So I’ve decided that a few things will change around here when it comes to featuring other books or authors on my site.
From this day forward, if you see a book here it’s because I read it and LOVED it.
I didn’t like the book…I LOVED it.
Because this is how I operate in the real world with my word-of-mouth recommendations to my in-real-life friends. If I LOVED a book I text them about it, email them about it, go on and on about it over a charcuterie board at lunch.
And while I read many books every year, there a only a few that actually capture me in this way and really remind me that, at my core, I’m a reader and lover of great books above all else.
So when I now tell you that the latest book I’ve read, you’ll know that I hand to heart LOVED it.
Today that book is The Push by Ashley Audrain.
Blythe Connor is determined that she will be the warm, comforting mother to her new baby Violet that she herself never had.
But in the thick of motherhood’s exhausting early days, Blythe becomes convinced that something is wrong with her daughter—she doesn’t behave like most children do.
Or is it all in Blythe’s head? Her husband, Fox, says she’s imagining things. The more Fox dismisses her fears, the more Blythe begins to question her own sanity, and the more we begin to question what Blythe is telling us about her life as well.
Then their son Sam is born—and with him, Blythe has the blissful connection she’d always imagined with her child. Even Violet seems to love her little brother. But when life as they know it is changed in an instant, the devastating fall-out forces Blythe to face the truth.
This book hits all my sweet spots as a reader starting off first and foremost with complex characters that kept me glued to the page both wondering and fearing what they will do next. The family history, trauma, and long-term psychological impacts were wonderfully executed and authentic. The thriller/mystery elements turned and turned again and were always born from and driven by the nuanced and multilayered characters at the heart of this fantastic novel.
Ashley Audrain has an amazing talent and I look forward to seeing, and reading, what she does next. Do yourself a favor and move The Push to the top of your TBR pile.
