This book was amazing. I loved the character of April. Her story tugs at your heart and gets in all the feels. This book reminds me of so many books I have read recently, like Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones, and Songs in Ursa Major. But I still love every bit of this storyline. This is my vote for book of the year for sure!

The People We Keep by Allison Larkin

This was about a person capable of breaking your heart one moment and lifting it up the next.

This book was not that interesting. A story about a girl who kept leaving her friends hand moving on. No detailed plot to0 it.

Thanks to Net Galley for sending me an advanced reader’s copy for my review.

Review to be posted to blog: https://books-are-a-girls-best-friend.com/

5 Resounding Stars for this beautifully written, heartfelt novel.

A coming of age, character-driven novel with a whole lot of soul, “The People We Keep” by Allison Larkin is a novel that resonated deep within my heart. The premise is one that I know and know well: Struggle, survival, trials, and tribulations. Making lemonade out of lemons and of course, my very favorite, the idea that sometimes family isn’t the one you’re born with, but the one you choose for yourself.

April is a girl who drew the short straw and then some. Her mom left and her dad has all but abandoned her. She could have given up a million times, yet that isn’t in her nature. Instead, she packs her bags in search of a place to call home. In doing so, she finds so much more.

Full of friendship, love, and life lessons, this novel teaches you that when life gets tough, not only can you survive, you can thrive, and you can find your tribe along the way.

An incredibly heart-wrenching read that will definitely go on my Goodreads-Best-of-List for 2021.

A huge thank you goes out to Gallery Books via NetGalley for the arc.

I know it’s a great audiobook when I’m just sitting out on my porch listening hour after hour. It takes two things for that to happen, a fabulous story and excellent narration. I got both in 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗘𝗢𝗣𝗟𝗘 𝗪𝗘 𝗞𝗘𝗘𝗣 by Allison Larkin. All I really need to say about the narration is Julia Whalen. (If you’re an audiobook fan, you know what I mean!) As always she did a beautiful job telling the story of 16-year old April who has been dealt a terrible hand in life. Abandoned young by her mother, and completely neglected by her father, living alone in a rundown motorhome, with no clear path to a better life, all April really has going for her is a talent for singing. Her father crushes even that when he destroys her guitar, finally pushing April to clearly see that there’s nothing for her in Little River. She steals a car and flees.⁣
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What follows is April’s three year journey, singing gigs, meeting strangers (kind and scary), learning what’s important to her, growing up, and finding what home really means. Along the way she has to figure out how to let people in and how to know when to hang on and when to let go. Larkin did a great job bringing April to life. Her story was rich and full of unforgettable characters, many who I came to love. If you haven’t read this 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘞𝘦 𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘱, I highly recommend it and if you’re on the hunt for your next great audiobook, you’ve found it! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨⁣
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Thanks to @simon.audio for the #gifted copy of this audiobook. and to NetGalley for an e-galley

The People We Keep is for anyone who loves books like Where the Heart Is. We can't choose our family but we can choose who we let into and keep in our lives. April is barely getting through her teen years. She hates school and she is basically raising herself. She may not be able to do math but she can write songs and sing. Those things bring her out of her depressing world and into one full of people who become her family. I absolutely loved this book and the characters we meet.

One of those rare books that I didn’t want to end. I wish I could keep reading about April and her life and friends - just so sweet and believable. Lovely ending. Well done!

The People We Keep was a fantastic read.
The characters in the book were well developed and I really came to care for them.
If I have one minor grievance it would be that the book felt a little disjointed. I truly adored the beginning of the book until April leaves Ithaka and I expected more of that as the book went on. I wasn't a fan of the part of the book that followed. It felt like there had been a huge time jump, but in reality only a few years had passed. It kind of felt like I was reading a different book for a while, and I just really wanted more. More depth. I do believe that this was more than likely a stylistic choice, illustrating just how lost and lonely our main character was, but I didn't enjoy it as much as the beginning or the ending. The ending however, I truly adored and I loved that it came full circle and left me hopeful.
I will be on he lookout for more books by this author!

April is a young songwriter who feels the need to leave her small hometown to find a place to belong. Her travels take her from city to city, state to state meeting many different people along the way. She survives by playing her music in whatever venue she can and relying on the goodness of strangers to offer her a meal or a couch to crash on! As she meets these people who have opened their hearts and homes to her, she always finds a reason to move on. What she comes to learn is that she is worthy of love and that family isn’t always blood, but those who accept us for ourselves and love us anyway.

April's 16 and living by herself in an old motorhome, working at a diner, and taking what she can to have enough to eat. Her mom left years before and her dad comes by sometimes, but doesn't provide much support. The book explores April's life in the motorhome, in Ithaca, NY, and on the road as she tries to find herself while making music and earning enough to stay alive. We follow her on this journey, feeling her joy and her pain, as she travels along.

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Genre: historical fiction (albeit barely, 1997), contemporary fiction

This book is all about April and her connections to people. Her family kind of sucks, and so she continues to make these connections with people to build up her found family. I felt so much of April's emotions throughout the story - it really made me FEEL deeply. I was rooting for April so much as she struggled along in this story.

Allison Larkin is so wonderful at people-building (is that a thing?) and relationship-building. It was admittedly a frustrating read sometimes because I was so caught up in the story, but that speaks her power in storytelling.

I really enjoyed this book and the cover is 🔥🔥🔥.

Thanks to #netgalley and #gallerybooks for the eARC of this book!

What do you get when you combine a loveable cast of characters, a raw and bated soul, and a beat up stolen car? A really good book called The People We Keep. I read this book in 24 hours it was non stop because I just had to know what was going to happen to everyone. That being said the setting did bug me a little. Having grown up in rural western New York I think the author overused the cities, it felt like one character or another was always saying they were just going to buffalo, always went to Syracuse, down in Olean. In reality we didnt really ever go to the cities. It was also hard to figure out where geographically she was placing this town. Referencing buffalo and Syracuse all the time but leaving out Rochester was weird since it's in between the two. Honestly it wouldn't have been something most readers would even notice but being from that region it just got on my nerves too much to be a top book for the year.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of The People We Keep by Allison Larkin.

April is a high schooler, stuck in a dump of a motorhome with a dad who doesn't care about her, a mother who she doesn't know, and no money to take care of herself. Finally fed up with the bleakness of her life, she steals enough money to run away and start a new life. But her age and the shame of her secrets make it difficult for her to put down roots anywhere. Will April be able to settle down and make a life?

I adore these kinds of stories. A journey of loss, disappointment, discovery, romance, friendship, family, and learning about what's most important. I love the theme of how, even when you lose people, they will always have a positive impact on your life. I also really appreciated how family can be the people you choose, despite blood relations. It was so sweet, but not enough to give you a toothache. I loved it.

I loved this one which reminds a lot of Jane smileys writing. She makes you love the characters by making them so beautiful imperfect so that they come to feel like family and stay with you long after reading the book .it’s a book about the families you choose not those you are given.

Set in the 90s, this story chronicles a few years of the life of April, a girl from a small town in New York, starting when she's sixteen. She runs away from home, and this story is all about the journey she takes, the people she meets, and the music she makes along the way.

My favorite part was the writing voice. It felt so true to April's character and told me so much about her personality in ways that could not be told through her actions. The story felt extremely lifelike because of it, which was something I really appreciated. Really great descriptions and dialogue.

However, my reasoning for the lower rating was the plot. It was extremely winding and didn't ever feel like it was leading to a definite conclusion. The pacing was extremely strange. The first half of the book covers a 3-4 month period in Ithaca after she runs away in pretty extreme detail, then there's a three year time jump. I completely lost interest at that point. It made the first half of the book feel pretty meaningless because it didn't connect at all. The events in the second half, again, felt winding and inconsequential. It was repetitive, and I kept waiting for it to get better. But it never did. The ending felt cliche and a bit deus ex machina. Overall it felt like it was trying too hard to be heartwarming and instead made me mad. I can sort of see why other people rated it highly, but it wasn't for me.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Our main character, April is living anything but "the good life." Her mother is gone, her dad has basically abandoned her for another woman and her son, she's failing high school and she's feeling like she's heading for marriage to her high school boyfriend even though it might not be the life she wants. When her situation only deteriorates further, April has no other option but to pack her necessary belongings, steal her dad's car and sneak out of town. Her life changes after that and she's in charge of her own destiny...at least as much as anyone ever is.

I pulled so hard for April in this book. She definitely made some goofy decisions from time to time, but overall it was obvious that she was trying to do the best she could. Her past and present circumstances blended together and often skewed her interpretation of the given situation. It led her to move from town to town, chasing the next opportunity and trying to do her best for others. She left behind so many people who cared for her that it broke my heart. However, I suppose their love must have been fleeting as they all seemed to move on....with the exception of one who I was still holding out hope for when I finished the book.

Throughout the course of The People We Keep, you watch April grow up and mature. She puts others ahead of herself and is always trying to consider the well being of others. It takes her a while to finally start understanding what things are the most important. By the time you get to the end of the book, April has come full circle and mature into a responsible and loving person.

This book had such a great message. It lifted me up and left me feeling hopeful and content.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

April lives in a motor less motor home by herself in rural New York while her dad creates a new family with his girlfriend. After a fight with her dad April packs up her guitar and “borrows” her dads car and hits the road to play music in bars and make it on her own. Along the way she meets some friends and through circumstances abandons a few but the people that are meant to be in your life will find a way.
“We have people we get to keep, who won’t ever let us go. And that the most important part”
The People We Keep is a wonderful book and I couldn’t stop reading- I even cried a little at the end.

After a quick review, I believe our library visitors will likely gravitate toward and enjoy this book. Thank you for the ARC!

After being abandoned by her mom, April Sawiki is living alone in her father’s motorless motor home while he lives with his new family. After dropping out of school at 16, she leaves the only town she has known to discover what else is out there. This is the moving story of where she goes and who she meets along the way. As a homeless, young girl she has creative ways to make it and make ends meet.
This story had me captivated immediately. As a mother, I felt so helpless and sad for this girl, who never really has a family or friends to speak of. It definitely tugged at my heartstrings. To see how some people really took her in and loved her like she was family was so moving and the end had me in a puddle. I am a mystery, thriller reader usually, but am so glad I picked this one up! It took me a few days to process this book and be able to write this review. I absolutely loved this story and the characters. It is one I will be thinking about for awhile!

After reading the description of the book, I expected it to be a quick, light-hearted story, but boy was I wrong! I loved the emotional roller coaster this book took me on. I felt every emotion that April felt as she left her home, made lifelong friends, and faced obstacle after obstacle.

Life is full of people who make an impact on our life even if they are only part of it for the briefest of time. Family, friendship, love, neglect, and self awareness are some of the topics explored in this book. An emotional ride that will tug at your heart at some moments and make you smile and laugh at others. A well written, easy to read book that makes it easy to become part of the story, needing to know what April does next. Just the escape from daily life needed this summer.

The People We Keep by Allison Larkin covers the mid-teen to young adulthood years of April. Living alone in a motorless motor home, she struggles to come to terms with her relationship or lack there of with her family. Her mother left long ago, and her father is basically starting over with a new woman and child. About the only thing that April has is her music- writing songs and playing guitar. And when a blow out with father takes away even that, she hits the road to start over somewhere new. That becomes a pattern, as April tries to cut out a corner of the world for herself but struggles with communication, relationships, and learning how to trust others.

This story had a lot of frustrating parts for me that I would relate to lack of communication. Despite the frustration with a lot of her choices, April is still a character that you can root for, and become invested in her journey enough to keep reading. Without trying to spoil too much, the book ended in a way that was redemptive enough for me to be satisfied and give 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Gallery Books, and Allison Larkin for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I would recommend this to readers who like coming of age stories, feel deep connections to music, stories about the creation of friendships, or books where a character has to work through struggles of a less than ideal home situation. Overall, a pretty quick read.