The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray

4 Stars

“Words can either feed you or eat you alive.”

I wanted The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls for the title alone and was beyond shocked when I received an advanced copy back in October . . . . which I then promptly made sure to not read due to the blurbage that stated it was for fans of An American Marriage. Uhhhhhhhhhhh. With the release date quickly approaching I figured it was time to put on my big girl panties and let the chips fall where they may.

I opted to bite the bullet when I got home from work last Thursday (a night that I usually have alone, but thanks to endless ice/rain/sleet/hail/thundersnow (yes, that’s a thing) I had the family with me). Luckily a snow day for Friday had already been called and the hubs had a very important Iowa Hawkeye basketball game to watch so it was pretty much like no one was there anyway. It was a good thing too because I read this book cover-to-cover in the course of that evening – becoming so wrapped up in the lives of the Butler family that I totally ignored my own.

The story here begins with Althea and her husband Proctor being sentenced to the federal penitentiary for food stamp and charity fraud. What unfolds is the history of three sisters and a brother who grew up in a family the firmly believes in the principal . . . .

“The past is the past.”

The reader discovers the Butlers are a group who should have had someone willing to have a moment like this with their daddy . . . .



Or another sibling . . . .



Or even their spouse or momma . . . .



But much like The Color Purple this is a book with the lesson that . . . .



I will admit that there were some things I wanted to know moremoremoremoremore about – specifically Althea and Proctor's crimes. However, I fully understand that since those two characters were incarcerated it would have been more than a little far-fetched for them to share any additional details that had not been provided/alluded to. (Inquiring minds still want to know/are disappointed they don't, though.) But really, at the end of the day? Family drama is my siren song - 4 Stars.

ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.