The Catch

by Alison Fairbrother

A young woman searches for the truth about her father and the secrets of her family in this electric debut novel.

Two years out of college, Ellie Adler has a job in journalism, an older lover, and a circle of smart friends. Then she finds herself shaken by the unexpected death of her father, James. At the reading of his will, Ellie learns that instead of leaving her his prized possession--a baseball that holds emotional resonance for them both--he has left her a seemingly ridiculous, even insulting gift. Worse, he's given the baseball to someone no one in the family knows.

In her grief, Ellie wonders who could have possibly meant more to her father than she did. Setting out to track this person down, she learns startling information about who her father really was and who she herself is becoming. Unforgettable, witty, and heartbreaking, The Catch is a story of the gifts we're given over the course of a lifetime--the ones we want and the ones we don't yet understand that we need.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Family, Mystery, Literary Fiction, Audiobook, Grief

279 pages, Hardcover

First published June 21, 2022

Reviews

[Nilufer Ozmekik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes! Such a heartfelt, well written, powerful debut novel about a daughter’s grief and her inner journey to gather the broken pieces of herself to become a whole again by digging out her father’s past in expanse of opening new wounds, getting full closure.

This is slow burn, exhilarating drama gets under your skin, alluring you with its layered, flawed characters, taking you to journey with Ellie: a struggling journalist, working at the bottom, making wrong choices in her life to sabotage her own happiness.

She is the eldest child of eccentric family. Her poet and professor father married three times and he developed interesting family rituals like celebrating National holidays on summer time including New Year’s Eve, Christmas and Easter because he couldn’t get the custody of his own children at the right time.

The best thing about Ellie’s childhood is playing catch with her father’s prized baseball.
Now her father died because of heart attack and his prized baseball is left to a stranger as Ellie gets a tie rack. What does it even mean? Didn’t her father care enough of her to leave something more meaningful? Something belongs to her more precious father- daughter moment.

Ellie has lots of questions which prevent her to move on with her life. She has to find the reason behind her father’s strange will, forcedly communicating her stepmothers, her step siblings to find the truth. She realizes her father is not the perfect man as she’s idolized. He has his own mistakes and own dirty secrets that affected their lives.

Overall: this is honest, intriguing slow burn story and I truly liked the way it was unfolded.
I’m looking forward to read more works of the author in near future.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

[Carole · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Catch by Alison Fairbrother is a debut well-worth the time. The protagonist, Ellie, will take the reader on a journey of her father’s life and, in doing so, find her own self during a difficult time. Her father, James, married three women and fathered four children, Ellie being the eldest. After his sudden death in his early fifties, she handles her grief by digging through her father’s history, only to find that she had not known him at all. This will have an influence on her affair with an older married man, her attitude towards her first job as a journalist and her insecurities about her future. The characters in The Catch are a motley bunch of people who are simply trying to go through life as best they can. The plot flows well as it deals with Ellie’s and her father’s life. It is a simple story about not so ordinary characters. If you enjoy fiction about family dynamics, this book is for you. Alison Fairbrother has written a worthwhile debut and I look forward to reading her next novel. Highly recommended. Thank you to Random House Publishing Group, NetGalley and the author for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Theresa Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Ellie’s father dies unexpectedly at the age of 52, she’s thrown for a loop, especially when he leaves his prize possession to a stranger and the item he leaves for her makes no sense. Did he not love her as much as she thought he did?

As a journalist, she can make tracking down this mystery part of her job. What she learns challenges her understanding of who her father was in life.

This novel had its moments and was a fast read, but something about it seemed not fully realized.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this novel, which RELEASES JUNE 21, 2022.

[Jonann loves book talk❤♥️❤ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Catch by Alison Fairbrother, tells the poignant story of Ellie, a girl grieving the unexpected loss of her dad James. She gets a fluorescent tie rack instead of his prize baseball she expected at the reading of the will. Even more shocking, he left the baseball to a person no one in the family knows. The baseball was always on her dad's desk as a good luck charm when he wrote poetry. His most notable poem was named "The Catch".

Ellie is determined to find out who the person named in the will is. Along the way she not only learns secrets about her dad, but in the process is forced to examine her own life choices.

I enjoyed The Catch very much. There's a specific audience for the book and some readers may find it offensive because of the body shaming, political and sexual references. It will be published June 21st. (4⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House, for the honor of reviewing this heartfelt book. I appreciate your kindness.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I solidly liked this one. I didn't hate it or love it though and I know it's not going to stick with me long after I move on to the next book. I did enjoy the family mystery element of the plot that sees Ellie Adler going on a journey to track down the unknown person named in her recently (and unexpectedly) deceased father's will. When Ellie doesn't inherit her father's prized baseball, she is determined to figure out just who it is that could have meant more to her dad than she did. Well written and compelling, this was an easy read. I didn't love that Ellie was involved with an older married man (that storyline always makes me cringe) but overall a good family drama that was good on audio.

[Jeatherhane Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ellie finds out her dad didn't leave her his lucky baseball in his will. She goes on a quest to find out the story behind it and really, the story is very underwhelming. She also finds out the story about why he left her a tie rack instead. That story is ridiculous. Ellie is childish and jealous, and I really disliked her. This book isn't very long, but after a week I was only about halfway, and instead of DNFing I skimmed it to the end.

[Margaret Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book because it was recommended in people magazine. I won’t make that mistake again. $13 kindle version? Isn’t worth a quarter that much. The characters were boring, the premise of the tie rack was ridiculous. Never mattered enough what was going on, there was no reason to care. Nothing tied all the random pieces together. So disappointed that I wasted my money and the ONLY reason I finished reading this book is because I paid so much…..horrible reason to read! Don’t do it.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ellie is baffled—make that shocked—when, after the unexpected death of her beloved father, she receives his bequest of a novelty tie rack. Her half-brother and sisters (her father had several children from his three marriages) each received something deeply meaningful to them, symbolic of their relationship to their father, and she gets a lousy tie rack? That means absolutely zip to her? She thought she’d be bequeathed her father’s baseball, which he kept on his desk, for decades, whenever he sat down to write (he was a minor poet), but that was left to a total stranger, unknown to anyone in the family. Grieving, Ellie is nevertheless determined to get to the bottom of this puzzling turn of events, and along the way uncovers a number of secrets and does a lot of overdue growing up. Pleasant but lightweight; I think what may stick with me are the scenes of osprey-watching on Chesapeake Bay.

[☮Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jim was a poet whose most famous poem was about a baseball and playing catch in a store aisle. His firstborn Ellie loved the poem and her dad's baseball that somehow went with the story behind the poem. When Jim died, he willed each of his kids one special item and Ellie expected the baseball. But it went to a mysterious stranger instead and Ellie, in her twenties, vowed to find the stranger and ascertain the connection with the ball. It led her on an adventure into her dad's past, learning some things she never imagined about him, and things she might not have wanted to know. An old friend with ties to wild osprey made for an interesting side story.

I liked this unique story very much but wasn't sure why there needed to be so much marital infidelity involved.

I had a NetGalley copy from the publisher and also enjoyed the audiobook at the same time.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can you imagine what a pinball feels speeding a million miles an hour in every which way until it encounters an obstacle, and then it pings and spins immediately in another direction? That's what my brain felt like reading this heartfelt novel about a family when the patriarch dies. Ellie's father has a fatal heart attack and his three wives (one current, two divorced) and four children suffer the fallout. As the eldest, Ellie was closest to him and she attempts to unravel the past when she isn't gifted the coveted baseball she adored as a kid. But we all have our own stories (and pasts) to uncover (or not) as we wish; as Ellie delves into his she discovers secrets. lies, and truths that could decimate her if not for her compassion and final understanding about what the "catch" is really about. This is a deftly written book that had me tearing up and laughing out loud. Can't wait to read more of Fairbrother's books!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

[Desiree Reads · Rating 1 out of 5]

Surprisingly, I kept reading to 59%.

Ellie is a typical, socialist, clueless college graduate. Men are bad. White people are bad. Wealthy people don't deserve to have more than others (never mind that they or their forebears worked for it). Obviously climate change is totally real and the earth will disintegrate before your children or grandchildren can take over. But there is an inherent naive sweetness to her, so I kept reading. Plus, I thought maybe she'd learn some things, which she started to.

I had a bad feeling, though, when Ellie looked through her dead dad's high school yearbook. Ellie identifies the person she believes to be the one to whom her dad's beloved baseball is bequeathed. Ellie details a bit how good looking the man is. Ruh roh, as Scooby would say. I didn't like where this might be going.

And, lo and behold, said man, Larry, tersely walks away from Ellie mentioning that his husband is waiting for him. 🤦‍♀️ And I'm pulling the rip cord. 🪂

[Maggie Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's only March when I'm writing this review but I already know The Catch will be one of my top five books on 2022. It's that good. A poignant, resonant tale of Ellie, the oldest daughter of a father who married too often, was a larger-than-life force of nature, and after his death, has left her with questions she desperately needs to answer. There is not a false note in this lyrical novel as we follow Ellie through coming to terms with not only her father's legacy but her own direction in life, both through her affair with an older married man, her job at a "click-bait" on-line magazine, and her extended family of step-siblings, and step-mothers, not to mention a colorful bunch of flatmates in Washington DC. My Kindle has so many passages underlined, it's a blur of highlights, particularly toward the end when our hero is realizing so many true things about life and how it works. Even the minor characters ring true and the settings of many scenes are so unique, they deserve special mention (I particularly liked a set piece where Ellie is dressed as Teddy Roosevelt at a baseball game, competing with 3 other "Presidents" in a foot race around the bases). Add in a sub-plot about bird conservation and an unexpected backstory from her father's high school years that's heartbreaking, and my hat is off to this debut author. She's made a fan for life.

My thanks to NetGalley and Fairbrother's publisher for providing an early reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Melissa]

The Catch by Alison Fairbrother is a character driven novel that just didn't quite connect with me, but the writing was good, so a full 3 Stars.

Ellie is just starting her journalist career, living with friends, and has a boyfriend she is all about. Then when her father dies and leaves her a confusing gift while passing on a favorite baseball to an unknown person, Ellie uses her budding journalistic connections to begin her search for said person. What she finds upends everything she thought she knew about her father and throws her own life into turmoil.

I thought this sounded like a great premise. The storyline that was presented was intriguing, but her relationship with a married man was what put me off. This is said early on (not a spoiler), and it made me instantly not empathetic to her in this space. I had hoped for more from her by the end, and though she did grow a bit in many ways, I felt ultimately disappointed. I did enjoy the touch of conservation issues addressed, as well as how journalism can affect issues, good or bad.

If this isn't as big of a hangup for you and you enjoy character driven stories, this may be right up your alley. It was a quick read for me and had some fun, quirky moments.

Thank you to @NetGalley and @penguinrandomhouse for the digital ARC. This is available now!

[Meghan ReadsBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Random House, and NetGalley, for the chance to read The Catch by Alison Fairbrother. This is a thoughtful, character driven story with strong writing and elegant narrative development; Ellie, early twenties, is coping with the unexpected and sudden loss of her father and trying to understand why her father bequeathed a beloved object to someone unknown to her and her half siblings and step mother (baseball, emblematic of a lot of aspects of Ellie's father and her relationship with him). At the same time she is on this journey the reader is also invited to be a part of Ellie's own development, her struggles as a young journalist, her romantic strains, and her own movement as an independent young adult but one with complex family ties.

Three things that stood out
1. Ellie is well developed, she is joyful, intelligent, loving, and flawed. She feels very real, like the young adults I teach and who are questioning or about to question their adult identities and futures and lives, indeed, to put it in a cliche, to find their place in the world. Ellie is doing this while navigating grief and a complicated, and for me problematic, relationship with an older married man (that part of the plot didn't work well for me but it served to remind me that Ellie was in the throes of figuring out a lot about herself as an adult).

2. Adult child/parent relationships are fascinating to me. I teach them, they are the topic this coming week in my online class, and this book captures a lot of that. What stood out to me was how children can't ever fully know their parents as adults outside of adulthood, of being a parent and maybe a spouse. Children see their parents always as adults. But as we move into adulthood we learn and see the flaws more in our parents, this book captures that nicely.

3. Strong writing. Mx Fairbrother writes with depth and style. I personally would have liked a little more dialogue, less descriptions/internal writing is that makes sense, but that's me. The writing is strong and the narrative comes together as Ellie resolves her journey to understand her father's decisions and to learn more about her adult self.

This is a great read for literary fans, readers who like a character driven story, and readers who like family drama/relationship stories. I think it is also a strong indie choice for book clubs, there is a lot to unpack and talk about with this one.

Thank you again to the publisher for the chance to appreciate this debut work.

[Jude (HeyJudeReads) Fricano · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I opened my dump email, the account I used to sign up for discounts so that I wouldn't get span in my real inbox. Every young person I knew had an account like this. No one from my parents' generation did. When I tried to set one up for my father the previous year, he'd asked for the address iwillneverusethis@g.mail.com."

The Catch by Allison Fairbrother

Pub Date: June 21, 2022

Ellie Adler is a typical college graduate. A degree in journalism, small circle of friends and a strong desire to make a difference. After the unexpected death of her father, James she begins to unravel details of his life that she never knew. Life lessons that she didn't know she was missing. This story created a firestorm of both laughter and tears, and stirred of deep feelings of loss and love. And perhaps even the simple reminder that none of us know one another completely - and sometimes the surprise is worth the search.

Beautifully told, and heartfelt from beginning to end!

[Allison Ryder · Rating 2 out of 5]

Family drama, grief, life choices and the question of what we are owed by the people we love…… could have a been a great book but it was obscured by what feels like the story being fit around an agenda of politics, toxic masculinity, office politics, climate change and whatever else could be thrown in the kitchen sink of current “issues”. It’s too bad ; the story would have been better without that.

[Terry ~ Huntress of Erudition · Rating 5 out of 5]

A somewhat melancholic, yet rewarding read - the narrative is similar to Sally Rooney's "Conversations With Friends", which I loved.
Ellie Adler is coming to terms with the death (and life) of her beloved, eccentric father who disappoints & insults Ellie by leaving an unusual gift in his will.
She has an interesting journey, seeking out people who may have been close to her father at certain times, to understand what his will meant.
The love of her life is married to someone else and this was written about with great sensitivity and honesty.
The best thing one takes away from this novel is the growth and maturity of the characters.
You feel there is hope for them in the future as they work through their grief.

[Ashley Dang · Rating 2 out of 5]

When a grieving daughter receives the item from her father’s will its not the one she thought, instead she is left with something that makes her question what she truly meant to her father and who he truly was. Ellie Adler is a up and coming journalist, freshly out of college for two years now and has an older lover, a group of smart friends, and a very close relationship with her father, despite his philandering ways. When he dies, she is devastated, yet when his prize possession, a baseball that held emotional value to both of them is left to someone else and she is left with a tie rack of all things she is crushed. The worst part is that the baseball is left to someone no one the family knows. Ellie begins to investigate who her father truly is. The overall mystery was eh and I found myself a bit irritated by the main protagonist and the fact that she is seeing a married guy who is 39 with her being just two years out of college. In fact having a father who was twiced divorced and has four kids among three women you’d think she’d know better but apparently not. Overall it was an okay read

*Thank you Random House for the arc, all my opinions and thoughts are my own*

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Welp, this one was just not for me.

I appreciated the idea for the story - this young woman dealing with the grief from the sudden loss of her father, and her journey to discover why an item she felt a strong connection to was left to a random person.

I am not quite sure what it was about this book. But it just didn’t work. I felt like the story was all over the place and it didn’t pull together until the very.

And I did not like how Ellie is having this affair with an older gentleman and then when confronted by someone who knows him finally questions her role in his life.

Basically this was just ok and will probably not stick in my mine. [2.5 rounded up]

[Larry H · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Sometimes understanding those we love is one of the hardest things.

Ellie has always dreamed of being a writer, even though her job writing for a website—and chasing after clickbait—isn’t quite what she had in mind. Her father, a poet, has children with three different women, but as the oldest, she definitely feels like she’s his favorite, like they understand each other.

But when her father dies unexpectedly, his will left a gift with significance to each of her siblings. She figures he’ll leave her his prized baseball, probably his most cherished possession; she’s surprised, however, that instead, he leaves her what seems like a gag gift, with no explanation, and he leaves the baseball to someone she’s never heard of before.

What significance does the gift she receive have? Why would her father give the baseball to someone else? Ellie digs deep to try and find out what secrets her father had been hiding. Did she really know him like she thought she did? Meanwhile, she’s dealing with her own secrets, including an older, married lover.

This is a story about grief, family connections, secrets, and finding the strength to move on. It’s also about the power of love and how it motivates us. While the book moved a bit slower than I would have liked, I found the supporting characters in particular so fascinating.

See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.

Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/getbookedwithlarry/.

[Alyssa Yates · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/ 5
I had such high expectations for this book, I think that was my downfall in the appreciation sense of this book. There were some truly great moments in this book, but to counter that, there were some moments that I just didn’t see were necessary.

This book gives off a coming of age being fueled by managing and dealing with grief of a loved one. The story between Ellie and her father was very complex, they loved each other but Ellie had such a hard time figuring out if her father was truly a good person (which added to the difficulty of her grieving).

“ ‘If the Chesapeake Bay were a white kid, it still would’ve gotten into college.’”

There were definitely some powerful moments in this book, but the ending was short lived. I found it almost anticlimactic and rushed. I did appreciate the humorous writing style. The best comparison I can make for this book is that this is a more advanced “Are You My Mother?”. I just know millennials would eat this book up…take that how you please.

[Priscilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one surprised me. I didn’t know what to expect, but I liked it a lot. It reminded me of one of my favorite books, writers & lovers by lily king. There are some really powerful sentences on grief in this book. Also, I love stories about a girl in her young 20s finding her way relationally & professionally. This author nailed it.

[Carrie Cappiello · Rating 3 out of 5]

I should have loved this book - literary in style, family drama, debut author but instead I was kind of bored.

Ellie’s dad has died and she discovers a lot of him - and herself - as she tries to understand why left his most prized possession to someone the family doesn’t know anything about. That’s it. That’s the story. No major developments, no character growth.

[AndiReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fabulous and moving story of love and life through the eyes of a young professional beginning to make her way in the world.

When we meet James, we learn that he is published poet and professor. He has children from three marriages, celebrates winter holidays in the summer and has a big, extra large loving and boisterous personality. His sudden death pushes beloved daughter Ellie into a tailspin. When she learns that the gift he left her in his will is not his special baseball and instead an object that seems to lack meaning, she dedicates what little time and energy she has to finding out who else is more important to him.

Thus begins an odyssey to determine whom will receive the baseball and why. Along the way Ellie learns more about her father, her family and begins the transition from "just out of college" to actual adult.

I truly loved this book. Ellie is sharp and quick witted and I loved hearing more about the Washington inside story. Her mistakes are banal but Alison Fairbrother reminds you and wraps you up in the emotions that would cause a young adult to make the same mistakes that everyone else has made before her. If you like a family mystery, love great writing, are interested in Washington insider information then The Catch is for you!
#RandomHouse #NetGalley #TheCatch

[Laurie Tell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ellie is a recent college grad, who has a job in journalism and an older married lover. Ellie is really close with her father, who dies. . Then, at the reading of his will, she learns that instead of leaving her his prized possession—a baseball that holds a special place for them both—he has left her a ridiculous gift. Worse, he’s given the baseball to someone no one in the family has ever heard of. . So of course Ellie starts off in the search for the recipient.

I actually have mixed feelings for this book.
This is a very slow burn. In fact, I struggle to describe it. I was almost bored at times, but I HAD to know what happened next.
At times this book was all over the place, but I loved each detour.
I did have an issue with her having the relationship with a married man - it certainly made me not really like her. However, even though I didn't LIKE Ellie, I did somehow connect with her and her struggles.

I didn't get lost in the story. It was not a quick, fun read. But I oddly really liked it. I see that other people just loved it and I hate to disagree, but this was too slow and disjointed for me to love it. But I did like it. Maybe get this from your library...

I have such mixed feelings for this book that I don't think my review helps much. Maybe try this book for yourself.

Thank you to the author, the publisher and to #netgalley for the ARC which did not impact my review.

[Geonn Cannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short book, but there's SO MUCH happening, and I think that was a detriment to the whole. There's the father plot, the baseball mystery, politics at the magazine, the affair, a very odd tangent into ospreys and climate change that felt surgically implanted from another story. None of it was bad, but I didn't feel like any of them ended up having enough weight to be considered the main thread. It was just a character moving through possible plots. Hopefully the author's next book has a bit more focus.

Also a very very nitpicky thing: the osprey plot involves a Twitter movement that has a trending hashtag that includes "&". That isn't possible. Adding a second symbol breaks the tag. Every time someone mentioned it showing up, I thought, "it can't, though..."

[Tina (A Novel Time With Tina) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ellie is a fresh out of college young adult mourning the death of her father. A writer and poet, The Catch is the name of his most famous poem, and is continually referenced throughout the novel. When Ellie’s father dies unexpectedly he wills her an obscure item, and not his lucky baseball that she assumed would be left to her. Instead, she has to find the person he named as the new owner of the object, and in the process, she finds out more about who her father was, and as someone twice divorced with 4 kids by 3 women, it isn’t all good. Ellie, young and brash, is not making the wisest of choices for herself, either, by dating a married man 15 years older than her. Her journey to understanding her father and their relationship will lead her on a path not only of healing, but also of learning more about herself. Trigger Warnings: There were a variety of subplots, including cheating, divorce, weight shaming, politics, and misogyny. I think the author nailed what it is like to be a 24 yr old, but I also think she is not a very likeable character. I didn't like anything about her relationship, about how it started. about how it continued, and about where it was left at the end of the book, which was frankly unrealistic, and made for very little of the expected character growth, which cost the book a star in my rating. Had the relationship ended differently, and a lesson learned from it, I would have rated the book higher.

[Robin Loves Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ellie Adler is mourning the sudden death of her father, and has comfort when it comes to something that she hopes to treasure for the rest of her life - a baseball that denotes an emotional attachment that will tether Ellie's father to her for the rest of her life. Imagine Ellie's dismay when she discovers that he did not leave the ball to her, but to a complete stranger. What is more is that he did not leave much to her, other than a seemingly insignificant gift.

Ellie will go to the ends of the earth to seek answers as to why she was not left the baseball, and to also try to understand the meaning of what she did receive. By so doing, Ellie's journey raises more questions than answers. In fact, she wonders if she even knew her father.

A quick, sentimental story by Alison Fairbrother helps readers to see that all things in life often have far deeper meanings. For Ellie, this journey is truly deep, and allows her to know more of her father than she could have imagined.

Many thanks to Random House and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Catch is the story of a young woman devastated by her father’s sudden death at 52. Ellie always thought she was her father’s favorite, but his will leaves her a tie rack while her three half siblings get meaningful gifts. The baseball she wanted is left to a stranger.

A budding journalist, Ellie uses her skills to track down the man named in the will, learning things about her father and herself along the way. Turns out there was a lot she didn’t know about him. Ellie looks for love from an older, married man, not surprisingly. It’s a well-told, poignant story.

This is Alison Fair brother’s debut novel; I look forward to her next effort.

[Laura Dvorak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Total flop. The first few chapters felt super rushed, and we were never given enough time to see why the narrator's father was supposedly so compelling. I didn't find the narrator herself unlikeable as much as she was just so boring. Was hoping this would be a poignant summer read tangentially related to baseball, but it was a snoozefest and would have been a DNF had I not been able to read it so quickly.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for this review.