Hello Patrons! 🙂

I have been kinda AWOL for the past week, but for good reason! I was reading a book. (When am I not reading though? Lol.) I finished reading The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin this afternoon. I got a copy of this book about two months ago when on vacation at Hilton Head at a bookstore called By Hand, Ink. (It’s a cute place, if your ever in Hilton Head check it out).

A Synopsis:

Lenni Pettersson is a seventeen-year-old who is terminally ill and living in Glasgow Princess Royal Hospital. Margot McCrae is an 83-year-old woman who is recuperating in the same hospital. These two ladies form a friendship when they meet at an art class in the hospital and bond.

What I Liked:

I liked that even though this book was set in a hospital, there wasn’t a ton of hospital stuff going on. You as the reader, don’t see Lenni go into surgery, or getting violently ill. You do see her coming out of surgery/anesthesia but it’s only a page. The reader doesn’t get a concrete diagnosis of either Lenni or Margot, which I liked because I didn’t get hung up on the details of a possible diagnosis.

I liked that most of the chapters were very short. Most chapters were 3 or 4 pages at most. Some were only a paragraph. This helped move the plot forward.

I liked the cyclical-ness of the plot. You see Lenni and Margot meeting first from Lenni’s perspective, and then at the end after getting her backstory from Margot’s perspective. I thought this gave me such a better understanding of both women.

Lenni was such a interesting narrator. She’s acerbic and sassy and endearing. I loved watching everyone come to love her and forge relationships with her. Margot was also a great narrator. She sounds so different to Lenni which is very hard for a writer to do. (In the audiobook two separate women voice Lenni and Margot and it’s wonderful. Highly recommend the audiobook!).

The ending made me cry. I was listening to the audiobook and taking a walk IN PUBLIC and started to cry.

My favorite character besides Margot or Lenni is Father Arthur the chaplain at the hospital that Lenni meets at the beginning of the novel. He’s so warm and wonderful.

What I Didn’t Like:

Both of Lenni’s parents annoyed me. They aren’t in the novel except for like 2 scenes but in those scenes I just was so annoyed. I just found them self-centered, like you’re daughters in the hospital get your priorities straight!

Hospital with ambulance flat vector illustration.

Derek (who also works in the hospital chapel) was just wound too tight and I don’t understand why he’s even in the book. He’s literally only in the book for 4 chapters! So, like 10 pages! Bah.

My Rating and Overall Thoughts!

I gave The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot a glowing 5/5 stars on Goodreads. I loved it. I loved the exploration of the themes of legacy, morality, family, and friendship. This was such a great debut. I am very excited to see what Cronin has in store for her future books. If you like The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, or A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman I think you would like this book.

What I Am Currently Reading:

I am still reading ForestBorn by Elayne Audrey Becker. I got this as an ARC from a coworker a couple weeks ago. This is about a girl who is a shapeshifter and her brother having to go on a journey after a prince is stricken with a magical illness. ForestBorn comes out at the end of August. I will expand on my thoughts when I get to the halfway point. I also just started Between You, Me, And the HoneyBees by Amelia Diane Coombs. This is about a girl named Josie, the summer after graduating high school. Josie doesn’t want to go to college, just stay and manage her family’s beekeeping business. But she can’t find the heart to tell her family. I like it so far, but I am only a chapter in. I’ll let you know what I think when I get a little further into it.

Tell me what you’re reading in the comments below. Take care of yourselves, wash your hands, get vaccinated, practice some self-care, and…