debbilynn42's Reviews (654)

The narrative jumps between POVs at a whim and the book's formatting doesn't aid in calling out the transitions. There are even times where there's several line breaks as if a transition is happening but the same POV and scene continues. Definitely makes the book feel like a run-on-sentence jumping to whatever suits the author.

I found the large cast of characters quite unwieldy, and the constant flirting and romance attempts choppy. 

Normally this would be a DNF for me, but I wanted to see how this author would wrap up all the threads, and there still seemed to be too many throw away storylines.

The Forgotten Book Club explores themes of grief, mental health, and neurodivergence in an accessible format. Grace begins attending the book club that her late husband, Frank, started a decade prior. Through meeting his friends and reading his journals, Grace comes to understand additional facets of her husband and decides to continue progressing the goals he'd set out for himself. The power of community and reaching people where they're at are resonate themes of this book.

As an ADHDer myself, I found the content about neurodivergence accessible and in a story format that I can see recommending to others in my life to better understand my lived experience. I especially appreciated Grace exploring how her grandson's diagnosis has threads back into her daughter and husband's behaviors as well. Additionally, I liked how the discussion centers adult experiences and not just childhood impacts of ADHD. 

Thanks to Avon Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this title for my review.

I finished this... but it really should have been a DNF early on. I didn't enjoy it, but I wanted it to get better and be worth the time already invested,  but my sunk cost kept growing. The classic Ali Hazelwood banter wasn't there. There wasn't enough characterization to draw me into caring about their relationship. The sports backdrop was too prominent without enough time on the couple. This book dragged on far too long.