Julia ☕️

Y'all... this story is so beautiful. And beautiful doesn't even feel like the right word. I haven't completely processed this story but I immediately want to read it again. The last 30 or so pages are full of the most gut-wrenching things I've ever read. I ugly cried for a while after finishing this and the last time this happened was when I read The Green Mile last year. 

It took me almost 2 months to finish this which is probably the longest it's taken me to finish a book since reading the A Song of Ice and Fire series a few years back. I almost returned it to the library before finishing, but I'm glad I stuck with it to the end! I enjoyed the story - even though there's a lot of walking - and how it set up the next books in the series. I'm looking forward to following Frodo and Sam on their next adventure!

6 months later and this short story collection is finished 🎉 Four Past Midnight is a short story/novella collection that includes 4 stories - “The Langoliers,” “Secret Window, Secret Garden,” “The Library Policeman,” and The “Sun Dog.” Secret Window, Secret Garden was my favorite story in this collection while The Library Policeman was the most chilling. I found The Sun Dog to be a bit of a slog even for it being so short, but the story was quite good, especially if you like the Castle Rock stories. The Langoliers is wacky, weird, creepy, and may make you rethink boarding a flight. King always surprises me in some way with everything of his that I've read. It feels very fitting that I finished this last nights after coming home from Bangor. 

The Round House is an unflinching look at trauma and it's effect on family and community. I loved the way Erdrich used a first-person adult narrator recounting events that happened in his youth. I found that it brought another level of reflection to an already mature character. Most of this novel was a gut punch, but it's had moments of hilarity and joy that you could truly feel. I loved the way that memory and storytelling from elders was woven into the narrative - if you know me, I'm a SUCKER for when that device is used and used extremely well, much like in this story.
I really enjoyed this novel and I can't wait to read her other works!
Please read the CW before starting this novel. There isn't too much graphic content, but it could be triggering for some. Also, there aren't any quotation marks denoting conversations or lines of dialogue, so that may took a few pages to get used to. 

book 2/30  Black Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin 3.5/5 
I read one of Heaberlin's other novels We Are All the Same in the Dark last year and absolutely LOVED it! Black Eyed Susans was good, but I didn't love any of the characters like I loved the protagonist in the former. 
Black Eyed Susans is a thriller following Tessa, who was kidnapped and found buried alive with bones and body of other girls who were killed in rural texas as a teenager. The story flashes between present-day Tessa who is trying to get the man convicted off death row and 15/16 year old Tessie who is recounting her harrowing experience to her therapist before the trial. It's slower to start, but about 65% of the way through it really picks up speed to a crashing finale.