Interesting book about a group of young adults living in Alaska. These characters don’t all appear to be related but are in fact interconnected. Quick read that I would recommend.

The Smell of Other People's Houses is a historical fiction story set when Alaska was just barely made into a state of America. Young acquaintances tell their points of view of their lives and their perspective of each other’s. Ruth ends up pregnant with Ray’s baby, Alyce spends her time on the family fishing boat with her father and uncle, Dora lives with Dumpling and Bunny after their father protects Dora from her abusive father and Hank and his brothers stowaway on a ferry. Selma doesn’t know her birth parents but lives with her loving adoptive parents. All of their lives intertwine in different and unique ways. This book is a fairly quick read that pulls at the heartstrings and builds empathy, 5 stars!

This book! This book has stayed with me for days! I want to be friends with the girls and nuns! This is my favorite read so far this year and I am going to select The Smell of Other People’s Houses for next read. Thank you Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock for creating a world full of characters and a story that took me away for a few hours! I was there in Fairbanks, waiting on the bus with Selma and Alyce. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to be part of your great advanced reader tribe. This book is is solid five stars all day everyday.

Beautiful atmospheric novel that sticks with you long after you read it. Well-developed characters. Would recommend.

This was not what I expected, but I did like it. Great characters, good story. The title drew me in. Overall, a pretty good book.

This book was written in the alternating perspectives of four Alaskan teens in the 1970's. Ruth, Dora, Alyce and Hank are all dealing with different issues within their home life. While I'm not normally a fan of multiple perspectives, I did end up caring about all of the characters and how their stories converged. Bringing tears to my eyes on several separate occasions, The Smell of Other People's Houses is a wonderful reminder that family is more than those related to you. Full of friendship, survival, perseverance, and courage, Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock's debut is one you're unlikely to soon forget.

I was going to be real funny and say something along the lines of “why didn’t anyone ever tell me I should read this book,” but then I remembered the last time I did that about a book Shelby had told me about ages before I ever got around to reading it . . . .

I’m pretty sure I got the ARC of this book 3 ½ years ago. Now if that doesn’t show a commitment to the procrastinator lifestyle, I don’t know what does. I also don’t know why I put it off. I think I thought it was going to be very child abusey or something (‘cause once again, homegirl don’t read blurbs) and disturbing (not like that usually stops me, but somehow in my brain this was going to go all after school special and I was going to hate it). Per usual, my brain was a liar because I never should have avoided this. Set in 1970s Alaska (can I just take a minute to say 2019 is obviously the year of Alaska for Kelly and Mitchell as this is our THIRD book set there), The Smell of Other People’s Houses tells the interconnected stories of three young women – Ruth, Dora and Alyce – as well as one young man. This is the type of book John Green only wishes he could write (and I’m saying that as kind of a Green fangirl). It’s like Green had a baby with The Secret Life of Bees and it is wonderful. Truly YA that grown-ups can appreciate – complete with all the feels. 5 Stars.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!

The Smell of Other People’s Houses is one of those books that stays with you long after you’ve closed the end cover.

Set in 1970, a mere decade after Alaska gained statehood, The Smell of Other People’s Houses surrounds the lives of four teens with very different but also very overwhelming issues.

Each is, in their own way running away from something.

Dora stays at a friends house in order to avoid her parents as much as possible, Ruth and her younger sister live with their overbearing and strict grandmother, Alyce wants nothing more than to escape the town and the life that has been pre-planned for her, and finally Hank has literally run away with his own younger siblings.

What follows is a beautiful and sometimes heartbreaking tale of how their lives overlap and intersect.

Hitchcock walks a fine line of doling out details slowly but also retaining the readers interest. The end result is a beautiful unfolding told at exactly the right pace.

I definitely recommend this book to any fans of young adult or historical fiction. In addition, I eagerly look forward to Hitchcock’s future writings.

When I first heard of this book (especially the title), I was a little interested in what the book was about, so when I looked it up, I knew it was something I was going to love. Plus that cover really made an impact - it's simply beautiful! The story, characters, and plot all made for a wonderful, heartwarming story that is perfect for cold winter days.

Not an easy read, but would recommend to people interested in unconventional YA novels. Very intense and a bit sad, especially at the beginning.

Told through the alternating perspectives of 4 Alaskan teenagers, The Smell of Other People’s Houses is one of those books with multiple story lines happening simultaneously.  Ruth has a secret, one that she is desperately trying to hide from her ultra conservative Catholic grandmother whom she lives with.  Dora finds herself staying with friends to escape from her toxic parents.  Alyce spends her summers helping her father on his fishing boat, but longs to further her dance career instead.  Hank is on the run with two brothers in tow to get away from a bad situation at home.  It isn’t clear at first how the stories are going to intersect, but little by little we make little connections between the characters until the end when everything comes together.

I know people have tagged this as historical fiction based on the setting, but it’s definitely more of a YA contemporary.   This isn’t necessarily a criticism, just that people shouldn’t really expect much historical context.  It is more about the characters, their relationships, and their journeys, hence contemporary. 

One of the best aspects of this book, in my opinion, would be the portrayal of Alaska living.  It all felt very authentic, which isn’t a big surprise as the author was born and raised in Alaska herself.   Growing up in general is hard, but we discover that growing up in Alaska has its own specific set of challenges and hurdles: harsh climate, economic hardship, travel limitations, reliance of hunting & fishing for food and livelihood, small population living in close proximity etc etc.  The author’s portrayal of living in Alaska felt very much like “small town” living where everyone knows everyone, thus they all know everything about each other.   Secrets don’t stay secrets for long in a place like this.

 The Smell of Other People’s Houses is definitely not a “fluffy” YA contemporary.   This book touches upon so many heavy topics like poverty, abuse, alcoholism, and teen pregnancy.   This is very much a coming of age story where each character must overcome their own personal struggles.  There is also almost zero romance in this book, which suited me just fine, but if you like your YA contemporary packed full of love, you are not going to find it here.  This book focuses more on other types of relationships: friendships, sibling relationships, parent relationships, grandparent relationships, etc.  

I was surprised to learn that The Smell of Other People’s Houses was a debut novel from Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock.   Her writing felt very developed and beautiful.  It truly was a sensory experience.  This book is not the typical fast paced & action packed YA.  Since it is more of a character driven story, the pacing is on the slower side.  I felt that the writing and the pacing of the novel complimented each other nicely.

Because it is such a short book, coming in at 240 pages, The Smell of Other People’s Houses almost felt like a short story.  My biggest critique would be that I wish the author would have taken 100 more pages and expanded this story.  Since we had 4 converging story lines with so many heavy topics, the shortness of the book contributed to the book feeling a little “busy” at times.  Again, just extending the book and expanding upon the different stories and themes would have helped make the book not feel so chaotic.

I also would have liked to see more historical context in this book.   The Smell of Other People’s Houses is set in Alaska in the 1970s, BUT I often found that it didn’t always FEEL like the 70s… While this book touches upon some of the resistance of the native people regarding the annexation of Alaska by the United States, it really isn’t a big part of this book.  I really wish the author would have gone into a little more depth in this topic as I feel it would have enhanced the story line.  I, like most U.S. citizens I’m sure, never really thought about the native people of Alaska being opposed to Alaska becoming a state… I would love to read more about how becoming a state affected the native people.  More historical context would have given this book that little extra “umph” I felt it was lacking.

Despite a few shortcomings, this is a very solid debut YA novel by an author that I am sure will have a promising career.  I know I personally will read more of her work, and look forward to what she puts out next.

3.75 Stars

I really struggled with my star rating for this one.  While I did enjoy the book, I felt like it had the potential to be so much more.  4 stars felt a little high, and 3.5 stars felt a little low, so I settled in the middle with 3.75 stars.

Big thanks to Random House Kids for providing me with a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ya'll, this book. THIS BOOK.

I'm not going to lie, this book started out slow and weird. It was depressing and I just wasn't into it at all. And then, all of a sudden, it CLICKED. A light bulb went off over my head and I couldn't put this book down. It sucker punched me in the stomach so hard I coughed up my heart. The four different threads the author started with were woven into a noticeable pattern and it was BEAUTIFUL.

I don't want to give anything away, so I'm not saying anything other than the characters were all different, all flawed and all came across as completely, infuriatingly human. They may have seemed one dimensional in the beginning, but the characters were like onions, with layers being peeled away little by little. Any much like handling onions, I was on the verge of tears at the end.

The setting was wild, remote and compelling. They say write what you know and it is clear that the author knows Alaska.

This book is beautiful. It DOES take a while to get to that realization, so give it time. It's a short book, so it's not difficult to keep going to get to the "OMG, I am in love with all of these characters" epiphany.

Five stars, HIGHLY recommended. I'm a little confused as to the children's publication, as I would say this is more YA, with the teenage pregnancy, parental violence and inebriation, etc. It's not a Disney fairy tale, this is the Grimm version. Definitely worth the read.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's Wendy Lamb Books for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I think this quote from the book sums it up completely: '“Sometimes you can be inserted into another person's life just by witnessing something you were never really supposed to be a part of.” There are multiple lives intwined in this poignant novel with each character's point of view is unique, different and enjoyable to read. It was completely different to anything else I've chosen to read this year -
something I'm thoroughly glad about too!

I loved the fact that this YA novel isn't completely focussed upon romance! Romance seems to be a typical theme for 90% of YA novels and this just set it apart from all the rest. Instead, friendships and relationships are explored within the context of some challenging topics including: pregnancy, poverty, abuse and family problems. The setting of the story was beautifully intricate and watching the story unravel was so much fun. Highly recommend reading - 4*s. Only four because it took me a while to get into it!

*I never got around to reading and reviewing this book. I may do so in the future*

What really drew me to this book was the title. I also had heard great things about this book and was really excited to get into it. I contemplated what rating to give this book as I was reading it. I liked the first half of the book, but didn't feel strongly about it. It wasn't until the second half of the book (and the ending!) that I really started to care more about the characters.

This book takes place in Alaska, which I loved. It was great to see characters in a different setting and learn more about Alaskan culture. This book follows a variety of different characters in a community, which made it hard to really get to know and understand the specific characters and see them develop through the book. Especially since this book isn't very long, there wasn't a lot of time to develop them thoroughly. There were also a lot of characters to keep track of that at times I felt confused. There was a cheat-sheet of characters at the front of the book, but since I read this on my kindle, it was hard to access when I needed it.

I liked seeing the relationships of the characters and how they grew throughout the book. The characters are all interconnected so it was interesting to see how they met or knew each other as the story progressed, although parts of it seemed forced or not believable.

A look at the lives of teenagers in 1970s Alaska.

Ruth has a secret that will soon be hard to keep.

Dora longs for a normal life away from her abusive parents, and a stroke of luck might grant her wish.

Alyce helps her father fish, but longs to pursue dance and go for a scholarship that will allow her to go away to school.

Hank and his brothers have run away in search of a better life.

All their stories connect and intertwine in this lovely book.