Book Pub with Madilyn Smart

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah 

Spoiler Free Review

Have you ever read a book and felt completely transported into a different world? I don’t mean just slightly imagining what is going on around you, but being fully immersed to a point where you can’t put the book down? That it almost feels impossible to be parted with. I have on multiple occasions. There are times it feels grand and epic and those are mostly attributed to good fantasy novels, but that isn’t what this week’s book is. This week’s book is a historical fiction and probably not in the way you are thinking. 

This isn’t set in a wartime background while focusing on our heroine facing the trials of what war really meant.  This is a story that follows a family trying to find their way after the husband and father, Ernst, is back home from the Vietnam war and him ultimately deciding to move his family to a remote Alaskan village to start over. Our protagonist is thirteen-year-old Leni who is this delightfully awkward book-loving teenager who doesn’t necessarily fit in anywhere. To say I adored her as a character would be putting it lightly. We grow up with her throughout the book and it almost feels as if you are allowed the reminiscent feeling of all those awkward firsts again, as well as first love through her eyes.

You feel her joy, wonder, anger, passion, sadness, and more than anything, fear of this great new world she is thrown into. I also think I need to mention that this is not a happy book per say. Her parent’s turbulent and passionate relationship drives this story, and not in a positive way. There are characters you will find yourself hating (for good reason) and characters you want to cheer for but can’t help but wonder if they crave the drama that surrounds them. I found myself yelling at this book at times. I was frustrated, but I was also fully invested. 

To sum this up, I found myself surrounded by vast and wild mountain ranges that made me feel cold and small but wild and free. This isn’t a romanticized version of the last frontier. It’s gritty and hard. That wonder quickly turns into a bit of a realistic nightmare for the Allbright family, with all of them dealing with it in different ways. 

Finally, I would also like to provide a trigger warning for domestic violence and abuse when regarding this book. If this is something you feel is too much for you or you have had previous traumatic experiences involving this, I would recommend you consider this before diving into this story.

Being as this segment is called book club, tuck in as I give you the perfect drink to help keep you warm as you read this wild and at times bitterly cold book set in the Alaskan wilderness. This week’s drink is called Kodiak Coffee. According to Alaska Tour Jobs and their story, 5 Winter Alaska Cocktails Every Bartender Should Know, this was the first on their list.

Kodiak Coffee:

1. Preheat your mug by feeling it with hot water and then dumping.

2. Fill it ¾ to the top with hot coffee.

3. Stir in a tablespoon of brown sugar.

4. Finally, blend in a jigger of Alaska Distillery Whiskey (or whatever your favorite whiskey may be) and top with whipped cream.

You may hear my currently pregnant self crying because I cannot enjoy this delightful sounding drink. So please, raise a mug and throw one back for me while being transported to Kaneq, Alaska. Until next time Lovies. 

Reader Recs

This weeks Reader Recs come from two lovely friends of mine. Our first rec comes from Lindsey and is Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. She finished this one recently and has told me on multiple occasions that it needs to be one of my next reads. She hasn’t led me astray yet with recommendations, so I say we all need to give this one a go!

Our second Reader’s Rec comes from Caitlyn, and we are diving into the vampire theme with this one. If you are a fantasy girl there is a solid chance that you have heard of this series, but just in case you haven’t, we are talking about From Blood and Ash by Jennifer Armentrout. Things are not as they seem in this series, and it is a fun ride through and through. Great recommendation for anyone who likes to reminisce on our younger vampire obsessed years and likes to watch Twilight on rainy days because it is their comfort series!

Book Summaries:

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt - After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors—until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late. 

Shelby Van Pelt’s debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.

From Blood and Ash, Blood and Ash Book 1 by Jennifer Armentrout - A Maiden...

Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers.

A Duty...

The entire kingdom’s future rests on Poppy’s shoulders, something she’s not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden.

A Kingdom...

Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising once more, determined to take back what they believe is theirs through violence and vengeance. And as the shadow of those cursed draws closer, the line between what is forbidden and what is right becomes blurred. Poppy is not only on the verge of losing her heart and being found unworthy by the gods, but also her life when every blood-soaked thread that holds her world together begins to unravel.

Yours truly,

Madilyn