While I enjoyed this, it was not at all what I expected. Then again, if you were to ask me what I expected, I don't even know if I could tell you. The hardest thing for me with this book is that I couldn't relate to any of the characters. I think I also went into this book thinking it'd be a much deeper read. For me, it seemed like a read that didn't go much further than the surface level, though there seemed to be plenty of opportunities to delve deeper. It was an okay read, but not one I'd recommend

I really tried with this book, but it was so slow that I just couldn’t get into it. Unfortunately, I ended up not finishing it.

Smart, funny and gritty. I love stories of different lives lived in parallel universes. Cate’s world is upended when just learns the violence she is capable of. The characters felt so alive and I kept Wanting to know more about them.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. A full review will be posted on Amazon and Goodreads

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for the early copy!

I decided to put down the novel because I did not connect with the writing style.

I almost gave up on this one. I felt like the story line didn’t really pick up until almost half way through. I try my hardest to finish every book I start and I did finish this one. It was a little slow paced at the beginning but I enjoyed the second half more than the first. It has a very somber vibe but I assumed that from reading the synoposis.

For me this is more like a 2.5 star rating. I'm rounding up because there were small aspects of the story I thought were decent and I just can't give my first book of 2020 a low rating.

I guess I don't really understand the title of the book. As a reader that drives me up the wall. I kept waiting and waiting for that moment in reading where everything clicks and makes sense. That moment never happened for me. When the publisher sent me a copy to read I was excited after reading the blurb about the book. For the first 45% of the book I kept wondering when any of the blurb was going to play out in this book. That was frustrating as well. So many times I almost put this down as a DNF, but then a small moment would happen that I thought maybe this will turn around. The book never turned around for me. I felt there were three or four different storylines going on and I know the purpose was for all of them to converge and overlay in some fashion for the book to make sense as a whole. I just didn't feel they really did. One or two moments did, but not enough to string each storyline together to make a cohesive unit.

I realize the book description says it's set "against the backdrop of the new Trump presidency ". What I didn't think, nor cared for, is how much of a political agenda would be shoved down your throat while reading. (I'm coming from a stance of not being for or against Trump in saying that. I would feel the same way if the person was a Democrat). I don't feel what the author was conveying had much to do with the storyline.

Lastly the book read way too slow for me. Nothing grabs you in and takes ahold of you. There isn't a moment where I felt "I just can't put this book down" or "I have to know what happens next". Moreso I said when will this end? It fell flat to me.

I don't want my entire review to be negative. There are some good aspects of the storyline. Cate is an interesting character and I do believe the author did a fantastic job with her character development. There is an audience for this book, one that will love it. I'm not that audience. Having said that, the author showed me enough good qualities that I would consider another book or hers. (All of these positives added to me rounding up versus down).

My thanks to the Carol Anshaw, Atria Books and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I went into reading Right After the Weather thinking is was going to be a book about a horrible event that takes place and its aftermath. There is a horrific event, but it doesn’t take place until about 2/3 of the way through the book. Until then, it seems to be more of a book about Cate, a theatrical set designer who’s living in Chicago and is single (although currently sharing her apartment with her wealthy ex-husband who has many quirky behaviors, including an addiction to ordering interesting foods online).

Cate’s in a relationship, but can’t seem to shake Dana, a prior girlfriend. Her parents are divorced and have new partners, and shaky relationships with Cate. Her most genuine (and stable) relationship is with Neale, a childhood friend. In Cate’s life of dysfunctional relationships, it seems that this is the only truly functional one. Once the horrific event takes place, it is interesting to see how this relationship is challenged.

There are some interesting storylines and I especially liked all the details about her work in the theater and set design. I think it would have been a stronger book had there been more of a focus on Cate and Neale - before and after.

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read Right After the Weather in exchange for a review!

This books forecast.... gloomy, oppressive, somber. This was a tough read for me a depressing book with a lot going on. I felt as though I was swimming through swamp water trying to find my way to the sunlight, but never getting there. I am pretty certain that was the point of the story, I just was not in the right mindset both times I pick this book up. Also there are a lot of political implications in the story and I personally like to keep politics out of my books, it seems to be everywhere else so when I’m escaping I want to just pretend that we live in a happy loving peaceful USA!

The writing was very well done, but the story...slow and plodding, long-winded and I'm not sure I really understood the message. I think maybe I'm broken and have lost my reading mojo - so it's probably just me.

I had a really hard time getting into this book and ultimately decided it was not for me. I can appreciate Anshaw's writing, which was really lovely. But the main character irritated me from the beginning and I wasn't vibing with the book. I know others have really enjoyed it, though!

I found this book to be just ok; very difficulty to connect with the characters. I ended up not finishing this one because I just didn't feel invested.

I hate writing reviews for ok novels. They’re the hardest. I want to start saying that I’ve never connected with the main characters and I thought the story left me with disappointment feeling. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.

Unable to read and review by publication date due to other commitments, Will update immediately upon completion. Thank you NetGalley and Publisher,

Thanks to NG and the publisher for this book.

A fast read. It was just a mediocre book about Cate, who designs sets for plays and her life with her ex-girlfriend who she can't let go of and her current one who she wants to leave. Also in her life is Neale, her best friend from grade school who she's very close to until something happens and she saves her life and then things sort of go downhill with her from then on. Also, is her ex-husband who decides to move in with her after 2 failed marriages. He was the most interesting one in the whole book to me.

Sometimes I can figure out what the title's meaning to the book is, but this one puzzles me and I have no idea.

This was excellent! It really made you think and it will definitely stick with you for a long time. Looking forward to reading more from Carol Anshaw!

This was difficult for me to get through. It was not my favorite but I can appreciate the writer’s talent and that’s what got me through to the end. It just wasn’t my cup of tea, but I can certainly see it being other’s so I do recommend this book.

This book left me feeling "meh" most of the way through...I wanted to care about the characters and the events in their lives but it was too heavy in the details to see what was inside, and once we saw what was inside, it didn't make me feel any more endearment towards them.

The main character Cate had me rooting for her but we didn't exactly know why her relationship with Dana never really worked out, and why she wasn't feeling like the relationship with Maureen was going to work out either. Was she in love with Neale? Is she just not interested in being in a relationship? Her motives weren't exactly explained the sad tone of the book never lifted.

Not sure why this book has this title, either. It was a big miss for me.

Incest, attempted rape, manslaughter, conspiracy theories – there’s no shortage of plot dynamics in Anshaw’s latest novel. But this is neither a thriller nor a sensational piece of crime fiction, instead a witty and rather perceptive consideration of relationships both sexual and platonic, a tracing of the arc of life from the midpoint, and thoughts about how early expectations of fulfilment might have to be modified.

Set in Chicago just after the election of Donald Trump, it’s the story of lesbian set-designer Cate, a middle-aged, middle-class white woman with an ex-husband Graham – currently camping in her spare bedroom – a best friend Neale, an unavailable lover Dana and a new girlfriend Maureen, who is supposedly Plan C for a future of settled contentment but who is revealing disturbing signs of incompatibility.

While juggling these connections, Cate must also deal with her critical mother’s disappointments and work hard to support herself, whatever the quality of the theatrical production she’s hired to furnish.

Shrewd, rueful and often solitary, Cate is an appealing central figure whose ambitions and disenchantments might tend toward the universal. She has a tender heart for those she loves, both human and animal, and a brain that takes its time comprehending and digesting events from left field.

And left field is the direction of incoming activity, firstly an invitation to create the sets for a prestigious play about Vita Sackville-West to be staged in New York, and second an act of violence inflicted on one of those closest to Cate.

Life’s paths are rarely predictable, and this is another lesson for Cate to learn, when heroism turns sour and disruptive, leaving trauma in its wake.

Anshaw’s novel cheerfully eschews the happy ever after. Neither literary nor a potboiler, this is instead an immersive modern tale of survival as a single woman, with a lot of interior-design observation stirred into the proceedings. A treat.

Unfortunately, this was not a book for me - i could not get invested in the story. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review.