Man, I love a small-town, old school sixies setting so much!!!!! This reminded me of the movie "Now and Then" for many reasons besides the similarity of the title. Female friends, dealing with their own stuff while also finding a way to get themselves involved in the horrors and mysteries of the real world that kids never notice. So it begins at the start of a super hot summer in the small town of Summit. The year is 1960. Three eleven-year-old best friends - Frankie, Viv, and the narrator, Biz - are let out of school early due to the heat. The girls are excited for the early start of their normal summer activities: watching horror movies at the theater on Saturdays, visiting (and spying on) the Broadhurst Mental Institution, and spending all of their nights in Biz's treehouse. This book is fun and nostalgic, while also managing to be somewhat of a thriller. Weird way to describe it, but really, you just have to read it. I found each of the girls' individual personalities to be well-developed and interesting. I also loved their sweet friendship. The story touched on how race, homosexuality, and mental illness were viewed during that time period which added more depth to the story. I really really loved this one.

This is my first book by Lesley Kagen but will not be my last.

This is such a good book. It's a very cute quick read with a lot of intense things going on also. It starts out with Elizabeth Buchanan telling a story about her and her two best friends. The setting is the summer of 1960 and these three girls are eleven years old. Just old enough to be kids and be finding themselves. Their innocence is so sweet in this book. Some of the things they say made me laugh so hard. They are three different girls who are always there for each other no matter what. They call themselves the "tree musketeers." Not a mistype either.

Elizabeth/Biz, Francis/Frankie and Vivian/Viv, are three great young girls who enjoy this summer to the fullest. They love going to watch scary movies at the Rivoli Theatre. They are on the edge of growing up and experience so many things this crazy summer. Some not so great but most was. They started visiting outside a mental hospital because, well in my opinion, they were just nosey and wanted to see what was going on. But they quickly became friends with some of the not so ill patience. It was just part of what they did that summer. Until something happened and they had to stop.

This is a story that will definitely make you see how fast time flies also. These youngsters were the very best of friends and stayed so all their lives. Even after they graduated and went on to different colleges and became individuals. They had a bond that drew them all back together to grow old together. To look back on that summer and some other times. To just be there for each other.

This is a very lighthearted book with some intense parts that will keep you turning the pages. The characters are so well loved. From Aunt Jane May to Doc to the sheriff. There’s so so many characters you will love that I can't possibly begin to name them all. You will get to know then though and they will worm their way into your heart as they did mine. From the patience at the mental hospital to the relatives of these young girls. Each has a place that fits so well. This story will bring out a lot of emotions. From laughter, big belly laughs, too many tears. From realizing how fast time does fly by too enjoying the time you have now. Time.. It does go by so quickly. One day you are an innocent child, then you are looking back on your life talking about the things you use to get into. These three girls sure did.

The way the author made everything fall together in this book was great. It had no abrupt ending that left you wondering. Everything was cleared up. What happened to each person was there. I liked that so much. A lot of books leave me wondering. Not this one though. It was tied up without any doubts as to where each girl landed. Great job Ms Kagen.

Thank you #NetGalley, #LesleyKagen, #AlcovePress for this ARC. This is my own honest review.

I gave it a huge 5/5 stars and a very high recommendation. Great story.

This is a book that has been promoted as being for fans of Where the Crawdads Sing and This Tender Land, - the similarities, for me, only in that there are young people who, in both the innocence of young-bordering-on-teen-years, and the slightly more innocent times, in this case the summer of 1960 in Summit, Wisconsin. In a slight twist on theme it is probably closer to The Summer That Melted Everything, as evil does pay a visit.

It’s the hottest summer on record when Frankie, Viv, and Biz along with the entire school have been released from early for the year since the sweltering heat has made it impossible to conduct classes for teachers and students, alike. These three girls have been friends for so long they know the ins and outs of each other's thoughts, and can anticipate what they’ll say or do next. They spend all their summer nights sleeping in the tree house in Biz’s yard, referring to themselves as the Tree Musketeers, watching scary movies at the theater in town, sneaking out to go to Mud Town – where they were forbidden to go after dark, not that that stopped them, or watching the residents at the Broadhurst Mental Institution and making friends with some of them. Life seems relatively simple and safe in this quiet corner of the world. At least until it doesn’t.

’But there’s going to come a time when they, too, will understand that the border between now and then is much more like a cobweb than a brick wall and when the past come to haunt it doesn’t ask our permission to do so.

There is an aura of suspense, tension that grows slowly and unevenly, interspersed with the typical summer days of a childhood of those times in a small town, and the somewhat typically overactive imaginations of three young girls that leads to a story that builds with tension as the ending nears.



Pub Date: 06 Oct 2020

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Alcove Press

#EveryNowandThen #NetGalley

What a phenomenal, well written emotional story!!! There's nothing like a coming-of-age story about friendship in a small town in the 1960's!

Biz and her two best friends Frankie and Viv are ready to start their summer of adventure, get ready to tag along and be swept away by their story! I loved their quirkiness and their 11 year old moxie! I loved the amazing bond these girls had and their tenaciousness. All of the characters are so vivid and full of life it's hard not to fall in love with all of them. I'm also a sucker for a story about asylums and their patients.

Run out a grab a copy of this book, I promise you will not be disappointed!!

A special thank you to NetGalley, Alcove Press, and Lesley Kagen for providing me with an ARC.

It's the summer of 1960 in Summit, Wisconsin and the Tree Musketeers - Biz, Viv, and Frankie - have a whole bucket list full of fun and mischief planned. This book is fun and tender with elements of mystery and is even a little bit of a thriller. I loved the girls' individual personalities as well as their combined friendship. The story touched on how race, homosexuality, and mental illness were viewed during that time period which added more depth to the story. For me, it was a delightfully reminiscent of Goonies with a dash of Golden Girls. I loved it! #EveryNowandThen #NetGalley

This book follows three 11 year old girls, Viv, Frankie and Biz during an exciting summer of the 1960s. I loved the personalities of each of these girls, each strong and funny and certainly precocious. I loved that it was set in the 60s, a simpler time with better family values, in my opinion.

This book reminded me of a blend of Goonies, Stand by Me, The Wonder Years and The Sandlot or at least my memory of them. A coming of age story about friendship, family and a bit of young love during a turning point in their lives.

Highly entertaining, cute, and innocent with a little intensity towards the end.

Thank you Alcove Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a great coming of age story, with a lot of social issues woven in. Lesley Karen does a great job of making you remember your own childhood, especially if you were of the bike riding, creek exploring kind...which I luckily was!

A delightful coming of age novel about the adventures of 3 eleven year old girls during one summer in a small town of Summit Wisconsin . The girls just ended their school year and were told to go have an adventure to occupy their time, and what an adventure it turned out to be. Playing Amateur Detectives the girls get into trouble along with having some fun along the way. Slow in parts but it kept me wanting to get to the conclusion to learn the ending. I love coming of age novels and I loved this book. I will give this a 4+ rating. Thanks to Net Galley for the advanced read copy for an honest review.

I really enjoyed reading this book...it made me smile and snicker at times at the shenanigans of the young girls and the things they said to each other were straight out of a small town of the 60s (know that first hand). But it also gave insight into close friendships and the the things a young child will do to not upset a friend, to understand what is happening in their life, and ultimately to protect a friend . To see the world and people through the innocent eyes of small-town children was refreshing. These girls liked who they wanted to like, no matter the color or where a person lived. Through all the bluster, they were big-hearted, caring children forced to face the realities of the world through the evil that lurked in their community. Meeting "Biz", "Viv" and "Frankie", along with Aunt Jane May, Bigger, Dell and Jimbo brings the reader to their town, where "the usual" town characters, some good and some not-so-good, abound. This is the first book written by Lesley Kagen that I have read, and it won't be my last. I thoroughly enjoyed her writing style and the way that she brought the characters to life in my mind's eye. I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Alcove Press in return for an honest review, which this has been. #NetGalley #EveryNowandThen

I have read several of Lesley Kagen’s novels and have enjoyed every one, was so excited to gain access to this and it is a great book until we get about 90% in, as the author is tying up the mystery, the story takes a turn that I really didn’t see coming nor did I really think was necessary. I’m not sure how I would have written the book differently but having it end with so much discussion between the pre-teen girls and “homo’s/gays”. I felt this was absolutely unnecessary and somehow could have taken a different storyline. Especially with so much going for this book, I was disappointed.
Even with what I mentioned above, I loved this one. I fell in love with Mary Jane, Viv, Frankie and Biz. The writing is stellar, I felt like I was having a sleep over in the red hideout, could hear the screen door slam and see these three young ladies riding their bikes. Could taste that great breakfast and the pie and root beer. The conversations between these girls was absolutely remarkable. I wish in the 1960’s I would have had that tree house.
I highly recommend this for a quick read, a great caper of three young ladies coming of age, learning about themselves and the ways of the world in those hot summer days.
I want to thank Alcove Press and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this book for my honest unbiased opinion. This is a 5-star review. (even with my criticism) I recommend.

I received this from Netgalley.com.

"Frankie, Viv, and Biz, eleven-year-old best friends, the summer of 1960 would forever be remembered as the summer that evil paid a visit to their small town--and took their young lives as they'd known them as a souvenir."

A well written coming-of-age story, a very pleasurable read. I loved the mc, Biz. Naive eleven year old with a know-it-all grown up point of view.

4☆

“We were eleven years old that summer...” Thus begins the adventures of Viv, Frankie and Biz, three young girls in 1960 small town Wisconsin trying to beat the heat of an unprecedented heatwave.

This coming of age adventure explores the issues of the 60’s — such as racism, interracial marriage, mental illness, sexuality and a woman’s place — from the wet behind the ears innocence of children on the cusp of adolescence.

Lesley Kagen has beautifully written a character-driven page turner that will capture your heart.

While it doesn’t release until October, you’re surely going to want to cozy up with this nostalgic read in the fall.

My thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for a complimentary advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Lesley Kagen's depiction of a small town in the '60's is spot on. Her characters are fully developed, and we'll written. It's a coming of age story I enjoyed.

A whirlwind of a story that was thoroughly enjoyable.

Relive your childhood, or the childhood you wish you had, with Biz, Frankie, and Viv – three 11-year-old girls not quite on the cusp of their teenage years (well, except for Viv who, to her besties’s increasing annoyance, has become super boy-crazy as of late). Come along with the “Tree Musketeers”, self-named after their tree house hideout, as they rollick and romp through the hot summer in the 1960’s small town of Summit, Wisconsin.

*A big thank you to Lesley Kagen, Alcove Press, and NetGalley for providing a free Advance Reader Copy in exchange for this honest review.*

An ode to a good old-fashioned school break in an All-American town, the “Tree-o” while away their time trying to solve nonexistent mysteries, eating ice cream, decorating their bicycles, and hanging out in their tree fort. Although they’ve been warned off, they also can’t resist the allure of the local insane asylum with its patients who are periodically allowed to wander the asylum grounds and have become the girls’ friends. But no one could predict the dark happenings at the asylum and the danger to the whole town lurking undetected.

I’m rating this one as a four for a well-developed novel that kept my attention and certainly earned a score of “(I) really liked it”, if not quite up to my, admittedly very high, standards to earn a five-star “It was amazing” marks. All in all, a solid effort, and a truly nostalgic tale – a slice of the proverbial American pie served up in an entertaining read.

#EveryNowAndThen
#LesleyKagen
#AlcovePress
#NetGalley

This is a coming of age story about three eleven year old friends looking for an adventure in the summer of 1960!
Aww growing up in this time period, I was looking forward to a fun “Trip down Memory Lane”! I had to laugh out loud the part about decorating their “Schwinn” bikes. Yes! I did that and so did my daughter when we had neighborhood 4th of July parades; only our bikes were not Schwinn!!
I did like this but didn’t love it! Have no doubts it will have the perfect audience who WILL love it!
This was my first novel by this author and I will read another. I especially liked that she posted her Acknowledgements at the beginning of the book. I always enjoy reading about the behind the scenes; typically authors post this at the ending and I think ...”I wish I read this first!”

Want to thank NetGalley and Alcove Press for this early release granted to me in exchange for an honest professional review. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for October 6, 2020

I really enjoyed the setting of this book, the messaging around how those who are perceived as "other" are treated, and the spooky element of Broadhurst Mental Institution. It was slow to get into for me and I didn't feel much happened at all until the final third of the novel. I was really engaged for a few chapters at that point, but for me, it fell off again when the writing overstayed its welcome at the end of the book- the epilogue didn't feel earned. I was also distracted by the frequent misuse of differently spelled homophones and just plain incorrect vocabulary. It felt like it needed more editing.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have really enjoyed this author’s other books but this one was a challenge for me to get into. I loved the dialogues between and among the three girls but there was so much characterization and not enough real action or plot points in the first half of the book to really hold my interest.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

𝐎𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞, 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐧𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩.

It is the summer of 1960 in Summit, Wisconsin and Frances “Frankie”, Vivian “Viv” and our narrator Elizabeth “Biz” have just been set free from the shackles of St. Thomas Aquinas… their school. Summer is on and the raging heat wave is a warning of everything that is about to befall the town, and the girls. Growing up with her widower father and raised by her mother’s older sister Aunt Jane since infancy, Biz and her friends are protected under the umbrella of Jane’s love and order, when they aren’t running around scheming.

Some things are already changing between the friends as they are shedding their youth, right on the edge of twelve. Spooking themselves with films featuring monsters doesn’t have the same terror it once did, after-all big girls don’t believe in such non-sense. Monsters, however, come in many disguises and without the warning of scary music. As the “tree musketeers” attempt to honor Biz’s mother in the ‘hideout’ built in her memory high in the oak tree, the girls spend the night planning their summer antics. Top of the list, visit Broadhurst Mental Institution and sneak into it’s chamber of horrors. After-all, Biz knows there may even soon be a child killer there, if rumors heard a the beauty parlor can be trusted.

If they behave like feral cats, Aunt Jane is there to set them straight and remind them how to be respectable. If that doesn’t work, Viv’s Granny Cleary’s holy water may do the trick. The three also plan to spy on Aunt Jane and her romantic life. Jane’s ripe old age of 37 certainly doesn’t make her prime for torrid love affairs, but she’s a convenient target of surveillance. Summer means escape from all the adults and structure, it means root beer floats, games of kick the can, and whispered secrets. The girls are just beginning to understand that other world of adult knowledge, like Biz declares, they aren’t total ignoramuses but what they don’t know may well entrap them in situations far bigger than their britches.

With the transfer of Wallace Harper to Broadhurst, the town in furious with the possibility that the child killer could escape, seeing as how other patience freely roam the grounds, much to the consternation of the townsfolk. Could dangerous patients lead to the institutions closure, and what is the new doctor all about? Biz, Viv and Frankie have their favorites among the mentally ill patients, but when they meet one in particular they are shocked because he does not fit the mold. They are intrigued by him and every secret that awaits them hiding in the shadows of Broadhurst. When one of them promises to help him out, they are caught up in scandal that is about to unfold.

Escaped mental patients, mean Elvin Merchant and his traps, the summit witch, questionable medical treatments, racism; when the girls break into the chamber of horrors they let out secrets that will remain with Biz for life, secrets that will help her to one day become a best selling author. They learn that monsters can come in the guise of professionalism, that sometimes even well meaning parents can fall prey to untold horrors. It is always those in power who control the narrative, but those who are brave that can write the ending. Secrets swirls in the darkness, the biggest secret of all may well involve their own sweet Frankie.

There is a lot going on but the story is incredibly engaging. With youth slipping away, it’s a painful coming of age but Kagen does a beautiful job writing about a time when children were free to roam the streets and stick their noses in places they really don’t belong. It’s a strange ‘between things’ age, when curiosity can outright cost you your life, and experience is hard earned. Nothing is as it seems and it will take immense courage to fix what they’ve stumbled upon. None of them will be the same after. It’s a good read that turns in many directions, humorous one minute, heartbreaking the next. Revelations of a different time, what drove people to make life altering choices, and what it costs everyone in the end.

Publication Date: October 6, 2020

Alcove Press

I really enjoyed this coming-of-age story of three 11 yo best friends and a very adventurous summer of 1960 in Summit, WI. It’s an entertaining, often humorous tale centering on Biz, Frankie, and Viv, their summer hideout treehouse retreat, their interactions with townsfolk and the neighboring mental institution patients, and how their summer “to-do” list led them into danger.

This reminded me a bit of some Southern stories (although not set in the South) like Fried Green Tomatoes, The Myth of Perpetual Summer and Tom Sawyer/Huckleberry Finn. While often light-hearted, it also deals with racism, the stigma of mental illness and alludes to sexual predators (nothing graphic). While the main focus is the friendships and how those we cultivate as children can often be tighter and more precious than “blood” kinships, there is also much to be said about being "different" during that time period.

The writing is beautiful, the characters so real, and the descriptions took me back to my own childhood in many instances (although I was not half as daring as these three).

I definitely plan to search out this author’s backlist.

Many thanks to #NetGalley and #AlcovePress for providing me the ARC. The opinions are strictly my own.

I’ve enjoyed Lesley Kagan’s other books, but I had a lot of trouble getting into this one. I found the first 75% to drag and my mind wandered while reading, so it took me awhile to get through. The beginning lacked a hook for me that engaged me enough to want me to keep reading. The last 25% had the brunt of the action and that part was interesting to me. I wish that the main event of this had happened a lot earlier in the book.