Blog Tour & Review: The Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson (audio)

Title:The Almost Sisters

Author:Joshilyn Jackson

Narrator:Joshilyn Jackson

Published:July 2017, Harper Audio / William Morrow

Length:12 hours 39 minutes /352 pages

Source:Audio – personal copy via Audible / ARC Paperback -Publisher via TLC Book Tours

With empathy, grace, humor, and piercing insight, the author of gods in Alabama
pens a powerful, emotionally resonant novel of the South that confronts
the truth about privilege, family, and the distinctions between
perception and reality—the stories we tell ourselves about our origins
and who we really are.

Superheroes have always been
Leia Birch Briggs’ weakness. One tequila-soaked night at a comics
convention, the usually level-headed graphic novelist is swept off her
barstool by a handsome and anonymous Batman.

It turns out the
caped crusader has left her with more than just a nice, fuzzy memory.
She’s having a baby boy–an unexpected but not unhappy development in
the thirty-eight year-old’s life. But before Leia can break the news of
her impending single-motherhood (including the fact that her baby is
biracial) to her conventional, Southern family, her step-sister Rachel’s
marriage implodes. Worse, she learns her beloved ninety-year-old
grandmother, Birchie, is losing her mind, and she’s been hiding her
dementia with the help of Wattie, her best friend since girlhood.

Leia
returns to Alabama to put her grandmother’s affairs in order, clean out
the big Victorian that has been in the Birch family for generations,
and tell her family that she’s pregnant. Yet just when Leia thinks she’s
got it all under control, she learns that illness is not the only thing
Birchie’s been hiding. Tucked in the attic is a dangerous secret with
roots that reach all the way back to the Civil War. Its exposure
threatens the family’s freedom and future, and it will change everything
about how Leia sees herself and her sister, her son and his missing
father, and the world she thinks she knows.

My thoughts:I know when it comes to picking up a book by Joshilyn Jackson, I am going to get a good story – one with charming characters, a readable story and still deal with relevant, timely issues without being heavy-handed. This book is all that and so much more.

Joshilyn Jackson knows how to create characters that pull you into their lives and make you want to know all there is to know about them. You become completely invested in them. They are flawed to be sure, but they relatable and believable. The relationship issues that Joshilyn wrote about between Leia and her step-sister Rachel were issues I could relate to, having two sisters myself. 

There is a lot going on this in this book – but not so much as to make it too much to handle. Rather, Joshilyn Jackson is able to weave all these threads into one believable story, one that touches on both heavy and light topics to keep it balanced. There’s a mystery surrounding a long-ago secret that comes to light, there’s the issue of the unexpected pregnancy to deal with, there’s the issue of aging and all that comes with that, and there’s the issue of racism. Thrown in there is a romance, some teen angst, and just enough humor to keep this book from being too heavy. And, while comic books are not really my thing, I did like this angle as it added a different dimension to the story. 

This book will tug at your heartstrings and it will also make you chuckle. But more importantly, it will make you think. You will definitely not be forgetting these memorable characters anytime soon – I know I won’t!


Audio thoughts:I decided to listen to this book, even though I had the print copy, because Joshilyn Jackson was narrating it – plain and simple!!!  I’ve listened to her narrate her own books before and I know she does a great job with them. This isn’t always the case…some times having an author narrate their own work doesn’t always work out well, but Joshilyn Jackson is able to execute it well…she knows her characters and is able to deliver the performance perfectly. She gives each of her characters their own voice and her accent and inflection and tone are just right. This was pure joy to listen to!!!

About the author:Joshilyn Jackson is the New York Times bestselling author of seven novels, including gods in Alabama and A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty. Her
books have been translated into a dozen languages. A former actor,
Jackson is also an award-winning audiobook narrator. She lives in
Decatur, Georgia, with her husband and their two children.

Author Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook 

Purchase Links: HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Be sure to check out all the other stops on the blog tour and follow the tour on Twitter (hashtags:  #TLCBookTours & #TheAlmostSisters).

The Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson is one of the She Reads “Books of Summer” reading selection picks. 
 
 

Head over to the She Reads website to read reviews and related posts of this book, as well as
posts related to the other “Books of Spring” selections.