Sara Brunsvold is an auto-buy author for me - I awarded her first two novels five-star ratings. She sets her stories in and around Kansas City, and I feel so "seen" in her plots as a lifelong Midwesterner.
I love the idea of going on a road trip to places featured in classic novels, especially when the destinations include Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska (my state) as in The Atlas of Untold Stories. While reading it, I visited the giant book spine murals at the Kansas City Public Library which brought this well-written fiction to life. Then I saw Sara's books featured at an independent bookstore as a local author - so fun! I might plan my own road trip to trace the journey of Chloe, her sister Lauren, and her mother Edie.
This is much more than a bookish travel story. Sara is skilled at creating realistic characters who have complicated relationships with important people in their lives. It's emotional to experience their struggles, but the payoff at the end of each character's story arc is so worth it. I gave this 4.75 stars rather than 5 only because I don't have a sister so I didn't resonate strongly with the sisters storyline.
Road trip books are popular right now. Readers searching for one that includes flawed yet loving mothers and daughters, memorable secondary characters, humor, and heart, all through a very down-to-earth Christian lens, should definitely consider The Atlas of Untold Stories.
I love the idea of going on a road trip to places featured in classic novels, especially when the destinations include Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska (my state) as in The Atlas of Untold Stories. While reading it, I visited the giant book spine murals at the Kansas City Public Library which brought this well-written fiction to life. Then I saw Sara's books featured at an independent bookstore as a local author - so fun! I might plan my own road trip to trace the journey of Chloe, her sister Lauren, and her mother Edie.
This is much more than a bookish travel story. Sara is skilled at creating realistic characters who have complicated relationships with important people in their lives. It's emotional to experience their struggles, but the payoff at the end of each character's story arc is so worth it. I gave this 4.75 stars rather than 5 only because I don't have a sister so I didn't resonate strongly with the sisters storyline.
Road trip books are popular right now. Readers searching for one that includes flawed yet loving mothers and daughters, memorable secondary characters, humor, and heart, all through a very down-to-earth Christian lens, should definitely consider The Atlas of Untold Stories.
