Ohio
by Stephen Markley
Published: August 21, 2018 by Simon Schuster
Dates Read: February 8 – 13, 2019
Genre/Category: Coming of Age Fiction/Literary Fiction
Read For: Personal Pleasure
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
5 stars
Wonderful. I just finished and I’m speechless. I honestly feel this book had to have been passed over for some kind of awards.
I have to be honest; it took me the first 50 pages to really get into the book, and I was hesitant during those pages if I was going to want to continue.
Then I couldn’t put it down, it was THAT good.
I had read other reviews, and I can’t lie, I always read the negative reviews because sometimes I don’t think people are very honest when they give 5 stars. I feel like there are external circumstances that sway their responses. Truthfully, I find myself very hard on authors, because everything I’ve read lately has fallen flat.
This is the first time I find myself telling anyone in my review to please ignore any bad reviews you may read, give this one a chance, it deserves it! You won’t regret the decision. This book was brilliant. Please know it deals with mature topics, so it’s not a warm and fuzzy kind of read. The authors ability to write about relevant issues and weave the story of hometown heartbreak throughout the story really grabs at you. I think there is someone in this book that everyone out there can relate to in some way. This is small town America with an added murder mystery twist.
If you start this, please stick with it, like I said, it took me 50 pages in, but so far this has been my favorite book I have read this year. Better than Crawdads, better than Hearts Invisible Furies. Bravo Stephen Markley. Highly recommend.
Readinggirlreviews 
It sounds wonderful. I prefer books that address serious topics, and I’ve often decided to read books based on negative reviews (what someone else dislikes about a book might be something I do like). I wish more people could overlook negative reviews, but they are often a barrier for books.
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That’s a unique way of looking at them. I do tend to lean towards the negative reviews first, just to get a sense of what was amiss. Then I go from there. And like you, I actually read a lot of them based on what some of the negative reviews said, kind of like with this one. I loved this book. Go figure.
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If a book gets an overwhelming number of bad reviews, I’ll probably avoid it. However, if there are only a handful of negative reviews, and the reviews suggest that the book just wasn’t a good match for those readers, then I think it’s possible that I might be a better match. It doesn’t always work out, though!
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This book sounds great. It’s funny, I also look for negative reviews when looking into a new book because I don’t always believe the gushing 5 star reviews either. I feel like those negative reviews give a better opinion of the book. Will have to add this one to my TBR.
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I love this review! You make this book sound great, I might read it someday. 😊😘
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