Shaker Heights may seem like the ideal community and Elena Richardson may appear to have the ideal family, but there are many surprises for the reader in Little Fires Everywhere. Elena has always planned her ideal life and made her reality bend to her expectation, but when a new artist and her daughter arrive in town, things start to spin out of the orbit of her control

Celeste Ng has a special talent for making me feel connected to her characters & emotionally invested in her stories. I appreciated that we were able to see the story unfold from the different perspectives, which added depth. I look forward to Celeste Ng's next book!

Celeste Ng's new novel, <b>Little Fires Everywhere</b> is an intricate story about contemporary women. At the core, Elena Richardson is the matriarch of a planned family of four children in the famous planned community of Shaker Heights, Ohio. Elena's counterpart is Mia Warren, a woman who lives life spontaneously, going where her heart and creative juices take her. <br><br>Mia and her daughter, Pearl, rent half of a duplex that Elena Richardson owns, and it only takes a short time for their lives to become intertwined. Mia is a photographic artist and takes part time jobs to keep the little family afloat, selling her art only when it is necessary. Pearl and the Richardson daughter, Lexie, are the conduits through which the two families get to know each other. Pearl is fascinated with the large family dynamic and the big house. She enjoys hanging out at the Richardson's after school and quickly becomes a regular at their dinner table.<br><br> Elena hires Mia to work for her part time as a housekeeper. Celeste Ng delves into the back story of the two women, their young selves, their dreams, and their struggles. We learn how they evolved into who they are today. When one of Elena's friends tries to adopt a child, Ng pulls us into an intense examination of women's reproductive rights. The story intricately pulls apart the joy of a woman's life and the pain, responsibility, and suffering that decisions about having children brings to women, universally.<br><br> The characters develop with grace, beauty, and all the private thoughts that most of us would not want to share freely. This novel is a brilliant portrait of women and their joys, burdens, and heartaches. Every woman will find resonance in Ng's characters. It is a must-read recommendation from me!

Thank you, NetGalley, Celeste Ng, and Penguin Press for the special opportunity to read this ARC.

Excellent follow up to her last book. A novel about secrets kept and divulged, unusual people and family dynamics that stays with you after reading.

Like Everything I Never Told You, an amazing portrayal of the impact of miscommunication and assumptions on the lives of family and friends. Excellent.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng features the Richardson family. They live in one of the original planned communities and appear to have a picture perfect life. Their tenants are a mother-daughter duo named Mia and Pearl. Mia and Pearl gradually insinuate themselves into the lives of the Richardsons in a way that will ultimately lead to an explosion of a finale. Woven into this story is also an underlying theme of what family means, in particular the roles of mother and child. Lots of mysteries to unravel makes this a very satisfying read. Enjoy!

Thank you to @penguinpress and @netgalley for the chance to read an advance copy of this book. It's out 9/12 and I can't wait to see what others think of it!

When the Richardson family's idyllic house in the seemingly perfect community of Shaker Heights is burned to the ground from within, they suspect their youngest daughter, Izzy. But what would lead her to do such a thing? The journey to the answer was definitely not what I was expecting, in the best way. This novel explores the bonds between mothers and their children, ties of friendship, and the weight of the secrets we keep. Highly, highly recommend.

Motherhood and family are the two major Themes with a capital "T" in "Litte Fires Everywhere", Ng's second novel. We meet Elena Richardson as she stands on a sidewalk in her bathrobe, watching the perfect home she spent a lifetime building inside the manicured landscape of Shaker Heights, OH, burn to the ground in a fire started by her youngest daughter, Izzy. In an instant, questions abound about how such a seemingly perfect life could result in such destruction.

When Mia Warren and her daughter Pearl arrive in Shaker Heights and rent an apartment from the Richardsons, they are both thrown into the world of this Norman Rockwell-ish family. After years of itinerant living, with Mia, a photographer and artist, packing up her daughter and leaving town after town, Mia has promised Pearl that they will stay in Shaker Heights for an extended time, to allow Pearl to experience some semblance of a stable life. Pearl easily finds herself growing attached to the Richardson brood, becoming best friends with the kind Moody, the popular and ethereal Lexie, and the attractive, sporty Trip. Lost in the mix is Izzy, the long suffering youngest daughter and frequent target for criticism and disdain from her mother, Elena. Spending every day after school at the Richardson house, Pearl catches a glimpse of what life is like inside a stable, nuclear family and is enraptured. Meanwhile, Mia continues to work on her art, taking odd jobs to support Pearl, including one as the Richardsons' housekeeper. Both Mia and Pearl quickly begin to see the Richardsons' life for what it truly is, warts and all.

But the Richardsons are not the only ones with secrets. Mia has spent decades moving from town to town, keeping a low profile and seems to have no connections to anyone but her daughter. When Elena grows suspicious of her new tenant and housekeeper, she begins digging into Mia's past and uncovers the truth about this strange mother and daughter that don't quite fit in to her family ideal.

The town of Shaker Heights is rocked by a local case involving the Richardsons' family friends and their adoption of a baby that was abandoned at a local firehouse. The baby happens to be the daughter of Mia's work friend and a custody battle ensues, pitting friend and neighbor against each other with Elena and Mia taking very different sides.

Ng does an admirable job tying the cast of characters together and writing a story that is compelling and engaging. From the moment I began reading about the Richardsons and the Warrens, I felt sucked into the strange world of overachieving suburbia and the people who live on the edges of that picture perfect lifestyle. And, thanks to the great characters of Mia and Pearl, Ng gives a complete view of the clandestine and not-so-quiet scandals that can take place behind the perfectly kept lawns of the "ideal" neighborhood. I felt her handling of the custody case was the strongest part of the book, largely because it felt realistic and told with just the right amount of suspense and emotion. Without giving away any spoilers here, I was VERY satisfied with the ending of that storyline.

The story did slow a little for me toward the middle. I appreciate all the machinations going on between the high school aged characters and the various viewpoints we get from the Richardson kids as well as Pearl. However, I did feel the pace of the book slowed a little bit but then picked up again at the end. I also felt that Mia's secret, once it had been revealed, felt a bit far fetched and out of character. There were moments when I didn't truly understand her motivations, but she was so likeable and empathetic, that I looked past that.

This book is definitely worth a read. I would recommend this book to fans of stories about the complications of families of all kinds, the ones we are born into and the ones we create for ourselves. Ng creates compelling characters in challenging situations.

We start at the ending then work our way forward to reveal the little fires everywhere in Shaker Heights a supposedly perfectly designed community.
The primary focus is on the Richardson family and Mia the single mother of Pearl. This is, at times, a complex novel that touches on serious issues such as race, class, infertility, adoption, and teen sex just to name a few.
Occasionally I felt a lack of originality in the story but then the writing would shine through, or my preconceptions would be challenged (should she be May Ling Chow or Mirabelle).
Overall I would recommend this to anyone interested in intelligent family dramas, or a good novel with modern day social commentary.
Thank you to Penguin publishers for making this arc available to me through netgalley.

I enjoyed Celeste Ng's previous book, Everything I Never Told You , but could not put this title on that level. I'm not sure why, but I just didn't feel as drawn in by this book. Well written, character development was fine, just not my cup of tea at this time.

An excellent follow up to 'Everything I Never Told You'. Ms. Ng's understanding of the complex nature of family is unparalleled. Her characters are richly real and immediately familiar. An exceptional novel.

As I read Little Fires Everywhere, it felt like I was slipping backwards into my youth, emotions rising to the surface and old experiences taking on a new understanding. When a story helps us see our truth through dynamic characters, like those in Little Fires Everywhere it makes the reading heartfelt. Loved this look into the lives of these two families.

Lies have a way of coming back and changing your life when you least expect it. Mia and her daughter Pearl travel from town to town as inspiration strikes but they decide that they are going to stop traveling and settle in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Pearl builds relationships with the children of their landlord but the secrets they are keeping may destroy them all. Family, friends, loyalty, secrets, lies, and what is right are explored.

This was a beautiful book. It was full of so many different layers and stories. The characters were rich and just sprang to life. A lot of times when I read a book from different points of view I am not as interested in some of the characters. But I was fascinated by all the characters in this book. I loved this book.

As soon as I finished this book, I immediately flipped back to the beginning and reread the first chapter. The book opens with a scene that reoccurs toward the end of the book, and the rest of the story leads up to that moment and events, and I had to go back and reread the opening knowing everything about these characters that I had learned throughout the story.

Much of this book is stories about mothering. Who is a mother, how do you truly become a mother, what are you responsible for or entitled to as a mother? It’s so resonant of the ways in which, as a parent, you try and struggle and hope and fear that you are doing right by your child. Ng wrote eloquently about this relationship in different forms through Mia and Mrs. Richardson and the other mothers in this story. Somehow, despite being able to write from the viewpoint of mothers, Ng also captured the self-discovery and identity battles of adolescence as well in Pearl, Izzy, and Lexie. Setting the book in the bucolic Shaker Heights was a wonderful choice- a reminder that problems exist even in the most idyllic of settings.

Truthfully, it took me about 50-100 pages into this book before I really became invested. For readers who read primarily for characters, it may not take quite as long, but as a generally plot-driven reader, it took a little longer for the story to really grab me. This was not a flaw in the story, just a note for readers like myself.

This book is one of the best I've read in a while. I really enjoyed Ng's previous book, Everything I Never Told You, so I was looking forward to reading this one. It did not disappoint. Ng's characters are nuanced and relatable. She does a beautiful job of exploring the relationships between mothers and daughters.

Although Celeste Ng's novel Little Fires Everywhere tells the stories of the ordinary citizens in middle class Shaker Heights, Ohio, each of the many characters is unique. Mia and Pearl are newcomers. An artist and her teenage daughter, they lead a vagabond life, never settling in one place for long. The Richardson family are long time residents. Matriarch Elena is is a descendant of original settlers as well as Mia's landlord and employer. Her teenage children go to school with Pearl and relationships entwine in various ways. When a local child custody lawsuit puts Mia and Elena on different sides, journalist Elena decides to investigate Mia 's past, exposing carefully hidden secrets and raising questions about how well we really know the ones we love.

Complex and compulsively readable.

I loved Ng's first novel, "Everything I Never Told You", and I loved "Little Fires Everywhere" almost as much. The novel is a domestic drama set in the wealthy, planned community of Shaker Heights. Ng explores the lives of two families. One is "perfect" with a beautiful home and four all-star children and the other consists of a nomadic, somewhat mysterious artist and her 15 year old daughter. The families, and especially the two mothers, represent two ways of living life: planned and by the book and winging it based on feelings while chasing experiences and meaning. The end kept me from giving this book five stars. The novel opens with a tragic event and then backtracks showing us how that event came to be. The end and the reasons for it were not predictable until quite far into the book, but once it became obvious, due to an almost insulting amount of foreshadowing, I was let down a bit. Overall, it's a great novel deserving of the buzz I suspect it will get. It will likely be a huge hit, and rightfully so, like her previous work.

A captivating story of motherhood, mothers and family of all kinds. Secrets and irrevocable decisions result in misunderstandings and difficult relationships. Characters are well realized in this beautifully written page turner leaving the reader wanting more. Excellent!

Ng's debut novel was insanely popular at my library when it came out in 2014. I wish I could recall the many creative pronunciations of her name that I heard. (The pronunciation thing must drive her insane - her Twitter handle is @pronounced_ing.) I expect this one to be even more in demand. Book clubs are going to beat down our door for it. So will all that fuss be justified? I think so. I was completely absorbed by the plot while also conscious of the issues (race, class, reproductive rights) it raised. I'm having trouble avoiding spoilers, so I'll leave it at that. I will definitely consider taking the night off for her September 12 book launch!

Incredibly compelling narrative. The book didn't go where I thought, but it dealt handily with timely issues within a very good story, and well-developed characters.