Kacey is the new girl in Broken Falls. When she moved in with her father, she stepped into a brand-new life. A life with a stepbrother, a stepmother, and strangest of all, an adoring younger half sister. As a group, come up with a list of other pieces of media that deal with entangled family bonds, gender politics, women’s friendships, and childhood trauma, and discuss how these selections differ from or are similar to Little Monsters.

Worried Winnie – She is a little girl who worries about everything, especially about what is going to happen to her or the entire world. She worries about these things so much, she tries her best to do something about it, even if they are not really something to worry about. Revolting Ronnie – He is a disgusting little boy. Ronnie has a filthy habit of collecting maggots, slugs, worms, and any animal anyone would consider disgusting. He will even do disgusting things, like disgusting artwork when out of nice clean paints. But it’s not only prose that sells this story. Thomas so fully inhabits the teenage mind that dialogue is startlingly authentic. And the characters are so vividly depicted that they seem like old friends. The whodunnit almost becomes secondary to the protagonist’s fate. It’s practically painful that you can no longer follow Kacey’s journey. Like she was a vital piece ripped from you, never to return.

The chapters in Little Monsters alternate between the three Gardners and two other characters, who add depth of field to hidden events in the Gardner’s complicated history. Jenny, the once wild-child and now tamed trophy wife of Ken’s, remains Abby’s best friend, ever since their first year at the Rhode Island School of Design. Jenny is now conflicted over where to place her loyalty, and equally at odds over what she has become. I adore books that encroach on the dark, secret lives of teenage girls and this book did so in an exciting yet unpredictable way. From sneaking out at midnight to parties, to holding seances in haunted and remote buildings - this book was a series of exhilarating scenes tied together with the dark undertone of both the reader and the characters second-guessing everyone's motives. No emotion was spared and I spent much of my time reading this breathless with either suspense or terror. Little Monsters drew me in first by its cover, second by the synopsis, and lastly by the author's storytelling and beautiful writing style. I adore Family Fiction, the more complicated the better. This is described as being drawn from the biblical tale of "Cain and Abel" and perhaps there are hints of it here and there, but this story definitely stands on its own. I’m smitten with books that keep me guessing. The more complicated the mystery, the more invested I am in the plot, the characters and especially the ending. I always try to guess the twist. It’s part of why I love murder-mystery books so much. It’s like I’m transported into the story, alongside the main character, trying to figure out what the hell is going on. Bonus points if the story has an unreliable narrator. Taking this into account, it was a given that I would have so much fun reading this book. There was a constant air of mystery surrounding everything, which helped me immerse in the book world. Okay, then. Is the CVS in Orleans still your primary pharmacy?” the doctor asked, concluding their visit as he’d started it, hunched over his computer.

I love these messed up characters who are easy to either love or love to hate. Their issues, their journeys, their goals are what spark a thread of connection in this reader. It's the reason I love Family Fiction and why I highly recommend Little Monsters to others who love it, too! The siblings are diametrically opposed in personality and temperament. The conservative Ken is a successful real estate developer with political aspirations who “married into an old Boston Brahmin family” and “already had social status and access to money.” The bohemian, single Abby is a “graduate of RISD, 1999” and had been “making art on Cape Cod ever since.” Helpful Henry – He is a good little boy. Henry is always eager to help other people, even if they do not need help. Henry is always eager to help other people, even if they do not need help. Sometimes, Henry's "helping" can lead to trouble. Dangerous Dave – He is a daring little boy. He is a daredevil, willing to do anything that is dangerous. Dave is always willing to do dangerous things, like climbing the highest trees, walking tightropes, and even diving. Bipolar Adam is spinning from “I have one more discovery left” to depression leading up to his 70th birthday bash.A familial drama with alternating POV’s that traverses their lives but doesn’t really seem to go anywhere.

Kara Thomas delivers a twisty well plotted teenage suspense novel. I enjoyed the story, the characters, and the writing. Siblings Ken and Abby Gardner have always stayed involved in each other’s lives, once close, yet feeling adrift after losing their mother when they were young children. Ken is a successful businessman with political aspirations and Abby is an artist. Their father, Adam, is a smart oceanographer although at times, wasn’t always the best father. The 2016 set story begins with the anticipation of a birthday celebration, and as preparations are made, each characters’ relationship to Adam Gardner is explored. Adam will reach the milestone of age 70 in mid-August and wants to stay relevant. He’s on the verge of what might be his last scientific breakthrough before retirement as a widely respected and highly lauded marine biologist who specializes in whales. going to try my best to explain my thoughts here… 😅 Sometimes I struggle reading and reviewing literary fiction in bookish communities because there is a pressure that you have to like it, and if you don’t you must not “get it.” You must not understand the themes. You must suffer. You must enjoy said suffering.First introduced in 1998, the five-minute episodes of Little Monsters were co-produced by Ealing Studios and CBBC. Little Monsters was also translated into Scottish Gaelic, known as: Na Bleigeardan. In France, it was aired on TF1, under the French title: Petites Crapules, in Germany on Super RTL as: Die kleinen Monster, in Greece and in Cyprus as: Μικρά τερατάκια, in Italy on RAI2 and RAI1 as: Adorabili Pesti, in the Middle East on Spacetoon as: المتعبون الصغار, in the Netherlands as: Kleine Monsters and in Portugal on TVI as: Os Traquinas. Brodeur delivers another lively and lyrical tale, filled with vivid descriptions of Cape Cod and sea life & a return to a bittersweet pre-Trump time rich with longing for a feminist future. Loved it! In a small town like Broken Falls, everyone knows everyone. So it doesn't take long for suspicions to be pointed at the person they know least of all: Kacey. And she begins to realize trust isn't something that should just be given. Sibling relationships are compelling fodder for a novel simply because it’s hard to fathom how people growing up in the same family can experience the world so differently. Also, the relationship is so ripe for both closeness and conflict. I looked to the archetypal story of Cain and Abel, hoping for answers about sibling rivalry, and was left wanting. It is truly a bare-bones story. That said, the tale informed the structure of the book in as much as Cain and Abel made offerings to God, and God favored Abel’s gift. In Little Monsters, the narrative structure builds toward the patriarch’s seventieth birthday where his children present him with gifts of great personal importance and the father favors one child’s offering over the other’s. Adrienne Brodeur knows her way around a family drama... Brodeur weaves a story dense with stinging secrets and simmering resentments, rooted in another context that she knows well: the manicured towns and wild fringes of Cape Cod... Set against the island's rippling dune grasses and scrub pines, [the] narrative is as elegantly rendered as it is compulsively readable." — Vogue

As Abby’s best friend and Ken’s wife, Jenny is enmeshed in the Gardner family; Steph, on the other hand, is only just introducing herself to the relations she didn’t know she had. Compare and contrast Jenny and Steph’s arcs as they (re-)calibrate their place in this complicated family. Kacey is concerned. Even though she enjoys some quiet time, FOMO is real. The next day, Kacey receives the news that Bailey is missing. She just disappeared, gone in the night. Did she run off, was she taken, is she still alive? Kacey is the new girl in town with a mysterious past. Her new step-family are wholly accepting of their newest addition and so are her new friendship group - Bailey and Jade. But when Bailey disappears one night, fingers start to point and a few of them are turned her way.The new girl in Broken Falls, Kacey immediately befriends Bailey and her best friend Jade. Having left a troubled home to live with a father she’s never met, Kacey craves the stability and attention her new friends and family present. But sometimes appearance isn’t reality. After a night spent with her friends trying to summon a legendary ghost, Kacey wakes to find she’s persona non grata. Text messages go unanswered. Weekend plans are squashed. What did Kacey do wrong? Well, Kacey doesn’t have long to stress about Mean Girls: Wisconsin Edition because the next morning she learns Bailey is missing. Vanished. Without a trace. What follows is a twisted tale of jealousy, betrayal, lies, and secrets…..and a town where nothing is as it seems.