so much and I hope everyone that reads it will love it too. I’d highly recommend it to people who love New York, or anyone open minded enough to look at New York through the eyes of these characters and see something they haven’t before.

Thank you to Avid Reader Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Favorite quotes:
On Brooklyn music: “so fragmentarily derivative as to be thoroughly original”
On new Brooklynites: “Busloads of kids who understood firsthand the suffocating lassitude of cultural homogeneity, the illogical sameness of everywhere else”
On new friendships, “They met … and quickly spilled into each other’s lives, like a sloppy chemistry experiment gone wonderfully right. The compound they formed bubbled with energy and glowed in the dark, after dark, and seldom had a night passed without the two joining forces to wreak havoc.”
On stiflingly hot NYC apartments during the winter months: “So it began anew: another winter of climate warfare.”
On bookworms: “Spend your life turning pages and you forget to turn your head and look outside”

It is a love story to New York city. It’s the 2000s and two small town transplants, Audrey and Theo come to make their own way. As they try to realize their dreams, this character-driven novel is filled with small observations of people and the city itself. Love, story, mystery and character-driven novels are all things that attract me as a reader.

Thank you NetGalley, Avid Reader Press, and David Goodwillie for free, early access to this book to read and provide my honest review.

I really wanted to love this book, based on the entire idea that it was a coming of age story set in the cultural enclave of the NYC borough, Brooklyn. Unfortunately, I was let down by most of the story and struggled to read the book. I often found myself putting it down and considering not finishing it, but I willed myself to finish it because there were parts that David Goodwillie did well.

I was intrigued by the stories within the story, often the "named" chapters, and I wished many of them were expanded upon because they seemed to give the reader great insight into the character and their life story. For example, learning about Theo's life growing up in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and Audrey's experience in Florida. I am saddened these were some of my favorite parts of the book because I really wanted to reminisce about the summer I spent in Brooklyn and also experience a part of Brooklyn I wasn't able to experience. Instead, I felt the entire story was full of angst between the constant mention of the Occupy movement, (what felt like) constant talk of illicit drugs, and what I felt were misogynistic and culturally insensitive comments (racist & colorist) comments. I can see what the author is trying to create a visual for the reader, but given the state of the country (and the world) it just didn't sit well with me.

It is very possible this book wasn't for me at this point in time. I definitely think there is an audience for this book that will fall in love with Theo and Audrey's story.

A really excellent, engrossing read about the lives of 4 Millenials in Brooklyn. Audrey has moved from her sheltered life in Florida to reinvent herself in Brooklyn, where she manages up-and-coming local bands. Theo is her boyfriend ekeing out a living in publishing. They have a lovely relationship, and spend most of their time with another couple, Audrey's best friend Sarah and her partner Chris. Very evocative of local places and landmarks, and those familiar with Brooklyn and Manhattan will find the descriptions of the clubs and landmarks familiar.

An old acquaintance of Audrey's disappears under mysterious circumstances, and at that point the book becomes a thriller with mounting plot and intrigue. A secondary plot line is the Occupy Wall Street movement and a few members of Zuccotti Park, which begin to figure into the entirety of the story.