I really enjoyed reading about Olive’s story. A twelve year old girl on a journey after running away from her Louisiana home. She had such spunk and a great narrative. It was a heartwarming tale of mother and daughter and their bond.

I loved reading this novel. From the characters to the plot to the ending. It was engaging and kept me flipping the pages.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley in exchange for fair and honest review.

Olive is very headstrong, charming, and often times funny. There are a lot of great characters in this story that really stand out, like olive's grandfather, father, and a tough larger than life mother, whose bold actions had me laughing. There were so many funny moments that i enjoyed as well as some really interesting sayings I've never heard of. There were also some really dark moments that had me on the edge of my seat.

This book is very charming, heartfelt, and at times heavy. But beautifully written. If you enjoy stories set in the south, or if you enjoyed whistling past the graveyard by susan crandall, you'll definitely enjoy this book and i highly recommend it.

Many thanks to Incorgnito Press Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC.

Based on the description I read of All the Good Little Girls Keep Quiet, I went into it expecting an Adventures of Huckleberry Finn type story with a narrator somewhat like Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird. I was spot on about the first part. Like Huck, our protagonist, Olive Abernathy, is looked down on by the rest of her Louisiana town and decides to runaway with her best friend, Henry. While Olive is a tomboy like Scout, she is ultimately much more of a spitfire. She has an incredibly strong narrative voice that Kibbee captures well, and many readers will be charmed by her tenacity, even as it gets her into trouble during her journey.

Though I think many people will find Olive a likeable narrator, I had a few problems with her. The first is that Kibbee writes all of her narration in dialect. I’m not a big fan of written dialect and never have been. I can handle it when a character uses it occasionally, but I find it grating after a while. Having the whole book written this way was just too much for me. I may have found it more tolerable if it had been an audiobook; I tend to have an easier time listening to it than reading it. My second problem is with Olive as a character. She’s so angry all the time, and on many occasions kind of bratty. At times, it felt that’s all there is to her, and as a result, I never formed a connection to her and ultimately didn’t care about what was happening in the story.

I also had some trouble with the pacing of the book. Kibbee starts with Olive and Henry running away but flashes back to show the lead up. That would have been fine for me, except we don’t get back to them running away until the halfway point in the book. This killed all the tension and momentum of them running away and resulted in the second half of the book, their actual adventures, feeling rushed. I think it would have worked much better if Kibbee had alternated between things in the past and Olive and Henry’s adventures in the present. The beginning wouldn’t have been so slow to start and the end may have been more developed.

I did love that at it’s heart, this story is about the relationship between a mother and daughter. Even when Olive is train hopping, hitch hiking, and wandering the big city, everything relates back to her mother. I actually really enjoyed Olive’s mother as a character. She has many flaws, but she’s fiercely protective of her daughter. This focus is one of the few things I did enjoy about this book, and I would recommend it to people based on this. I know lots of people love mother/daughter stories, so for those people this is definitely worth taking a look at.

Overall, All the Good Little Girls Keep Quiet wasn’t for me, but based on other reviews, I appear to be in the minority. While I didn’t like it, I can see why other people fell in love with Olive’s spunky narration and the mother/daughter relationship at the center of the story.

A very slow burn.

I loved the sassy tomboy Olive. I found the first half very disjointed and hard to follow. I wanted more of Olives adventures rather than the back story. I struggled with the southern speak. The second half of the book was worth the wait however and I enjoyed following Olives journey. I found her and Henry’s friendship very pure and wholesome. There are a few TW scenes and themes.

Thanks to NetGalley for my free eARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Olive Abernathy is a 13 year old girl from Louisiana. She is witty, spunky, and is not scared of anything. Like many teenagers, she dislikes her family, and wants to get out of Louisiana. She has a great deal of wanderlust and wants to go everywhere. Then she does, and she realizes the rest of the world isn't quite what she thought it would be.

This book was charming. I could not stop reading. Olive's humor and perspective kept me engaged in the book. I wanted to know what would happen to her and her friend. I was rooting for their success. As she started to grow up on her journey, understanding some new truths about her life, she became a newer, better Olive.

It was a wonderful book to read. Compelling characters and scenery. A true delight.

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

A truly wonderful book! One that will stay with me for a long time! Olive Abernethy is fierce and brave! Her fight for survival and her wisdom! Inherited from her mother! Make this a thoroughly wonderful read! Beautifully written!

Wow. What an absolutely gorgeous book. It’s the tale of 13yo spitfire Olive Abernathy that tugs at your heart while also giving many chuckles, K. Kibbee feels the tale filled with so many descriptive phrases that you feel like you’re right there. Two of my favourites are ‘The Look’ which we can all relate to and Da Beast (the family car).

Olive Abernathy, as is typical of most daughters, struggles to relate to her mother. After an accident, for which she believes she is at fault, she and her best friend Henry run away and experience life outside Louisiana. The last couple of chapters had me reading through my tears. Such a lovely book written beautifully.

I absolutely devoured this book. It was one of the best and definitely one of the funniest in parts that I have ever read. I usually only read thrillers.

Olive was one of the most outgoing resilient people ever. You will love her. You'll cry for her in parts too. The things she goes through and somehow bounces back from. The life she lives.

This is a great book.

Thank you #NetGalley, #K.Kibbee, #IncorgnitoPublishingPress for this ARC.. My own words.
5/5 stars and a high recommendation..

This book was incredible and I adored Olive, she made me laugh and cry. In fact all the characters are finely drawn with all their imperfections and flaws - each one is convincing. You want things to turn out well for them, but you realise they may not. I would adopt Olive, she is a girl after my own heart. It is one of my best reads so far this year.

Ultimately, this is a rare, special story that will touch your heart and take your breath away. I will definitely be recommending it to all of my fellow readers and friends. Thank you Ms. Kibbee for writing such an incredible book, it is an extremely moving, gripping, complex, clever story that will stay with me forever.

This book wasn't quite what I thought it was going to be but I enjoyed it all the same.
As a mom, I could view the story through Mama's eyes, and if I remembered hard enough, I could view the world through Olive's.
The final chapter is beautifully written, one to go back to again and again.

I loved this book! I laughed out loud at some of the things the main character said, she was spunky. I never laugh out loud when I read so I was surprised by that. It was also sad in parts, there is always someone who is worse off then you. No matter what happens in your life, you should never keep quiet if something wrong is done to you. It doesn’t make you a bad person if you are standing up for yourself!

Had a hard time getting into the story, I'm so glad I stuck with it. As a mother of daughters and a daughter myself I know what it may feel like to want to escape who I am and where I come from. With escape comes the realization of who you truly are, revealing unknown strength and the love that may have seemed smothering or lacking brings to light that there's no place like home.

3.5-4 stars

I have to admit, it took me a little while to get into this story. It seemed to jump around a lot in the beginning, which made it difficult to follow, but what kept me going was Olive.

That sassy-mouthed tomboy was the highlight of the book, and I loved how genuine the dialogue was for Louisiana and the bayou. It came as no surprise that she wanted to shed the Abernathy name after seeing how the town had treated anyone attached to it, but running away and riding the rails with her best friend Henry took a lot guts for a girl of only thirteen. She experienced so much in such a short amount of time, and after learning the truth of how her mother had shamed her family and was turned away by everyone in their community, I think she began to grow a deep respect for her mother and realized that sometimes you have to let your voice be heard rather than keep quiet.

Though it took some time for me to get into the story, I did enjoy it as a whole and loved the ending. I would still recommend it.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3433412148

This book is a real gem! Olive Abernathy is a girl with a big voice and a story we all need to hear, and she is not going to keep quiet.

Olive desperately wants to get out of Lafayette, LA, where everyone in town looks down on the Abernathy family. Olive seems to court trouble at every turn and it's usually because she can't keep her words or her fists to herself. After the untimely death of her Gramps (for which Olive blames herself), she and her best friend Henry hitch a ride on a freight train, aiming to visit all the places on the postcards Olive has collected for years. The trip does not go as planned, and their adventures and misadventures are the bulk of the plot, but what Olive learns about home and family is the heart of the story.

I love the author's choice to write in a way that makes the reader pronounce the words like Olive might say them. Even her thoughts had an accent! As a native East Tennessean, I heard most of those pronunciations in my childhood. Sometimes Olive's poor grammar takes away from the meaning of what she is saying, but most of the time I was able to see past that. I particularly enjoyed how Olive's scrapbook became very important near the end of the book, but I am not going to give away any spoilers.

This is a fantastic read, both for its fun and adventuresome tale of a girl running away from home, and for the lessons it teaches about keeping quiet when you're screaming inside.

A truly wonderful book! One that will stay with me for a long time! Olive Abernethy is fierce and brave! Her fight for survival and her wisdom! Inherited from her mother! Make this a thoroughly wonderful read! Beautifully written!

#AlltheGoodLittleGirlsKeepQuiet #NetGalley

A book with wonderful proses and a story so enriching it’ll leave you turning page after page for hours. Our main character is full of honesty and isn’t a afraid of telling anyone how she feels. A truly remarkable novel.

I do not know how to review this book. I do not know the words to use, the viewpoint to take. I do not have the skill to conjure the imagery required nor the sensitivity to discuss the emotions evoked.
We find 12 year old Olive Abernathy in a small Louisiana town, living with her parents and her younger twin brothers. Her mother is shunned by the town, and by association so is Olive. Olive hates her name, hates her brothers, hates her mother, hates school. To offset this she loves her grandfather, her father, her friend, Henry (who is also an outsider); the bayou and most of all her book of postcards and her grandfather’s stories.
From the outset the stage is set, the language hurtles you back to the south, the dialect is unmistakable and the language colourful, witty and funny. Reminiscent of Huckleberry Finn and Old Yeller: children playing, discovering the world and the harshness of prejudice and the reality of bigotry.
So Olive sets out in her Grandad’s footsteps – she is going to ‘ride the rails’ , see the world, have adventures and she co-opts her friend, Henry. And therein lies the tale, literally. And what a tale!
Oh, what a joy this is; it truly made my heart sing. I read with anticipation, waiting for the next step; I read with trepidation – knowing how bad the world can be; and I wept for all the pain and cruelty experienced by those on the margins and as the world revolved again, felt thanks for those who see beauty and inspire love. This book will remain in my thoughts for a long, long time.

Thank you to the author, publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

Olive Abernathy is a spitfire of girl who just turned 13 in the summer of 1979. She’s feisty, cantankerous, and not afraid to speak what’s on her mind. The one thing she longs for most is to get away from her hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana where to be an Abernathy means to be shunned, spit upon, and avoided at all costs.

When Olive’s mother punches out the mother of Olive’s best and only friend, Henry, Olive feels she’ll never survive the embarrassment of her “redneck” mother’s actions. When the call comes late that same night that Olive's beloved grandfather has died, she decides it's time to leave Louisiana and the Abernathy name behind for good. Olive stops by Henry's to say goodbye and, like any best friend would, he immediately packs up his suitcase and joins her... wherever they may be going. However, Olive and Henry may have gotten more than they bargained for as they traverse the country in a "Trains, Planes, and Automobiles"-like adventure.

Joyfully drenched in colorful language (Olive's Mama has a saying for everything!), Kibbee richly portrays both place and time. Pull out your ViewFinders, GenX-er's - it's time for solid wallop of nostalgia.

Well done, Ms. Kibbee - I enjoyed it every step of the way!

When I read the synopsis of "All the Good Little Girls Keep Quiet," by K. Kibbee, I knew it was going to be a good one. What I wasn't prepared for was the emotional impact it would have on me as I journeyed along with Olive Abernathy, a spitfire of a thirteen-year-old I would've loved to have had as a friend. E

Everything about this novel was heartfelt, wickedly humorous, and full of fiery spice from two women who are anything but good quiet girls, a quality that becomes admired and even courageous by the end of the novel.

Olive Abernathy hates everything about her life. From her name, to her family, all the way down to her Louisiana roots that bind her to the family farm she's grown up on and may never leave due to her mother's watchful eyes. Growing up on the stories of others, Olive daydreams of going on similar adventures and finding the wild and beautiful side of life that she can't seem to in a town that judges her and her family. When Olive takes responsibility for a death, she becomes a restless hitchhiker who sets off to see the world and all it has to offer. Life on the road proves to be a much darker place than Olive ever could've imagined. With her friend Henry by her side, Olive navigates the darker side of humanity and comes to see the family and home she tested through new eyes with the help of the people she meets on her journey.

Kibbee is an author whose passion for writing and creating unique, vibrant characters become visceral throughout the story. Sounds, sights, smells, all of the senses come to life off the pages, creating a story that takes the imagination on a wild ride. I never imagined falling so deeply in love with the characters, plot, and story itself, but the brutally honest depictions of how life can beat a person down make Olive's adventure so special. Especially when there are characters who refuse to buckle under the weight of a tough life. "All the Good Little Girls Keep Quiet" by K. Kibbee is available on September 8th, 2020. Add it to your list right now!