Maybe we were meant to find each other today. Maybe we’re the Not Okay Girls, and we’re supposed to save each other.” Kacey becomes friends with Jade and Bailey. They get into all sorts of hijinks together, including hosting a seance in a haunted barn. That's why we're here. To see for ourselves.

A compelling, earnest portrait of a family more fractured than its members realize… beautiful and heart-breaking." — Shelf AwarenessBe like Abby and get crafty! Paint, draw, sketch, or collage using Little Monsters as the inspiration—it could be a scene Brodeur explicitly includes in the novel, a memory of one of the characters, an abstract feeling a passage evoked in you, an imagined future for the Gardner family, and beyond. Bonus points if you reference some of the “comps” to which Rachel compares Abby’s art when she visits Arcadia in the beginning of the novel. The enigmatic Steph is a competent police officer vacationing in Provincetown, with her partner, Toni. Newly the birth mother of Jonah, Steph wants to connect with the Gardner family, now that a recently revealed secret has come crashing to the fore, but how to best proceed?

From the author of the bestselling memoir Wild Game comes a riveting novel about Cape Cod, complicated families, and long-buried secrets. As Abby’s best friend and Ken’s wife, Jenny is enmeshed in the Gardner family; Steph, on the other hand, is only just introducing herself to the relations she didn’t know she had. Compare and contrast Jenny and Steph’s arcs as they (re-)calibrate their place in this complicated family. Kacey was an interesting main character, who had been through a lot already in her young life. Now as she seemed to be settling into a more secure home environment, other aspects of her life seemed to be getting out of hand. That is a side tangent because I think this book was sensitive to it — in that the bipolar character wasn’t the only super unlikable one — BUT I think the addition of that aspect on top of the rest of it was just another factor that turned me off. I decided to alternate between the physical book and audiobook. I loved this full cast. I thought it was fantastic. I enjoyed the whole story of this messy, complicated family! It takes place in Cape Cod, which is like one of our favorite places EVER!, In 2016. Adam is a soon to 70 yo father of his adult children, Ken and Abby. Their mother passed away when they were little and they were raised by their father. Dad is an oceanographer with Bipolar. Ken is hoping for a career in politics, married to his wife Jenny, and they have 2 daughters. Abby is an artist and currently single. Abby and Ken used to be close when they were young but things happened between them…and now, there is a tension between them. This family has secrets and circumstances seem to be tearing everyone apart. Told through alternating chapters and characters, you get everyone's side of the story. One secret comes to light during this story and I was so interested in how that would play out. I thought this was a really good family story. If you like slow burn, character driven books about family dynamics, this will be for you. Very good!!I'd heard a lot about this book from others and everything they said was true. I definitely recommend the audiobook format. It was fantastically narrated. I was so invested in this narrative and characters. Shimmering. . . With this intricate story, Brodeur distinguishes herself as a novelist of the first rank.” — Publishers Weekly, * Starred Review* Little Monsters drew me in first by its cover, second by the synopsis, and lastly by the author's storytelling and beautiful writing style. I adore Family Fiction, the more complicated the better. This is described as being drawn from the biblical tale of "Cain and Abel" and perhaps there are hints of it here and there, but this story definitely stands on its own.

I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure of a proper introduction,” Adam said, cutting the lecture short. “I’m Dr. Gardner.” Her Dad has a wife, Ashley, a step-son, Andrew, and a younger daughter, Lauren. Kacey is simply thrust into their family. It's not necessarily comfortable at first, but overall she's grateful to have a more secure environment. It's definitely a change for her. When I first received an unsolicited copy of Little Monsters to review, my immediate assumption is that it would turn out to be an elevated beach read. The cover – a Cape Cod beach setting – and the description of a complicated family with secrets to share reminded me of many others with similar plotting that always appear in the early months of summer. The girls decide to sneak into the barn on the red lady's property and have a seance. It all goes wrong.The display of friendship between teenage girls feels so accurate in how complicated it all can be. Obsession, jealousy, manipulation, and secrets all coming into play. I liked the different dynamics that emerge regarding the relationships Kacey had with each of her family members. The characters are believable. I just wish there had been more development there. It really would have made a world of difference. Kacey keeps hinting at this dark, mysterious past. This never gets fully explained. I, for one, was curious and thought it added to the mystery if we in fact got any answers. It just felt like her past was danced around at a certain point. The more I ponder on it, the more I wonder if I missed something? It is also worth noting that there is zero romance. Emily, the mother “Ken lost, and Abby never had,” died immediately after Abby’s birth, and looms like a shadow throughout the novel. She is the undercurrent of and catalyst in this cause-and-effect story, whose death at age 30 left Adam a distracted, single father, and Ken and Abby emotionally on their own to cling to each other in a way that might not have been healthy. When Abby abruptly changes the relationship with no explanation, it is the cut that continues to fester as Ken’s central wound. Ken and Abby Gardner lost their mother when they were small and they have been haunted by her absence ever since. Their father, Adam, a brilliant oceanographer, raised them mostly on his own in his remote home on Cape Cod, where the attachment between Ken and Abby deepened into something complicated—and as adults their relationship is strained. Now, years later, the siblings' lives are still deeply entwined. Ken is a successful businessman with political ambitions and a picture-perfect family and Abby is a talented visual artist who depends on her brother's goodwill, in part because he owns the studio where she lives and works. An angry, powerful book seething with love and outrage for a community too often stereotyped or ignored.

Overall, Little Monsters is a heartfelt, intricate, nuanced tale by Brodeur that reminds us that families are complicated and messy, the choices we make often have far-reaching consequences, and skeletons often find their way to the surface no matter how well they’re buried. Sometimes Kacey prefers to spend quiet nights at home, but Bailey and Jade are usually fairly insistent that she join them on nights out. That was when I decided that all the ghost stories got it wrong: evil isn’t a spirit or a monster or a ghost. It lives inside regular people, and it doesn’t know the difference between night and day. I adore books that encroach on the dark, secret lives of teenage girls and this book did so in an exciting yet unpredictable way. From sneaking out at midnight to parties, to holding seances in haunted and remote buildings - this book was a series of exhilarating scenes tied together with the dark undertone of both the reader and the characters second-guessing everyone's motives. No emotion was spared and I spent much of my time reading this breathless with either suspense or terror. The fully realized setting of Wellfleet Woods, halfway between the tip and the elbow of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, launches Adrienne Brodeur’s mesmerizing, modern day saga about a dysfunctional family so cleverly drawn as to make the story’s dynamic relatable and completely understandable.

Table of Contents

Kara Thomas is skilled at showing the effects of violence on a small community. Of ripping open old wounds and creating new ones. She never bandaids her characters. Refuses to throw a hasty remedy to ensure a happily ever after. Kara Thomas allows darkness to linger. To settle. She forces characters (and the reader) to wallow in those dank places. It’s both realistic and makes for a more powerful story. I can’t wait to see what she does next. The book has multiple themes such as family, sibling rivalry and ambition and family dynamics and dysfunction. I also love the art we get via the character of Abby. All the characters are well portrayed and feel authentic. The men are less likeable than the women as some are certainly narcissistic although whilst Adam is judgy, he is also amusing in his non pc world and is also charismatic. The female characters are capable and resilient. I also like the strong context of 2016 with THAT looming election which is woven cleverly into the storytelling. The unfolding drama contains wit and humour, it’s smart, a little bit dark on occasions and the different perspectives flow smoothly and keep the focus. As the party draws near so the drama escalates, the tension builds and erupts at the celebrations.