It’s a pleasure today to be able to share my review as part of the blog tour for Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. My thanks go to Grace Vincent of Little Brown Uk for the opportunity.
Everyone in Shaker Heights was talking about it that summer: how Isabelle, the last of the Richardson children, had finally gone around the bend and burned the house down.
In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is meticulously planned – from the layout of the winding roads, to the colours of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principal is playing by the rules.
Enter Mia Warren – an enigmatic artist and single mother- who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than just tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the alluring mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past, and a disregard for the rules that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.
When the Richardsons’ friends attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town and puts Mia and Mrs. Richardson on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Mrs. Richardson becomes determined to uncover the secrets in Mia’s past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs to her own family – and Mia’s.
Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of long-held secrets and the ferocious pull of motherhood-and the danger of believing that planning and following the rules can avert disaster, or heartbreak.
Available to purchase now from the following – Amazon UK | Amazon US
MY REVIEW
Shaker Heights, a picture perfect town where everything is planned and the residents must follow every rule to keep the town so perfect. Elena Richardson and her family seem to be the perfect residents, that is until Mia Warren and her daughter Pearl lease the Richardson rental house. Secrets are then revealed and the Richardson family may not be quite as perfect as first seemed.
Elena and Mia were two completely different characters, Elena is a journalist, married to a lawyer with four children. She’s the perfect Shaker Heights resident with ambitions for her children, wealth and beautiful home. Mia is a single mother and an artist who doesn’t settle in one place long. Herself and her daughter Pearl are for ever on the move but Mia has promised that this time they will set down some roots and Pearl easily forms a friendship with the Richardson children.
The story started off with a fantastic opening then it seemed to slow down, I’ll be honest and say I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to really get into the story but it slowly builds up and I found I was quite hooked. We get to see the story from most of the characters perspective and this was done beautifully. It really showed that you can’t judge a book by its cover and not everyone may be as perfect as they come across.
Little Fires Everywhere really is a thought-provoking read filled with many different subjects covered, adoption, race and family dynamics to name a few. It was an emotional read that also had some suspense. It really is an all-rounder that I think will appeal to many readers.
Wonderfully written, Little Fires Everywhere is a story where you really get to know the characters so it feels like more than a story and I couldn’t help feeling emotionally involved. It’s a story that will stay with me for a long time and one I will definitely be recommending.
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