This book was a wonderful surprise! I really connected with the main character, April Sawicki, and my heart broke for her several times throughout the book. I rooted for her to finally find her “family” and stay put and find the people to keep.

April really had some tough cards dealt to her, abandoned at an early age by her mother and later by her father, she’s essentially living on her own at 16 in a ramshackle motorhome. Her closest friend is the owner of Margo’s Diner, one of her dad’s old girlfriends. She does have her music and she’s an amazing songwriter.

Fed up with her father and the small town of Little River, New York, she hits the road in a “borrowed” car. She lands in Ithaca and finds a coffeeshop job and begins to make friends and play some gigs. She really settles in, but then life throws her another curve ball, and she decides to skip town again, leaving all her new friends behind.

April has a vagabond lifestyle, knowing which coffee shops and bars will host her for an evening or two and then she moves on again, never really setting down roots. Her music really takes off though and she’s able to make a living. She is still searching for her people, but restless enough to keep moving.

This one does have a heartwarming ending that mostly healed my broken heart! It was fun to read the lyrics to her songs in the book and imagine the soundtrack.

This book will tug at your heart strings! ❤️‍🩹

It reminded me of that wonderful poem that reminds us that we have three types of friends in life:
Those for a Reason-Those for a Season-and Those for a Lifetime.

and, how you can’t always know which category a person will end up in.

April Sawicki’s mother was the first to leave her.

Now, at 16 years old, she is living in a motorless motorhome that her father won in a Poker game, while he lives with his new girlfriend and her son. He drops by on occasion.

So April has never been taught to STAY when things get tough-only how to LEAVE.

After a fight with her Dad, April says goodbye to the only constant in her life-Margot-her father’s ex girlfriend and the owner of the local diner, where April feels most at home.

She moves from town to town, sleeping in the car she stole from her Dad, until she finally gets a job in a Coffee Shop in Ithaca.

BROKEN people can recognize other BROKEN people, and she will meet her share of those willing to help-but she doesn’t always know how to accept it.

Your heart will break for her, as just when you think she may have found a place to call home, she takes off, running scared again…choosing a life of playing gigs at Open Mic nights, leaving behind people she has started to care about, and who may have genuinely started to care about her.

Will she ever recognize the people who want to be there for a lifetime?

This book is labeled as New Adult, and while it is about a teen having to become self reliant way too soon-don’t let the label stop you from reading this!

If you do, you will be missing out on a book which does more to reaffirm our faith in humanity than it does to take it away….and can’t we all use a little of that right about now?!

Available August 3, 2021 from Gallery Books

Thank you to the Publisher for providing a gifted copy through NetGalley. It was my pleasure to offer a candid review!

April is the main character. Her passion for people, music and peace send her on a journey of pain, creativity and chaos. You never know her next move but the people she keeps are exactly the right choice. You won’t be disappointed with this sweet story.

I received a complimentary copy of this book "The People We Keep" and all opinions expressed are my own. I loved this book! The characters and story line were awesome. As you meet each person that April encounters you really have to feel for her. She sure had some adventures and finally found her way. I enjoyed being part of her journey. I liked the way the book was written, as April was telling her story. Amazing book that you need to read!

Thank you NetGalley for an early copy of The People We Keep by @allielarkinwrites

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫(5)
Pub Date: 8/3/21
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A young girl and aspiring musician, April feels like she doesn’t matter to anyone around her and struggles to find her way. While drifting from place to place, she searches for ways to fulfill her dreams and find a place to call home.

👈Swipe for full synopsis 🤗

This book is beautifully written and will have you reaching for the tissues. April’s character is immensely longing for love and stability. Her journey captures what it means to take your dreams into your own hands, and not stop until you get to where you are meant to be.

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It's hard to find the right words to capture how much I loved this book. Within a few short pages, Allie Larkin had me entranced by the voice of her young, resourceful heroine, April—a 16-year-old singer-songwriter who has been all but abandoned by her parents and sets out on her own to find something better: A gig in a coffeeshop, a less depressing town, a warmer place to spend the night, or maybe just a real, true friend. On the road, never in one place for long, we hang on her every note played as she finds and loses it all, time and again.

There's something heartbreakingly authentic about April: The way she sees the world, and moves through it, and understands how most people are just doing their best—even when they're letting her down. As she keeps pushing forward, head as high as she can hold it, she learns what she's really made of, and so do we. She's not a character you'll soon forget. Put this on your must-read list for 2021: It's sure to be one of my favorites of the whole year. (With heartfelt thanks to Netgalley for an early review copy.)

After a fight with her emotionally distanced father, April flees her home town. Supporting herself with music gigs, she travels and meets people along the way.

I have been seeing killer reviews for this book! While I completely understand where they’re coming from, I didn’t enjoy it quite as much. I loved the main character. She was gritty, but honest. She started out quite naive, almost to an unbelievable point, but I enjoyed how we grew with her and saw how she learned from her experiences. I know music fans will love the song lyrics embedded in her growth. There are many characters in the story. So while we get to know April well, the other characters come and go. That doesn’t matter; what matters is how they affect April and her development.

“I wonder if maybe all you do is meet people and lose them and your smile fades the further you go because you have to carry the space they leave. Maybe it all just turns into old pictures on a bookshelf, engraved rings, memories of sticking stars to a ceiling, and maybe the space gets bigger and heavier every year.”

The People We Keep comes out 8/3

The People We Keep by Allison Larkin challenges the reader with each page to count your blessings that you don't walk in April's shoes each day as she struggles to survive and belong. It is an amazing adventure with so many surprising encounters for April and her cast of people she meets in life.

I went into this book blind. I didn't know what it was going to be about, and I didn't hear any chatter about it. I stumbled upon the title on NetGalley and I liked the cover, so I requested it. I did not know how much I would love this book. I love this book so much.

April is lonely. She craves, above everything, human connection. She wants the kind of love that's blind and unconditional; the kind of love you get from your family. She is lost and wants to be found, but she afraid to let herself belong.

This book is the definition of the found family trope. It's about April's search for a home. It's about her search for the people she wants to keep, and that deserve to keep her back. Her story was hard and frustrating to read at times (trigger warnings for attempted SA and domestic violence), but the people she met along her journey to self-discovery made it all worth it. PSA! This is not a love story, at least not in the romantic kind. It's about familial love, but not the kind that is bonded through blood, but the kind that is bonded through choice.

Also, I must note that while the synopsis does make it seem that this book is music heavy, I would actually say music is more of a supporting character to April's story. It's definitely there when she writes songs based on her experiences and plays her music at clubs and bars, but what kept me going and kept me reading was April and the people she kept.

I'll finish this review with a quote from the book: "We have people we get to keep, who won't ever let us go. And that's the most important part. That's what's true."

I don't think I've ever read a book like this before. Thank you, Gallery Books and NetGalley, for providing me with this ARC (Advanced Reader's Copy) in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. I cared for the main character and her journey into finding her place in the world. It was a good read that makes you appreciate chosen families.

What a beautiful book! It is seriously relatable to lives today!
I couldn't stop reading this amazing book! I loved the main character of this book April!.she really catches you and holds your attention!
This book will grab you and not let go!

April is on her own, living in a motorhome with no motor, a very absent father, and an even more absent mother. A series of disasters lead her to strike out on her own, singing in bars, making money waitressing, and finding out who she is along the way.

I kept waiting for a true disaster to strike, but April's street smarts and good luck lead her to find her found family along the way.

I absolutely loved this book. Margo is a star.

The People We Keep. Wow. This is a beautiful story of love, loss, and learning that just whisks you away, fully pulling you in and making you just feel so invested that her hurts are your hurts. This is the kind of book that fills up your heart like a balloon. The kind that when you read the last sentence, your eyes fill with tears and you worry your heart just might burst because it is so exquisite. It’s about finding who you are, and how to stop running from who you are.

It’s 1994, and 16 year old April lives in a motor-less motorhome, a dilapidated half of a home on wheels that her father won in a poker game. The town is fine to gossip about her family, but she’s treated as a social pariah because of the sins of her parents. She has only two friends: her boyfriend, Matty, who dreams up a life for her she doesn’t want; and Margo, her dad’s ex-girlfriend who has mothered her more than her own mother ever did. When the straw breaks the camel’s back, April has decided enough is enough and runs away.

This beautiful, heart-wrenching novel is divided into three parts, as April forges ahead to make a new kind of life for herself. Though she is wise in some ways, she is incredibly naive in others. Although April doesn’t behave in a particularly likable way, her mix of uncertainty and gumption make her endearing and lovable. Her guitar playing and songwriting help her process her trauma, and are some of the only times she is authentically herself.

The characters in this novel are intricately developed. Though the cast is wide, there’s no struggle to recall who meant what to her and where they fit in the puzzle of her life; they’re all well crafted and memorable such that you know precisely who they are. This novel is an ode to friendship, a beautiful tapestry of the people who impact April’s life, for better or worse.

I always enjoy Larkin’s books. But this– this is one of those books you carry with you in your heart, a beloved, cover-worn-soft kind of book that you never let go of and return to again and again.

The People We Keep by Allison Larkin will be available August 3, 2021, from Gallery Books. Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for an advanced copy such that I could write this review.

I feel like watching these characters grow was a movie in my head. You feel the weight of their lifestyle and decisions as your own.

This book, a first published novel for the author, was an amazing tale of one resilient girl. The book starts as a teen is growing up in a very difficult environment. The family that raises April is comprised of a group of caring non-biological friends. The author weaves my favorite Margo into the fold very early. Margo is a woman that is the one constant throughout the novel. She adds a strange type of guidance. She never asked questions, only listened.

Throughout this book the main character, April guides her car through a tough world. The title had me a few times thinking about who she did not keep. She had no education, was a talented singer, talented self-taught guitar player and a fighter. Jump on board from Little River to Ithica and then down the Eastern US shore.

April's more meaningful relationships are formed in Ithica. Carly and Adam. My gosh those two with Bodie were my favorites until Justin. Well then I though that it was good Justin's journey was included. Just because it added a lot more angst.

Consisting of three parts, the book will have you torn between just page turning and throwing it. I will say the cover is wrong. So don't judge the book by the cover. Do read and enjoy. I am hoping this is the start of a brilliant writing career.

Absolutely beautiful “coming-of-age” story that I won’t forget about for a long long time! Wow, the ending had me in tears, and that doesn’t happen very often for me! You might love this book too if you love reading tender stories that have a surprising amount of depth. I felt uplifted at the end and I couldn’t stop rooting for April.

"We have people we get to keep, who won't ever let us go. And that's the most important part. That's what's true."

A heart-wrenching, emotional, and honest story about a girl who won't let herself be loved for fear of the pain that comes from losing it. Watching April battle between her fundamental need for human connection and her trauma-induced fight for survival left me an emotional wreck. Even when she keeps running, and you want to be angry with her, you remember that's how she's learned to survive and it breaks your heart even more. The raw ending brings this whole book together and truly reminds you of what it means to love and be loved.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Gallery Books for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I adored this book and did not want it to end.

I’m a longtime fan of Allison Larkin’s novels, and she has outdone herself with this one. THE PEOPLE WE KEEP is the story of a smart, abandoned survivor of a girl and we get to follow her as she pieces together what it means to love, trust, and grow up. I don’t want to give too much away so I’ll leave it at that. But trust me: this is a book you’ll want to buy, read, and then give as a gift to everyone you know who needs a reminder that things work out better than we’d ever dared imagine.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this wonderful book in exchange for an honest review.

I was lucky to receive an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review and opinions. This book just might make to to my top reads so far this year! It's amazing! Tugs at your heartstrings and will absolutely make you ugly cry. So good! I'm telling everyone I know to read this!

I don't know if I can find the words to express my thoughts on this book, but I'm going to try. I absolutely loved it. I read it in a matter of hours - I stayed up until 1am to finish it. It's the first book in a while where I've felt that I truly couldn't put it down. Not in an, "oh, this is good, I'd like to see how this plays out" kind of way, but in an "oh my god, I cannot read this fast enough, I HAVE to know what happens" kind of way. The writing was beautiful and incredibly emotional; my heart broke over and over again for April. I haven't connected so deeply with a character in a long time, maybe ever. You saw her grow up, mature, and, inevitably, make mistakes along the way; but the mistakes were all so real and based in her own fears and insecurities that you couldn't really blame her for acting the way she did. This is, without a doubt, a book that I'll be purchasing a copy of upon pub day, and it may well be one of my favorite books of the year.