tcarg's review
5.0
Beautiful and heartbreaking. I hadn’t read and Kelly McClure prior to receiving this but I’m always on the hunt for queer reads (especially sapphic ones) so I was super excited to read this.
After establishing a sense of normalcy, this book immediately takes a sharp turn and our protagonist, Dale, will never be the same after what she’s experienced. I won’t say anything more in the interest of not spoiling, but this was a beautiful depiction of grief, what one person can mean to someone, and how families are built and torn apart.
This book can be incredibly funny at times but also has frequent dark moments. If you can handle that, I recommend “Something is Always Happening Somewhere” to any adults that can enjoy stories that can be hard to tell and read.
TW: sexual assault, violence, blood, death, minor homophobia
I received this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
After establishing a sense of normalcy, this book immediately takes a sharp turn and our protagonist, Dale, will never be the same after what she’s experienced. I won’t say anything more in the interest of not spoiling, but this was a beautiful depiction of grief, what one person can mean to someone, and how families are built and torn apart.
This book can be incredibly funny at times but also has frequent dark moments. If you can handle that, I recommend “Something is Always Happening Somewhere” to any adults that can enjoy stories that can be hard to tell and read.
TW: sexual assault, violence, blood, death, minor homophobia
I received this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
bookaddict827's review
3.0
“In the end, whether you leave life as a perceived good person, or a bad one, we’re all just someone else’s mess to clean.”
Thank you to BookSirens and WolfieVibes Publication for allowing me to read an ARC of this book; this is my honest review.
TRIGGER WARNING – Rape; very short description of animal abuse.
Dale Travers and her wife Gina move from a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, NY to a ranch house in Long Beach, CA. They knew that this was their forever home. One night, when Dale returns home from work, she is met with a horrific, life changing event. Dale attempts to pick of the pieces of her life and move on, with not much success. She finds herself drowning in her sorrows. Can she do it? Can she move on with her life?
This novella is a quick read. It is enjoyable. There are a few times when it’s a little hard to read due to the subject content. As a reader, I was really rooting for Dale. I wanted to see her succeed with getting her life on track.
The thing that bothered me about this book is that they talked about organ donation of a person who was already in the morgue. That doesn’t happen. Usually, a person that is an organ donor that either is brain dead or dead by cardiac arrest is kept on a ventilater so that the organ procurement team can do their thing. This threw me off a little as it should have been caught by an editor, if not just looked into by the author.
Thank you to BookSirens and WolfieVibes Publication for allowing me to read an ARC of this book; this is my honest review.
TRIGGER WARNING – Rape; very short description of animal abuse.
Dale Travers and her wife Gina move from a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, NY to a ranch house in Long Beach, CA. They knew that this was their forever home. One night, when Dale returns home from work, she is met with a horrific, life changing event. Dale attempts to pick of the pieces of her life and move on, with not much success. She finds herself drowning in her sorrows. Can she do it? Can she move on with her life?
This novella is a quick read. It is enjoyable. There are a few times when it’s a little hard to read due to the subject content. As a reader, I was really rooting for Dale. I wanted to see her succeed with getting her life on track.
The thing that bothered me about this book is that they talked about organ donation of a person who was already in the morgue. That doesn’t happen. Usually, a person that is an organ donor that either is brain dead or dead by cardiac arrest is kept on a ventilater so that the organ procurement team can do their thing. This threw me off a little as it should have been caught by an editor, if not just looked into by the author.
bookshelvesandtealeaves's review
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I just couldn’t connect with this one at all.
Dale as a character mostly annoyed me. I’m sure it was the grief talking but it’s hard to feel for a character when you don’t know them outside of their grief. The writing felt stilted a lot of the time, too.
Overall, definitely not for me.
uwerethesun's review
dark
emotional
fast-paced
3.0
Thank you to WolfieVibes Publications and NetGalley for an ARC of this book!
Something is Always Happening Somewhere is a story of tragedy and grief in which Dale loses her wife Gina in an incredibly horrific way. Please check trigger warnings before reading!
“life likes nothing more than beating what’s already been beaten.”
I’m not sure how to write a review for this book as it affected me a lot. I enjoyed the writing in this book. It was fast-paced, considering how short it is, and it kept me engaged all the way through. The writing is emotive, this does make it hard to read at some points considering the topics in this book as it doesn’t seem to sugarcoat the situation at all. I wish it was more fleshed out, the characters didn’t feel real at all and the ending fell flat. I also don’t feel like this book needed to be as sad as it is, I’m not sure if it was focused on the shock factor but it was just a LOT for me as a reader. This is a disturbing and shocking read and this book will definitely not be for everyone, the author is clearly a very talented writer, I was just disappointed in the end.
Something is Always Happening Somewhere is a story of tragedy and grief in which Dale loses her wife Gina in an incredibly horrific way. Please check trigger warnings before reading!
“life likes nothing more than beating what’s already been beaten.”
I’m not sure how to write a review for this book as it affected me a lot. I enjoyed the writing in this book. It was fast-paced, considering how short it is, and it kept me engaged all the way through. The writing is emotive, this does make it hard to read at some points considering the topics in this book as it doesn’t seem to sugarcoat the situation at all. I wish it was more fleshed out, the characters didn’t feel real at all and the ending fell flat. I also don’t feel like this book needed to be as sad as it is, I’m not sure if it was focused on the shock factor but it was just a LOT for me as a reader. This is a disturbing and shocking read and this book will definitely not be for everyone, the author is clearly a very talented writer, I was just disappointed in the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Murder
Moderate: Suicide and Animal death
kowwie's review
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
Thank you to Book Sirens for my ARC of "Something is Always Happening Somewhere"! I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I just finished the book, and am fired up, so I feel a little scattered. "Something" has a lot of potential to be a powerful book, but it left me wanting something more.
For one, the book was advertised as a psychological thriller, with horror elements-- and in my opinion, it just isn't exactly that. It's a story about a woman, named Dale, who is dealing with a horrible tragedy in her marriage to Gina. There is about 20 pages of a horrific crime (TW: assault, rape, death) but the rest of the story is more centered around Dale's thoughts and overcoming grief.
Grief is powerful, and for the most part, I think Kelly really nailed the inner dialogue of feeling like you're losing your mind. What I felt she lacked was stronger character development and better research. The interactions between the characters were highly dramatic and unrealistic, to the point that it made Dale unlikable for me. I kept thinking there was gonna be a redeeming friendship with someone who could relate to grief-- but instead-- that got messed up too. I felt there were some underlying political affiliations within Dale, and I don't think it particularly made sense or deepened the character. There was some prejudices against her for being a lesbian, but they weren't well written or made me feel sympathetic to the character. She also had a thing against police officers, and while I know that many dislike the police force, it was really unwarranted at first. These small nods to current politics were distracting to the story.
I think Kelly McClure is a talented writer, and I think she has a lot of potential to write novels but she needs to work on furthering character development to make them more likable, relatable. Being a cis, straight, white woman who's never dealt with some of what Dale was faced-- I should at least be able to sympathize for her.
Overall, the story is an easy quick read. I wanted to finish it and see if there was a character arc, but in my opinion, there wasn't. I think this book could be highly triggering to many dealing with some very serious topics.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Grief, Medical trauma, Medical content, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Police brutality, and Rape
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