I loved riding along on Ammalie’s road trip of self discovery. She is such a relatable character with her flaws and quirks. An entertaining and enjoyable read!
Many thanks to Random House and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I went into this expecting something more contemplative, and it turned out to be much zanier than I expected. But I still found this protagonist to be an excellent companion to travel to several new-to-me destinations together.

Did not really connect with this story personally as much as I had hoped, as a woman in my 30s. I think this would actually be such a great novel for my mom to read on audio! I just couldn't get into the realistic of it overall, it just wasn't for me. However I can say the novel was very though provoking and did leave me with a lot of feelings and emotions that I have not felt in a long time, which is always a nice thing. I would love to read something else by Laura Pritchett!

Thanks to Netgalley and Dell for the digital arc!!

After her husband dies, a woman goes off on a road trip with three keys to unlock pieces of her past and hopefully shape a new future. Yes -- she committed some mild crimes but she also did good to trees, animals, and people and eventually found a new path. Sweet, inspiring novel.

Three Keys was a wonderful read. It made me feel all the emotions. I was sad, afraid, happy. You name it. Ammalie was so relatable and such a good person. The world could use more people like her.

Interesting take on a woman's mid life crisis. Ammalie loses her job, her husband and her child goes to college. She feels invisible and needs to find her purpose. Lots of the book is her dialogue with herself, which gets old. The interesting parts are how she goes about finding herself, some exciting and not so legal moves!

This book was not for me. The very beginning of the book had lots of foreshadow and said the word "key" multiple times. It was very heavy handed

This was a cozy, book club read and was “easier” than I was expecting. It’s a little hard to explain, but one example was that everyone knew exactly what to say, how to say it, and they were just so emotionally healthy and supportive that there was no real conflict or tension. And I think even just a little bit of tension/conflict in some of the relationships she created would have gone a long way to making things feel a bit more realistic and a bit less perfect.

With this work, if you don’t vibe with the main character then it’s going to be a struggle to read. Since it’s about Ammalie taking a solo trip, much of the book is her inner monologue or her talking to herself. Unfortunately, I began to find her a little grating as the book went on, which made it more and more difficult to want to pick up the book. However, this was certainly more of a “me” issue than an issue with the book.

I did like the premise of this one, and think it was a unique and intriguing plot. I also quite liked how well the author utilized the different settings. They made for a lovely backdrop to Ammalie’s emotional journey and made me want to take a road trip of my own.

If you like book club reads that center on the protagonist working through a loss with conflicting emotions and finding themselves, then you’ll probably enjoy this one. My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Three Keys is such a fun adventure story. Ammalie sets off to find herself after the death of her husband and after losing her job. Equal parts inspiring and heartbreaking, I enjoyed this coming of age for someone still seeking the meaning of life in middle age. Her journey and interactions with strangers along the way were inspiring.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this ARC.

thank you to netgalley for the e-arc. this is eat, pray, love with a lot of death and misfortune. i thought it was well written and the story moved along at a good pace. i don't think it was for me, maybe my mother would resonate with it more.

Ammalie is a fifty something woman who was recently widowed by one of the least selfless men around. She spent her adult life working as a waitress because she really enjoyed it. Vincent, her late husband, although stingy with himself, did share tales of his adventures with her after he returned home. This novel tells of the adventures Ammalie went on with three keys she took from his belongings. These adventures took place in the Western US and New Zealand. They are wonderful. Thanks to Net Galley and Dell for an ARC for an honest review.

I enjoyed this one. It's kind of a senior coming of age story about a middle-aged woman whose husband has died, her son seems more and more distant, and she's out of work. So Ammalie sets off to have an adventure and find some meaning in her life. She sometimes seemed a little dim, sometimes a little obnoxious, and some things in the book were a bit hard to believe, but overall, I quite enjoyed her story and her travels.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free e-ARC of this book.

Thanks to Dell for my advanced copy of Three Keys by Laura Pritchett.

There was a lot going on in Three Keys, but this book is about starting over and I liked the keys metaphor.

Middle aged, recently widowed and alone, Ammalie Brinks, has decided that she needs to explore. She is hoping that this sudden excursion will help define herself, or find herself. Ammalie is isolated and floundering in a midlife crisis since her husband had a stroke and has been going through the monotony of life. That is until she has a fight with her son and another disconnected conversation with her sister she decides she must visit three destinations to make sense of the grief and who she wants to become.
As Ammalie blunders through each of these three significant locations she begins to realize that she has always arrived and left without a trace, like she doesn't exist. Up until this point Ammalie’s life has been empty, still and boring. With each trip she starts to learn more about herself and what she wants out of this new life she has created. Will she eventually find what she is looking for? Will Ammalie eventually find grace and love for herself?
Overall rating 5/5
This book will hit home for anyone who is around middle age and can identify with the loss of identity. Be it from marriage, being a parent or just simply feeling as though they are invisible in this world. I love the simple nuances that Pritchett places for the reader. How Ammalie had to completely dissociate with her old life and to truly become alone to experience the world for the first time, the stillness that allows her to see and hear everything through a different lens. Also the neverending waiting on her husband, I can utterly relate to and how she just wants to go. At times this character was so confusing however, I do appreciate the concept behind this showing how she really was losing her mind not really living.
The story kept reminding me of The Christmas Carol in the respects that each of the three keys somewhat represented Ammalie’s past, present and future, but done in a modern subtle way. And how she met a character that helped her understand and define each of these stages to her life in each location.

*Thank you to Laura Pritchett, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Dell and Netgalley for the ARC copy. I am freely leaving my honest review.

Three Keys was an excellent read. I liked the character exploration and the writing was propulsive. I would read more from this author.

Ammalie has lost her husband, her job and her son (who has left for college and who has pushed her away) when she decides to take a trip using three keys that were significant to her late husband. She decides that she will break into the homes when she is pretty sure that they will be empty to use them as AirBnBs and find herself. She starts her journey very lost-she isn't sure who she will be now that all the defining roles in her life have been changed. Her first house is in Colorado where she breaks into the cabin that she and her husband had vacationed years ago. She moves from there to Arizona, etc. Each of her locations is written with such a sense of place-the journey for the reader is almost physical and definitely emotional. Ammalie makes a real journey of the heart. I loved this story and all of the reasons for the "keys".
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book in return for an honest review-albeit very late.

Three Keys by Laura Pritchett is the story of Ammalie who has lost her husband and is struggling in her new state of life. We meet Ammalie as she heads off on a trip to find herself. I enjoyed parts of this book and then sometimes felt it was dragging a bit All in all I enjoyed Ammalie's story and especially her relationship with the dog she rescues during her first stay.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of Three Keys in exchange for an honest review. Three Keys is available now.

loved this mystery and keeping secrets and the different point of views. Also loved trying to figure out who did it . I enjoyed the mystery behind it.

It’s probably quite obvious that the cover of THREE KEYS by Laura Pritchett is what initially drew me to this novel—it’s stunning. After reading the first sentence of the synopsis, I immediately requested it on Netgalley. Read this:

“𝙉𝙚𝙬𝙡𝙮 𝙬𝙞𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙪𝙣𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙮𝙚𝙙, 𝙖 𝙬𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙞𝙙-𝙛𝙞𝙛𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙤𝙣 𝙖 𝙟𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙙𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘼𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙒𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙮, 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩-𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙋𝙀𝙉 𝙐𝙎𝘼 𝘼𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙–𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙧.”

I’m all for a good adventure story about a woman in her mid-fifties roaming around the American West and beyond. Heck, yes. Bring it on. This book gave me some major Eat, Pray, Love vibes but felt way more down-to-earth and relaxed. I guess I just found Ammalie, the female protagonist much more relatable (and likable) than the one in EPL.

READ THIS IF YOU ENJOY:

- Mature/middle-aged female characters
- Hiking and exploring
- Roadtrips and #vanlife
- Arizona and Colorado settings
- Random acts of kindness
- Reflections on loss and grief
- Themes of motherhood and marriage
- Risky behavior and taking chances
- Self-discovery and soul-searching

Ammalie is a phenomenal character, and I absolutely LOVED going on this journey with her, but must say that the random people she meets along the way are what truly make this novel. They were pure gold, and touched my heart and soul!

If you want to go on an epic adventure with a quirky, charming, and admirable woman, please give THREE KEYS a go. You won’t be disappointed. It was a total joy to read, and gets 4/5 solid stars from me!

Ammalie's husband died unexpectedly of a stroke. The grief and stress caused by his death and all the issues that arise after a person dies led to a big fight between Ammalie and her son, Powell, who has requested that she give him space. Ammalie is on good terms with her sister, Apricot, but the closeness they had when they were younger is gone, and their conversations are fairly superficial, especially as Apricot does not want to openly confront the cancer that will likely one day take her life. Ammalie has also lost her job, as the restaurant where she was a waitress burned down in a fire, and the rebuilding process has been slow. Ammalie finds herself at loose ends -- an unemployed middle-aged widow.

To try to find herself, she decides to go on a road trip, revisiting a location in Colorado that was meaningful for her and her husband, and then visiting two locations (New Mexico and New Zealand) that were meaningful to her husband. However, instead of making reservations or getting permission to stay at these three places, she is living in her car as she travels, "breaking" into the cabin in Colorado, trailer in New Mexico, and house in New Zealand, hoping to keep her presence in these locations a secret while she discovers what she needs to discover. Her plan will not work out as intended. Yet, she will have quite the adventure, meet some very interesting people (some of whom will become lasting friends), rescue an abused dog, help multiple people and receive help in return from multiple people, discover an inner strength she did not know she possessed, make peace with aspects of her past, rekindle family relationships, and find a new purpose for her life. The story has plenty of funny moments, and plenty of tender moments.