OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Little Garage Girl's Puzzle" by Katherine Memoli.]

In Little Garage Girl’s Puzzle, we are introduced to Rina, who has had a really hard life. Her mother and older siblings are abusive and mean, forcing her to stay in a shed in their house, isolating her from the world, belittling her, and lying to her. When her mother passes away, Rina can no longer take the horrors of her family and decides to pack up and go somewhere new. She quickly makes friends with everyone she meets in her new town and creates the life she always wanted. She meets Patrick, the very handsome CEO of her new job, and they instantly have an attraction and connection to each other. She has so much trauma to work through, meanwhile, he has lived a very pampered life. Can their attraction and feelings be enough to keep them together? With siblings so cruel and mean, can Rina ever truly start fresh and leave her childhood behind? You’ll have to read to find out.

The premise and idea for this book are so great, a traumatic childhood you have to overcome always makes for a great and layered main character. Finding love after said trauma and truly trusting someone and opening up to them can lead to such emotional storytelling. And there are glimpses of that throughout, but overall this book just didn’t work for me. The dialogue felt very stiff and many times just didn’t flow well. At times, the emotion and drama came through in the book, but often it felt very unnatural in how it was told by a character. 

With that in mind, I give this story a 2 out of 5. There is a lot of potential and the times when the emotional aspects of this story are done well, they’re so good, and you feel along with the characters. There were just a lot of times when the emotion was taken away. This story is an 18+ read and worth a warning. There are graphic descriptions of child abuse and neglect which could be very upsetting to some. 

******
The Little Garage Girl's Puzzle
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

Rina's childhood seems to have been filled with pain, as the abuse is coming from those expected to love and care for their loved ones. I hope that the relationship will survive the differences in the upbringing and their consequences too. I hope that some of the downsides raised will be addressed in another edition of the book. Thank you, @London Baum, for the review.

A character overcoming "traumatic childhood" and finding love—which definitely offers "emotional storytelling." However, your honest note about the "graphic descriptions of child abuse and neglect" is a crucial warning. I admire your willingness to read it, but I honestly don't have the guts for such graphic content. Thanks for the transparent review; it's incredibly helpful.