Black Bear Lake is a story about trying to live your life but you can't because you're haunted by your past. Adam is on the verge of losing his wife because he just can't leave the trauma from a summer family reunion in the past where it belongs. He travels back to Black Bear Lake to confront his demons. Great character development. I also loved hearing all the references to things in the 1980's.!

Adam loves his wife, but their marriage is falling apart. He has recurring nightmares about his last summer at the annual family reunion at Black Bear Lake. He then begins recalling, in a wonderful & entrancing description, all the interactions & events of the month long reunion. The his love his family, nuclear & extended, is deeply felt. His hormones, at the age of 14, have a significant effect on his emotions & actions, as does the fact that his mother is dying of cancer. This is a deeply absorbing & well written book which I recommend to anyone looking for a really great read.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author Leslie Liautraud & the publisher Blue Handle Publishing for allowing me great pleasure of reading this wonderful book. I look forward to reading more of this author in the future.

This is a very touching and heartwarming story. Set mostly in the 1980s and about Adam Craig and the tragedy that hit his family. You feel for him so strongly.

He went back to Black Bear, to the cabin where all went wrong. He wants to save his marriage and ultimately his sanity. He's in therapy and it's his therapist's idea for him to visit the past and find closure so he can move forward and leave the past behind.

This is a short read filled with lots of emotion. It's a tearjerker so have tissues handy.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC. This is my own thoughts about this book.

4/5 stars and I do recommend it.

This was a nice, short story that tugged at my heartstrings. The plot really packs a punch and it’s hard not to feel for the main character.

We follow Adam, who is struggling to keep his marriage together because he was constantly tortured by what happened in Black Bear Lake in the past. He ended up making a trip back to face his ghosts and was reminded of the family reunion in Black Bear Lake decades earlier. The tragic events that happened during that reunion haunted him and made him rethink his decisions, the what ifs, the if only…While coming to terms with all that had happened, Adam learnt to find peace within himself and let go of the burden that is holding back from living his life.

I love the vivid scenes of Black Bear Lake. It’s really a perfect setting for a family trip but it shows that ominous things can happen amidst peaceful times. Most of the chapters were focused on flashbacks of Adam’s last family trip and it is heart-breaking to see the events unfold on this family. Each member carries their own regrets, sufferings but yet they are bounded together by love and comfort.

I also love the inner conflicts in Adam’s thoughts and how much he understands and sees in the perspective as a teenager. In a way, what happened in Black Bear Lake shaped who he became as an adult. It really made me wonder how much baggage we carry with us throughout our lives and how it affects us.

Thank you Netgalley and Blue Handle Publishing for the arc.

I will leave a review on Amazon and B&N on Sept 13th

Black Bear Lake written by Leslie Liautaud is mostly set in the 1980's as Adam takes the journey back in time, to show us why he is like he is today. I fell in love with most of his large extended family, although there were a few bad actors in the bunch. This book packs and emotional wallop, you will laugh at times and cry other times. This was a new author for me and overall, I enjoyed my first book from this author. I would recommend it to others.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher for free in exchange for my fair and honest review.

Thank you to #Netgalley and Blue Handle Publishing for letting me read this book for an honest review. Published 13th Sep 2022.

Adam is tortured by a traumatic event that happened to him during his teenage years at Black Bear Lake in Wisconsin where him and his large family used to vacate for the holidays. His grandfather owned a plot of land and then built several cabins for the family to stay in. And one summer tragedy hits, leaving debris of devastation and outrage, and so the cabins are left collecting dust, harbouring awful memories.

Adam hasn’t been back there since he was 15 years old but his therapist has encouraged him to revisit it, to allow him to confront his memories and process the trauma that happened there. The ghost of those events are taking over his life, stopping him from truly living.

This book is a short one but it is really quite complex and requires critical reading. It has quite a few layers. And made for a really dynamic reading experience. It deals heavily in grief and loss, and these two themes are the main overarching elements to the story, so at times the reading experience can be really suffocating. But I see this as a testament to the authors writing style because it really worked, and captured the essence and overbearing nature of grief.

The element of this story that has the least page time to it, actually has the biggest impact, and creates a fantastic symbolism of the building nature of a catalyst event. How small damage over time can create the most horrific consequences. I can’t tell you without spoiling the story but I thought it was a stroke of genius.

However, there were some moments that I think could have been expanded as it wasn’t always clear who was doing what and who was who to who, so it was quite confusing at times. For this reason, I rate this one 4 stars.

Overall, a clever, brilliant piece.

Another hit ARC by Netgalley!!

This book follows Adam in his journey to dismantle his life-long trauma, and weave his life back together.

The whole flashback of his last summer in the lakehouse got me so invested. I just couldn't help but care about his massive tangle of a family. Each carrying their own suffering, yet bounded so close together by the safety net of a family.

In a way this is also a coming of age story. We dive deep into Adam's inner conflict, how scary the crumbling world looks like from the perspective of a teenage boy.

I'm a huge fan of the organic mesh of relationship in this family. Especially of Adam and Dannie. The way we could tell how strong of a bond they have just through the one summer vacation. It's quite magical to witness teenagers leaning onto each other for support through their toughest times.

This book left me wondering whether all of us adults are so messed up as a result of the trauma we carry growing up. Imagine a horrible pain that keeps lingering, bleeding into our lives even decades after. Thats a whole lot of baggage waiting to be unraveled in therapy🤷🏻‍♀️.

I wanted to love this book so much, but I unfortunately DNF'd it at about the 20% mark. I just could not get into it at all. I think it was a combination of the writing style, the format of the book, and the main character.

Black Bear Lake is a fantastic book about some serious topics like grief, loss, being cheated on and trouble in family. Nevertheless is it an absolutely lovely story that touches your heart. The writing is stunning and flows beautifully like a river. Sometimes I couldn`t believe how perfect Leslie Liautaud captured your feelings with words. They were chosen perfectly.
And I literally saw not the big Bang at the end coming. Thank you very much for the amazing reading experience!

Thank you Leslie Liautaud and Blue Handle Publishing for the ARC of Black Bear Lake.

It took me a few days after finishing this novel to sit down to write my review for this YA coming-of-age novel because it has been haunting my thoughts ever since I finished it.

First, the writing. Told in first-person, the novel follows a young man named Adam—first, as an adult, and later, as a teenager as he reflects on the last summer he spent at his family's summer vacation destination, Black Bear Lake.

There is so much to love about this heartbreaking and hauntingly beautiful novel. The prose breathes with descriptions of the lake without getting bogged down in being too flourishing. Leslie flexes her muscles most when delving into inter-family drama and the emotions that Adam and Dannie (his best friend and cousin) wade through.

When I finished this novel, I was on a plane to Charleston, SC. Apparently I was crying harder than I thought I was because the woman across the aisle asked if I was alright and if I was afraid of planes.

So, crying on an airplane is the highest praise I can offer. Black Bear Lake is a five-star read and belongs at the top of your TBR pile.

Wow. This one packs an emotional wallop. Our protagonist, Adam, is struggling in his marriage, emotionally burdened by events from his past. He ends up making a trip back to Black Bear Lake, the site of a momentous family reunion decades earlier, whose tragic ramifications have haunted him ever since. The bulk of the novel is a flashback to that summer of 1983, a beautifully written story whose characters come alive on the page in ways elusive to most authors. There’s a warmth and honesty to young Adam that draws you into his journey, his extended family, and makes you care about them. On the surface, it seems like a simple task, getting the reader to fully invest in your characters, something every book seeks to accomplish but, as a voracious reader who averages about 100 books a year, I find that few fully succeed. Black Bear Lake is a rare exception. One of 2022’s best.

I have never heard of this book before reading the synopsis on this website and it sounded so good. And with saying that it ended up being so good. I did not wanna stop reading. I brought it with me while I cooked and cleaned and even to the little girls room. I give this book a 4/5.

This was a down to earth book with real life family humour ,hardships and drama that many readers can relate. If not luckily enough. The author makes you feel like you are with the family. This is such a sweet read allowing the reader to Experience being with in a nice big family, back when times where much simpler and family times was cherished.
The story is focused on Adam and his cousin dani, who share a unique bond which is truly special. Something happened that summer, only facing the past can you move on with your life. An exceptional read, such raw , real authentic writing. I was very impressed with this read. The ending totally caught me off guard. This is not my typical read but wow this book was great. I highly recommend

I really did not like this unfortunately. The writing did not click with me and the story was not what I expected. I dislike the main character Adam and sometimes i feel like it dragged.

This was a sweet book, a good read on a cozy afternoon. A stockbroker, Adam Craig, is having anxiety attacks and dreams that are threatening to disrupt his marriage. Traumatized as a young teen, and now in therapy, he forces himself to return to where everything happened that one, fateful summer that he’s tried to forget yet is unconsciously controlling his life, He came from a large, close knit family, with cousins, nieces, nephews, in-laws and outlaws, all gathered together at a camp compound built by his grandfather. Each family had a cabin, and would swim, fish, play games all day, gather for large home-cooked meals in the main hall, then the parents would gather around a bonfire with lawn chairs and drinks at night while the younger ones played in the water or in the woods. It had a bit of “The Wonder Years” vibe, the sweetness and innocence, that was shattered as was their world that summer as they knew it. I don’t want to give any of the story away, and I read this in one sitting. I just couldn’t wait to see what had happened that was so traumatic. The characters were clearly written, the story concise. The conclusion seemed a little rushed, but was satisfying. If you like coming of age stories, young love and emotions, and the unconditional love and closeness of family, you would enjoy this book.
Thank you to Netgalley, author Liautaud, and Blue Handle publishers for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.