A beautifully written unexpected tale of heartbreak and hope. Hafners characters are deeply flawed, endearing, and relatable making The Boys an emotional investment for all those who dive into its pages. Although it’s a bit of an uphill battle once readers get past the first third they won’t be able to stop reading.

I would recommend this book for all readers looking for something unique and fresh that don’t mind the pandemic being part of the theme.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ For bright starts for this illuminating novel.

I really didn’t like this book. I’m tact, it was almost a DNF for me. It was weird, and it made me feel uncomfortable. Explains why would give away too much. I wouldn’t waste your time reading this one.

2.75⭐ rounded up.

I struggled with this one, much like Ethan had his struggles. It was very slow going and remained slow throughout for me. I did not connect with any of the characters at all.

As a food allergy mom I did appreciate that part of the storyline and how Ethan took it so seriously.

BJ Harrison did an alright job narrating, although he's a little monotone sounding. 7 hours and 19 minutes, easy to follow at 2x.

I have never read any of the authors that the blurb states ~ for fans of read this...so maybe that should have been my clue to pass. Also, this appears to be Katie's first novel, but she has 6 non-fiction titles ~ I am not really a non-fiction reader either, so that should've been my second clue.

Thank you to NetGalley for the audio version of this book. It was a book about a guy who falls in love at first the wife really wants to have children and he is on the fence about having children. They come to the conclusion to adopt since theyre having problems conceiving. One day He comes home and his with has twin boys. Then the pandemic hits so he becomes the stay at home parent and she sets her time to working. she is working so much they grow apart. He decides to take the boys over seas on a trip they the two of them took when they were first married. in the end they decide to go their separte ways.

I was intrigued by comparisons with Kevin Wilson’s work, which I find wonderfully quirky. And, indeed, the earliest pages of this novel seemed to have a similar vibe. But, at around a third into it, honestly, I’m just a bit bored. This one’s a did not finish for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and OrangeSky Audio for allowing me early access to the audio book version of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I enjoyed this audiobook so much, but it's a tricky one to write a review about because I don't want to give away any spoilers.

This book dealt with familiar themes... love, grief, loneliness... but was very different from any book I've read before. It won't be for everyone. Some will certainly roll their eyes when they get to the reveal of the "twist." However, if you are intrigued by psychology, the way humans cope, and the way the brain protects itself, this book will appeal to you. At the very least, this book will bring more empathy into our hearts and give us some ideas of how to treat people different than ourselves, people we may not completely understand... in that regard, it's a book we should all read.

I'd be remiss if I didn't include the narrator in my review. As an avid audiobook listener, I have come to expect little when it comes to narrators speaking in a foreign language, and I cringe when they have to voice a character with an accent because they rarely do either of these justice.
The second half of the book takes place on a biking trip through parts of post-pandemic Italy, and we meet some locals. I was bracing myself for the worst, but BJ Harrison comes shining through. He speaks Italian beautifully, and brings the Italian locals to life. In this way, he adds so much to the story.

Ethan is a 30’ish year old man who is emotionally damaged, has a host of mental health challenges, is hiding and not dealing with his past trauma and believes he’ll spend the rest of his life alone. Enter Barb and life changes. She is the Yin to his Yang. His world goes from black and white to color. She forces him out of his very small and limited comfort zone. When their hopes for biological children are dashed, they open their hearts and home to 2 foster children. With all of Ethans issues, the tumult of 2 children and a global pandemic push Barb and Ethan apart. He decides to take the boys on a bicycle trip to Italy, Its a hard review to write as I don’t want to give a thing away, but know theres a big plot twist that I cannot imagine anyone will see coming.
Im kind of on the fence with this one. It was an interesting listen (audiobook version with good narration), but it was a little bit odd. Very original. and I look forward to more from this author.

Thank you to the Katie Hafner, NetGalley, and publishers Spiegel & Grau by OrangeSky Audio for the ARC of this recorded book in exchange for my honest review.

The books starts with Ethan just getting back from a bike tour with his sons. From there we go back to when he met his wife, Barb. They fell in love and wanted children. When they could not have children it caused a little riff in their relationship, until Barb brought home brothers Tommy and Sam. However, the wedge in Ethan and Barb's relationship just get bigger with the boys instead of smaller. Then quarantine happens and Ethan struggles with being home, when he finally can he takes the boys on a bike trip to Italy. But the others on the trip notice something a little off as well...

I didn't love this book, but I didn't hate it either. I wasn't exactly sure where this book was going and it took me a little bit to catch on with what the book was actually about. I do recommend to NOT look up spoilers before you read. It will ruin the end for you!

It’s still hard for me to believe we can read/write stories that occurred during a global pandemic and it’s no longer weird. I did really appreciate the concept of how people came out of the pandemic. Some still wanted to stay home and became more introverted. Others were ready to get on with their lives and become social again. It was definitely interesting to live firsthand about the issues the pandemic brought about and then have them expressed in literature. Surreal, actually.

This story took a really wild turn in the second half. To be honest, I didn’t love it. It felt too fake for me, something that surely could not be happening. While I appreciate the fact that we can see the mental health issues, I was a little appalled at the approach to take care of them. I did love Izzy though, bless her!

This book took a very unexpected turn about 1/2 way through that just floored me. Ethan is a typical “nerd,” lacks social skills and is completely introverted. He has a pattern to his days that he has difficulty deviating from. He has many fears and sees danger in many common place occurrences. Ethan meets Barb and he becomes more open to new ideas. They get married, and talk about having children. To help Ethan over the fear that he may not be good father material, Barb and Ethan foster the twins. To me, this was a beautiful story, depicting the ways the mind works to protect and cope with life. It is also a sad book for the same reasons. The pandemic, loss, isolation and mental health are all addressed in this book. I actually received an advance copy of the audiobook edition from NetGalley and Spiegel & Grau Publishers in exchange for an honest review. The narrator was a very slow speaker which initially drove me crazy but once I realized I could increase the audio speed, it did not detract from the story.

I really wanted to love this book but it fell short for me. Without giving away any spoilers - I had a hard time believing that any mental health professional would act (or more accurately - not act) the way they are written. I also wish we got to have a POV from Barb - it would have filled in a lot of gaps in the story.
I did love the mentions of the Mütter Museum though! It is one of my favorite places on earth and was lucky enough to get married there.

Thank you to NetGalley and Spiegel & Grau by OrangeSky Audio for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I suggest if you listen or read this one definitely go into it blind. I read some reviews beforehand and it totally ruined it for me.

Evan is an introverted man married to Barb. The book starts with them clearly going through a separation and then backtracks to when they met and onward when they have the boys. It deals with themes of isolation, specifically around the Covid lockdown, and also mental illness.

I liked Barb and Ethan’s relationship, but the twist everyone speaks about was just a little too weird and sad for me. I wonder if I would have enjoyed it more had it not been spoiled. Trust me, I think you will be shocked if you go into this blind.

4.5 stars- What a quirky little read! As many have noted in other reviews there is a bit of a surprise in the story. I did guess part of the surprise however, not fully and that didn’t hamper my enjoyment. The biggest surprise was how warm this book is. I could not have rooted for a character more than sweet, smart, awkward Ethan. This story was incredibly human and unique. I was riveted because of a certain aspect that I don’t want to spoil, but it kept me turning the pages. I ended up reading it in less than 24 hours. I think if you’re a fan of contemporary fiction, you should check out The Boys.

Beautifully heartbreaking illustration of mental health, isolation, and loss.

At times I wasn’t sure where the story was going or why the book was titled The Boys but once it because clear that they were not real it all made sense and the story tied together. The ending was perfect!

Thank you Netgalley for this audio edition of The Boys by Katie Hafner.

What a unique and heartwarming tale. Introverted and quirky Ethan finally meeting Barb, a woman who sees and loves him for who he is. But when having kids creates a crossroads between them, they compromise, when one day Barb brings home two brothers, Tommy and Sam, to foster. But Ethan's neuroses and anxieties make his style of parenting increasingly difficult for Barb, until she becomes less and less present in their lives.

But after a long and difficult quarantine, Ethan finally decides that it's time to take the boys on an adventure, and joins a tour company in Italy to bike through the company. But it doesn't take long for the guides and fellow travelers to find something incredibly odd about Ethan and his sons...

This is a slow burn with a wide curve that I still didn't see coming. It's exasperating, funny, silly, sweet. My biggest complaint is the pace, otherwise, what a different style of story!

Um, this one kinda went off the rails for me. I did finish it and glad I did because it did redeem itself by the ending so don't give up if you start it. Ethan is a nerdy introvert of a man who somehow finds himself married to Barb. When she wants to have children but cannot convince Ethan to she brings home two boys to foster. The pandemic sets in and Ethan really takes this to heart. It is perfect for him since home is where he wants to be and he is happy to be there. When things start to open up, there is not much Barb can do to get him out of the house and when she does get him to go to counseling and that doesn't work, she finally leaves him. By this point, I'm not clued in to the story but Ethan finally has decided to take the boys on a bike trip through Italy where he and Barb went on their honeymoon. He lets the company know of their restrictions (I will not tell you about them) and this is where it goes off the rails in the story. If you make it this far reading/listening, keep going, you want to go to the ending. I did enjoy the ending.

Whoa what did I just read? This is the kind of book that's a bit hard to talk about without spoiling (I recommend NOT reading spoilers). And I admit that I wasn't totally feeling the first half of the book. But the second half had me a lot more into it.

The Boys starts off with Ethan Fawcett receiving a letter from a bike touring company notifying him that he and his children are not welcome to do another tour with the company. From there, we jump back in time and learn about Ethan and his estranged wife Barb's early relationship- how they met and fell in love and eventually adopt two Russian orphans. Ethan's life seems to be changed for the better when the boys come into his life, but a wedge is forced between he and Barb. And chances are, you won't believe why.

I adored this book and after finishing, had to go back to listen to the beginning again so I could read it with a new perspective. There are some themes that I thought should have been explored more and that could have been discussed in much greater detail and this was a little bit disappointing to me. BUT that just means this would make a great book club book as you can discuss with friends. Do note that the pandemic is a theme in this book, so if that bothers you, you may want to steer away. Though I do think it was handled in a realistic way and lends itself to the flow of the story.

Overall, this is a great book that I highly recommend. Stick with it if you're not feeling it in the beginning because the pay-off is worth it!

Thank you to the publisher, Netgalley, and Orangesky audio for letting me listen to an ARC of this book.
The Boys has received reviews from 'I couldn't get into it' to 'what a wonderful book'
I am somewhere in between. The narrator was excellent and listening to the story of Ethan and Barb's lives was pleasant. And yes, there is a big surprise near the end.
I never connected with the story, really cared what happened to either of them. I didn't understand why some things happened. But the bike trip in Italy was wonderful to listen to and the experiences that Izzy and Ethan had on the trip were delightful. So I had no trouble listening to the end. but it was more vignettes of their lives that interested me more so than the adoption of the boys and their separation.

I usually try to start with the good, but let me just get the bad off my chest and then we can move on to all that I wish to celebrate about The Boys.

There is a certain type of twist I absolutely despise. I feel it’s an insensitive approach to a very real and sensitive issue. The author decided to incorporate this particular twist into The Boys. I saw it coming a mile away and desperately hoped I was wrong. Then, as I reached the reveal, it was so drawn out, which only made my loathing for such a twist increase.

The thing is: It really didn’t need to be a twist. This could have still been a phenomenally touching story without tricking the reader. I have seen a movie and read a book that used a similar plot device without making it a twist and I loved both of them.

Ordinarily, the aforementioned twist would ruin a book for me. But this novel was so beautiful. I adored Ethan. I adored Izzy. And I greatly appreciated Barb’s character and understood her reactions. It was clear that her love for Ethan was genuine and the beginning stages of their romance was just so sweet.

Maybe - and I’m going against so much of what I generally believe - the twist in this will help readers understand trauma in a way they hadn’t before. I can only hope. To me, a twist like this only exists for shock value and it feels very wrong. I want to believe the author had other intentions - better intentions - because the other aspects of this story were sensitively portrayed.

The Boys included a cast of wonderful characters and the narrative, overall, is so gentle. It’s easy to feel settled in it, even if that one aspect is a bit jarring. The people who were good to Ethan - they filled my heart with immense joy.

So this will be my anomaly. It will be the one time that particular twist didn’t ruin the whole thing and perhaps this means that Katie Hafner did something in this differently, something that made the story so extraordinarily special that nothing could ruin it for me. The Boys proved to be a heart wrenching and heart mending tale of childhood trauma and its lasting effects. If I’m honest, a part of me wants to go right back to the beginning so I can spend some more time with the characters I came to love and respect.

I may have started with the bad, but I assure you that I thought this book was just so good.

I am immensely grateful to OrangeSky Audio for my audio review copy through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Meh? I feel like you either hate or love this book. I admittedly almost DNF'd it about halfway through. It spent far too long building up the story of Barb and Ethan. I did enjoy the twist about 75% through, and it redeemed it a bit for me, but I still was just totally meh about it. I did enjoy the tie in of the pandemic, but would probably not recommend it to friends.