After finishing Kinfolk, I immediately went looking to see what else Sean Dietrich has written. He has excellent voice in this story and his writing made me feel like I was right there, in Parke, Southern Alabama with Jeremiah Lewis Taylor, his cousin and sidekick Benny and Minnie, a 15 YO waitress with no family. Jeremiah, better known as Nub was not a good husband, father or grandfather. He was a drinker, brawler and ne'er to well. When he meets Minnie, something inside him changes. They become friends and he realized that Minnie has an amazing voice, one that could easily make a go at the Grand Ole Opry. Minnie has been bullied because her father is in prison, and she is gangly and looks different. When one of the bullies begins paying attention to her, she ends up pregnant. She is placed into a home for unwed mothers, and Nub applies to be her guardian. Never did he plan on changing, but Minnie brings something into his life and slowly, he becomes the man he always could have been.

All I can say is WOW. This is a powerful story about found family, forgiveness, new beginnings and the resiliency of man. Nub was such a great character. Although his actions definitely harmed himself, he did not do anything to harm others. Even when he ended up in a brawl, he didn't start it, only protected himself or someone else. Minnie is a wonderful character as well. She was basically alone after the death of her mother and was taken advantage of by the town bully. The 1970s in Southern Alabama were different, it was very much "the good old boys club". Men ran the town, the economy and often the law and the privileged, the sports stars, the sons could get away with just about anything. Nub was threatened, his house burgled and set afire and more, but nothing was done. The secondary characters, his friend Benny, his daughter Emily and others were well fleshed out and played important roles in the book. Emily had me tearing up more than once, the daughter that was basically abandoned by her father, but never gave up trying to have a relationship with him. Kinfolk is a well written, gritty, at times dark, at times humorous book that pulled me in and kept me gripped from start to finish.

Kinfolk is a love letter to growing up in the South. It shows the good, the bad, and the ugly of what it is really like to live in this region. Dietrich pens his story with a tender hand, using nostalgia and a realistic view to tell this tale in equal measure. A quirky and endearing cast of characters round out this story to culminate in a novel that will delight readers with its sentimentality.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Harper Muse through NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

A gritty and heartwarming southern tale of family from Sean Dietrich.

An engaging feel-good tale of friendship and family, in 1970's Alabama. Nub Taylor is the last person anyone would have figured on befriending the six foot five fifteen year old pregnant Minnie, with his history of letting people down and run-ins with the law. But though they may seem an odd duo, Minnie and Nub are just what the other needs in this heartwarming Southern read.

A riveting read with a full cast of colorful characters, strong themes of family, friendship, and forgiveness. I loved seeing how Nub and Minnie changed each other for the better, helping each other reconnect with family, and finding the confidence to blaze new trails.

Mr. Deitrich richly captures honest characters, in a way that feels larger than life, yet realistic and gritty at the same time. His books have an excellent sense of time and place, and each one has been better than the last. Definitely, recommend.

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

What a great story! This author did such a great job at sucking me into this time with these characters and falling so in love with them. I rooted for them, laughed with them, cried with them, and wanted to hug them. What a great book! I’ll definitely be looking into this authors other books!

LOVED THIS BOOK!! Oh my gosh, this was such a heartfelt story. Sean Dietrich has such a talent for spinning a good tale. I thoroughly enjoyed it. My tears do not come easily with books but they did with this one. Great job.

Title: Kinfolk
By: Sean Dietrich

Genre:
Historical Fiction, Mystery, Southern Fiction,

Red Flags:
Suicide, Alcoholism, Cancer, Teen Pregnancy, Bullying

Favorite Quote:
“People are what make life worth it; people are the buried treasure. People who understand you, people who will bleed with you, people who will make your life richer. Your people, your kinfolk.”

Summary:
It’s 1970’s in Southern Alabama, and “Nub” has been told his whole life he is a screw up. He is known as the town drunk, who has lost everything in life worth living for, until he has a chance encounter with Minnie, a six foot five, fifteen- year- old waffle house waitress. Minnie has endured insurmountable pain as she has lost the important role models and examples in her life. Dealing with the trauma Minnie finds her way through her love of music.

Review:
This is my first Sean Dietrich novel, but definitely not my last! It is engaging, engrossing, and emotional! I read this book quickly, and found Sean Dietrich’s talent to be beautifully written, lyrical prose of love, loss, forgiveness, and family. Kinfolk is a reminder of necessary opportunities second chances give us all, a touching reminder we as a people and culture need to remember daily.

I highly recommend this novel to fans of William Kent Krueger and Fredrik Backman. Personally, I believe Dietrich to be a brilliant blend of these two authors!

Thank you to Sean Dietrich, Harper Muse, and NetGalley for the Advanced Readers Copy for free. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

#reluctantreaderreads
#Sean Dietrich
#netgalley #netgalleyreads
#Kinfolk #Harpermuse
#advancedreadercopies

Minnie is a fifteen-year-old pregnant girl who works at the Waffle House. Nub is an alcoholic man who is the town drunk and has no ties to his family because he always embarrasses them. Kinfolk is the story of how two people with nothing in common and a world that has turned against them, help one another through poverty, poor choices, and bad luck to find the true meaning of family.

I absolutely loved the last quarter of this book. It is so beautiful. However, the first half is slow, and I struggled to connect to the characters. It felt a bit fragmented to me - without much emotion. I wish the first half read more like the end. Thank you NetGalley for an arc of Kinfolk in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved Kinfolk! It was the last book I read in 2023 and easily ended up on my list of top reads of the year! This is one of those books that sticks with you long after reading and is one that I will definitely be recommending.

Kinfolk by Sean Dietrich

Small town southern Alabama is the setting, and the era was such that I could have been sister to Minnie. High school is a time in life that is remembered fondly by some who probably hit their highest point then but for others…it is a time best forgotten. I wonder I Minnie would consider it a good or bad time in her life.

This story grew on me as I read it. At first, I wasn’t sure I would enjoy it or even finish but it drew me in, made me care, and wonder how the characters I came to know and feel for would come through it all in the end. All of the characters had issues to deal with and seemed to be doing their best to get on with and get through with every day. There were issues of dysfunctional families, suicide, divorce, estrangement, alcohol addiction, bullying, unexpected pregnancy, cancer, near death, racketeers that wanted revenge, secrets, inept adults…and yet the good things included found family, acceptance, finding one’s strengths, personal growth, support, love, caring, strength, survival, music, and a feel-good ending.

The plot was engaging, the writing clean and tight, the setting easy to visualize, the characters were well developed and worthy of having their stories told, and the overall impression I came away with was that I would be willing to read another book by this author in the future even though it is not a genre I usually choose to read.

Thank you to netGalley and Harper Muse for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4-5 Stars

This beautiful well written novel takes place in the 1970s in Southern Alabama. It features some quirky unforgettable characters that prove it's never too late to change and have a second chance in life.

I have read this author's blog and some of his non-fiction but this is the first fiction book that I've read by him and it definitely won't be the last! He has a way of writing that makes you laugh one minute and cry the next. He writes characters that you feel like you know (especially if you live in a small town in the South) and characters that you care about long after you've read the last page.

Nub is the town drunk. He has an ex-wife that avoids him and a daughter who tries to make him change but after 62 years, he feels like he's having too much fun to change his life. As the novel begins, he and his cousin (his drinking buddy) are drinking at the Legion hall on Thanksgiving. Nub ends up in a car accident while he police are chasing him and ends up in the hospital and is told that he needs to change his life but what reason is there for him to make a change after all these years. Then he meets Minnie who works at the Waffle House. She is a very tall 15 year old whose dad is in prison and her mom has just committed suicide. To top it off, she's pregnant! Her goal in life has been to sing at the Grand Old Opry - she has the voice to do it but how often does a poor pregnant girl from rural Alabama get a chance to sing at the place revered by country music fans. Minnie and Nub meet at the hospital and dislike each other intensely., As Nub gets to know Minnie better, he begins to feel sorry for her and wants to take care of her. Can Nub change and find redemption from his past while he helps Minnie find her path in life? It was interesting to see these characters change throughout the book -- Nub went from being the town drunk to really caring about someone else, which also changed his relationship with his daughter. Minnie went from being a pregnant teen with no one who cared about her to becoming strong through her relationship with and encouragement from Nub.

This is a book about family, love and redemption that shows that it's possible to change no matter your age or your circumstances. It's about family - not just the family you are born into but also the family each person creates with the people they love and care about. I loved this story and characters so much that I think its time to check out earlier books by this author!

I haven't read a book as good as this one for a long time! Nub is such a flawed but heartwarming character. It is a book about small town living, remembrances, kindness, redemption, and people who are born into your family and those that become your family. It tugged at my heartstrings and had some humor, suspense, and a bit of sass. The characters were memorable and the writing style makes me able to relate to a character in a few short sentences.

It's the 1970s in Southern Alabama and Jeremiah Lewis Taylor, or “Nub", is 62 years old, the town drunk, divorced from Loretta and estranged from his daughter Emily who is a widow. Nub befriends Minnie Bass, a 6'5" 15-year-old whose father is in prison and whose mother is dead.

This is one of the best books I've read in 2023. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters, even when they were misbehaving - drinking and smoking and damaging property. It's a really comfortable book to read and elicited chuckles and tears and a feeling of pride in the characters who never stayed down for long as they struggled to turn their lives around. I'm pretty sure there was little, if any, profanity in the book. Highly recommended.

Watch out for deer Nub!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you to Harper Muse via Netgalley for approving my request to read this novel.
Published: November 14, 2023

A Rare View Of The South As It Really Is. As a native Son of the South - and in particular of a region *so* steeped in most *all* of its history, from prehistoric Native American burial mounds to the first female (and last slave owning) US Senator - it is rare for me to find a book that portrays Southern life *well*, both in its strengths and its weaknesses. This book does exactly that. It doesn't shy away from our ne'erdowells, it doesn't make excuses for assholes. But it shows that most everyone is somebody to someone, even if it takes them a lifetime to figure that out. There's a lot here that may make some uneasy, including a violent on screen suicide to open the book, a detailed discussion of breast cancer in an era before that particular affliction was as well known as it is now, a mother's untimely death, and I'm sure even more depending on the reader's own sensibilities - those are just the biggest ones. But even there, Dietrich uses those things in furtherance of the story he is telling, and he does in fact wind up using every single one quite well to paint a particularly vibrant tapestry of words. There are many stories to tell of Southern life, but if one is looking to read a zany at times tale that will pull the heartstrings quite a bit - and yes, even make the room quite dusty a time or two - this is absolutely one of those types of tales. What Jimmy Buffett's fiction did for the Caribbean, Sean of the South's is doing for the American South in general. Very much recommended.

I was really excited when I got the opportunity to read this book as it sounded right up my alley. And it was.

Nub is a man who doesn't really have much to live for. He is always drunk, his ex-wife hates him, his daughter is no longer in his life and he doesn't have two cents to rub together.

Minnie is doing it tough too. She is a 15 year old waitress who is going nowhere fast.

When these two people connect, it is the most unlikely of friendships. However, Minnie and Nub are good for each other and gradually others in their orbit realise that they both have so much more to offer than anyone realised.

I loved Minnie's character so much, she was a girl with so much against her but she just kept on putting one foot in front of the other and kept going. We should all have that kind of strength when things get tough.

And Nub started off pretty unlikeable but by the end of the book I had a great deal of respect and admiration for him.

Really lovely book. One of those where the story kind of weaves around and you get taught a few life lessons along the way.

5 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Muse.

This book was nothing like I expected--in a good way, lol.

It's funny (downright hilarious at times), heartwarming, frustrating--all the feels that mark a good book.

I'd not read any of Dietrich's books before, but had been mildly familiar with him through a Facebook group I belong to. My interest was piqued after I moved to the South myself earlier this year, and I think I appreciated the read that much more as a result. Waffle Houses on nearly every corner where I now live--as ubiquitous as the Starbucks on every corner back home in the PNW--created just the niche connection I needed, and shed light into the phenomenon of said restaurant that I hadn't really understood until now.

There's a nice ribbon of faith woven throughout _Kinfolk_ (albeit some language, as well, which was disappointing for me personally). The read turned out particularly timely to pick up during Q4, with Thanksgiving and Christmas on the brain; again, having recently moved from one corner of the country to another, I have a new appreciation for both my blood-related family, my church family, and the dear friends I can and do call family. Life looks a bit different for me now than even a year ago, and _Kinfolk_ is is a great reminder of where one can find family--anywhere, if we're only willing to look.

I received an eARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Kinfolk by Sean Dietrich
Pub Date: November 14, 2023
Harper Muse
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
I highly recommend this book. 5 stars
Beloved Southern writer Sean Dietrich, also known as Sean of the South, once again brings people and places to life in this lyrical song-turned-story about found family, second chances, country music, and the poignant power of love and forgiveness.

Heartwarming Southern fiction from Sean of the South
Stand-alone novel
Includes discussion questions for book clubs
Also by Sean Dietrich: The Incredible Winston Browne, Stars of Alabama, and You Are My Sunshine

I loved this redemptive story and all the characters in it. Very touching but also very well written! This will appeal to a wide range of readers!

First time reading this author but definitely won't be the last. Such a great story. Where have I been not hearing of this author?

Another book of Mr. Dietrich doing what he does so well: tugging at the heartstrings while sprinkling humor. Sometimes on the same page! I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Even though the story began on a tragic note, I kept reading since I wasn't sure where it was headed. I was hooked by the literary style of this author, which is intriguing, imaginative, insightful, and includes irresistible well timed humor.

The author examines life in the deep South during the 1970s in a profoundly moving and emotional way. Despite appearing to have nothing in common, our diverse cast of characters is connected by circumstance, trauma, and sorrow.

Nub Taylor meets a teenage girl named Minnie Bass. He offers to take care of her as she had no one else, and they form an unexpected friendship. For Nub, this is an opportunity to make up for the lost years he and his daughter Emily endured as a result of his alcohol abuse. The suicide of Minnie Bass’s mother and her father's life sentence were two of the many tragedies Minnie had to cope with. She finds solace in the lies of a high school student after losing both parents. She finds herself pregnant with a guy who has no plans to support her.

Sean is a master at creating characters that readers can identify with, enjoy, and easily sympathize with. How this story ended surprised me in a good way. I found myself cheering, my throat tightening with tears of joy for these characters and their situations. It will have you cheering. Makes for an incredible read and one your book club won’t soon forget.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I requested and received a copy of this book from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Nora St. Laurent
TBCN Where Book Fun Begins!
The Book Club Network blog https://psalm516.blogspot.com/