⭐️⭐️

This memoir is written like an ongoing letter from Ona to her loving sister Angie.

Years after Angie, her husband Ray, their baby Ray Ray and their unborn child are brutally murdered, Ona starts to piece together her sister’s life as well as reflect on the short time they had together.

This book was a little hard to follow with the bouncing back and forth between timelines. I also thought it would be more of a true crime story than what it was.

Thanks to NetGalley and Apprentice House Press for this digital Arc.

Angie Boggs, the first person I remember loving, it’s all here in these pages. I hope I came close to doing you justice. Damn, I miss you. - Ona Gritz

The victims, Ray Boggs, Angie Boggs, and Raymond Boggs Jnr, lived in an apartment at 753 Webster Street in San Francisco. At the time of her death, 25 year old Angie was carrying her 30-week-old unborn daughter. They were brutally murdered.

Everywhere I Look by Ona Gritz is a memoir, written in the form of a letter to her sister Angie Boggs, more than thirty years after her death.

Ona without a doubt is definitely a wordsmith. Everywhere I Look is honest and raw, nevertheless beautifully written. 

I loved this book. I loved how honest Ona was with her emotions and how she processed them for more than thirty years through her memories of her childhood, as she uncovered the family secrets while trying to understand why and how her sister’s life was cut short.

Thank you to @netgally and @apprentiehousepress for my gifted copy in exchange for my honest review. Everywhere I Look is now available in stores.

This one broke me in a million pieces.
I cannot imagine the hurt this author felt, and feels, when it comes to her sister.
I hope that writing it brought her a little bit of peace.
There's something so special about that sisterly bond and to have something so tragic happen to your sibling can't be easy.

Everywhere I Look was a bit more challenging to read than I had been hoping for. Some of the plot lines were presented in a disjointed manner and the skipping back and forth was more difficult when I only had time to read in fits and starts, so would find myself losing the thread of the story. I appreciate that the author was probably struggling to tell a very personal story after a long gap. Best of luck in their future writing projects.

I read just over half of this book and realised i don’t wasn’t enjoying it and couldn’t continue. It seems much more of. book that is written as something that is personal between the authors sister and herself rather than a book intended for others. Even the description of a love story adds to this idea because this is what it is. the loss was a tragedy but not one that transfers well into a story beyond the importance to those who loved Andra. I realised i was getting lost at the half way point which may also be where the writer got lost herself learning of half siblings. I wish her well but this was not for me. Definitely not what i was expecting from the initial description I read. I am choosing not to share on social media because of the did not finish status

Beautiful ode to a sister lost and a life of mystery unpacked, bit by bit. I was enraptured by the honesty that speckled the pages - a true triumph.

A memoir of a woman who attempts to autopsy her murdered older sisters’ life. This book wasn’t for me. I thought it would be more of a true crime and really the crime doesn’t have much to do with the story. The murder has a lot to do with Ona’s grief, but not for the reader and the story.

📚 PUBLICATION MONTH BOOK REVIEW 📚

Everywhere I Look
By Ona Gritz
Publication Date: April 16, 2024
Publisher: Apprentice House Press

Swipe ➡️ for GoodReads Synopsis

📚MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

📚MY REVIEW:

Oh, my heart. This book was an incredibly poignant memoir, honoring the bonds of sisterhood and exploring the family ties that connect us to the generational traumas of those who came before. The story was both a warm collection of childhood memories, snippets of brief moments shared between sisters...and a heartbreaking collection of young adulthood regrets, snippets of sorrow over missed opportunities for enduring sibling connections.

Throughout the entire narrative was the undercurrent of the murder of the author's big sister, Angie. At just twenty-five years old and pregnant with her second child, Angie was murdered in the Bay Area in 1982, along with her husband and eleven-month-old son. Tragically, the murders occurred during a trip the author made to California to visit Angie -- and Gritz had been at Angie's home on the night before her murder.

This book is written as a love letter to Angie, with Gritz making an oath to learn all about her sister's life in order to know her better -- no matter what she might find. The book details Gritz's journey as she uncovers startling family secrets about the sisters' upbringing. Though there's a true crime element to the book, surrounding the young family's murders, the accused, and the criminal trial, it's told from a uniquely personal perspective.

While this story started off really slow and took me some time to finish, I became really invested in learning about Angie's life -- and all of its beautifully tragic pieces. At the book's conclusion, I found myself crying for not just the loss of Angie and her family, but mourning Gritz's loss of a lifetime of memories with her big sister.

This was a beautiful tribute -- and I was honored to read this gifted advanced copy from NetGalley and Apprentice House Press in exchange for my honest review. If you enjoy memoirs, don't miss this!

#EverywhereILook #OnaGritz #NetGalley #bookreviews #bookrecommendations #bookcommunity #memoir

I stumbled upon this memoir on NetGalley today. I hadn’t planned on reading it right away and just decided to quickly scan the first chapter before leaving it in my Bookshelf. But I didn’t expect to finish it so quickly, as what was supposed to be a quick scan turned into a “I-could-not-stop-reading-this” moment. I needed to know more about Angie, Ona, and the people around Angie’s life before and after she and her growing family were murdered.

“Everywhere I Look” is so raw, so intricate, that it’s honestly an honor to have read it. From beginning to end, I felt Ona’s resolve to learn more about her sister’s life, and her narration was heartbreaking in every sense of the word. I could sense the immense amount of love Ona and Angie had for each other, and it’s devastating how they didn’t have enough time to show it better to each other. My heart breaks not only because of their could-have-been relationship, but also with how Angie was forced to deal with every confusion, worry, and abuse alone, especially during her younger years. How she tried to cope with all of that through making chaotic choices that would ripple down to the day she and her family were murdered. It wrenches me how she was misunderstood and overlooked when she was still alive, and how her story will never be known from her own perspective. But even so, Ona was able to write a beautiful memoir about Angie. I admire the time and effort she put into piecing together a thorough understanding of Angie’s life — from extensive research, constant travels, meeting and talking to some of the people in Angie’s life that Ona had never met and talked to before, to gathering the truth by challenging her standpoint about Angie — everything was truly a labor of love. I would want to believe that somewhere out there, Angie and Ray are proud of their Ms. Educated.

To Ona, I am so sorry for your loss, and thank you for mustering up the courage to share this with the world. May Angie’s memory continue to inspire you, and may you continue to share the love she showed to you.

Publishing Date: April 16, 2024

A memoir that is scathing, heartbreaking, and inspiring. I found myself unable to put down this book, or pick up anything else for that matter. Ona Gritz tells the story of her love for her sister, exploring their family’s dysfunction, and investigating the murder of her sister and her family.

I appreciated Gritz’ writing style. You can tell she’s a poet, and she weaves through periods of her life effortlessly. It feels as though we are unraveling this story alongside her, and it’s a story I don’t think I will ever forget.

Wow! Such a surprising memoir and not what I was expecting. Highly recommend this book but really don't want to go into too much detail and spoil the story.

I love reading memoirs. They fascinate me, and usually, I can get into the story fast, however, I had to admit that with Everywhere I Look, it took me a lot of pages, time, and patience to finally get into the rhythm of the story and appreciate it like it deserved it.

This memoir is so different from any other memoir I have read, not just because it took me time to start digesting it but also because of the way the author tells her story, her sister's story. It is so unique in nature, in time, and also, brutally and cruelly Ona lost her sister. In all honesty, there were times I felt like life was so unfair with this family, especially both sisters but in the end, I am reminded that we can always find a little bit of light in the darkest moments, and for that,

I am always grateful when authors are kind enough to share their stories, even when their stories are as hard and difficult as they are.

Thank you Apprentice House Press and Netgalley, for the free advanced copy, in exchange for an honest review.

This book was not what I expected. It is definitely a love letter to her sister, which I felt deeply and it is a touching portrait of grief. However, the blurb implies a cold case in which the sister/author finally discovers the truth. It was not clear from the blurb that this was not about the investigation or really about the crime itself; there were definitely secrets uncovered and we learn so much about Angie's life and death in a really intimate way. This book was almost a biography of a family, and not the investigatory story I was expecting. The writing style took a bit to get used to; this book is written essentially as a letter to Angie, which I felt separated me from the story just a little bit. Overall, I really truly enjoyed this book, I think my expectation was just drastically different from what it was.

The major detractors:
The style of writing left me a little removed from the story, but I did adjust after the first few chapters.
The blurb is not accurate in describing the book; this is more of a memoir/biography with a focus on grief and not exactly crime/investigation related.

The pros:
This is a beautiful letter that really grapples with grief in the ways we can only see with time and space.
It's a very detailed portrait of a family that appears "normal" and the daughters who changed the narrative, bringing secrets to light.

I respect the author for telling this story im surely it was hard to do. Ive lost a sister and its a pain I can’t explain. The book felt very personal. So much so that i feel she was talking more to herself or her sister than to me. Its kind of all over the place timeline wise which was confusing as well.

When Ona Gritz was nineteen, her older sister, Andra, was murdered, along with her husband, young son, and unborn child. In this gripping memoir, Ona tries to piece together her complicated childhood fraught with the frequent, unexplained absences of her sister. She addresses the narrative to Andra, which makes the writing feel especially intimate. As she delves deeper into her family history, Ona uncovers shocking secrets that altered the course of both her and Andra’s lives. An account of family trauma, sisterhood, and true crime, this book is a moving tribute to a woman gone but not forgotten. Thanks to NetGalley and Apprentice House Press for the opportunity to read and review a digital ARC.

This memoir was immediately gripping. It is such an incredibly tragic story. Anyone who has experienced a tragic loss can relate to the wide range of emotions Gritz expresses in this book. I found her writing so powerful, the guilt and shame she has carried after the brutal loss of her sister was so powerful. I was wrapped up in all the emotion. Beautiful memoir!

I couldn't put this book down and what a special memoir to her sister!

The book was so emotionally hard to read! It broke my heart with such a short life that Onas sister endured!

The author really bared her soul and was very inspiring! Great story and writing about a hard subject!

Thanks to Netgalley for letting me read and review

I received a free copy of, Everywhere I Look, by Ona Gritz, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Twenty-five year old Angie Boggs, her husband and infant son Ray, an unborn child were brutally murdered. Angie sister Ona has many questions and memories of her sister. Angie did not have a good or fair life, Ona wanted to learn all about her sister and her life. An intriguing read, about a poor sweet soul.

I loved that this book went into such detail of how she learned who her sister was after she was killed and how the Author realizes she ignored things growing up and sees the truth now as an adult. I would most definitely recommend this book to my friends and book group.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read the ARC for this book. I could not put this one down and my heart broke for the tragedies Ona's sister experienced in her short life. The author bared her sould about her relationship with her sister and the events that transpired, it was emotionally difficult to read, but also a wonderful tribute to her sister.