Swimming for Sunlight (2024)

What first got my attention to this book was of course the cover! That sweet little pup on the cover stole my interest :).

I cannot say enough good things about this sweet sweet novel! This was the perfect book to come into my life right now!

If you're thinking this is going to be a romance novel.. you're completely wrong. Allie Larkin explores love, friendship, overcoming your fears, anxiety, and happiness in this beautiful novel.

Between the fury rescue pup Bark, the mermaid team of hip grandmas, to the loving, complex, and resilient set of characters this is one book that you want to get your hands on! You will not be disappointed! I highly recommend.

4.5 mermaid sun stars!

Thank you to Atria and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Publication date: 4/23/19
Published to GR: 12/23/18

Ahh, Swimming for Sunlight is so sweet and refreshing! Just what I needed! ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Katie is an aspiring costume designer, and I knew she was my kind of gal when I read she gave up everything in her divorce settlement- everything- in order to keep her rescue dog. At a loss on what her next steps should be, Katie moves home to Florida to live with her grandmother. Her former underwater performer grandmother.

Nan was a mermaid performer in a roadside show, and she had a group of close friends who performed with her. Unfortunately, the women lost touch over the years, but Katie helps Nan find her friends via social media in hopes of reuniting them for one more show. Of course, if this happens, Katie will make the costumes!

Katie’s college boyfriend, Luca, re-enters the scene. Now a documentary filmmaker, Katie is feeling sparks between them. Katie has a real battle between all of her dreams and her anxiety holding her back from obtaining them. She makes a connection between her own fear and the anxiety her dog experiences. This aspect was SO sensitive and well-done, it melts my heart just thinking about it again.

Swimming for Sunlight is a charming and moving story. If you are a lover of dogs or any animal, you can’t miss it, and even if you aren’t, this is a beautiful story that is sure to capture your heart like it did mine. Will Katie and Bark find their happily ever after?

I received a complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

My reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com

I received a free advanced e-copy of Swimming for Sunlight by Allie Larkin from NetGalley for my honest review.

Oh my, where to start. Such a beautiful, moving, emotional and memorable book. Katie and her dog, Bark go to Florida after her divorce. Katie, is young, depressed and is struggling with anxiety and fears as well. She is also still mourning the loss of her father. She ends up moving in with her Grandmother (Nan).

Katie learns that Nan was a mermaid performer back in the day. Katie decides to help Nan reunite with her Mermaid friends from the past. They contact all the Mermaids, wanting to do a reunion show. While all this is happening she also learns that her Ex husband is in another relationship and is happy but she is heart broken. Katie starts to find her own peach and healing process when she decides to make costumes for Nana and all her friends for the reunion show.

A beautiful and enchanting book filled with love, compassion, sorrow, happiness and above all friendship and healing. You will laugh with these characters, cry with these characters and fall in love with them as well.

3.5 stars

Decent, light, feel sad then feel good type of read. This worked well as a quick vacation read. Katie is in her late 20s and just divorced, when she moves back in with her grandmother with her dog Bark in tow. Katie has a lot of baggage stemming from her father's death and her mother's subsequent abandonment. Katie's grandmother and her group of friends were her anchor as a child and serve the same purpose after Katie's divorce. The story is a quite predictable and Katie is a bit melodramatic for my tastes, but the grandmother and her friends we lovely -- they really carried the book for me. These are not sweet older women -- no, they are hip and savvy. A decent light novel if that's what you're craving. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.

Swimming for Sunlight is an uplifting story full of love, friendship, growth and multi-generational comradery that will fill your heart with joy from beginning to end.

Katie Ellis suffered a double loss as a child; her father died of a heart attack as they were playing in the water and her mother abandoned her shortly thereafter. As a result, despite an abundance of love from her grandmother, Nan, and the caring of all of Nan’s friends, Katie suffers from debilitating anxiety disorder which now has cost Katie her marriage. The one thing she has fought for and won in the divorce settlement is her faithful-fearful dog, Bark. Now Katie is moving back in with Nan to be surrounded once more by a wonderful community of friends.
As someone who suffers from extreme social anxiety, I related to Katie and her faithful pooch very much. As she plunges herself into helping her Nan reconnect with Nan’s friends from the past, Katie slowly begins to heal and we, as readers, are able to see her growth – after a harrowing fall to the very bottom of an emotional fallout. It is through the help of the community, her own childhood friends and the love of her dear pet that we watch Katie learn to deal with her anxiety – and that of Bark’s as well.

There are a number of characters in Swimming for Sunlight in addition to the primary ones of Katie and her Nan and each play an integral part in the story. Larkin does a beautiful job of developing them to their fullest, slowly revealing their true nature so that we see their strengths and weaknesses as well, just as we would our own friends and neighbors. She then weaves their storylines in with Katie’s brilliantly. I loved Swimming for Sunlight. It came into my life at exactly the right time when I needed it most and filled it with warmth and happiness. I hope it will do the same for many other readers.

Many thanks to #Netgalley, #AllieLarkin and @AtriaBooks for my copy of #SwimmingForSunlight available today!

A truly enjoyable read!

Katy is a psychological mess. An early childhood trauma has left her a nervous wreck. She was unable to save her father when he had a heart attack while they were swimming in the lake, but from that point on, Katy was on the alert for every potential disaster that could possibly befall any human.

Her rescue dog, Bark, shares her nervy/on edge response to life. Katy and Bark cling to each other for rocky support. When Katy heads back to Florida after her divorce, her grandmother is faced with not one, but two nervy, tightly wound wrecks. I had to put the book aside a few times because Larkin's descriptions of Katy's emotional descent into panic were very graphic. My heart went out to Katy - and her poor dog!

The story about the mermaid road show is fascinating, as are all the female characters of that troupe of intrepid entertainers. Their camaraderie was touching, especially when it came to helping Bark shed his fearful outlook on doggie life!

And Luca as Katy's love interest was just a dream come true - but as you would expect, the course of true love never runs smoothly in fiction.

This was an engrossing read. I highly recommend it, but if you suffer from panic attacks or severe anxiety, maybe plan to do a buddy read so you can "talk out" those sections of the story where Katy and/or Bark are in dire emotional and mental straits. Good job, Allie Larkin!

I adore everything about Allie Larkin’s latest book, the characters, the locale (atmospheric!), the mermaids. (You’ll have to read the book to find out who and what they are.) I fell in love with Luca and I want to adopt Bark. (Don’t worry Sunny, you’re still my top dog.) I especially love Katie and the internal battles she waged and overcame. SWIMMING FOR SUNLIGHT is a poignant and authentic exploration of one woman learning to cope with her anxiety and finding her happy place in life. It’s my new favorite of Allie’s books and I can’t recommend enough.

Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.

So "Swimming for Sunlight." I went back and forth on this one. The main character is Katie Ellis who divorces her husband and takes her rescue dog Bark back to Florida to stay with her maternal grandmother, Nan. Katie gives up everything that she is entitled to so her husband doesn't get joint custody of the dog. So she arrives with paper bags filled with clothes and I kid you not when your grandmother quizzes her about not getting cardboard boxes she explains her dog, Bark, doesn't like them. I should have known what I was getting into from that point.

Katie was a freaking martyr and didn't even see it. She was also causing her dog severe anxiety due to her actions. I did feel sorry for her. She was there when her father died and she pulled him from the lake they were swimming at. Cue her mother dumping her to live with her grandmother while she followed men all over the world and stopped communicating with her. So there is sympathy for Katie, but I got annoyed at how she dealt with everything. She tells her grandmother Nan that Bark can't be walked since he is so scared so they dance around the living room for exercise. Yeah my face is your face right now. Katie also can't handle going to funerals since it reminds her of her father so she's been largely absent with her childhood best friend who lost two grandparents and her grandmother's best friend who also lost a spouse. Everyone just excuses it and it drives me up the wall. And then we finally get into the one who got away and once again it was 100 percent her fault and I just hard sighed when we finally read about what tore them apart.

That said, Katie didn't deserve the break up of her marriage due to her husband's cheating and though she seems to have found a sense of closure in the end I just rolled my eyes.

Larkin doesn't spend much time developing secondary characters past a few people such as Nan, Bunny, Mo, Mr. Issac and Luca. Other characters drop in and drop out with Katie getting "insight" into them. Not enough to stop being a drama queen though. I get she has abandonment issues but good grief. Luca was the most patient person in the world. I really wish there had been more discussion between them when it finally comes out what caused them to end back in college. It felt like such a flimsy BS excuse that if I were Luca I would have been done at that moment. For me, how can you trust that you won't do something else the person won't like and they won't push you away for years.

That said though I couldn't put this book down. I loved reading about how Katie came to love sewing and show she got into costume work. Her working at Mr. Issac's shop was highlight and her doing research on how to create her grandmother and the other "mermaids" outfits was interesting. I got so curious about underwater costume work and makeup after reading this book.

The writing starts off slow at first and the flow was a bit off at the beginning. I think that's because as readers we are reading Katie tell her story in her own way and for the most part she is trying to hide things from herself and has to lie to herself that her dog is fully dependent on her so she has reasons to say no to doing anything.

The setting of Florida didn't feel like a proper setting though. I think because most of the book takes place at Katie's grandmother's home, Mo's house and Mr. Issac's shop. We read about it, but I can't recall if Larkin described the smell of the ocean being nearby, the humidity, etc. This could have taken place anywhere.

The ending ends on a hopeful note and you do root for Katie in the end. Being held hostage to all of the bad things that can happen all the time sounds exhausting.

It was 'good' ....sweet-light-read.
I love dogs...but I began to tire of the ongoing dog-character-driven-descriptions.

🧜‍♀️🐕😭 Oh my word. I read the last half of this book at the pool this afternoon and I honestly don’t know if that water damage on the bottom (sorry library - I’ll pay for it!) is from pool water or my tears that were streaming down my face for pages upon pages of the story.
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This may just be the most poignant book about grief and anxiety and what it’s like to get easily overwhelmed by the world that I’ve ever read and it was simply beautiful. And there’s a DOG ❤️😭 A dog with his own healing to do.....
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I can’t recommend this highly enough to readers like me who have felt the world encroaching and panicked, who constantly needs “a moment to collect myself” before and after being with new people and/or large groups. It’s also for dog lovers and maybe just everybody?
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And if you get frustrated with Katie, remember how closely I relate to her and think about whether any of your friends or family are like her too ❤️ How can you react to people experiencing anxiety with compassion? Katie’s friends and grandmother do such a great job a great job of modeling the spectrum of responses and growth - I adored it ❤️

Aug 10, 645pm ~~ Marking this a DNF after eight chapters (66 pages).

I knew going in that this might not be my type of book, but I was tempted by the mermaid idea.

I've spent the afternoon with it but simply cannot continue.

The book seems to have charmed many other readers, but I'm afraid it only bored me.

DNF.

Two things

1. I wanted to love this more than I did. It started out with sparks flying! I was smiling. I was laughing. I empathized. And then FIZZLE. (Also, some editing would have helped greatly)
2. Larkin’s other books were fresh and fun. Read those first. I didn’t dislike this one, in fact my 3 Star “Good” rating is based purely on Nan and her tribe of amazing friends. They are certainly something to aspire to.

Rich in details and brimming with emotions, this book pulled me in and captivated my attention each time I picked it up to read. It pulls at your heartstrings as protagonist, Katie, and her dog, Bark, help each other with anxiety issues, and as Katie helps Nan reunite with her friends from the past to become a beautiful group of senior mermaids. A wonderful, light, and poignant read.

I reviewed a digital arc provided by NetGalley and Atria. Thank you.

LOVE LOVE LOVE this book. Trust me. Just read it. Warm and delightful and bursting with empathy.

When Katie gets divorced all she wants out the marriage is her rescue dog Bark. Katies moves back home to Florida with her grandmother and her quirky group of friends. Katie learns all these things about the past and her grandmother. Nan was an underwater mermaid performer. While Katie helps her grandmother find her lost friends and bring back the troupe of mermaids,Katie discovers how much her tragic past and her fears and anxiety are holding her back. Holding Bark back as well. I loved this story! It's spunky, lyrical,full of hope and promise. A tale of connecting with family, lost friends and past loves. I can't say enough how much I loved it. Stunningly beautiful.

I was given a copy by the author for my honest review.

Dawnny-BookGypsy
Novels N Latte
Hudson Valley NY

SWIMMING FOR SUNLIGHT by Allie Larkin is such a perfect way to spend the day. Be prepared to ignore everything else until you are done. All I wanted to do when I finished reading was to reach out and give Katie and her grandmother Nan a big hug. Katie is recently divorced and basically, takes her rescue dog, Bark, a few bags of clothes, and runs to Nan’s. To say that Nan has an interesting bunch of friends, would be a huge under statement. When Nan and her friends were younger, they were underwater performers. Katie is a costume designer and as Katie helps her Nan reconnect with her old friends who also performed with her, she ofcourse, will be making their mermaid costumes.

Katie also decides to look up her old college boyfriend, Luca. There isn’t a whole lot of romance in this story, but you have to read SWIMMING FOR SUNLIGHT to find out what happens! You are going to love where this story takes you! All the while, Katie is trying to overcome her anxiety and the issues she has carried for years with the death of her father. She was with him when he died and the internal battles she continues to fight will just break your heart. Bark has his own anxiety issues, but I felt like Katie created most if not all of them.

I fell in love with all of Allie’s characters and SWIMMING FOR SUNLIGHT did not disappoint all I had been hearing about it. Reading this perfect and heart warming book was like visiting with old friends. I loved learning how Katie became interested in sewing . Even though everyone is in everyone else’s business just enough to drive them all crazy, it was still a fun as well as an emotional story for me. They all try to help Katie heal and find her happily ever after. I can’t wait to read more from Allie Larkin.

Thank you to Atria for my advanced copy through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

3.5/5

I love a good book about starting over and this one caught my eye with the mention of a close relationship between a grandmother and her granddaughter. I was incredibly close to my own grandma and valued our relationship so very much and I figured I would really enjoy reading about Katie and Nan’s special bond. I was mostly right, this was a light and sweet read that will make for good summer reading.

At the surface level there is plenty about Katie to like and I did admire her resolve when it came to starting over after her painful divorce. But once more about her character is revealed I’m afraid I never quite connected with her. She had a childlike quality about her and it grated on my nerves instead of bringing out my usual nurturing side for some reason. Thankfully I was totally obsessed with Nan and her mermaid friends, these ladies totally made the whole book for me and made me wish that I had a group of elderly women fussing over me! They were sassy, strong, brave and inspiring and made me laugh out loud several times.

Overall this was a solid read for me, despite my lack of connection with Katie I really did enjoy it. It was pretty predictable but the quirky supporting cast of characters including the mermaids and Katie’s best friend Mo more than made up for that aspect. There’s also a pretty sweet dog named Bark that features heavily in the story so if you’re an animal lover you would probably appreciate this one.

2.5/5

I wish I had liked this more. I chose to read this one because 1) the dog on the cover looks so sweet, nuzzling the girl sitting beside of him, and 2) because I love reading when characters have great relationships with their grandparents. I had a particularly special relationship with my grandmother, so I was looking forward to remembering about my own experiences with my Grandma while I read about Katie and Nan.

Things I Liked:

1. Katie's dog is a rescue dog named Bark. Throughout the story, we get the chance to watch him come out of his fearful shell a little bit and it warmed my heart. Bark takes up a lot of space on the pages and played a pretty big role in the story. LOVED that.
2. Katie rediscovers hobbies that she had forgotten as she had gotten older. She also reconnected with her best friend from her school days, Mo. Mo is strange and independent and genuinely fun to read on the pages.

Things I Did Not Like:

Not to sound awful, but Katie's anxiety and grief was just too much. I wasn't expecting to be so immersed in her struggles because the book synopsis really didn't give an accurate idea of how crippling her anxieties are and how deeply she still grieves the loss of her father. When I started the book and realized Katie's characterization, I had hoped that her issues would be sprinkled throughout the story, and I had hoped that Katie would find a way to work through these things and head toward some healing sort of early in the story. I was NOT expecting that her issues would be the main part of the story. I completely understand anxiety and I completely, completely understand exceptionally deep grief after losing my own father tragically. But I was not expecting to have to sit in it with Katie so much and it really bogged down the story from start to finish. As a result, I never felt connected to Katie, and I never really felt connected to any other character either.

There was a lot of potential with this one, and my Goodreads feed is overall positive for this book. I think most people enjoyed it more than I did, perhaps not feeling the weight of Katie's grief and anxiety. I just don't feel like the synopsis prepared me for what the story really was, and that makes me sad a little bit.

But the dog is just *chef's kiss*

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest thoughts. This in no way influenced my review. Thank you, Atria Books!

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria books for this ARC - it was a surprisingly delightful book and I am proud to be able to review it.
I started this book with an apprehensive spirit to be honest - I was worried it was going to be a run of the mill romance novel. Thankfully I was wrong, it is a romance but it is also a bit of family drama, BFF reinforcement and an awareness raiser. I was happily proven wrong.
The fact that Katie starts off her story in the divorce court with the ‘new’ woman sat outside waiting for Eric to come out is traumatizing to say the least, she then travels to Florida to Nan’s house manifesting every form of neurosis possible. I have to admit at this point I wanted to give her a slap and tell her to get it together. She goes through all of her phases of grief and mourning in front of all the people who love her the most, and she shows every side of herself in stark reality - some nice bits and some not. Ultimately you realize she is grieving not only the breakdown of her marriage but every loss and hardship she has ever faced in her life. Some of which are awful and lead to many facets of her neurological anxieties.
In opposition to Katie’s maladies Larkin give us Nan and her mermaids who are such a delight to behold. I literally wanted to be in that group of women, funny and eccentric in just the right way. Mo - oh Mo - she is by far my favorite. Old before her time, awkward and most of all loyal and honest. She is Katie’s BFF and her quips and responses were brilliant, some of her quirks and responses are laugh out loud material, I caught myself using her catchphrase ‘hilarious’ to describe her and also having to smile apologetically at people within earshot of me as I laughed at her and spoke out loud in response to her. Hilarious!
Obviously the romance side of things cannot be ignored and I must say Larkin wrote about it as realistically as possible for a fundamentally flawed Katie, no romance is going to be easy with someone who is always waiting for a bomb to drop. Luca is everything a broken woman needs and he is good for her and softens her as a character - which means you start to like her even more when you see her through his eyes.
I have already told everyone in my circles to keep their eyes peeled for this book when it is released. I am so glad I get to keep this merry band of individuals in my imagination, such angst and joy all in one place. A job well done to Allie Larkin and heartfelt thanks for the characters she shared with me.

Back in May, I read Swimming for Sunlight, by Allie Larkin. I loved it. And we already had her scheduled to come to the RBC in November. So why haven't I written a review, you ask? For the same reason I haven't written dozens of others!...I don't know. But it is what it is, as they say. In any case, and even though I included it in my list of 22 books that I recommend you all read, I want to take a couple of minutes to give it its own post. Here's the storyline:

Katie Ellis gave up everything in her divorce to gain custody of her fearful, faithful rescue dog, Bark. Anxious about her next steps, she returns to her hometown in Florida to live with her grandmother Nan.
In her youth, Nan was a mermaid performer in a roadside attraction show, swimming and dancing underwater with a close-knit cast of talented women. Most of the mermaids have since lost touch, but Katie helps Nan search for her old friends online, sparking hopes for a reunion show and reigniting Katie's crippling fear of water. Katie offers to design their costumes. As the show takes shape, she struggles to balance her hopes with her anxiety, and begins to realize just how much Bark's fears are connected to her own in this charming novel about hope after loss and friendships that span generations.

Allie combines humor with many poignant moments (aka I cried a lot!). Plus her writing is excellent. At one point, Katie's grandma wants Katie to sit with grandma's friends. Here is Katie's reaction:
"Sitting by the pool to chat with the ladies would be like squeezing a lemon with a hand covered in paper cuts." That doesn't leave much to the imagination, does it?

A couple of things stick out for me in this book:
1. I loved all of the characters. That doesn't happen too often.
2. In most books, my biggest flowing moments are toward the end. In SfS, it happened throughout (although I actually sobbed 38 pages from the end).

And, finally, every once in a while a get a takeaway from a book. It's pretty rare, but when it does happen, it leaves me with something that I actually try to incorporate into my life. In this case, it's this: "I was going to be the person who showed up for her because friendship is a love story too." For me, this is right on.

So, despite the fact that a dog is a central character in Swimming for Sunlight (you all know that I tend to stay away from animal-centric books, although I did like The Art of Racing in the Rain), I highly recommend this book. And out of 11 people who read it and came to the RBC meeting, the lowest rating was a 3.75/4! Are you kidding me? That's unheard of. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up.

Having recently finished “Swimming for Sunlight” by Allie Larkin, I am happy to have had the chance for the preview; thank you NetGalley and Atria Press!

Of course I was drawn to the cover art with this book! A gal... and her dog... but the story inside ended up not being at all what I expected.

No one knows in what ways grief and guilt can change your world. For me... this story was a look at both of those emotions with mega doses of anxiety thrown in. The bits of "light" that shone through in Swimming for Sunlight were filled with touching "grandma" moments and life-long friendship memories and wisdoms... all given with pure and unconditional love. That kind of continuious shining light can't help but build strength and begin to heal the darkest emotions. Oh and love from a fur baby... there is no doubt that is one of the best kinds of healing for any sad soul!

The words that ran through my head as I read Swimming for Sunlight were endearing, delightful and extraordinarily heartfelt. Allie Larkin has written a story about starting over when the odds have beaten you down time and time again and she has done so in a way that makes you want to reach out and hug our protagonist, Kay and of course, Kay's delightful rescue dog, Bark. More than that, Larkin has created a dream of a character in Kay's grandmother, Nan. Nan raised Kay for most of her life and embodies the type of person we all hope to have in our lives - whether as friend or family.

With tons of heart, humor, love and MERMAIDS (naturally, you'll need to grab a copy for more on this), Larkin surely has a hit on her hands with Swimming for Sunlight.

Thank you Atria for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada for a free copy of this book for review. Katie has just divorced her husband and has gone back home to Florida with her dog Bark to once again live with her grandmother. I love stories with family dynamics and this has a lot of that. Katie spent a lot of her childhood living with her grandmother and surrounded by her grandmother’s fun loving and eccentric friends which have become like family. Katie left her marriage with only a couple of bags of clothes and her dog but she definitely is carrying around a lot of emotional baggage from her turbulent childhood and adulthood. Once she arrives in Florida her grandmother tells her she is trying to recreate a mermaid show with her friends and she enlists her help in making costumes. Katie is deadly afraid of pools and swimming after an incident earlier in her life so the thought of a mermaid show terrifies her. A man from her past also comes to help document the mermaid show and Katie has to reconcile her feelings for him. While the book is generally lighthearted there are some very important emotional issues Katie has to overcome.

5 Stars

Although the female protagonist (Katie) was in her late 20’s, a large part of the story centered around a group of septuagenarian women. One being the grandmother who raised Katie. I don’t typically seek out books about elderly characters nor do I often read about characters that are even my own age, let alone my parents age. Well, this book has shamed me and my ageist ways. I loved this story! The impact that the older women had on Katie was inspiring and gave a fabulous voice to an age group that can often be overlooked. There was also a sweetly subtle romance woven into the story that gave me my needed swoon-worthiness. Light, but effective. I can’t forget about Bark. He was a scene stealer.

I loved loved LOVED this book! In “Swimming for Sunlight,” Allie Larkin has written an absorbing, insightful tale of all the people and places in which we find strength. She's created a world I’d love to live in, full of vividly rendered characters who are as complex and resilient as they are big-hearted and funny. There is nothing like a great story, well-told; this is Larkin’s specific expertise.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria books for ARC - it was a surprisingly delightful book and I am proud to be able to review it.
I started this book with an apprehensive spirit to be honest - I was worried it was going to be a run of the mill romance novel. Thankfully I was wrong, it is a romance but it is also a bit of family drama, BFF reinforcement and an awareness raiser. I was happily proven wrong.
The fact that Katie starts off her story in the divorce court with the ‘new’ woman sat outside waiting for Eric to come out is traumatizing to say the least, she then travels to Florida to Nan’s house manifesting every form of neurosis possible. I have to admit at this point I wanted to give her a slap and tell her to get it together. She goes through all of her phases of grief and mourning in front of all the people who love her the most, and she shows every side of herself in stark reality - some nice bits and some not. Ultimately you realize she is grieving not only the breakdown of her marriage but every loss and hardship she has ever faced in her life. Some of Which are awful and lead to many facets of her neurological anxieties.
In opposition to Katie’s maladies Larkin give us Nan and her mermaids who are such a delight to behold., I literally wanted to be in that group of women, funny and eccentric in just the right way. Mo - oh Mo - she is by far my favorite. Old before her time, awkward and most of all loyal and honest. She is Katie’s BFF and her quips and responses were brilliant, some of her quirks and responses are laugh out loud material, I caught myself using her catchphrase ‘hilarious’ to describe her and also having to smile apologetically at people within earshot of me as I laughed at her and spoke out loud in response to her. Hilarious!
Obviously the romance side of things cannot be ignored and I must say Larkin wrote about it as realistically as possible for a fundamentally flawed Katie, no romance is going to be easy with someone who is always waiting for a bomb to drop. Luca is everything a broken woman needs and he is good for her and softens her as a character - which means you start to like her even more when you see her through his eyes.
I have already told everyone in my circles to keep their eyes peeled for this book when it is released. I am so glad I get to keep this merry band of individuals in my imagination, such angst and joy all in one place. A job well done to Allie Larkin and heartfelt thanks for the characters she shared with me.

Oh my goodness...this book....so good! Allie Larkin’s storytelling swept me away with its beautiful words; its colorful, lovable, and complex characters; a story swirling with emotions that had me laughing and crying, often at the same time. When Katie heads to her grandmother’s house after her divorce, she brings along her somewhat neurotic dog, Barkimedes, along with deep-rooted anxiety, fears, and years of hurt. What unfolds after she arrives in Florida is a poignant, thought-provoking, and endearing story that includes mermaids, dancing dogs, old friends, old loves, and painful memories. I had so much love in my heart for Katie, Bark, Luca, Nan and all of the charming characters who lit up the pages of this book; I felt their sorrows, their joys, their love, and their hopes; this story and the people who reside in it will live in my heart for a very long time.

I am very sad to only give this book 3 stars, as Allie Larkin's Stay is one of my all time favorite novels, and she's come to be one of my favorite writers, but this book was just a little too slow and redundant to be a genuinely good read. The main character had promise, and examining the lifelong effects of living with PTSD and anxiety is actually quite well done. The story is about a recent divorcee moving to a FL retirement town to live with the grandmother who raised her once again while she finds herself and recovers from a failed marriage and 2 miscarriages; the locals embrace her and welcome her back home and she gets to spend time with people who love and support her while she works through some stuff, and she helps her grandmother reunite with her old friends from back when she worked as a "realnlife mermaid" at a roadside attraction. The neurotic dog was lovable. The supporting characters were fun, if some of them were kind of one dimensional, and I didn't NOT like the book. It just didn't seem to come together/mesh well. Can't put my finger on it- I think the editing and the pacing both seemed off, but this one wasn't as good as her others. Just 3 stars.

Sponsoreret anmeldelse

Denne bog har fået mig til både at grine og græde, nok mest det sidste. Den har rørt mig dybt, og den kommer sikkert til at sidde i mig i nogle dage. Det er ikke en af de bøger, som man bare lige glemmer.

Hovedpersonen Katie kom jeg til at holde mere og mere af, som historien skred frem. Samtidigt blev jeg også frustreret, fordi hun ikke søgte hjælp til sin angst. Eller endnu vigtigere hvorfor hun ikke fik hjælp allerede som barn.
Katie er så forhippet på at lade som om, at hun har det godt. Jeg forstår ikke helt hvorfor - måske for ikke at skuffe sine nærmeste, måske fordi hun skammer sig. Hun kan til dels skjule det overfor menneskene i sit liv, men hendes elskede hund Barky kan hun ikke snyde. Hunde og andre dyr har bare nogle helt specielle evner, der ikke kan forklares. Når Katie er angst, smitter det af på Barky, derfor opfører han sig som en meget nervøs hund. Jeg har selv oplevet dette så mange gange, så jeg overlod gåturene til min mand, når jeg var inde i en dårlig periode, ellers hoppede vores hund også nervøst rundt i sin snor foran mig.

Der er så mange herlige karakterer i denne bog, og der er et fantastisk samspil mellem dem. Jeg elsker især alle damerne, alle bedstemorens veninder, med hver deres særheder. De er så underholdende, og man kan ikke undgå at holde af dem. De har et helt unikt fællesskab, og det er så livsbekræftende.
Der er både fordele og ulemper ved at bo et sted, hvor alle kender alle, men frem for alt er det trygt. Katie har måske kun sin bedstemor som blodsbeslægtet familie - til gengæld har hun så mange fantastiske mennesker i sit liv, som har kendt hende siden barnsben. De elsker hende nærmest lige så højt som bedstemoren.

Man får flere af karakterernes livshistorier at vide hen af vejen (altså den korte version), og det giver en stor forståelse for, hvorfor de er, som de er. Der er også det historiske aspekt i det - hvordan kvinders liv har ændret sig pga kvindekampen. Nu er det jo snart den 8. Marts - Kvindernes internationale kampdag. Det er normalt ikke en dag, som jeg går meget op i. Det er egentligt dumt, fordi vi kvinder i dag skylder de ældre generationer af kvinder en stor tak for vores frihed i dag.

Det er en bog, der berører mange emner. Det er gjort på sådan en fin måde, så det aldrig føles rodet eller forvirrende.
Jeg er stor fan og håber at læse mere fra forfatterens hånd.

Allie Larkin is one of my favorite authors, so I was really happy to hear she was coming out with another book. Unfortunately, it wasn't coming out until April of 2019, so a little disappointed I was going to have to wait SOOOOOOO long. Then I was delighted when my daughter, a very informed librarian, let me know it was available on NetGalley now. I immediately downloaded it to my Kindle Fire and began reading. As with both her other books, there is an awesome story line with amazing characters. I loved it and was sorry to see it end. What makes a good book for me is that when I'm finished, I wish that the characters were real and I knew them. Such is the case with this book. I want to adopt the older women in this group as my grandmothers. So in April of 2019, I would recommend you get your hands on this book, but in the meantime read Stay and Why Can't I Be You? You'll be glad you did!!