Happy Sunday, everyone! Thank you so much to Kate Rock Literary Services for the copy and having me on the book tour!
FRANCINE’S SPECTACULAR CRASH AND BURN – Renee Swindle (Released April 15th, 2025)
Book Description:
A heartwarming novel centered on Francine Stevenson’s accidental encounter with a peculiar ten-year-old boy who shows up at her doorstep after her mother’s sudden death.
Francine’s Spectacular Crash and Burn is a bighearted novel that will wiggle its way into the heart of every reader. It follows Francine Stevenson. whose life revolved around her anxious agoraphobic mother—her abrupt passing rocks Francine to her core and sends her into a tailspin of depression. She copes by rummaging through her mother’s assortment of pills, dancing manically at night to the disco she and her mother enjoyed while keeping up appearances at work during daylight hours.
On one such day Francine’s blissful high is interrupted by shouts outside her door. She pulls back her curtain only to catch sight of a few older kids picking on a much younger boy. She ushers ten-year-old Davie into her home for temporary refuge. After that moment, Francine’s life takes a surprising turn.
What appeared to be a one-off encounter evolves when Davie repeatedly shows up at Francine’s house. Despite herself, Francine begins to enjoy his unannounced visits. She finds herself wondering why a ten-year-old has so much autonomy. Francine realizes the proper thing to do is introduce herself to Davie’s foster parents and loop them in on the bullies she worries may still be giving Davie trouble, only to discover Jeanette, her high school crush, is Davie’s foster mother.
Francine’s Spectacular Crash and Burn introduces a voice readers won’t soon forget. The weighty topics of grief, loneliness, and depression are offset by Francine’s offbeat, bewitching humor. This novel is a multilayered tour-de-force nested into a heart-stirring coming-of-age.
My Thoughts: 4/5 stars
Admittedly, my recently read books and upcoming books are all darker, violent, and horror, so this was a really nice change of pace for me. This was more than a fun story about found family and the bonds that can change your life when you need them most.
The description made it sound more lighthearted but we still experience the grief cycle and depression Francine experiences after the sudden death of her mother. As her caretaker, her life is suddenly upended until Davie. She intervenes when a 10 year old boy is beint bullied outside her home, and so begins an unlikely friendship and rekindling old friendships when she meets his foster mom (someone she went to school with).
This does deal in some heavy topics and I think the included content warnings would be smart to check over to help adjust expectations on the tone of the story. While still wholesome and wonderful, there’s a lot of growth and self discovery in the wake of her mother’s death. An unexpected gem in my reading and I highly recommend!
Jessicamap Reviews 