The Float Test is an entertaining story of an American family, their dysfunction, and journey to reclaim a sense of home. I most enjoyed the Florida setting and layered inter-sibling relationships. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a family-centered story.

Thank you Balckstone and NetGalley for the Audio ARC

1 ⭐️

The audio is good Andi Arndt is my one of my fav female narrators and she is the only reason this book got 1 star. She did amazing job as always!

The story on the other hand just dumb. Way too much work BS and political stuff. I don’t want to spend my time listening/ reading that when it’s shoved in our faces on a daily everywhere else. I just went to spend my time lost in a book with a beautiful story. This wasn’t it.

2.5 ⭐️. This one wasn’t my cup of tea.
I hate Covid books, too soon.
And I really struggled to connect to any of the characters.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins | Mariner Books | Harper Audio for gifting me a digital and audio ARC of the latest novel by Lynn Steger Strong, with the audio perfectly narrated by Andy Arndt. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4.5 stars!

The Kenner siblings are all at crisis points in their own lives, when they head back to Florida after the death of their mom. Jenn is the oldest, and struggling with her own family as well as feeling the responsibility of her parents as well. Jude is a corporate lawyer, single mom, and estranged from her once favorite sister, Fred. Fred is struggling with life and love and still finding her way. The baby, George, is estranged from his wife and having issues at work. They have never needed each other more or trusted each other less.

I love a well-written family drama! This story is told from Jude's POV, but we get all of the siblings' backstories as well, except for the reason that Jude and Fred are estranged. That reveal doesn't come until the book is almost over, which brought out an underlying tension through the entire book. The story felt real, with siblings taking their roles from childhood and feeling the pressure of maintaining those, as well as childhood resentments that we all hold on to. Everyone has secrets, including the parents. The hot Florida sun felt like another character as well. Another fabulous book from this author - and Luli had the perfect ending!

I've loved Strong's work in the past and absolutely was drawn in by the great cover for her newest book but try as I might I just couldn't get into this family story set in Florida pre, mid and post pandemic times. There were a lot of characters and the story switched POVs, perhaps this just wasn't the greatest story to listen to even though I ordinarily enjoy Andi Arndt as a narrator a lot. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publish for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review.

Unlikeable characters, complicated family dynamics, and an exploration of grief and fraught sibling relationships. I’ll be recommending this one to readers who like a messy, meandering story.

Thank you so much to Harper Audio for the gifted audiobook!

I was completely sold on this one based on the stunning cover (never seen anything quite like it) and the synopsis sounded right up my alley!

While there were parts that I did relate to and enjoy, ultimately, I feel like this one wasn't for me. It felt too political at times than I prefer to read about as I usually read to escape much of that.

I hope this book has great success and will still consider reading Strong's books in the future.

As far as the audiobook itself, no complaints whatsoever!

This one is available on April 8th!

The Float Test is a character study of the Kenner siblings, reunited in their Florida hometown after a family tragedy. The story is told from the perspective of the youngest sister, Jude, who is a New York City lawyer struggling with her relationships with her family, particularly her sister Fred. Fred is a novelist who is no longer writing, recently divorced and adrift in her life as she struggles to figure out who she is as an adult. George is the baby brother of the family, who is trying to fill the void left by his cheating wife with his dog. Jenn is the steadfast eldest daughter, staying close to home so that she can take care of her aging parents as well as her five children, drowning in obligations. This is a heartfelt and honest character study that looks at how complicated, disgusting, and caring family relationships can be.

If you go into the book expecting a story, you won't be satisfied. The story jumps around from character to character, although it is all from Jude's perspective, and also jumps around in time a bit. It takes some getting used to at first, but once I got into the flow of it, I could really appreciate the beautiful writing and the depth of the characters. All of the characters were very flawed and quite unlikable and the story also included an animal death, so readers who don't enjoy those things will probably want to skip this one. I think the story is told in a unique way that I personally enjoyed, although it might not be to everyone's taste. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy character studies, flawed families, or books with a strong sense of place. The audiobook narrator also did an excellent job, so audiobook enjoyers should definitely check this one out if the synopsis sounds interesting.

I loved this author’s previous book, 𝗙𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁, and I’m so happy to report that I loved this one just as much. I’m now motivated to do a little digging into her backlist.

The Kenner family is gathered because of an unexpected death in the family. The siblings aren’t especially close as they are all battling their own issues. There are a lot of secrets, lies, and drama adding to the dysfunction in this family.

I’m going to show my nerdiness here but I love when I can find references to the title of the book within the pages of the story. This book did that beautifully by alluding to floating (or the inability to float…) a few times.

This author has a gift for taking ordinary family drama and wrapping it in beautiful story telling. Nothing overly flowerly or dramatic - crafted, spare language which reminds me of another author I love, 𝗥𝗲𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗰𝗮 𝗞𝗮𝘂𝗳𝗳𝗺𝗮𝗻. Both write about very average families but with great language. You all know there is little I like to read more than a quiet, dysfunctional family

Tolstoy said “ All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way and that is true for this privileged Florida family in The Float Test. The Float Test follows an unhappy family after the sudden death of the matriarch. Strong weaves a serpentine storyline that made me struggle to make sense of the plot. A gun is introduced early on and taken from the deceased mother’s underwear drawer. An unhappy young mother who the daughters went to school with is introduced, but she seemingly has little involvement with the family. I guess the fun was introduced as a way to increase tension in the story? The reader is just waiting for someone to use the gun. The four siblings are not close at the time of their mother’s death but the reason for their distance is not revealed until 90% of the novel has passed and by that point I didn’t even care. There was a great deal of climate change and environmental damage angst perhaps thrown into make readers more aware of Florida’s particular damage, but it really didn’t serve to improve the already slow story.

The float test, when the mom of this dysfunctional family dies , when have a book of this family’s stories. They are each extremely screwed up