This was a good debut novel! The ending wasn’t what I was looking for but most of the rest of the novel delivered!

This is a debut novel about Sam, Cleo, Sierra and Fran who are cousins. They haven't seen each other for awhile and this story follows them as they deal with life's problems. Sam decides to organize a week-long trip to Willows, their grandparent's house so they can relive the best time of their lives when as kids they spent a summer there together.

Although the characters were interesting, I couldn't get into the grandma. She was a little flat and I got bored with her. She didn't have a lot of depth or personnality. Sometimes it was hard to follow what was going on. It slowed in the middle and I became bored with it.

All in all I did enjoy reading this book. Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book. What a wonderful story. I devoured this book. The story revolves around 4 female cousins all struggling in their lives. The way it all unfolds is really relatable and enjoyable.

I find this theme of book very satisfying A multi-generational relationship between grandparents and their grandchildren. These grandchildren are now adults cousins who return to the family estate of Willows to reconnect and figure out their lives.
Sam never truly appreciated the perfect life she'd created for herself until it began to crumble. She knew that before she could find the strength to move forward, she had to move backward-back to Willows, the only home she'd ever known, a home that held sweet memories of her grandparents' love and her childhood antics with cousins Fran, Sierra, and Cleo. The thought of their all meeting at Willows filled Sam with joy . When she phoned them, she couldn't know she was interrupting a tragic moment in each of their lives. How could she imagine talking with one cousin as a corpse was being removed from her house, or while another contemplated where in the world she could find a place to hide. Struggle, loss, and betrayal plagued all three young women as they tried to make sense of their lives, and like Sam, they too needed this gathering. Sam soon realizes that her relationships with her cousins are far more complicated than she'd grasped when she was younger. Would they all finally understand the balancing act their grandparents had performed to protect them, right or wrong? Was it time to learn the answers to all the questions the girls hadn't even known to ask? Were they ready for the truth?
The characters are very real and their interaction is realistic. I enjoyed this book and look forward to more by Ms. katic

This book was an absolute rollercoaster.
Thank you Netgalley and Michele Katic for the ARC. Also thank you Susan Stokes for reaching out!

I was really surprised about this debut novel. The description was very short so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I liked it and it was fun to read.

In the first part, we meet our main characters, Sam, Cleo, Sierra, and Fran. The four cousins haven't seen each other in a while and we follow them as they deal with life's problems. Sam decides to organize a week-long trip to Willows, their grandparent's house so they can relive the best time of their lives when as kids they spent a summer there together. I enjoyed that we get to know each individually before they all got together, it's not the easiest thing to make characters feel like individuals when they're so close together, so the first part was very important in setting their personalities.

It was really nice to read about these four women navigating life and trying to get through different issues without forgetting their values and beliefs which is something I always find irritating in books. I especially liked Sam's story and she was my favorite character, and even if I didn't like Fran very much (she was too plain, and maybe that's the point but it's not my favorite thing), I loved her character development and it was lovely to watch her kind of start over with Sam. I'm not sure about Cleo's decision in the end but maybe it's me being too harsh.

There are two things I didn't like about the book: first the POV, but I can understand why the author chose it to tell this story. The second was the Grandma. I got bored really quickly of her sharing wisdom and showing the girls the truth but without too much depth or personality as a character herself. She's an older woman who cooks, knits and likes gardening. But other than that? I just didn't care about her at all. I was also very confused about the first chapter and I still don't understand if it's relevant enough to be the first thing you read in the book, but I liked it so I'm not complaining.

Now, the ending. Oh my god. I can't say much without spoiling it but I am gonna say that I was gonna give this book 2 stars because I got bored in the middle and then the ending was like reading a Telenovela and I just couldn't stop. It reminded me of being 15 and watching the last episodes of Dulce Amor with my grandma. Some parts didn't make a lot of sense to me, but I had SO MUCH FUN reading it, and I hope you do as well. You can expect a more in-depth review (with a few spoilers maybe) as soon as this book is available to review on Goodreads, so stay tuned for that @/Jules Riganti.

Thanks so much to Independent Book Publishers Association and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of Michele Katic's debut novel "Willows" to read and review!

This was just a little gem of a book and very engaging! The character development was well done and I was totally pulled in to all of the lives of the MC's. I love when the author starts out by giving us glimpses and backstories of several different characters and then brings them all together for the main event. It had all the elements of a great drama ... life challenges, hints of mystery, secrets revealed, family struggle, reunion, bonding and redemption.

I was really getting into this as a quick, cozy little read with the intention of rating it a pleasant 3.5 stars, but then came THE ENDING ... and I was like WHAT? That bumped it up to a solid 4 as I sat slack jawed staring at one hum-dinger of a wrap up that I never saw coming! I think this was a really enjoyable debut novel and wish the author much success with this title and all future works!

Oh and the cover? Gah. Gorgeous!