This book was absolutely beautiful. It’s a book that warms the heart and perfect heading into the most cozy seasons of the year. I highly recommend adding this to your list!

I wanted to love this and while I did really enjoy it, I think the problem I have is that the tensions of the characters seemed unnecessarily forced and drawn out. Certain things could’ve been left out and we still would’ve been able to see the character growth. Overall, a great book of strong characters and family dynamics, I just wish somethings were different!

First, special thanks to Lake Union Publishing via Netgalley for the e-arc I receive in exchange of my honest review.

This was a story of three sisters Rayanne, Sue Ellen and Savannah who came back home to unearth a buried time capsule from the years in their past. Reliving the memories brought on by their buried treasure of girlhood has also given the opportunity to confront the questions that were not answered. Where and what exactly happened the day Savannah’s twin sister Georgia went missing? Along with the sisters homecoming were old tension, sister rivalries, regrets, and shortcomings.

I have a complete turn of feelings from when I start reading compared to when it finished. I was glad it did and was totally ready for it long past the 10th chapter. For some reason, their endless arguments and redundant debacle of the sisters relationship were dragging the narrative too much that its was getting tiresome. I would have love to explore the romance between Sue Ellen and Derrick. I would have expanded marital troubles and reconciliation of Rayanne and Graham in a way that will highlight the sisters connection or the ultimate save the baby sister for Savannah! I am missing a vital and deep characterization that would glue my self to the story. It lack the grit, the angst, the depth and the bite that will satisfy me in this kind of plot. Although, I love Meemaw. She was a savior and a legend.

I can’t say I hate this book nor can I say I love it to the core. It was a fairly good read and would be a good candidate for a bookclub discussion.

4 stars for this debut! Call the Canaries Home follows 3 sisters (Savannah, Rayanne, and Sue Ellen) and their grandmother, Meemaw as they reconnect 28 years after Savannah's twin, Georgia, went missing.

The women reconnect over a weekend and end up trying to find out what happened to their sister, Georgia. Savanah, Rayanne, and Sue Ellen each took very different paths and have trouble connecting and understanding each other as adults. The book alternates between their perspectives and Meemaw's flashbacks. The alternating point of views were very interesting and enlightening to how the women see each other.

I was expecting more of a mystery, but this book is actually more of a family drama.

I think a good back makes you feel. This book did bring out a lot of emotions for me. I felt anger for how the sisters treated each other and acted, I felt sadness for the lost sister, and I felt frustrated with Meemaw's actions. Meemaw was my least favorite character, but because of how well she was written, I could sympathize with her and understand her motivations.

I didn't love the ending, but I know we don't always get a happy ending in real life and the ending of the book is probably the most realistic.

Thank you for NetGallery, the author, and Lake Union Publishing for the eArc!

🌸 ARIANA'S BOOK REVIEW 🌸

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Women's Fiction

‘Call The Canaries Home’ by Laura Barrow is a dual timeline, multiple point of views debut novel about love, redemption and loss. 3 estranged sisters Savannah, Sue-Ellen and Rayanne return to their small Louisiana town to open a time capsule they buried 25 years ago. Savannah still yearns for closure regarding the disappearance of her twin sister Georgia when they were just 4 years old. The other two are reluctant to explore the past and more keen to move forward in their lives.

I related with Rayanne the most even though my favorite character was Meemaw. Meemaw touched my heart with her unwavering love and the scars she carried from the past. The amount of loss Meemaw suffered was heart-breaking. But it also helped form her character as a person who loves too hard. At the heart of this story, I found the exploration of family dynamics, especially the nuances of sisterhood, to be captivating. I loved seeing the grief, heartache, loss and their way of dealing them from different perspectives. Each of the sisters handled the trauma and tragedy from their childhood differently putting a strain on their relationship. Their character development is the real closure of the story. While the initial pace was a bit slow, I found that the story gained momentum as secrets were unveiled and the mystery of Georgia’s disappearance unfolded. However, I would have loved to delve deeper into the details surrounding Georgia’s vanishing act. Despite this, the overall narrative remained engaging, keeping me invested until the very end.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘Call The Canaries Home’. This heartfelt tale of love, redemption, and loss resonated with me on so many levels. As I delved into the lives of the three sisters and their journey of opening a time capsule, I couldn’t help but feel deeply connected to their experiences. The author’s skillful writing allowed me to immerse myself in the small town setting and the intricate dynamics of sisterhood. With each turn of the page, I found myself drawn further into their world, captivated by the complexities and vulnerabilities of the characters.

If you like small town, heart-warming, bittersweet family fiction with a hint of mystery or stories of growth and acceptance, this book is for you. People who have read ‘Where The Crawdads Sing’ (Delia Owens), ‘The Road Towards Home’ (Corinne Demas) and ‘What Never Happened’ (Rachel Howzell Hall) may like this book.

In conclusion, I would highly recommend ‘Call The Canaries Home’ to anyone who enjoys stories that delve into the complexities of family relationships, wrapped in a captivating mystery. Laura Barrow has crafted a poignant tale that lingers in the heart long after the final page. Thank you Laura Barrow, Lake Union Publishing and Netgalley for this delightful read. All opinions expressed here are purely my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review. I honestly didn't know what to expect when I picked this book up, with it being the author's first one. But I was blown away. The family dynamics, the heartfelt story and all the characters quickly drew me in and I ended up not being able to put it down. Not my normal kind of book but I loved it. I hope she publishes more books I will definitely try another of hers.

I really enjoyed the sisterhood of this book. Loved how the characters grew throughout this lovely novel. I kept turning the pages, eager to see what happened next.

What a fabulous book. Beautifully written and great storyline. Real page turner as the story unfolded from each characters perspective. Would highly recommend this book

I absolutely loved this book! The characters were entertaining and well-developed. I enjoyed how much the characters grew throughout the story. Overall, I would reccomend this book! Special Thank You to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Call The Canaries Home is a lovely story of loss, family and the love grown between family members through loss. Savannah’s perseverance to find out what happened to her twin sister at the age of 4 shows how strong a twin bond can be. I loved how the author showed the different perspectives of the sisters through the same situation and how each one has their own journey to go through. In the end, it’s about the love you have for family and understanding life is short so love the ones you’re blessed to have.

This is a heartwarming story about the power of love and the importance of never giving up hope. It follows three sisters who reunite after 28 years. As they reconnect and revisit the past, they must confront old tensions and rivalries. But in the end, they discover what their grandmother has always known: family is everything.

There were some really good twists in the story. The characters were all unique and relatable, although I found myself smiling while rolling my eyes at some parts. Overall a good, enjoyable read!

Overall I really enjoyed the story and resolution. It was a good representation of how families interact, even if most aren’t as drama filled and tragic as this one. The story kept my attention and I was invested in seeing how it ended. I do think some of the “red herrings” were fairly obvious as misdirection, so if you think you know exactly where it’s going, you don’t. I do think it ended exactly as it should, and not in the hopeful way you start to consider along the way.

The three sisters were somewhat hard to like, because there was so much repetitive fighting and arguing through the book. I have a sister, I know how we can fight, but this was excessive and probably could have been trimmed down. I found myself skimming some pages to get back to the story. The way it was written, with each sister narrating chapters, was sometimes hard to follow. I had to go back a page here and there to remember who was speaking. I did enjoy the flashbacks to MeeMaw and Beverly’s story, this seemed to be somewhat less convoluted to follow.
(Of the sisters, I was really invested in Savannah, especially once she got her wits about her and took care of that work and boyfriend situation! The Thelma and Louise trailer thievery moment in the book was my favorite part.)

Thanks to Laura Barrow, Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the free copy to review!

I didn’t fully know what kind of book I was reading when I started this one.
It was a little slow in the beginning but once I got into it. I didn’t want to stop reading.
The book goes between 4 different perspectives- Savannah, Meemaw, Sue Ellen, and Rayanne. I enjoyed the book as you see the sisters come together. The had a tough childhood and lost a sister at such young ages. As adults they come together and search for answers about their lost sister and they come to learn new things about their family. A very good read

Gran, Mimi, GiGi, Grandma—whatever you want to call her, we almost all have at least one in our lives—mine were Granny and Ninny. Let me assure you both women were a force to be reckon with, especially when it came to their grandchildren.

Meemaw in Call the Canaries Home is much the same to her three granddaughters living with her Rayanne, Sue Ellen, and Savannah. Often embarrassing she holds on so tight; she doesn’t realize she suffocates the girls, much like she did their mother a generation before. After several tragedies hit the family, they find their bonds are tested to the extreme and the sisters go their separate ways as soon as they can. Muscadine, Louisiana is not big enough to hold their grief.

Twenty-eight years later, Savannah convinces her older sisters to return to their hometown to dig up their time capsule they buried when they went to live with their Meemaw. As they sift through their buried memories, secrets from the past rear their ugly heads and the girls are forced to face long standing grudges. Seeing their adolescence summed up in a few buried artifacts adds clarity to the girls lives they likely didn’t realize they needed, and finally an understanding of their Meemaw.

Told in alternating points of view with a few flashbacks thrown in, the story takes a bit to get into as you learn more about each sister and Meemaw’s personality. But—oh my—once you get going this debut novel is hard to put down. Laura Barrow does an amazing job showing us the strength of a family bond, especially one between sisters.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing, and of course the author Laura Barrow for the advanced copy of the book. Call the Canaries Home is out now. Go ahead and add this piece of southern fiction to your list. All opinions are my own.

First book to read by this author. Beautiful story about sisters--which i always love! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for a review.

Call the Canaries Home is the story of three semi-estranged sisters returning to their childhood home to open a time capsule they buried as children. While the time capsule provides the impetus for the meeting, it is quickly overlooked as the sisters wind up digging up hard truths and past traumas. This book was an interesting and quick read, but I would have enjoyed more character development and more time at the end as it felt a bit rushed. Overall, I would recommend this book.

This story focused around 3 sisters and their grandmother. Their past and present. Told through multiple POVs. Meemaw reminded me of my own Mamaw. Gotta love that southern raising. Throughout the book you get to see how the characters grow and what shaped them to be who they are. Family is everything.
I did find it to be more slower in the middle than I would have liked. Kinda a different feel than what I thought it would be. So with that said, I’m giving it 3 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for my arc copy. This is my honest and voluntary opinion.

Call the Canaries Home, a debut novel by Laura Barrow, explores the relational complexities between siblings and their caregivers from a Southern perspective. Set in a small Louisiana town, three sisters return to their hometown to recover a time capsule they put together as children. The nonlinear timeline perfectly develops the storyline and carries the reader along through multiple points of view. As a native Texan, the story and characters were easy to connect with, and the read was fittingly relaxed, matching the book's setting.

I found the relational aspect of the sisters and MeeMaw interesting and familiar. There was a heavy sense of false responsibility and guilt that daughters often have to navigate in their maternal relationships. Also worth noting is how the author subtly depicts the coping mechanisms that the sisters acquired growing up to come through in their adult lives.

The story left me wanting in Georgia's disappearance, even though there was complete closure. Maybe that's how family members of missing cases feel, trying to understand the motive behind such a tragedy and never having satisfaction with simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

I would recommend this book to friends and family, especially those in Texas and Louisiana, as they'd find the read familiar and relatable.

Thank you, NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing, for an arc of this book for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

Content Rating
Profanity: Mild
Drug + Alcohol Use: Mild
Violence: Mild
Sex + Nudity: Mild

#CalltheCanariesHome #NetGalley

Thank you for my copy of this book to read and review.

A real charming story of family, love, loss and a bit of mystery too.

I really enjoyed the small Southern town setting of this book, and I always enjoy stories told from different points of view & split timelines.

I have already recommended this book to friends, and I look forward to hopefully more from this author in the future.

First of all, I want to thank Netgalley, Laura Barrow and the editor of this book, Lake Union Publishing, for giving me the opportunity to read 'Call the Canaries Home'!

Now my honest review:
I really liked this book! The plot is very original and with each page there is always something new.
I loved ALMOST every character (if you know you know), they felt so real.
Meemaw is ICONIC! one of my favourite character EVER 💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻
the prose is very easy to follow, which was definitely a plus for me as english is not my first language, and alsooo there aren't many swear words or teased about the Christian religion i think (another plus point hahahahah)
For anyone who wants to read this book, i recommend to read the tws. Even if there is no shortage of light and funny moments, we still talk about traumas...
This fantastic story didn't end the way I wanted but that's okay (screaming, crying😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😪😪😪😪)


🚨🚨🚨SPOILER ALLERT!!!! 🚨🚨🚨


Dear Laura Barrow, PLEASE write plus chaperts about the sisters!!! (especially about the evolution of the love story about Sue Ellen and Derrick! I have so many questionsss!!! For example did they get married?? As readers, we NEED to knowwwww 🤭
I love Derrick btw 🧍🏻‍♀️)