April May June July

by Alison B. Hart

A triumphant family story and sharply observed exploration of privilege, identity, and love in all its forms, following four estranged siblings whose lives collide in the lead-up to a family wedding, when new clues surface about their long-missing father.

April, May, June, and July Barber don’t have much in common anymore. An upcoming family wedding will place the four siblings in the same room for the first time in years. But shortly before, when April spots their father, who went missing while serving overseas a decade ago, their reunion becomes entirely more complicated.

While the siblings’ search for the truth about their father forces them back into each other’s lives, it also intensifies their private dramas. April loves her husband, but seeks excitement outside their marriage. May had big dreams for the future, but she’s still stuck living at home. June is eager to marry her girlfriend, so why does she need a drink at every wedding-related event? And then there’s baby brother July, whose unrequited love for his straight roommate has him more confused than ever.

Confronting the past together, April, May, June, and July will find not only answers about their father, but new romance, hope, and understanding as they learn to embrace the beauty of their shared history.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Family, Adult, Audiobook, LGBT, Queer

352 pages, Hardcover

First published May 14, 2024

About the author

Alison B. Hart is the author of The Work Wife and April May June July. Her writing has appeared in Joyland Magazine, Literary Hub, The Missouri Review, and The Millions, among others. She co-founded the long-running reading series at Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn and received her MFA from The New School. She grew up in Los Angeles and now lives in North Carolina. Find her on Twitter, @alisonbhart, and on Instagram, @alisonhart800.

Reviews

[Bri · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had so much potential! I loved the premise but I felt like the flow was off. There were also too many details that I felt took away from the storyline.

[Riley ⇔ Queer Book Reviews · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rated 2.5 stars on Queer Book Reviews.


Four siblings have grown apart since their father went missing ten years ago while working in Iraq. This novel follows the impact of their loss and how they start to put the pieces back together.

What I liked

The book is about four siblings named April, May, June and July. Each of them had an interesting story about how their lives had gone in the past ten years. The book also followed how a personal tragedy could tear a family apart but also bring them together.

Two of the siblings were queer. June, who went by Juniper/Junie, is a professional soccer coach who is about to get married now that gay marriage is starting to become legal in the United States. She is a little bit androgynous/masculine leaning but doesn't feel super comfortable with that yet. Her story was the most fleshed out to me and the one I enjoyed the most. July is the little brother of the gang and is figuring out what to do with his crushes at college.

What didn't work for me

I thought this was going to be a family drama. The book cover has twinkle lights around the four siblings names that hint at a wedding. The blurb talks about everyone's relationship problems with spouses and crushes.

However, a lot of this book is about the Iraq War that started in the early 2000s. There is nothing wrong with that -- it is an important topic! But it's not what I was expecting to read when I picked up a book to help me relax at the end of the day.

A book set ten years ago doesn't feel like long ago enough to make this a historical fiction novel. But many of the political events in the book are not recent enough to feel fresh in my mind. So the author had to do a lot of heavy lifting to remind us what happened in the Iraq War twenty years ago.

I would have been more open to this if the history lessons were woven in a bit more to the story. But much of it was delivered in monologue form. It wasn't in-depth enough for me to actually sink my teeth into and learn. And the details didn't have enough personal stakes to the characters to make me push on through and engage. I started skimming parts of it, which made me feel very guilty!

Recommendation

I think knowing what this book is really about, will help it find the right audience. So if you want an (almost?) historical fiction book about the impact of the Iraq War on an American family, this book is for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced reader copy.

[Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four siblings, April, May, Juniper (June), and July, are all very different from each other, and all estranged from each other since their father went missing abroad. But things shift when April spots their father in Croatia while traveling abroad, and soon all of their lives begin to unravel. They all have their own complicated histories, including infidelity, addiction, and unrequited love; throw in some daddy issues and you’ve got an engrossing novel.

I love a good estranged sibling drama, and this one in particular hit me in such a different way than I was expecting. I’ll be the first to admit that the four different POVs set in the past and present were a bit challenging to keep up at first, but very much worth it; focusing on any one or two of them would have felt incomplete. Perhaps it’s because two of the characters are queer and experiencing their own turmoil, perhaps it’s because I cannot fathom a parent missing for over a decade with no answers; nonetheless, Alison Hart kept me turning the page to see how their lives would intersect and how they could possibly reassemble the very foundation their family is built on. It’s one of those novels that feels more heartache than heartwarming, but I suppose that’s to be expected in any tale of a dysfunctional family.

Reviewed as part of #GoodreadsGiveaway. Many thanks to Graydon House Books for the #gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

Read this book if you:
🪷 love watching the intersecting lives of families on The White Lotus
🏡 can’t get enough messy family dynamics
⚠️ need any further evidence of the grief and consequences of war

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[Paige Connell · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of this book first caught my eye, then it became one of my biggest annoyances while reading. These are the names of 4 siblings (3 girls and 1 boy) dealing with generational trauma and its effects on their family. It's a pretty solid story, but their names kept taking me out of the story. I'll give you April and maybe May, but then June (even if she is Juniper)? And July? For a boy? Just call him August and move on...

Set 10 years ago and focusing on events 10 years prior to that, the story runs the course of the 10 months leading up to June's wedding. She and her fiancée Hana are struggling because June's dad won't be present-he's been missing for the last 10 years. During the Iraq War, their father went to work for the US government, was apparently kidnapped, and hasn't been seen or heard from since. The trauma and lack of closure affects the kids in different ways: April, the eldest, is control-hungry but also acts out in her marriage. May suffers from commitment issues and failure to launch. June self-medicates with alcohol and sports and unhealthy habits with Hana. July, only about 9 at the time of his father's disappearance, has had to grow up as the only man in a family of women, and his own sexual identity questions flounder without a guiding force. When news of their father surfaces (is he alive? What happened to him?), the family puts their lives on hold to find the one thing they have needed most for so long: answers.

This was an intense and sad story, but it painted an honest picture of dysfunctional families, co-dependent relationships, substance abuse, depression, and other traumas. It wasn't my favorite thing to read, but if this is your kind of genre, give it a try, but just try to get past their names first.

[Callie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly wayyyyy better than I expected. Actually had a plot. It read kind of YA tbh but the topics were mature. I was pretty invested and went through the second half in 2 days

[BookBabeNails · Rating 4 out of 5]

»—-Booksta ¸.•´*¨`*• Book Blog •*`¨*`•. 25+ Book Discord-—«

This book has short chapters and alternates POVs between the Barber siblings. My favorite characters were June and July, the latter of which is the only brother of the group. They’re also both queer characters which is just a coincidence in my enjoying their stories the most (maybe). 🏳️‍🌈

Even though the story is set in 2014, it does discuss 2004 a lot which is when their father went missing on deployment in the middle east. It does have a historical fiction feel to it even though it wasn’t that long ago (please tell me I’m not old). Their father’s disappearance has affected each sibling in different ways and put a wedge between them all as they’ve drifted into their own lives. I like reading stories like this where it shows the aftermath of a traumatic event. I also enjoyed getting into all of the individual characters’ heads, just be aware there is a lot of discussion of the Iraq War in this book.

I think the marketing for the book and even the cover doesn't fully represent the content of the book and that's throwing readers off. It's definitely a sad and heavy read so make sure you're in the headspace for that if you want to read it!

Thanks to Grayson House Books for the arc!

[Caitlin (CMAReads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid family drama about four siblings aptly named April, May, June, and July. The book focused on their missing father and how their lives have been impacted due to these circumstances. The audio was well done.

[Denise Schenk · Rating 3 out of 5]

April, May, June, and July Barber are siblings. They stopped being a close family 10-yearsago when their father was kidnapped. Each sibling is having problems in this book and each one has coped a different way.
I wanted to read the book; because of finding out what happened to their father. April thinks she sees him alive while vacation overseas. She tells her siblings and they each have their own opinion on the sighting.
I can't say I really enjoyed this book since it involves a lot of back and froths between the different siblings' lives. They each must face their past mistakes and take on the future.
The author does tell the story about the father and what happened to him at his kidnapping and time afterwards

[Amy Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this! I wanted to love it, but I’m not sure I quite got there. I really appreciated the alternating POVs, and I thought they were handled very well, though I wish the differences in the characters’ voices had been a bit stronger. I liked the family drama aspect, but I’m not sure the emotions went as deep as I wanted them too. Overall, if you like family dramas, you might like this, but there are other (stronger) ones I’d recommend first. Also strong content warnings for alcoholism, and a few open door scenes.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love family dramas so I was expecting to like this. But ugh, the characters just were so unlikeable and rubbed me the wrong way. I’m not one of those people who has to have all likeable characters but these just got under my skin. I think I was also not expecting the story to be so focused on solving the mystery of what happened to their father and skimmed those sections, wanting more of the relational dynamics instead.

[Salty Swift · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tale of four siblings - April, May, June, July - whose dad disappeared suddenly a decade earlier while working in Iraq. The siblings and their mom have no idea what happened to their dad until one day, when he's seen in Dubrovnik. The search begins to explain his mysterious disappearance, while each of the siblings have a multitude of personal and professional issues to deal with. Not a bad novel, though I'd found it's plotline to be a bit disjointed at times.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this was a solid 4 Stars!

April May June July follows a family of four siblings of the same names as they deal with the kidnapping and disappearance of their father.

The story is told from the four different siblings' viewpoints, which I appreciated. I liked hearing how their lives were impacted individually as well as part of the family unit.

[Leah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Much less a sibling drama/family wedding as billed than a treatise on the Middle East in the early aughts.

[Nicole lovestoread · Rating 4 out of 5]

April, May, June, and July Barber haven’t been close since their Dad’s disappearance in the early 2000s when he took a contract placement in Iraq, their lives and grief taking them separate ways. Ten years later there are new leads in their Dad’s case and the siblings find themselves working together to learn about their father’s kidnapping and whether or not he is alive.

What I liked:
- Hart succeeded in showing how grief is so individual. Though all four siblings suffered the disappearance of their father, each of them experienced that grief in their own way. I enjoyed learning about each sibling, how they grew apart and then came back together.

- I don’t know if I would call this historical fiction because the early 2000s seem too recent, but I though Hart did a great job giving context of the political climate and war happening in the Middle East at this time. It was informative without taking up too much of the story.

- The tension around Frank’s disappearance, new clues, and the siblings’ trip to Iraqi Kurdistan to find out the truth. Sometimes this was more captivating than the siblings’ storylines.

Honestly, there wasn’t anything that I didn’t like. Add this one to your TBR, it comes out May 2024.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing | Graydon House who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Novels and Nummies · Rating 2 out of 5]

Special thanks to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this book, but had such a hard time reading it. The characters fell flat and seemed more like caricatures than fleshed out. I thought there would be more family drama, but a lot of this book had to do with things that were not included in the premise and changed the feel of the book.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one wasn't for me. There were too many main characters to actually feel like you knew them, and the most interesting part of the story (which I thought was the story of what happened to their dad) ended up sort of buried in the 4-part narrative. I felt like the author knew the main characters well but didn't know how to introduce us to them so that we could care about them too. Just fell flat for me.
* I read this book through an advanced reader copy from Edelweiss*

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I heard about this book in the Modern Mrs. Darcy's Summer Reading Guide. I know that the Family Drama subgenre is one of my favourites, and I was intrigued by the premise, so I quickly put the book on hold on Libby. Last night, after walking the dog, I needed new audio content for my evening puttering around the house, and decided to start this one. Within a few chapters, I was absolutely hooked, and I decided to stay up as long as possible to keep listening. I finally went to bed, exhausted, at 2:30am, having finished 75% of the book. It was the first thing I turned on when I woke up. I literally read it within 14 hours and got some sleep in between.

This book is literary without compromising on plot, providing deep character insight alongside a captivating and moving mystery. At the heart of the novel is a family of four adult siblings whose father was kidnapped in Iraq ten years earlier. At the time, the youngest sibling was 10; the eldest was already a married mother. In the years since, the trauma, grief, and pain became so physical in the lives of each of these siblings that it held them apart from one another, causing them to try to become who they needed to be alone, with their own individual vices for coping. At the beginning of our novel, the third sibling is on the cusp of getting married—the first wedding since their dad disappeared—and it is clear the family is fractured. But when, on vacation, the eldest is certain she sees her dad in Croatia, the family finds their wounds open once more. Throughout the course of the novel, the reader witnesses whether reopening this mystery will cause more damage or bring healing.

This book is about how to keep living when grief threatens to tear it all away. It is a book about rebuilding and healing. In fact, if you like the found family trope, I would suggest reading this to see how that trope can be subverted into rediscovering family. "Wherever we go, may we all find each other again" is the last line of dialogue in this book, whispered as a prayer by the youngest sibling, echoing, I am certain, the father's lost letters. This is what the book is about, and it is a hard and heartfelt and beautiful work.

I loved this book.

"What a leap of faith. To love in spite of loss, to begin again when you’ve already failed, to reach for joy knowing that it brings pain, too, that life is inseparable from damage."

[Shana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this book. I didn't know anything about it and certainly each of the siblings who provide the title for the book are going through their own forms of trauma, but I like discovering more about who each of them were. Me and June are really the center story figures whose stories are the most developed and whose characters we come to understand the best. The mother is like a stereotypical mother figure who does everything right and it's just fine. I thought this was an interesting way of reminding us or telling us about a lot of the complexity going on with the Kurds and their quest for Independence in the context of the Iraq War and the complicated and mostly nefarious role of America and all of it. The dad's story is sort of this mystery so in a weird way it's a who done it they're trying to figure out what happened to their father who disappeared 10 years before and the linking event that makes the why right now is a wedding. I mentioned this cuz I read another review was just talking about the I guess irritation with the names and it's true that naming the sun July seemed a little bit like a bridge too far. But his story is warm and heartfelt and sweet, this is what passes for a summer beach read for me with enough historical/cultural context to keep it really interesting but also it felt familiar like these are the ways in which we interact with the cultures in our lives. It is I think taken for granted that The Barbers are a white family in America and so there's a lot of cultural aspects that assume that the reader is also firmly centered in this American wait privilege East Coast thing. But mostly because it's assumed it allows for little moments of insight into the family of junie's sweet fiance Hannah and her family. It felt real that in a family it's just normal that people have different modes of life, if anything the only real freak in the family is April who's both a type a go-getter and not as focused on her husband and children as she is on figuring out what happened with her father and exploring her sexual fantasies. Hangout I enjoyed it I thought it was a good story and wish for the best for each character.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

April, May, June, and July Barber, once close siblings, are now estranged and living very different lives. They are brought together for the first time in years for June’s wedding, which becomes even more complicated when April believes she has found their father, someone who has been missing for a decade after serving overseas and presumed to be dead. As the siblings delve into the mystery of their father’s disappearance, they are forced to confront their own personal issues, including April’s search for excitement outside of her marriage, May’s unfulfilled dreams while still living at home, June’s impending marriage overshadowed by her need for alcohol, and July’s confusion over his unrequited love for his straight roommate. Through their personal and shared journeys, they uncover not only the truth about their father but also new relationships, hope, and a deeper appreciation for their family history.

Truthfully, I only partially enjoyed this book. While some of the storylines tugged at my heartstrings, I often found myself a little bored. While the writing is well done, I unfortunately struggled to really connect to any of the main characters. I felt like the foundation was there for me to really want to root for each sibling but sadly, by the end of the book, I mostly felt indifferent about each character’s ending. Seeing as a portion of the plot relates to their father and his role during the Iraq war, I recognize the importance of providing the history and details needed to make their story historically accurate. Unfortunately, I found those portions of the story to be the most dull and uninteresting as they would often taking me out of the flow of each character’s current life and struggles. I feel this is a book that I would only recommend if you really enjoy family dramas with a historical aspect to it.

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read to an ARC of April May June July in return for my honest review.

[Kaye · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is set in 2014, recent enough so that I don’t consider this historical fiction. April, May, June and July (three sisters and a brother) are no longer close. Ten years ago their father was kidnapped in the middle east. The family paid a ransom but he was never released. They have internalized and dealt with their fathers disappearance separately. The family is spending time together while preparing for June’s (Juniper) upcoming wedding. Then April, the oldest, thinks she sees her father in Dubrovnik, when she is traveling abroad. It has them reaching out to the government suits and others for more information.

I liked how individual the reactions are to the father's failure to return from contract work. While they all pull away from each other, there are struggles with depression, alcohol, unfaithfulness and more. Trying to seek answers brings the four back together with a common cause. Feelings about the past are shared or exposed. I did like that two of the siblings are LGBTQIA and that is not an issue in the family.

A good part of the book talks about happenings and players at the time in the Middle East, especially Iraq. I’m sure it was factually accurate but that part was of less interest to me. I was most invested in June’s story but I didn’t really cheer for any of the characters. I think when I read family drama books I want to know ultimately they are better than where they started. I think in this case they are only sort of better for seeking answers.

[Nikita Bharti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Genre : Contemporary Fiction
Rating : 3.2/5

This was one of the books which felt like it had a lot of potential, but unfortunately did not live up to it. April, May, June and July are 4 siblings who grew apart after their father went missing 10 years ago while stationed in Iraq.
The trauma of losing their father and the aftermath of it affects each sibling in a different way, which was interesting as well as saddening to see. April likes to have things under her control but also seeks some unruliness outside her marriage. May has commitment issues and struggles with stability. June is about to marry her fiancé Hana, but is an undiagnosed alcoholic. July grew up barely knowing his father in a family of all women, and also grapples with his own sexual identity and his unrequited love for his straight roommate.
They are due for a reunion for a wedding in family, when April spots her father and the reunion becomes even more complicated while trying to figure out what happened to their father.

The book, while tagged as a contemporary fiction, becomes more of a historical fiction around the Iraq war with a tinge of the mystery element. I was expecting more of relationship dynamics which we didn't get to see lots of. The character growth component wasn't explored much and it was heavily reliant on figuring out answers to their father's absence.
Also, while I love historical fiction, the whole scenario around Iraq war wasn't something that interested me much.

Read if you like :
Story around siblings
Historical/war elements
Family drama

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a gifted eARC in exchange for an honest review. :)

#aprilmayjunejuly #alisonbhart #bookreview

[Sarabeth Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was presented as a family drama amongst four siblings - April, May, June, and July - that ended up unfolding more as a history lesson on the Iraq war in ways that I wasn't particularly anticipating. The story was told alternating between each siblings perspective and with four siblings that all have diverging behaviors over the traumatic event of their father being kidnapped and presumed missing/dead in Iraq, it felt a bit muddled and like I couldn't connect with any of them on more than a surface level. While the difference in dealing with problems felt accurate and attributable to their age and position in the family hierarchy and was interesting to see explored with all four of them, focusing on just one or two may have helped the plot feel less scattered. Additionally, bridging the gap of the story being set 10 years ago describing events that happened 10 years before that in Iraq usually resulted in a lot of historical exposition coming out as big chunks of explanatory dialogue that read more like a history lesson and less like it was integrated into the story itself.

[Trevor Wargo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not what I expected and not in a good way. While I typically enjoy a multiple POV book, I didn’t feel like I was able to fully sink my teeth into each of the 4 siblings. The only character I really felt for and was rooting for was July, the rest were hard to root for.

I didn’t realize that this was going to play out more of a historical fictional book as opposed to a family drama which caught me off guard and I maybe wouldn’t necessarily would’ve read.

I wish we were able to get a glimpse more into all of the interconnectivity of how the siblings interacted and relationships grew. That part felt rushed to me especially from the description, I thought that was going to be the central theme/plot.


Thank you for the opportunity to read this book and provide honest feedback.

[BookstagramETC · Rating 5 out of 5]

[40] The other book I brought with me on our Alaska trip. This one was about four siblings (named April, May, June, and July) who are still reeling from their father's disappearance ten years earlier when they were each on the cusp of adulthood (well the youngest brother was only 12). In the present day, one sister is getting married while another's marriage is falling apart and one of the sisters thinks she spots their long missing father - sending them all on another cycle of hope and uncertainty as they track down this new development. The story is told from each of the four siblings' perspectives and none of them are unscathed by all the un answered questions in their family.

book "How to put it into words? “I don’t know. We just don’t make sense. Your family are like puzzle pieces that fit together snugly. My family’s one of those cheapo puzzles where the pieces are cut wrong and the picture’s peeling away from the cardboard and no matter how hard you try, you can’t finish it because there’s always one piece missing.” [18%]

book She closed her eyes and nodded. He watched her travel back to that time, the pain so near the surface of her memories, easily recovered and experienced again. It was a terrible skill, this capacity for emotional time travel, and they all had it now. [39%]

book How would she get through another day without thinking of all the mistakes she’d made? How did April do it? How did May? They were stronger than her. Everyone else thought Juniper had it so together, but even as kids her sisters had been able to see right through her. [48%]

book "Wherever we go, may we all find each other again. This was the prayer he’d offered at the memorial last summer, and he delivered it now, too, to the universe and to Tariq and to his family all around him, glowing on the shore." [99%]

Quotes:
Not until Hana. It probably wasn’t healthy to feel this lucky to be loved, but who would want to test out the alternative? Not Juniper. And, anyway, wasn’t this what everyone wanted? To find The One (and Only)? So why did her life still feel so precarious all the time? [52%]

She wasn’t sure why she was apologizing. No one said this would be easy, and throwing up seemed like an appropriate response to the realization that your life of relative safety was purchased through violence. The US had brought two wars to Iraq, which made the results, whether the average citizen was aware of them or not, at least partially our responsibility, as far as May was concerned. We sent our ambassadors and put boots on the ground to advance our strategic interests, and most of the time it was shockingly easy to forget—as we shopped online and gassed up our tanks and watched American Idol—that it was not in our strategic interest for Iraqis to be as safe in their homes as we were. [79%]

Wherever we go, may we all find each other again. This was the prayer he’d offered at the memorial last summer, and he delivered it now, too, to the universe and to Tariq and to his family all around him, glowing on the shore. [99%]

[Julia Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gave me an experience unique in my reading life: I got to read an earlier draft of it, which was absolutely fantastic, and then re-read it after enough time had passed that I’d forgotten many of the details, so the second time felt both familiar and entirely new. And Jesus, what a read it was!! Her characters and relationships are real, specific, vivid—the situation they’re in is dramatic, compelling, nerve-racking—the settings are so fully realized—the writing is sharp and clear and exquisite. Over and over as I turned the pages, I thought to myself, this is what fiction is for. To build a world and bring you into it in this way. Cannot believe how lucky I am to have gotten to read it twice.

[S · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story follows the four Barber siblings, April, May, June, and July, as they try to find out what happened to their father who went missing ten years earlier and how to cope with the ways they have developed to deal with the trauma. It’s told through alternating parts of each sibling, so you get four POVs. This is done remarkably well, as each character has a strong individual voice. April is the eldest and she apparently has her life together with her nuclear family and career as a lawyer. But she is as unmoored as her siblings, and has been secretly having an affair. Meanwhile, May is dealing with depression and her dreams of travel have been crushed after losing her father. June has turned to alcohol, even as she plans her wedding with her future wife. July is obsessing over his straight roommate and trying to deal with the fact that, as the much younger sibling, he never truly knew his father. Over the years, the siblings have drifted apart, unmoored by their father’s unsolved disappearance after he was kidnapped while working as a private contractor for a company in Iraq. When April thinks she spots their father abroad, and with June’s wedding looming, the four are forced to come together and attempt to find their father.

The author very clearly understands people and how they work, and one thing this book does exceptionally is accurately portray sibling interaction. I have several siblings, and it’s difficult to find media that accurately reflects the way these family dynamics work. This book did it incredibly. I also found myself learning a lot about the politics of what was happening in Iraq and the surrounding areas at the time, and the story explores how in the US we’re often told one thing to excuse this country’s violence, while the opposite is often true. Overall, this is an honest and open portrayal of family and how they cope with trauma, and how that can be echoed around the world in various ways. Personally, I would love to read Tariq’s story, it was very compelling even though he was a minor character. Alison B. Hart clearly has a way with characters, and this was a well written story.

This was an ARC review.

[Kathleen Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Go into this knowing that it's not really about a wedding but really about the impact of the disappearance of Frank, the father of the four siblings who disappeared in Iraq while working in a contractor in the wake of the war there. And now he's been spotted alive- or is he? April, May, June (the one meant to be getting married), and July never understood why Frank wasn't returned after the ransom was paid. Each of them gives their POV, each of them has struggled, perhaps not realizing their trauma goes back to that loss. And now they're banding together and going looking for answers. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. This wasn't marketed as what it is - I'm not sure why- but it's a good read that incorporates geopolitical issues with family drama.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

April, May, June, and July Barber don’t have much in common anymore. An upcoming family wedding will place the four siblings in the same room for the first time in years. But shortly before, when April spots their father, who went missing while serving overseas a decade ago, their reunion becomes entirely more complicated.
April loves her husband, but seeks excitement outside their marriage. May had big dreams for the future, but she’s still stuck living at home. June is eager to marry her girlfriend, so why does she need a drink at every wedding-related event? And then there’s baby brother July, whose unrequited love for his straight roommate has him more confused than ever. The travel in this book seems a little un-realistic but the story idea is a good one.

[Anna Kefalas · Rating 2 out of 5]

“What if she’d drawn out on butcher paper a complete map of her desre: over here on the frayed edge of the paper, the sanctity of their marriage; and this way, over roads Ross thought were closed, the routes to her thorniest fantasies; then, just hwen he thought the map had ended, she’d unfurl the roll to show him everything else she still wanted to explore. The wild places. Dark matter. Escape from herself (the most regimented parts) to herself, to all the versions of her that didn’t exist yet but might."

this book was disappointing. it had so much potential - amazing premise, complex characters and complicated family dynamics (and you guys know I go crazy for a good family drama) - but the writing just wasn't there and it lost me at the end.

[Emma Fortier · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book did not go in the direction I thought it would! I learned a lot more about Iraq than expected and the nuances of its population. I agree with author that I grew up with Iraq in so many headlines, but the place itself remained opaque. This book definitely made me want to learn more about the history of Iraq and the US’s role in that history.

In terms of the actual book: I feel like this book did a lot of telling instead of showing, which I feel like is a common pitfall of books that are short and have rotating narration - you just don’t dive into the characters as much, so I felt like it was relatively superficial. Also sometimes the kids were so egocentric/selfish and the book didn’t seem to acknowledge it?