This book is not an easy one to read. It's heavy, so heavy, but so worth it. There is so much heart contained in these dark pages, so much hope and so much strength, in these characters just longing to find their way and their people. Every emotion courses through you as you read this book, and at the end, you're left feeling drained, tired, spent, but somehow redeemed, and it's absolutely amazing.

Thanks to NetGalley, Book Club Girl, and William Morrow for this copy of "Shadows of Pecan Hollow."

It was hard to believe this was a debut novel. It was gritty, heart-wrenching, suspenseful, yet tender and uplifting at the same time.

Author Frost creates such realistic characters in Kit and her daughter Charlie as they struggle to understand and love each other and fit into their community. They tell you what they're thinking and feeling and their internal conflicts.

And Manny - what an unscrupulous psychopath so of course you're rooting for Kit to figure out how he's been manipulating her all these years.

This was a really great book! The mystery and character development kept me invested in the story, and I am so happy I got the chance to read it!

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

A little slower paced than I'd prefer, but a wonderful story overall.

As a good Texas girl, I love books set in Texas! I’m so happy one of my favorite debut reads this year happened to be set in Texas!

Shadows of Pecan Hollow is set in 1970-90s Texas, and is a wonderful story about a fierce woman and the partner-in-crime she can’t escape. This historical fiction/ thriller story jumps between POVs and follows Kit as a runaway through her mid thirties. Kit is a fascinating character, motivated by rage and loneliness. She 100% reminds me of Ruth Langmore from Ozarks.

Honestly everything about this book is wonderful. The writing is stellar, especially for a debut. The plot is well structured and engaging. The characterizations are strong and I really enjoyed watching the growth of all our characters.

I really enjoyed the dual timelines, with narration switching between Kit’s past with Manny when she was her daughters age, and the present day (1990) in Pecan Hollow. Switching between the two timelines was seamless and gave us such an initiate look into Kit’s life, her mental state, and the circumstances surroundingher choices.

It’s being compared to Where the Crawdads Sing & Valentine. While I normally disagree with comparisons, I definitely felt the Valentine vibes in this book. This is a fabulous debut, and while it’s a page turner, it’s not neccesarily an ‘easy’ read. This will definitely be one of my favorites for 2022 and I can’t wait for more from Frost.

TW: some animal abuse, mentions of sexual abuse.

Shadows of Pecan Hollow is out now! Huge thank you to William Morrow for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. If you liked this review please let me know either by

I received Shadow of Pecan Hollow as an #ARC. Caroline Frost's inaugural novel did not disappoint. A teenage Kit Walker has bounced from one foster family to another. A social worker lets slip that there is family in Pecan Hollow, Tx. Kit leaves her latest foster home in search of Pecan Hollow. Along the way, she meets Manny Romero. The two develop a Bonnie-Clyde relationship. When Kit is finally able to separate herself from Manny, she heads to Pecan Hollow. She creates a new, but hard life for herself. She lives without a worry from Manny for many years, but her childhood has made it hard for her to love and be loved.

The book is well written and kept me reading. It is a new author who should not be overlooked.

This was a really odd book. Of course, I pitied Kit - but she was quite hard to like. Even Charlie was hard to like. Yes, yes, I get that so much of a person is a result of how they were treated or raised, but it was still just too heavy for me sometimes. But, then again, I couldn't stop reading it! I'm glad for what happened to Manny after all!

This dark, slow burn read really surprised me in the best way. This heartbreaking story of redemption and resilience will stay with me for a long while.

Overall, this was an impressive debut. I look forward to seeing what this author writes next.

Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow, and Custom House for a digital copy of this book.

I am thankful to the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book. While I ended up liking it overall, it took me a looooong time to get into it. Like, months. I started it back in January and just couldn’t get through more than 1-2 chapters at a time until I would put it down for weeks at a time. Finally at 47%, I was invested enough to get through the rest in just a couple days. The subject matter was a little too disturbing for my liking, but I did appreciate the themes of resilience, forgiveness, and second chances.

Are you looking for a lighthearted read to give you all the warm and fuzzies? Well, you ain't gonna find it in Shadows of Pecan Hollow by Caroline Frost, so you best look elsewhere for that. I definitely needed something light and funny after I got finished with this rather long, really tough read. In my opinion, this was on the slower side, but I loved the setting in Texas and the way Frost made it come alive in her writing. The story is mostly told from Kit's viewpoint, and there is such a tense and melancholic mood to the whole book. There is quite a bit of violence throughout as well, and my heart was constantly breaking for Kit and what she had to go through. Things get incredibly intense towards the end especially, and I loved seeing how both Kit and her daughter grew throughout the book.

I was really impressed that this was a debut considering how much was going on in the story, and I thought all of Frost's characters were wonderfully fleshed out. I highly recommend listening to the audiobook which Alex McKenna narrates, and I was really happy with her narration of the entire book. Shadows of Pecan Hollow did feel a bit wordy to me at times, and the audiobook is almost 16 hours, but luckily, I really enjoyed it so that wasn't an issue, and helped me with the slower pace. It was an interesting premise and I think Frost's writing was fairly fluid and it definitely kept me engaged. I do think this is a TOUCH overhyped, but it will be worth the read for so many people, and I highly recommend it if you are pulled in by the premise!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This debut novel set in East Texas goes back and forth between the 1970s and the 1990s. The main character is Kit Walker, a kid who the foster care system has failed and is abducted by smooth-talking Manny Romero in 1970. Manny begins grooming Kit to become his accomplice in schemes that eventually escalate to serious crimes over time. The two become infamous for their gas station robberies and are dubbed the Texas Twosome. When one of their schemes goes wrong, Kit makes a split-second decision to run and free herself from Manny's grip. Manny is arrested but never reveals Kit's identity to the authorities. Thirteen years later, Manny is released from prison and winds up in the small town that Kit has tried to make a life for herself in, though she still hasn't been fully accepted by the locals. His charisma is as strong as ever and he begins insinuating himself into the community with the ultimate goal of making Kit pay him back for the events that led to his arrest.

The tension is palpable throughout, as was Manny's sinister nature. I found the story unsettling, but I credit the writing for making me feel all sorts of uncomfortable. I don't know if I'd say that I "liked" this tale, but I thought the writing was superb. I felt like I'd been transported in time and place, and the characters felt three-dimensional.

Many thanks to HarperCollins/William Morrow and the Book Club Girl Early Read program for the NetGalley digital copy!

Oh, my, the resilience of some people. Kit was abandoned by her mother soon after her birth and Kit spent her childhood in the foster system. When she ran a way from an abusive home life, she is caught trying to steal a takeout bag from a car and she becomes an accomplice of the car’s owner as they rob gas stations. When Manny is arrested at the scene of a bungled burglary, Kit flees. She sets out to look for a great aunt, who accepts her as a daughter and is thrilled Kit is having a baby. But Kit and her daughter, Charlie, have a rough relationship because Kit has such a tough personality, and she doesn’t know how to parent. Pecan Hollow, where Aunt Eleanor lives, is a small east Texas town filled with the usual array of small-town citizen, quick to criticize but also quick to help. When Manny shows up and finds he has a daughter, things become dangerous for Kit and Charlie. At the end, I was so proud of the two who not only had discovered a real mother-daughter relationship but had found a real home in Pecan Hollow.

In 1970 Ki Walker, a foster home runaway is abducted by Manny Romero, a petty criminal. He grooms her to be his robbery partner. After a failed robbery she escapes and settles in the small town of Pecan Hollow where she hides her criminal past and raises her daughter. Several years later Manny, released from prison, shows up in Pecan Hollow. Reluctantly she allow him back into her life. The narrative switches between the 1970s and 1990 to illuminate the ways in which psychological abuse scars lives. This novel’s strong woman does overcome trauma to achieve the security and love she has always sought.

I really enjoyed Shadows of Pecan Hollow. The way the past and the present were woven together was really well done. The characters were well developed, and the plot was fast moving and engaging. I would highly recommend this book to readers who enjoyed Where the Crawdads Sing and All the Ugly and Wonderful Things. It has dual timelines in the 70s and 90s and is mainly about the life and people surrounding Kit Walker, an orphan who has been through chaos with foster care and group homes, until she is abducted at the age of 13 by Manny Romero, a career criminal. The second timeline picks up 13 years later, when Manny is released from prison. Charlie's past and present come together at the end of the book.
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

WOW, This story was a rush from the beginning to the end. Thank you Caroline Frost was a raw, emotional tale. The story has some trigger topics that some may not be able to read about. I feel the writing was brilliant.

🥜 BOOK / REVIEW 🥜

#shadowsofpecanhollow has been on my #tbr forever!! I have been hearing about this book from a ton of #bookstagrammers and friends, so I decided to finally dive in.

No idea what I was expecting from this, but I am not sure why this was categorized as a #thriller. Sure, there were a lot of pulse pounding moments and a bit of mystery surrounding Kit and Manny's relationship, but I would call this more #literaryfiction than anything.

This was really well written, but not a fast read. Also, there are some very disturbing descriptions in this that left me feeling icky.

Overall, a good read - I would suggest this to other readers, but advice would be to read the description and some other reviews first. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Kit is 13 when she decides to abandon being abandoned. She’s been in foster care since she was a baby, in more homes than she can remember, but none of them has been good. Or even decent. She’s starving in every way and so takes off for a town called Pecan Hollow where an overworked social worker let her know she has family. She has no plan except to run and hide so she doesn’t get caught and sent back. Instead, on the first day, she’s hauled out of a car as she’s trying to steal a bag of fast food from the front seat. But instead of turning her in, the man who catches her changes her life in Shadows of Pecan Hollow.

Manny is the handsomest man Kit has ever seen. His skin is brown like hers, but his eyes are blue. He’s charming and kind and immediately takes her to get real food. Then he asks her if, rather than going to a boring small town, she’d like to have adventures with him. Kit sees no reason why not. She’s almost feral, sleeps with a knife, and knows she can take care of herself. For the next six years their relationship progresses personally from big brother to something far more complex and professionally from shoplifting to robbing gas stations. It’s only when Manny’s behavior escalates into drug induced violence that threatens their lives and livelihoods that Kit takes off, leaving him holding the bag for their crimes.

When Shadows of Pecan Hollow opens Kit lives in Pecan Hollow, works at a veterinarian clinic, and is now firmly encased in her impenetrable outsider shell. She interacts with the people in town on a transactional basis only, knowing what they say about her. She’s rough, rude, fierce, and a loner. She’s not happy this way, but she has no point of reference for change. It’s easier to let people think what they want. And then, Manny turns up, ready to start a new chapter in his life after a decade in prison. Once again, the snow globe of Kit’s life is shaken hard.

Even though it takes place in a small town Shadows of Pecan Hollow is a Texas-sized novel. Pulled apart, the characters, their actions, and many of the events seem overly dramatic, but the way author Caroline Frost writes it, it couldn’t happen any other way. Kit is a person so stripped of identity that she’s a blank slate for someone like Manny to write on. He does, creating a character who perfectly fits his needs, but tapping into Kit’s darkest beliefs about herself. Throughout the novel, despite being difficult, she draws the reader on. The need to know what’s going to happen is conveyed in Frost’s sharp, dry prose. Shadows of Pecan Hollow feels like a story pulled out of an author, a bit uncontrolled, but in a way that makes me want to know what Frost will write next.

Meh.

This book was so hard to get into. And honestly, I was glad to be finished with it. I had to borrow the audio book from the library because I just couldn’t make myself read it on my kindle.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the story itself. It’s enchanting and the author did well painting a world where this story takes place, but this just wasn’t the book for me.

My sincerest thanks to NetGalley, William Morrow and Custom House publishers, and Caroline Frost for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. Shadows of Pecan Hollow is available now.

This title was phenomenal. Like adding to my favorite books of all time good. How is this a debut?! This author writes like a classic american literature writer with hundreds of years on her belt. Every since sentence was meaningful, lavish, and beautiful. Not only was the story captivating and kept me on the edge of my seat, but I was also mesmerized but the beautiful imagery and description of every person or thing seen from Kit’s perspective. I must have more from Caroline Frost!! Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this masterpiece in exchange for my review.

I found this book to be problematic and tone-deaf. The protagonist has a pretty weak character to begin with and unfortunately, she never really finds her legs. Fans of historical fiction during slave times will like it, but the lack of character development and the dialogue did not seem natural.