"How many seasons can I afford to miss because I forgot to pay attention?"

The author had me when she claimed to be a 50-year-old woman living on a 64-acre farm. Dang! I expected to be in for some primo nature writing.

She lost me when she admitted that she had inexplicably rounded up her age, was really only 39, and had four young children. And, indeed, most essays are more about raising kids than the wonders of nature.

These are certainly not bad essays, but I would recommend them more for parents than nature lovers.

Thank you to the author, North Country Press and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This collection of essays was a wonderful discovery - I loved the author's writing style as she described her life as a writer, mother, wife, wage earner and homesteader. Lots of chaos, as is to be expected in a family with four small children, and so much tenderness for nature, relationships, family and rural living. As is the normal way of things, not all the essays resonated equally with me, but I very much look forward to reading more from this author!

Thanks @netgalley and @5applefarm for this beautiful meditation on life, love, family and land, I really enjoyed it. 4.5 stars!

I received a copy of this book from Net Galley, in exchange for an honest review.

I love collections of essays and vignettes. This one is lovely for the most part. I love her writing style. The author's introspective pieces are the most enjoyable parts of the book. The first, "42 Acres" is my absolute favorite and I wish the rest of the collection were like that one.

While I have no doubt Neves loves her husband and children, I didn't like reading about them as much. The writings about raising children were relatable, as a parent to multiple small people myself. I am not disappointed in the time I spent strolling through this little slice of life in rural Maine, and I hope to read more from this author.

Recommend for anyone who enjoys vignettes and peeks into other people's lives.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Jennifer Neves’s “Chainsaw and Cherry Burls” reads like a mishmash of essays, narrative storytelling, poetry, and stream of consciousness, offering mediations on parenthood, the natural world, rural living, and a whole lot of other things. There are thoughts in here on so many different things that it was inevitable that some threads would be dropped, and sometimes the wandering paths from topic to topic are difficult to make sense of. There are some parts that were a struggle to get through, for example the seemingly endless discussions of moving wood piles and the difficulties of putting mittens onto children, which really wore at my patience.

On the plus side, there was some extraordinarily beautiful language and the stories contained within are clearly very important to the author and her family. At times while reading, I felt like I knew them (having also grown up in Maine, there’s actually a nonzero chance that I do somehow know them — the entire state is a small town). Many of the activities depicted are things that brought me back to my own upbringing, and for anyone who is interested in what it’s like living in an out-of-the-way spot in Maine, this will give you a pretty good idea.

Recommendation for this one really comes down to personal preference. I didn’t get as much out of reading this as I was hoping for, but there are certainly many readers out there who will find beauty and solace in these pages.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of Chainsaws and Cherry Burls by Jennifer Neves in exchange for an honest review. I loved this book and now wants to live on some property with fruit trees. I loved the relationship the author has with her land, her husband and her kids. This was very relatable and honest.