First and foremost I would like to thank the publisher Novel Novels for providing me access to this title as well as NetGalley!

This contemporary novel was something I really enjoyed. I really like reading stories about mid aged folks with kids as this isn't something you typically see right now. The journey that Forrest goes on, while I found him insufferable at times, made the book so wholesome to me. When his mother asks him to go on a trip to find his brother, he is forced to confront demons that he lives with while obsessing over the mistakes he made in his past. This is a man who lives in an infinite loop of self loathing and regret and being able to take responsibility for his life is something that we all need to see. Forrest risks everything to piece his family back together even with the anger and resentment of his brother leaving them behind. Every day we are faced with choices, especially those rooted in misunderstanding. I really loved seeing him develop a better relationship with his own nuclear family.

I really enjoyed the writing style. It was easy to read and easy to binge. I finished it rather quickly (though writing this review has taken forever). This book is about fatherhood, brotherhood, accepting ones past and moving on to a better future. If you like books about the underdog and self assessment, this book is for you!

This one was good. But not my particular style of book . I enjoyed the characters and the development of the story.

𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬:
Forrest and his daughter set out on a road trip to find his brother Bryan who ran away at 17 and never came back. Their mother is dying of cancer and wants to see both her sons one last time. Forrest didn’t exactly get consent from his wife to drag their daughter along and she is not happy about the situation. This is a father-daughter bonding type book.


𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬:
I didn’t really love the Forrest character, the only thing I could relate to him with was his love for his child but he seemed to be the main problem in his own life. He is always making situations worse and getting in his own way. I’m not sure that he was meant to be a likeable character. The book is written in the voice of Forrest and the language threw me off for a little bit but it is meant to demonstrate his character.

Forrest is defensive and hot-headed, he takes everything personally. His daughter Casey is easy-going and positive but she starts to feel a little homesick when things get rocky on the road trip. She loves her dad and loves spending time with him and can’t wait to meet her uncle Bryan and hopefully some cousins.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about this book but it really comes together. It’s a story about growth, acceptance, loss and finding your way in the world. Forrest struggles to face his downfalls and is constantly projecting his frustrations and insecurities outward, he needs to tackle his personal demons and take control of his life. The mystery of why Bryan left and if he will be found keeps the reader engaged. I would say I enjoyed the story and it was an interesting read.

A huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book was great! I was invested in their lives fairly quickly and wanted to know how everything played out. It had so many great moments and was quickly paced and had me wanting to keep reading.

It was a fantastic journey from beginning to end.

Thank you Novel Novels and NetGalley for the ARC copy.

"Finding Bryan” by Matthew Kesselman was a cross-country road trip read of self-discovery. Forrest agrees to go find his estranged brother Bryan at the bidding of his dying mother. He decides to take his daughter with him and as he sets out west to find Bryan, we get a story of self-discovery, family and faith. The book tricks us with the title, as I feel we are really finding Forrest. The first person past tense POV isn’t always my favorite, but I adjusted. I also disliked Forrest (which I believe was the author’s intent) and wished there was a bit more character development. Overall though, it was an enjoyable, well-paced read.

Funny, fast-paced and easy to read.
This novel was a completely wild ride, it was messy, full of adventures and shenanigans.
Although Forrest wasn’t my favorite character, I still had a good time and enjoyed this story.

Thank you Novels Novels, NetGalley and Matthew Kesselman for this eARC.

http://www.instagram.com/booksandcoffeepleasemx

3.75/5

A book with a flawed man and coming to grasp of what could have been. Finding Bryan is a story exploring the complexity of human nature, the roles we place ourselves in, and how the decisions you make can turn your life around. Forrest is an unlikeable character who dives into a journey of discovering himself through family, love, loss, and compassion.

Forrest Wilcox sets out on an adventure along with his daughter, Casey, to find his brother, Bryan, who left his family years ago. As unwilling as he is to go on, it is his dying mother's last wish. In his journey, he faces many challenges, from confronting his inner demons to fighting his anger issues to complicating his already messed up life. Amidst all the chaos, he does find Bryan but at the cost of his marriage and fatherhood. Was it worth it or does it turn Bryan's life into irreversibly broken?
As interesting as the story was, the protagonist, Forrest Wilcox, set my mood off at every moment. I couldn't help putting down my device after reading a few chapters. However, the storytelling was such that it still kept me going and made me wonder what would happen in the next moment. So I had to patiently understand this character which I soon discovered was not as explosive at heart as he was on the exterior. Forrest Wilcox was a broken soul with terrible anger issues which was a result of his upbringing. Forrest and Bryan, both loved adventure, but it was Bryan who went for it and Forrest always held back. And when Bryan left, Forrest pretended to be the obedient one by following in his father's footsteps and concealing his true dreams. And now after years of keeping his desires private, he has become this judgy, arrogant, short-tempered person, in conflict with his emotions. Although he was good at heart, he was too reckless with his daughter and even risked her life at a point. I loved how genuinely the characters were described, catching them in their raw emotions. It gives a glimpse of life wrecked from all directions, when you are helpless and then from somewhere a tiny ray of hope, miracle sails you through. The concept of having difficulties in accepting changes is described here so well. It has love, friendship, family, adventure, loss - a full emotional ride. It is a journey towards overcoming life's challenges, self redemption and restoring faith. The ending was nice but I wanted more from it. It fell flat in comparison to the story.
Overall, it is a nice read with family drama, travelling and self-discovery. Thank you Netgalley and Novel Novels for this copy.

Thank you to Novels Novels for an ARC of Finding Bryan by Matthew Kesselman. The following review is based on only my thoughts and ideas and is completely unbiased and honest. This review will be posted on Goodreads, Amazon, and my Instagram page sometime this week (3-29 to 4-2).

Rating ~ 3 / 5 stars

TW: death of a loved one (cancer), DUI, homophobia (one scene), and a few accounts of the MC judging someone based on race

The way that this book opened up, I knew I was going to sucked into this story for the most part. And I was! The interesting thing that the author has done that he created characters that I didn't like at all but his writing still intrigued me to continue reading till the end.

The main character, Forrest has the type of personality that I haven't read in any other book recently. He focuses more on his shortcomings, lashes out in anger, but someone who wants to become a better human being but always fails. He doesn't have a very good relationship with his wife, parents, or with his child, but he tries what he can to help them even if the way he does it, doesn't have a positive impact. Naturally, from the start, I disliked Forrest because of the way he was written, but the way that despite his anger issues, he tried to be a good father and son was what had me keep reading the novel. I truly enjoyed reading about how a guy, who seems lost in his despair, overturned his behavior while on a road trip with his daughter to look for his big brother. I loved how the author didn't make the father-daughter relationship perfect but it was the type of relationship that I saw being built stronger and stronger over time with plenty of bumps on the way.

Overall, I really loved the concept of this book along with the Southern US dialect. Sometimes, the way that Forrest acted towards others made me want to yell at him and just put the book down, but I was really curious if he would change by the end of this cross-country road trip with his daughter. Yes, there were bumps and some huge mistakes he made but the beauty was that Forrest realized that he had to stop focusing on his shortcomings and do something to change it.

This was such a fun-filled story that kept me hooked throughout. The writing style and the accent is far different from the books that I have before but that didn't affect my interest while reading it.

This is a story of a young man in his 30's Forrest, whose life is already in chaos. He messes up everything in his life which might make the readers cringe at his character. When his mother informs him about her cancer and wanted him to find his brother Bryan who left them years ago and with his wife's constant nagging about having a second baby Forrest was left with no other option than to go on an odyssey with his 12-year-old daughter Casey to find his longest brother.

The story thus follows his journey toward finding Bryan and at the same time his self-discovery. We get to see a lot of emotions, love, friendship, family, relationships and so on through his journey. He leaves no stone unturned to find his brother. Will Forrest ever find Bryan and bring him back? Will he be able to resolve his already chaotic life and bring peace into his life?

The author sure has a knack for storytelling. The characters are not perfect with each having a bit of flaw in them. They are portrayed really well and the story is also fun to read and emotional at times. I enjoyed reading this book a lot.

Thank you Novel Novels and Netgalley for the review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for providing me this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I thought it will be a cuter bonding story between a father and daughter but the father character is not created for readers to love and It bothered me more than I thought. So I couldn't enjoy it as much as I thought/wished. The daughter, Casey was way more likable than her father. The ending was nice and I also liked the essay written by Casey at the end.

Hm. I just couldn’t get into this. Forrest is super unlikeable. I could live with that if the whole book wasn’t told from First Person Past Tense. I found it super distracting, especially when he’s this uneducated, bigoted man that drops the g on any word that ends with ing.

For example:
“He was sittin’, lookin’ bored as hell on a plastic foldin’ chair while he played with his phone.”

I get that this is a Southern man but it just seemed super forced. I couldn’t get into the plot because the way it was written was too distracting.

"It's you, so callous, so blind, with so little regard for others, that you don't even recognize when you're being an ass."

Finding Bryan by Matthew Kesselman was definitely cringeworthy more times than I can count. You see, Forrest is the epitome of a racist. He uses racial slurs and he thinks that anyone different than him is less than him. His way is the right way no matter what. So if you can't get past that, this book probably isn't for you.

Forrest finds himself in quite the conundrum when he learns his mother is dying and her last wish is for him to find his brother who left more than 15 years ago. Forrest got one letter from him all those years ago and he was in Arizona. It is the perfect time for the trip because Forrest is having martial troubles and his 12 year old daughter Casey goes with him much to his wife's chagrin.

Their road trip doesn't go all that well. Forrest is low on funds and his father, whom he works for as a mechanic, was supposed to pay for his trip yet the credit card doesn't work. He hits a guy on a bike. His wife, Sandra, is furious he left with Casey and all the while Forrest thinks he is going crazy.

Does he find his brother in time? What does he learn? These are all questions that I won't answer so I don't spoil it for you.

This was a fast paced read for me and although Forrest is a highly unlikable character there were things in the story that had I been in his shoes I may have chosen a similar path. This book explores many relationships!

Thank you to BooksGoSocial and NetGalley for the #gifted copy of this book.

Gratitude to the Publisher Novel Novels, Author Matthew Kesselman & NetGalley for an ARC of this novel.

I prefer a novel that's communicated in the first-person style; the lead puts the whole narrative from his POV. The book's slang caught me totally by wonder as I had never come over anything like that earlier & I am happy that I did.

All personas in the novel had their own difficulties, which gave the story a more practical design. People can really resonate with the actors rather than merely leaving it up to our imagination. I loved how the writer initiated with the hero simply prattling his sentiments & then the redo gets him to the point where he needs to put the tale well. (It got me knowing that there is somebody similar to me ;))

Overall, I discovered the work to be quite a pleasant read. I couldn't help myself becoming caught in it as it got so long with monotonous babbling. A present-day story that got predictable towards the end, yet the twists have one questioning what's occurring. I liked the writer's scenic drive tour for the readers to experience the journey simultaneously with her work.

I finished this book in two nights. First off, it was based out of the Hampton Roads area, which is where I live, which was kinda neat. But the story was intriguing and kept me in it. The writing style was a little different, but it grew on me and I didn't mind it; I like different. The storyline was sporadic, but it all tied together. Would recommend!

First, thank you Novel Novels for sending me an ARC copy of this book! It popped up in my Inbox and I just couldn't say no.

I didn't really have any expectations for this book if I'll be honest since it wasn't something I had originally planned on reading.

First off, the main character reminds me, scarily enough, of my own father. I understood every slang, but it also brought back some unwanted trauma that I kind of wanted to ignore.

Alas, I carried on, albeit skimming over a decent amount. Forrest also wasn't a likable character in the least; while that doesn't necessarily make or break a book, I found myself getting mad at him over and over. He is clearly racist in the old-timer American way (IYKYK) such as calling an Asian kid the "c" word, etc. and has the old American values that I've always despised.

I thought that the journey would be an enlightening one: maybe Forrest would repair his relationship with his daughter.

I also found that he acted a little bit older than he said he was. He's only 31 (I think?) or at least in his 30's—it just didn't make sense to me with standards nowadays.

I didn't love it and I didn't hate it. It was just kind of okay.

I want to start by saying that I wasn't expecting to read this book at all. The premise of the book seemed to be different from what I normally read and look for, but as the publisher approached me I thought I should at least give it a go.

Finding Bryan is the story of a struggling and vulgar Southern father who takes his daughter on a road trip across America to find his long lost brother.

The writing style was enjoyable, it had a nice rhythm and flow to it. But the main character, Forrest, is an odious person. He is such a bigoted, racist and homophobic man. He is unable to control his temper and has rage attacks for everything. As many others, I thought he's built like that on purpose, and throughout the book I found myself trying to psychoanalise him and justify him. I wanted badly to understand his motivations. I thought he was going to go through some sort of redemption journey, but it turned out to be mainly wishful thinking. I say mainly because by the end of the book he seems at least to realize how much he dotes on his daughter.
The other characters are one dimensional, underdeveloped and there isn't much dialogue going on between them. They mainly shout at each other! The only character I genuinely liked was Miko, who appeared just once, for 5 seconds, at the end of the book.

This book won't live rent free in my head or heart. Nevertheless, if you want a quick summer road trip read, and you are happy to spend your hours reminding yourself what kind of person you don't want to have in your life, I'd recommend it.

Thank you to Novels Novels for sending me this ARC.

Not my cup of tea. The narrative perspective of the main character is not enjoyable. I mean, yes it's supposed to be trashy at some sort, but write up could be much catchier. Lacks proficiency.
Again, it's just not my cup of tea, many may enjoy.

From the very first chapter I could tell how my review of this book would go so here it is. The main character is an asshole and I'm calling him names because that's how much he disgusted me.

In chapter one the way he decribed a plus sized woman was not at all okay. I felt angry and sad and disgusted at the aweful words he used to describe this lady. I thought well maybe this would only be in the first chapter but no his disrespect continued throughout the book. I am so hurt by this because if the main character wasn't like this the book would have been great. The language was unique and enjoyable. The plot and storyline was good but the unlikable main character ruined everything.

I'm actually crying while writing this review because it really hurt me and so far much people aren't writing reviews that depict this horrid characteristic of the main character.

TW - Hints of Homophobia and Racism.
Finding Bryan by Matthew Kesselman is funny and breezy. An angsty family saga that would have really loved, i mean it had a lot of my favourite tropes, the father daughter bonding, the lost family, nostalgic down-the-memory-lane narrative, but i mostlly couldnt connect because the story was said from the sole point of view of Forrest Wilcox and he is definitely not very likable. He is ignorant and bigoted and a rude jerk without much if any at all character arc. Till almost the last few pages, he was solely selfish and couldnt give two fucks about (spoilers, maybe) his dying mother, his missing daughter, his worried-out-of-her-mind wife. And even though the story was well written and could have been potentially beautifully, it fell flat because the main character was so dimensionless.

If you want to get hooked or enjoy a father daughter bonding over roadtrip trope or like subtly funny contemporary with flawed characters, this pick up this book.

If you like your charcters relatable and with depth preferably with an arc, this book is not for you.

My Rating - 2.5 rounded to 3/5

Thank you publishers the e-arc.