Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

This was good, but I'm thinking its one of those that I would have liked more in a physical copy instead of an audio book. Nothing against the author/narrator! I just wasn't able to focus on it enough to really be drawn in. I'll try again another time.

This book was completely beyond any of my expectations. I absolutely loved it, and it's now probably one of my favorite books ever. It was such an interesting story and was full of richly drawn and intriguing characters. I'm not sure why, but I've always had a soft spot for old southern men characters with quick wit, sarcasm and self-deprecating humor. Nub was the epitome of just that.

This book made me feel things. From tearing up, to smiling, to laughing out loud then to openly sobbing from sadness then to joy - it was everything. I think I felt more deeply for this story due to my own complicated relationship with my dad - and coming up on a year since his death. But still, it was well written and emotionally evoking.

To top it all off, the audiobook was narrated by the author himself and he did a phenomenal job. Delivery and vocal inflections were just perfect.

In my opinion, this book was a masterpiece, and I highly recommend it! Beyond 5 ⭐️'s.

What is it like to feel alone and unwanted and even ridiculed just because you are tall. Minnie can tell you as she suffers in so many ways.

One day she meets Nub who is also abused for being an alcoholic and for seeming to not love his family.

Our novel begins and it is so well written and beautifully narrated by the author himself(I listened to the audiobook). Wonderful characters whose lives will cross and become entwined.

Lots of twists and many moving moments that reveal the true meaning of Kinfolk. Enjoy.

Kinfolk by Sean Dietrich is a wonderful book of compelling tales from the deep south. I have been a fan of the author for a long time and I was happy to be able to read this book. Sean has a folksy honesty that draws you in and makes you feel right at home. It was great to hear his book in his voice with the narration. I enjoy the characters and stories that made of the book and as always the author has the perfect balance of love, loss, triumph, and tragedy intertwined in the simple stories that make up a life worth living.

I listened to the audio of this one and the author is reading his own work. I loved how he was able to inflect and introduce emotion exactly where he planned to when writing it. I find it difficult listening to books when the narrator chooses to inflect in places I wouldn’t necessarily choose to. I think that is my hesitance in listening to audio books. I I feel like they are telling me how to read and interpret the story the way they want me to.

That being said - this one was excellent on audio - and I highly recommend digesting this book that way. This book captures this authors signature writing style - campy, small-town, syrupy sweet emotional tugs and down-on-their-luck characters that steal your heart. Kinfolk follows an alcoholic, deadbeat dad - Nub - who has been walking through his life with his head down and his eyes closed. He meets Minnie - a pregnant teenage girl who is taller than normal, quieter than many others and has recently lost her mother and her home. Nub’s life starts to turn around when he sees a chance to make a difference in Minnie’s life. Surprised and a little heartbroken, his daughter fights to understand why he is there for Minnie while he was not for her. This story explores the way these two misfits find solace in each other and find their place in their community. They battle racism, bullying, fear, and expectations along the way. You will root for these characters to rise above expectations, to find strength over fear and to believe in themselves. With a little mystery built in, this story pulls you along with so many excellent side characters to enjoy.

I frequently read the story posts on this author’s facebook page and this felt like a longer and deeper version of those stories of redemption and grit. If you like those - you will definitely like this book. I really like this one - it was a tad bit syrupy and campy in spots for me - but overall still such an enjoyable listen. Thank you to @netgalley and @harpermuse for this audiobook to listen to and review.

There are some books that just unexpectedly tug on your heartstrings and this is one of them. The characters, the story telling, and the love was just the story I needed, but didn’t know that I needed.

The author narrated the book and did a fantastic job!

My thanks to NetGalley and Harper Muse for permitting access to this audiobook.
Sean Dietrich, who calls himself “Sean of the South,” is a consummate storyteller of the kind for whom the audiobook genre is made. The story lends itself expressly to this “way in,” from which it is very difficult to pull oneself out no matter what other pressing life tasks may be calling. He also reads the story of Jeremiah (Nub) Taylor and his various relatives and friends, whom he eventually comes to see as “kinfolk,” and his even more numerous enemies. He has the perfect, gravelly, at times gentle at times gruff, too-many-cigarettes voice to do it in a captivating manner. In my view, “captivating” best sums up this work.
Nub Taylor, so-called because of his diminutive size (5 foot 2 or 3, depending), is an irascible, seemingly irredeemable lifelong alcoholic, forever damaged by his father’s suicide and his mother’s inability to cope in the aftermath. This happened when he was 13, in 1930, when the Depression’s price collapse and unprecedented drought devastated the farmers of the American south. The elder Taylor shot himself in the head, leaving a note asking his family to forgive him for not being able to go on. The boy was so traumatized at finding him that he could not speak “for 300 days” afterward; unable to continue taking care of him, Nub’s mother placed him in a mental asylum, bringing about a lifelong sense of abandonment and insecurity that he could escape only by heavy drinking. He joined the Navy during the Second World War, emerging with undiagnosed PTSD, but married his childhood sweetheart with whom he produced a daughter, Emily. Increasingly drunk as well as disorderly—his size never held him back from any fight--unable to do more than hold transient jobs, having increasingly less in common with his wife and less to do with his daughter, he ends up divorced and estranged from the family he had so wanted to fill the abyss that his father’s death and mother’s abandonment had opened in his heart.
This is Nub’s story, and everything that happens in the novel—and plenty happens, most of it during the 1970s when Nub is in his late fifties—stems from this childhood twist of fate. A bad accident “under the influence” that nearly kills him, only the first in a series, precipitates a number of events that only seem random. Each of them, for good and bad, connects. How they do so, as Nub inches closer to forming a true network of kin, both among relatives like his stalwart sidekick cousin Benny but especially among those he chooses for himself, confirms that even the seemingly forever lost can be found, and the pathway is the unselfish love that nourishes the soul.
In his wonderful epilogue, Dietrich tells his own life story; it is not Nub’s story, but such things as his father’s suicide when he was 11 are definite keys. Like Nub as well, Dietrich was a stage performer whose lifelong dream, after multiple rejections of novels and performances, finally, through love, persistence, and blind faith, came true. I hope he writes his memoirs soon. In the meantime, I loved Kinfolk and highly recommend it.

I honestly DNF this book. It wasn’t interesting to me. Very slow and I wasn’t into the narrator. I hate to do that to a book.

I loved Kinfolk, an audio book narrated by the author Sean Dietrich himself. What a treat. His slow southern drawl was the perfect vehicle for this amazing story. The characters are all so flawed and yet so lovable. It’s the story of Nub, a washed up alcoholic who has had troubled relationships with his daughter, his ex wife, the law and anybody else who happens to piss him off at the time. His life has just hit a new low after an alcohol infused car crash running from the local police. But Nubs life journey is about to change after he winds up sharing a hospital room with a young girl who has just lost her mother to suicide. Nub feels a connection with this girl, Minnie as he lost his father to suicide at a young age as well. He sets out to help her and in the act of caring more for someone else than for himself he begins to heal his heart. Some of the inspiration for Kinfolk is autobiographical, but there is a lot more to this book than the authors narrative. It is action packed, very funny, very harrowing and just a whole lot of good stuff for a reader to enjoy. I could not stop listening, I loved it. Kinfolk is a triumph of the human spirit, family and extended family, also known as ‘Kinfolk'. Very Highly recommended.

Many thanks to Net Galley for a chance to listen to and review this wonderful book.

This extraordinary novel gave me so much joy, happiness, sadness, trepidation, and every other emotion one can feel when reading the perfect book. I don’t know what genre you can place this book in, but this is my favorite genre. I compare this author to William Kent Krueger. Krueger is one of my favorite authors, but now Sean Dietrich is at the top of my list.

Minnie is a 15-year-old orphan working at a waffle house who encounters sixty-two-year-old “Nubb”, the small-town troublemaker. Both down on their luck, their chance meeting changes both of their lives forever. When their friendship begins affecting those around them, tragedy, danger, and family heartaches begin to be confronted. This book was not only a novel about family and friendship but was full of danger, adventure, and unlikely heroes. This was an emotional roller coaster that had me gripping my seat, tearing up and loving every moment.

I chose to read this book on audiobook, and it was fantastic. It was read by the author and his voice put you completely in the setting of the story. Be sure to listen to the author’s note at the end.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Muse Audiobooks for this incredible Advanced Reader Copy. I will be looking to see what other books Sean Dietrich has written. #NetGalley #Kinfolk

It is never too late to become a better person.

Nub is the town drunk. He started drinking at thirteen after a series of horrible events. His father committed suicide when he was eleven and his mom sent him off to an asylum. He was a terrible husband and father. He has no relationship with his daughter, despite living in the same town. At sixty, he basically drives around with his cousin, Benny, and drinks all day. Then fifteen year old Minnie, high school dropout and cook at the local Waffle House, comes into his life. They have a few run ins, including when he came upon a group of boys throwing large rocks at her head, and he can't help but feel protective of her. Then, her mother commits suicide and she is sent to an orphanage. Something inside of Nub changes. He applies to foster her, and works on getting his life together.

I had a lot of words when I finished this at 1am. Now, the next morning, I can't seem to think of them. I do know this story had me hooked. The characters were all very well developed and you can't help but hope they all end up happy and together as a make-shift family.

The audiobook is read by the author.

I received an audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

Such a great book! My husband and I were on the last leg of a road trip when we started this book. We quickly got caught up in the stories of Nub, Benny, Emily, Shug, and Minnie. We finished the trip before we finished listening to the book. I didn't know when we'd be able to finish it. That night, my husband suggested we turn off the TV and listen to the book for an hour. We listened like our great-grandparents must have listened to radio shows. We were both happy and sad when we finished. I'd like to know more about the characters.

This story does not have a far-fetched plot, nor is there a dose of creativity that leaves your mouth open. What it has is a depth that touched me deep down in my soul. I liked this story so much.
This is the story of a lost soul who met someone so unlikely and everything changed. A drunk who saw his life pass before his eyes, and shamed everyone he loved most, and when he met Mini, a 15-year-old teenager, everything changed. Nub has an extraordinary sense of humor. I liked it, I liked it, I really liked it. I recommend. Thank you Netgalley for offering this opportunity.

#kinfolk,, # SeanDietrich, #Drama, #Netgalley

Kinfolk by Sean Dietrich is a novel that will stay with me for awhile. There were places where I wanted to stop listening but I’m so glad I didn’t. Sean weaves a masterful story and the fact that he reads the audiobook makes it come more alive. “Nub” is the town drunk that wants to make amends to his bad choices and finds himself sticking up for a teen girl who is being picked on. Minnie is this girl. Her mom committed suicide like Nub’s dad. This commonality is what brought them together. I recommend listening to the story as an audiobook as it really helps put you in rural Alabama in the 60’s.

Thank you you NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book for my honest opinion.

First off all, the narration on this one is PERFECTION, The author narrates, and WOW did he knock it out of the park. The book is beautifully written, and has some moments that are funny...the only think that made it not quite my cup of tea was the heavier religious content in the last 1/3rd of so of the book.

After having read The Incredible Winston Browne, I will always be lined up as soon as Sean Dietrich releases a new book. He manages to read down into my soul and have me emotionally drained. As you absorb the words sprinkled on the pages, you will come to know Nub, Minnie, and a few other characters from Park, Alabama. There are a lot of dark subjects buried in the pages … suicide, teen pregnancy, murder, cancer, judgmental attitudes, bullying. So, it is not a light easy read as you experience how the decisions of one family member can have a ripple effect on others in the family. But it will also have you smiling as you realize that there are opportunities for second chances.

Church services. Reading about Minnie’s singing and beautiful voice. Tabasco sandwiches. Lots of things will stay with you long after you close the book. And make sure you hang in there to the very end and the author’s note.

And the following words from Kinfolk will stay with me for a while:
People are what makes life worth it. People are the buried treasure. People who understand you. People who will bleed with you. People who will make your life richer. Your people, kinfolk.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Muse for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

Open up your arms Gus and Call because there is a new favorite literary character in town, Nub. Before Kinfolk I could not imagine that there could ever be characters as loveable as those two. But Nub. Squirrely, crass, loveable Nub.

The storyline, the storytelling, the setting, the characters were near perfection. The one liners that came out of nowhere and caused delayed laughs were a joy. I can't think of a single thing that I did not love about this book which earns it five stars and a rank on my top shelf of very favorite books.

And now for the narrator. Thank you NetGalley for an advanced listen. The narrator thrilled me to no end. How could he have been as perfect as the book? That revealed itself later when I looked it up and learned that the narrator is the author. I have no doubt I would have loved this book as much in hard copy but it was a real treat to listen.

Kinfolk is the story of Jeremiah "nub" Taylor, who, as our story opens drinks too much, is estranged from his daughter, and struggles to pay his bills. Yet we soon discover his soft heart, and we are in his corner as he tries to stop drinking in order to help the people he loves.

This heartwarming novel is set in the 1970's in small town Alabama and is at times uplifting and heartbreaking. The main characters are fully developed and despite their flaws we learn to forgive and understand them.

The audio book is successfully narrated by the author who especially shines when he uses his rich singing voice in the appropriate spots. I am a big fan of the authors blogs and will now need to look up more of his novels.

Thank you to net galley and Harper Muse for the audio galley in return for an unbiased review.

Kinfolk is the tragic but yet beautiful written story of a group of misfit townsfolk from Alabama in the 70’s. The story will bring out a range of emotions as you read about their lives; you will cheer for each one to have a better chance in life. The story if full hope and determination.
I got the opportunity to listen to the book read by the author; it was excellent. Thank you NetGalley and Harper Muse for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Muse an advanced audio book in exchange for an honest review.

5 stars

It's the 1970s in southern Alabama and Nub Taylor is the town drunk always getting into trouble. He's always disappointing his ex-wife, daughter and grandson. Nub meets 15 year old Minnie who's recently orphaned, pregnant and 6 ft 5, and he tries to help her out. Nub is one of the best characters I've read about in a long time. He's flawed, funny, and kind, but has been awful to his family and himself for decades. Fantastic redemption story--I kept rooting for him and Minnie.

This was such an incredible story. I would suggest if you have the option to listen to it over reading as the author narrates the book and it just felt so right.

Amazing narration by the author.