The Art of Crash Landing, one of my favorite books on this season’s list, went on sale yesterday, September 8th.
This book hits all the sweet spots. It’s straight up family dysfunction at its best—with a wise ass protagonist you’ll want to throttle and hug throughout the book’s pages. Great story, fabulous voice, unforgettable characters. Very few books make me laugh out loud—or well up with tears. This one did. I love this book.
Librarians love this book, too. They voted it the #1 book on the September LibraryReads list.
Reviewers love this book. Read what they have to say:
“Mattie’s voice is fresh, her penchant for off-color language balanced with a revealing earnestness and vulnerability. Gandy’s other residents are vibrant and well-developed…DeCarlo’s debut is confident and accomplished, filled with heart and humor.”—Kirkus
“First novelist DeCarlo deftly weaves in flashbacks about Mattie’s childhood and creates a cast of wonderfully full-blooded, fallible characters, from kind and ailing Queeg to Karleen, Mattie’s mother’s closest childhood friend, to potty-mouthed Goth teenager Tawny, the “summer project” of a no-nonsense librarian. Best of all is Mattie herself, who has cultivated a measure of humanity in addition to impressive survival skills and whose briskly told story is instantly involving. An impressive debut.”—Booklist
“DeCarlo manages to make her heroine endearing despite her many flaws: she creates clever private jokes with the reader and slips in the occasional heartbreaking memory between brash shows of pushiness…DeCarlo’s writing bristles with Mattie’s vibrant personality…a triumphant first novel.”—Publishers Weekly
I hope you love it, too.
Congratulations, Melissa DeCarlo. I can’t wait to see what you do next.
-Virginia