DNF'd at 40%

I'm actually so sad that I DNF'd this book because I wanted to like it so bad, but I just could not get into it :( I just couldn't get into the characters or the plot. I might come back to it at some point, but I'm not sure.

I really enjoyed this one! It definitely wasn’t what I was expecting content wise based on the cover but I flew through this & was invested the whole time. This book follows Francine & her life after her mom passes away unexpectedly. This book can be heavy at times so please check trigger warnings before reading!! Overall I found this book to be a really honest & relatable look at grief & how black women in particular deal with it. If wasn’t a perfect 5/5 stars for me but overall this story had so many good & interesting things going for it I couldn’t give it less that 4 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc and thanks to PRH Audio for the alc.

Francine's Spectacular Crash and Burn is a spectacular and witty novel without a doubt. I can't figure out why, but as I was reading this book, i was reminded of titles such as Margot's Got Money Troubles. I am not sure why I am comparing these two stories to one another as they are quite different, but maybe it is because the characters are both strong-willed women. Yes, there were some parts of this story that made me uncomfortable. but I believe that shows the sign of a good book. Additonally if it says anything about the quality of this story, I was able to finish it in under 24 hours. Bahni Turpin was also the perfect choice to narrate the audiobook and I loved how she brought Francine and the other characters to life. I definitely think I would consider reading more by Renee Swindle in the future, as her writing style seems to be quirky, yet charming.

Francine’s Spectacular Crash and Burn joins the ranks of Renee Swindle’s other books. I know I’ll be treated to a spectacular story and engaging characters. She didn’t disappoint with this one.

Francine deals with a lot of issues at home and work. She tries hard to appease her agoraphobic mom and mend the schism between her mom and aunt. A series of events sends Francine into an emotional tailspin that leads her to Davie. In an unlikely friendship, a new “family” is formed and we are treated to a different Francine.

Swindle handles various topics with care and consideration. Neurodiversity, suicide, racism, and splintered families aren’t the end of the world in Swindle’s hands; they are exposed and are great starting points for awareness and self-examination.

I received the ARC from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Francine lives with her agoraphobic mother who records psychic and astrology videos. Their codependent relationship abruptly ends when Francine's mother dies and Francine feels lost. Preparing to end her own life, she instead meets 10 year old, Davie, a boy on the autism spectrum, when she saves him from a bully. Davie lives with his foster parents in a poor section of Oakland, and when Francine takes him home one day, she realizes she went to high school with Jeannette, the foster mother, and her former crush.

This intense, well written book deals with issues of mental illness, substance abuse, codependency, racism (most of the characters are Black), classism, and neurodiversity. Yet, despite all of that, the book does not feel cluttered or preachy. Instead, it's incredibly well written and engaging, with three-dimensional portraits of all of the main characters.

Highly recommended.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Thank you to Penguin Group Dutton and NetGalley for this advanced copy of FRANCINE’S SPECTACULAR CRASH AND BURN.
I was really excited about the premise of this book and following the main character after her mother’s death, and how foster care might be portrayed throughout the book. Unfortunately. this book did not quite hit the mark for me. The author’s execution of the characters development fell flat for me, and the characters were quite unlikable from my perspective.
I decided to DNF this book, but others who are a fan of a character finding themselves, found family, and mental health representation might find this book enticing!

𝔹𝕠𝕠𝕜 ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨

𝙁𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙚’𝙨 𝙎𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙖𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙧 𝘾𝙧𝙖𝙨𝙝 & 𝘽𝙪𝙧𝙣
by Renee Swindle
320 pages
Out soon! 4/15/25

Thank you @reneewritesnovels and @tinyrepbooks for allowing me to read this hidden gem before it was published.

I love a character who doesn’t have it all together, perfectly imperfect, feeling self conscious- because frankly, who hasn’t felt that way in life?
This story had all the chaos of real life.
Francine has had to deal with many obstacles as she cared for her agoraphobic mother, and longed to fulfill her own dreams. Francine’s mom was quite eccentric, and Francine has had a really unorthodox home life, but had persevered and had a decent job at Peeps- a social media company. Still, she longed for more for herself.

The strongest part of this story for me was Francine and her relationship with Davie, the 10 year old boy she serendipitously saved from bullies one day. Her empathy for him came from her own experiences.

She faced a domino effect of setbacks, but she always continued to do her best to be a good person, awkwardly attempting to be the best version of herself to achieve her goals and a great friend to others (often at great expense to herself). I should also say as a fellow neurodivergent person that I empathized with her reactions and social miscues. I’ve had those moments myself.

Found family is one of my favorite tropes, and even though there were some characters I truly disliked, I loved loved how this one ended. I was rooting for Francine through the entire book. This was a heartwarming story that I could not put down.

I read this in one day. If you like something different, check it out.

QOTD: Davie loved Steve Jobs and Pixar movies - what’s your favorite Pixar movie?
A: Mine is Monsters, Inc.

This reminded me in some ways of Maame by Jessica George (2023) as far as similar life obstacles. I loved both of the MCs as they faced similar struggles.

#arcreading #newbooks #francinesspectacularcrashandburn #currentlyreading #amreading #hiddengembooks #contemporaryfiction #realisticfiction #lgbtqbooks #neurodivergentcharacters

I wasn’t sure about this book initially, but I enjoyed it in the end! I’m still curious about the autism representation (at times I wondered if it was relying too heavily on stereotypes and if she had a sensitivity reader. She doesn’t mention one in the acknowledgements).

Francine was a frustrating protagonist at times, but by the end I wanted to root for her. Her affair with Jeanette seemed doomed from the start. I was glad she was able to finally wake up to the manipulative behavior and abuse before things escalated any further.

At times, it seemed like the author dropped certain characters or plots until they were useful again (like Davie). But ultimately, it was a nice story about finding yourself, healing, finding connection, and discovering neurodivergence. Definitely wayyyyy heavier and more intense than the cover would lead you to believe, though 😬

I recieved a free eARC of this book.

Francine is a young woman who has just never quite gotten started. She spends her life between an agoraphobic mother and her job as an assistant for a social media executive. Her life goes from bad to worse when her mother dies suddenly, sending her into a tailspin, but then changes when she meets Davie, a smart autistic foster kid who is being bullied. The two build a friendship and have a lot more in common than they might expect.

When Francine meets Davie’s foster parents, one of whom is her high school crush, things seem even better, right?

Ultimately. This is a sweet book about how what you think you need isn’t always what you want, and how sometimes what you get isn’t what you need. This is categorized as a new adult book, and I believe it’s correctly classified.

DNF at 8%

I thought I could handle parent death, but I lost one of my parents to a heart attack and my other is going through cancer treatment. So while I actually liked the writing a lot (which is rare for me in literary books), I had to stop reading after Francine's mom died on page.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

Francine is trying to figure out how to live her life in the aftermath of her mother’s death. When she rescues a 10 year old kid from some bullies she becomes a big part of his life. Determined to help him out, she meets his foster family and realizes that Davie’s foster mother was a girl that Francine had a crush on in high school.

While the book does have some lighthearted and fun moments, it’s definitely more serious than the cover design makes it seem. The story deals with grief, bullying, suicide, ableism, colorism, toxic relationships, past sexual assault, abusive parenting, and so much more. I don’t think anything in the book was poorly handled, but there were definitely a lot of times where I felt like things were just being glossed over instead of diving in deep. Like at a lot of points there were time jumps that made me feel like I was missing out on being able to see important developments happening. So often it felt like things were just occurring out of nowhere.

In the end I did enjoy seeing the journey that Francine went on with figuring out what she wants from her life and building up a community of people around her. I’d recommend this for readers who enjoy coming of age stories about adult characters, found family, and complex queer characters.

This story is SO messy and Francine seriously angers the reader so often. Thankful for the sounding boards of some side characters that speak to what the reader is thinking. David and Francine’s relationship is beautiful but challenging at times.
Jeanette is just bad news from the beginning and SO unlikeable. There are moments of hope through this book, but ultimately, Francine DID indeed crash and burn.

3.5 stars

With a cast of larger-than-life characters and a heavy dose of drama, this is a book you won't soon forget! The story is packed with heavy themes, exploring everything from grief to self-esteem to childhood trauma and assault and much more. Francine's life is a mess, and reading about her difficulties and poor decisions sometimes made this book frustrating - I wanted to yell at her through the pages so many times! - but Francine's descent to rock bottom was needed to help her turn her life around.

What I appreciated most about this book was that none of the characters were perfect. Everyone had their struggles, and the author presented them in very real and relatable ways. No one felt like caricatures or stereotypes, just representations of different types of people trying to do their best in life.

Davie stole the show in this story and, despite his young age and his own struggles, seemed to be the one with the most wisdom. I wanted a happy ending for him so badly!

Although this book was much heavier than I expected, I thought it was handled very well and it made me feel a broad range of emotions. I also found the characters memorable and appreciated the diverse representation handled with so much respect.

3.5 stars

This was not a light read. The ending is somewhat hopeful, but up until 99% of the book, you are pretty much worried this terrible time will somehow get worse. It discusses some heavy topics like grief, internalized homophobia, sexual assault, grooming, child abuse, intimate partner violence, colorism, poverty, and ableism. I think it's a story many could learn something from, but it really made for a unhappy reading experience. So, be warned about that.

The writing style is quite succinct and not super florid. While the story is quite angsty, it didn't feel melodramatic. Honestly, there were some scenes that went south quickly that were unexpected because the writing style was pretty matter of fact in its description of what was happening. There was only one point where the story buried a lead about one of Francine's bad experiences in high school that I found a tiny bit cheap in presentation, but the overall meaning of it was understood. It's a bit insane how many awful things she experienced before turning 30, but it created something for Jeannette to "bond" with her over.

I appreciated Kenji as a character a lot. Surprisingly, even in the first meeting where I'm sure the reader was meant to dislike her, I found her interesting. She exists to be one of the few people around Francine that didn't bully her when she didn't act as desired. I liked that her and partner were in the story to sort of serve as a baseline for normal relationships. I actually liked and felt sorry for Aunt Liane. I understood where she was coming from with Francine and her sister, but her way of trying to force them into being okay wasn't the answer. Uncle CJ was great, as well.

Davie is the real standout here. He's the catalyst for most of the events in this book and he becomes someone that makes Francine look outside herself. I find it a bit concerning she went from spending most of her life taking care of her mother to immediately signing on to take care of a child not long after her mother's passing. I'm a little surprised if her therapist thought that was a good idea. However, I did tear up at the end of the book.

Francine is a mess. I'm glad the book showed her seeing a therapist to try to unpack some of her issues. I also appreciated that I didn't feel the narrative wanted her to let sympathy for Jeannette's trauma incite unearned forgiveness. Jeannette suffered a lot, but that doesn't excuse her behavior. I truthfully didn't understand what Francine saw in Jeannette that was desirable, but I chalked it up to her having to learn that she deserved better treatment from people. That's a lesson I think a lot of people would appreciate.

Tentative recommend, but be mindful of the trigger warnings and that I wouldn't personally describe this as a hopeful book. Up to 99%, it's still quite heavy.

Thank you, Tiny Reparations for the e-arc!

This book is truly an emotional roller coaster. Francine is a character I will not be forgetting about any time soon.

The book takes place just moments before Francines mom's passing, this book is a journey of Francine coping with her mothers loss and trying to live in a world without her. Francine is a complex character, not many will agree with her actions or the situations she finds herself in but it's her own experience.

Francine's grief was written really well, we don't see Francine have a typical "healing" journey with grief. It's very raw and emotional, you can't help but want to give her a big hug.

Francine in her grief meets a young boy named Davie, who randomly starts showing up to her house and quickly they form a heartwarming friendship.

Davie is on the spectrum, the way that Francine understands this. Her friendship with Davie is one filled with love and recognition. Davie being part of the foster system and also having lost his mother, Francine sees herself and Davie and for that she creates an environment in which Davie feels safest in. Literally cried over how loving she was with Davie.

This would've been a full 5-star book but I felt like Francine's drug use was glossed over. I really wish that we got to see more about what steps she was taking to get sober. The book glossed over when it came to Francine taking meds that weren't hers so I really wish this was addressed as well.

I do want to make clear that this is not a love story. Francine's relationship with Jennette is one built off trauma. Francine is constantly getting used by Jennette and there are several boundaries that Jennette crosses. I think the book does a great job at highlighting the fact that Jennette isn't 100% a bad person. She is someone who needs help and was wronged by a system as well.

Francine also has Bell's Palsy that is triggered by stress, this is something that is important to understanding her character! We see her actively struggle with her views with her condition throughout the book, she learns to not be afraid of her condition, but she does receive a lot of bullying and harassment about her condition.

This book can be heavy at times, but I really do encourage others to read it, please take care of yourselves, my friends.

Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC! I really enjoyed this book! It was just the pick me up I needed as I found myself chuckling throughout the book and relating to the main character and her relationship with her mother. Love the disability representation and the multifaceted relationships shown between Black people and other POCs in the book.

Francine is a young woman dealing with low self-esteem, a very needy and agoraphobic mom and no family other than a distant aunt and uncle. When tragedy strikes she starts to fall apart and consider suicide until she witnesses a young boy being bullied by bigger kids. Meeting Davie will change her life forever but not without a lot of drama and self-doubt that she'll need to overcome.

I was so surprised by this! I feel like Francine’s journey with grief, not just for the loss she experienced but for everything she went through – was so deeply understandable and devastating. I was rooting for her to find her footing in life, and I really enjoyed seeing her journey with photography (as a photo girlie myself I was so inspired by her). I also found the side characters intriguing and really added to the story. And DAVIE!!! I loved him so much 😭 I need a sequel to see how they’re doing I swear

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, & the publishers who sent me this ARC to read & review! <3

I started this on the plane back from Kauai, and it was just interesting enough to keep my attention. Francine loses her mother suddenly after trying to force her out of the house which she hasn't left in a while due to a combination of depression and agoraphobia. Francine has been in an unhealthy co-dependent relationship with her mother her whole life, and when her mother dies Francine contemplates dying too. However, a young boy finds his way into her life, and bring with him his foster mother who just so happens to be the queen bee of Francine's old high school.

Francine is such a mess that everything she does is bound to blow up in her face, and the book deals very well with her clear issues, and how they cause her to make the very worst decisions. Davie is the saving grace of this story, with his macabre slave facts (which he spouts when he is upset) and his obsession with Steve Jobs ("Steve and Steve! Ha!" became my favorite line of the book). How he gives Francine a strange little community and ultimately a family makes this a very sweet read. It took a little bit of work to get into this (the beginning is pretty sad and messed up as we take stock of Francine's life so far) but once Davie makes an appearance you know things are on the upswing.

3.5 stars.

About a Boy, renewed. Francine is lonely and directionless after her mother's sudden death. With no friends and little family, she doesn't what to do or where to start. What she does know is that the talkative, odd boy she saved from neighbors bullies won't leave her alone. And maybe she doesn't want him to.

I was really on board for the first half or so. The writing was present (though past-tense, it really told the story). The second half, though, felt like it was just telling the highlights. And while I understand why Francine would make some of the choices she did, I was getting really annoyed at her. Her "crash and burn" was mostly of her own doing.