Tara Conklin

I don't mind unreliable characters, but spoiled brats just bug me. Darcy's husband announces that he's leaving her for a skydiving woman (!), and she quits her actuarial gig and retreats from their expensive condo in Manhattan to her parent's home in Western Massachusetts. When she arrives, she the house empty because her parents also have moved - to Arizona, in part to get away from Darcy and her dependency on them. It's horrifying and hilarious, but Darcy's reaction isn't. She cuts off all communication with the parental units and stays in their home, rarely washing or changing clothes and living off the canned food in the basement. The description of her depression is just so...depressing. Things do get better with Darcy finding two really great friends and a purpose, but by then, I was tired of her shtick.… (mere)

After her husband leaves her and her boring, mundane life for another woman, Darcy decides she needs to move back home to a small town in Murbridge, MA to lick her wounds and hoping they welcome her with open arms. What she finds are things have changed. After 2 months living in her parents house (who have moved to AZ), eating stockpiled canned goods and takeout. she starts to take baby steps outside the house. Her savings have dwindled & in need of a job she finds the Murbridge Community Board loaded with information. What goes on from there are lessons from strangers and neighbors that bring her back into the real world and she finally finds her real self.
I received this copy from Mariner Books - Thank You.… (mere)

*Publication Day - March 28, 2023*

Twenty-nine-year-old Darcy Clipper returns to her childhood home in Murbridge, Massachusetts after her husband leaves her for another woman. An only child of loving parents, she is confident of their support and care while she nurses her broken heart. Much to her surprise she discovers that her parents have moved to a retirement community in Arizona. Darcy spends the first sixty-five days in self-imposed isolation in her childhood home, surviving on her mother’s stock of canned food, wallowing in self-pity, cyberstalking her husband’s new girlfriend, reading old issues of National Geographic, drafting cryptic emails to her husband (thankfully, not sending them), writing emotional messages to her parents trying to guilt them into returning (which she does send) and perusing the online community message board. The message board is a kaleidoscope of information – from notices for missing pets, Board Meeting notices, heated interactions between residents, proclamations of love, cries for help (literally!) and much more. When someone’s missing pet pig shows up at her doorstep, it is the nudge Darcy needs to finally step out of her home. What follows is an interesting sequence of events that push Darcy, albeit reluctantly at first, to engage with the people in her community of Murbridge - a small town that seems to have changed quite a bit since she last lived there.

In turn humorous, insightful and heartwarming with themes of community, family and friendship and an interesting cast of characters, the story is told through Darcy’s first-person PoV with her email correspondence (drafts and sent emails) and the community board messages interspersed throughout the narrative. I took some time to warm up to Darcy but I eventually did find her to be an interesting character. I can see why many might feel put off by the elongated period of Darcy’s exile and her attitude in general. She does come across as immature, self –absorbed and a tad selfish in the first part of this book but I believe it all boils down to the fact that everyone is different as are the ways different people cope with life-altering situations. After the initial 30% of the novel, the story picks up the pace and we follow Darcy as she gradually emerges from her shell and starts to pick up the pieces, slowly exacting change in the way she perceives her own situation and the world in general. Her efforts aren’t always successful and there are quite a few bumps in the road, but her social awkwardness, her worldview (Darcy’s take on the National Geographic articles she reads made for some interesting reading!.) and her quirks make for some entertaining reading. I loved reading the messages on the community board and enjoyed meeting the different members of the community (even the unlikeable ones!). Overall, I found Community Board by Tara Conklin to be an entertaining read full of humor and heart.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the digital review copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.… (mere)