Review: My Kind of People by Lisa Duffy

My Kind of People by Lisa Duffy

Publisher: Atria Books

Pages: 352

Format: eARC 

Buy the Book: Amazon 

Goodreads:  On Ichabod Island, a jagged strip of land thirteen miles off the coast of Massachusetts, ten-year-old Sky becomes an orphan for the second time after a tragic accident claims the lives of her adoptive parents.

Grieving the death of his best friends, Leo’s life is turned upside down when he finds himself the guardian of young Sky. Back on the island and struggling to balance his new responsibilities and his marriage to his husband, Leo is supported by a powerful community of neighbors, many of them harboring secrets of their own.

Maggie, who helps with Sky’s childcare, has hit a breaking point with her police chief husband, who becomes embroiled in a local scandal. Her best friend Agnes, the island busybody, invites Sky’s estranged grandmother to stay for the summer, straining already precarious relationships. Their neighbor Joe struggles with whether to tell all was not well in Sky’s house in the months leading up to the accident. And among them all is a mysterious woman, drawn to Ichabod to fulfill a dying wish.

Kritters Thoughts:  Sky has been orphaned and the most recent type was very tragic and she has been left in the custody of one of her mother's best friends.  He has moved from Boston to this island to take are of Sky, but his husband isn't quite sure this is the life he wants.  Also on the island who play a part in the story are Maggie and her husband, Pete, who is the police chief of this small town and their neighbor Joe, who had an accident which has kept him from doing his job and his passion of construction.  A few other neighbors and folks make appearances, but these are the main players in this book.  

Sky is the main character and she is going through a major life transition in this book.  It is her coming of age story, but the book gets to be more than that with these other characters around her going through their own adult dramas.  I loved having a younger character going through a major life change while surrounded by adults who in different ways don't have their shit together either!  It was refreshing to see those play side by side.  Nothing more frustrating than perfect adults by a young adult who is having a hard time.  

Maggie for me was the other character that I loved following the most.  She was going through some major mid life crisis without her child around and trying to figure out how she wants the back half of her life to look like.  I loved that she was able to step in and be a female lead for Sky and that she had both love and friend drama at the same time in the same book.    

Beware that I may have shed a few tears at the end of this one and I am not typically a book cryer.  I won't hit at why the tears happened, but I was so surprised when they did!

I have read one of Lisa Duffy's backlist, still have one I need to read - The Salt House.  After enjoying this book so much, I am pushed to get "caught" up with her books and read that one and then anticipate what comes next!

Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

  Ebook 2020 Challenge: 40 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Atria Books.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.