April Sawicki navigates a troubled adolescence and a very difficult entrance in to adulthood but along the way finds people who care about her and help her navigate the challenges. An uplifting book, that makes you believe that good people still exist (and may make you wonder why some people have children at all).

Allison Larkin paints a picture of nostalgia, old promises, and the history of life. The People We Keep is a masterpiece on passing lives that spark more importance than what they originally intend to. This work is simply a timeless read that struck a chord as something to hold onto and look back at. A gripping story that leads to questioning your own traveling path as April figured out her own, as unconventional as it was.

The People We Keep is a high 4 star and I'm happy to have read it and highly recommend it to others.

I received a free e-arc of this book through Netgalley.

I've always liked this concept of your family is not always your blood relatives and this book definitely proves that theory. Unfortunately April has been so hurt and abandoned by both her biological mother and father that she can't trust anyone else to stick with her so she has a pattern of leaving people before they can leave her. Finally there is an event that makes her realize that some people love us despite our imperfections.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for gifting me a digital copy of this wonderful book by Allison Larkin - 5 stars!

April is 16 years old, living in a motorless mobile home in rural upstate NY, all but abandoned by both parents. She has a gift for writing songs, singing and playing the guitar but when her father breaks her guitar in a final confrontation, she decides she's had enough and reads for the road. We follow along April's journey as she makes her way across the eastern coast, finding friends and pieces of home along the way.

I loved this book and will be thinking about these characters for a long time! April is so strong and determined, both in chasing her dream as well as trying not to hurt others along the way. She is full of hope and resilience, even when she's starving and down to her last dollar. She's been taught to run when things get tough and to depend on no one but herself. This book also emphasizes the impact people have on each other. Do not miss this book - I loved everything about it!

Wow! This book takes you on a journey with April, a young woman forced to grow up far too early. Her mom is long gone and her absent father doesn't seem to care what she does or if she even has food to eat, After a horrible fight with her father, she abandons her motorless motorhome and sets off on her own. April is only 16. When April starts making real, genuine friends, she has moments of peace she didn't know were possible. But, will her instincts to run away ruin her chance at happiness?

I was truly blown away by this book! The story had me hooked right away. The characters were so well developed. I feel like I knew their personalities so well.

This is a story of found family, and I think the character development was really touching, along with the self-discovery April has along the way. I laughed and I cried with April. This book will surely tug at your heartstrings!

I recommend this book to anyone, but especially those who feel like they don't have anyone. 5 stars. Absolutely incredible book!

Thank you to the publisher for providing an Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

April is a lost girl and her story is told in a real way. She meets some beautiful characters on her journey and creates her own family. This is a poignant and engaging story.

This book broke my heart in so many ways, it was sad...yet hopeful. The songs April wrote read like poetry and they were SO beautiful. I connected to April so deeply, even though she is so very flawed. I didn't want her story to end but since it had to I wanted her to have her happy ending, I wanted to cheer her on and see her shine. I was totally invested in her throughout the entire book. I read this in one sitting and it is just that kind of book...the kind that that makes you want to curl up and read right away from beginning to end.

I was so pleased with Ms. Larkin's ability to write such an engaging, real-life, entertaining, phenomenal story. I adored this book. Easily one of my favourite books of recent times that I’m recommending to all my friends. This wonderful, lyrical story reminds that love, and family (even those who aren't related by blood) are worth the effort...and we ourselves are worthy too.

Who are the people you keep? The people who showed you unexpected kindness, challenged you compassionately, or stuck by you unconditionally?

April has been disappointed by most of the people she’s met in her 16 years of life. Living in a motorless motorhome, April’s mother left years ago, and her often neglectful, sometimes abusive father only returns to the motorhome when he’s in conflict with (or hiding something from) his girlfriend. After a particularly bad night, April decides to flee her small town of Little River. First landing in Ithaca, New York, April finds a place that might just feel a little bit like it could be home.

The People We Keep is the perfect title for Allison Larkin’s newest novel, as it really centers around the relationships that April builds with the people who chip away at the things she’s learned about the world and the walls she’s built as a result.

I have a habit of picking up the most “social-work-y” books when I’m on vacation, and I did that again here. The People We Keep is an honest and realistic character study about a girl with some pretty deep attachment wounds. I’ve read other reviews that mentioned that readers found it difficult to connect with April as a character, and I really think that’s by design.

Though ultimately, The People We Keep is a hopeful novel about connection, found family, and healing, it wasn’t always an easy read. Larkin’s prose is lyrical, her characters are well developed and flawed in the best ways possible, and there’s great grey morality here. Readers should be prepared that April’s journey is heavy and because the narrative moves slowly at times, you are IN IT with her. I don’t know that everyone will feel this pain, but because April reminded me of so many people I’ve known in my work, this one hurt sometimes.

For different reasons, The People We Keep reminded me of Far From The Tree by Robin Benway, What Beauty There Is by Cory Anderson, and Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. My best guess is that if you liked those ones, you’ll like this one, too.

Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for an advanced copy for review.

Perhaps the most beautiful coming-of-age novel I have ever read, Allison Larkin has delivered a masterpiece. Maybe I love this book because I’m from a small town where I was never quite like everyone else. Or because I grew up in the 90s. Or because my family wasn’t ever exactly as I thought it should be. Or maybe it’s because there’s a part of all of us that wishes we had the balls to be April Sawicki, a teenage girl who decides one day that she’s tired of her dad’s sh**, steals his girlfriend’s car, and hits the road. She goes where she wants to go, makes her own rules and lives her best life - or does she?

In an exquisitely crafted novel that shook me to my core, Larkin reminds us that we all crave a place to belong, a home of our own. She goes above and beyond to challenge the definition of home. A place we are loved, accepted, safe. A place where we are surrounded by the family we choose, a family who celebrates our uniqueness and showers grace upon our humanity.

I wanted this book to last forever. I wanted April to be my new best friend. Please pick up a copy of this book as soon as you can (it comes out August 3). Allow it to inspire you to do your part in creating homes for others, to apply the words to your own wounds and heal, to be vulnerable, to get attached, to love as deeply as you possibly can.

So much gratitude to Allison Larkin, Gallery Books, and Netgalley for this ARC in return for my honest review.

The People We Keep is a moving story about April who leaves behind her home as a young woman to begin a new (and hopefully better) life. We get to see April at different stages of her life and the story telling is beautiful - I loved getting to know each character and Allison Larkin does an amazing job of building out the characters and making them each have strengths and weaknesses.

I loved reading this book and I was sad when it ended. I gasped, I cried, I laughed. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a story of hope and finding "your people". The People We Keep is a story that will stick with me and its message will too. It was a great reminder to let people in and trust and find the good in people.

Thank you to Allison Larkin, Gallery Books, and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced readers copy.

April leaves behind her home in search of a better life after dropping out of high school and fighting with her dad who is starting a new family that does not include her. It’s the people who help her along the way and show her she deserves to be loved even when April deserts them or feels impossible to love that become her true family.

If I had to describe this book in one word I would call it heartwarming. April is a truly flawed character that you cannot help but want to hug. Thank you Netgalley and Gallery Books for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I think this book needed a little more in the beginning to really get your attention and draw the reader in. I did enjoy the character detail and the dynamics of the relationships. I felt the emotion was "spot on" in the prose and I think this is really good contemporary fiction. 3.5/5 stars.

Thanks to Gallery for the free book.
This is a coming of age tale, and I almost gave up on it. But I'm ultimately glad I didn't. This book is already getting so much love, so I know that I'm in the minority when it comes to this story. April is a strong, determined young woman that constantly lives in survival mode. I enjoyed her story and the characters that came into her life. I just thought the first part of the book dragged on and on. I absolutely adored parts two and three, so if it's slow for you, I would encourage you to keep going. I wish I could've been with these characters longer at the end of the book, even. This one will pull at your heartstrings.
Larkin can write. Her writing is so vivid. I could always easily picture the people and places. She captures the complexity of hard situations so well.

I was excited to get an advanced copy of The People We Keep after I saw that it was one of the Book of the Month Club selections for July. It tells the story of April, a teenage singer/songwriter, as she leaves home to build her own life. The book follows April over the course of several years as she tries to find somewhere to call home.

I got a slow start on this book. It took me a while to get to know April and to start to care about her problems and her life. But once I did, I couldn’t put the book down. This book is told from April’s perspective as a teenager from a troubled home. She is immature and frustrating. She makes terrible choices and finds herself in impossible situations. Ultimately, the book shows how she grows up, how she learns to love and trust, and how she eventually finds a family of her own.

I loved the character development in this story, not just of April, but of those she encounters. Although this story takes place in many different settings, it’s really about the people and relationships—good and bad.

Amazing, beautiful, heartwarming.

This book centers around April Sawicki, a sixteen year old singer/songwriter with a bad home life. Throughout the book we follow April's journey for several years as she goes to new places and meets new people. The "found family" trope is one of my absolute favoutes and this one did not disappoint. My heart ached for April and the things she went through and the longing she had to just belong and be cared for. I thought this story was so beautifully written and heartfelt. I felt like I was right there with April the whole time. I could not put this book down, staying up wayyyy too late to read it.

Overall, this book was 5⭐ for me, and I will definitely be buying it and reading it again!

Thank you Netgalley and Gallery Books for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. The People We Keep comes out August 3rd and I highly recommend it!

Special thanks to Gallery Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

OMG I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH!!!!! PLEASE READ THIS BOOK, EVERY SINGLE WORD, EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER IS GOOD!!!!!

April, 16, talented, has a crap life, she lives in a trailer her father won in a bet okay? Plus her father is a piece of scrap. Honestly, this man is abusive, is having a baby with another woman, and smashes her prize possession, her guitar. And she is so talented. After going to open mic night, she gets a little taste of the spotlight and she's off. Even if her boyfriend Matty (btw who's family thinks he's too good for her) thinks they will marry and stay in town. But that taste of open Mic night changes her and she's off. Stealing the car of her father's pregnant gf Irene, she stars out with very little in her possession.

But April is young, she has a lot to learn. She struggles, starves, freezes, lives in her car, she hurts, picks herself up again, starts over, stumbles again, but oh what a journey. The people she meets! Good, bad, everything is an experience. She's talented and your heart breaks for her, you root for her,. Every character in this book I fell in love with! This book was so, so great!

I never read a book 2x. I'd read this book over and over again. Thank you , author Allison Larkin. Bravo. This book is a solid gold winner. I'd give it 10 stars if I could!

April is a neglected teenager who survives in her dad’s motorhome with little more than her waitressing job, guitar, and boyfriend with a charming smile. Until she leaves. April hits the road with just her thoughts and her guitar. What happens is a story of disappointment, insecurity, instability, and how we find our people in the unlikeliest of circumstances.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s unnerving, and I felt so much concern for April because she’s a character that you root for. The way she worries about disappointing people and her constantly keeping others at an arms’ length felt incredibly relatable.

What this book does best is how it captures the inexplicable magic of unexpected human connection. The serendipity of new friendships. The way life reveals to us our chosen family.

I recommend reading this one. It’s pretty and engaging. My biggest complaint is that there’s a plot point later in the book that nearly always annoys me, but I won’t give anything away. Give it a read!

April, a neglecteg and abused teen leaves behind the only world she's ever known in search of freedom and security. The People We Keep follows the next few years of April's life and the people she encoubters.

The title of this book was so perfect. I loved April and all the people she got to keep. So much of this book was heartbreaking but the warmth in the relationships April had with those who loved and protected her, was everything.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy of The People We Keep.

I loved this book. It was one of the best coming of age books I've read in a while. The story revolves around April, a girl down on her luck who runs away from her small NY town at 16 in search of a better life. We follow her as she grows and moves, playing and writing music along the way. Each time she settles and starts to develop a found family, something unravels and she's back on the move. The main theme of this story is about found family and how many times, they end up being more important in your life than your own blood.

My only criticisms would be the end was a bit cliche and far fetched and as usual in books that talk about songwriters, the lyrics to their original songs are always so cheesy. I would highly recommend picking this up when it releases on August 3rd!

A coming-of-age story with lots of heart. This could also be a very nostalgic read for those who also came of age in the 90s, as young protagonist April makes her way across the country, meeting people, writing songs, and learning that her future does not have to be dictated by her past or her hometown. Perfect for those who enjoy reading about a young protagonist overcoming a difficult background.