Among the Lesser Gods by Margo Catts

Summary from Goodreads

“Tragedy and blessing. Leave them alone long enough, and it gets real hard to tell them apart.”
Elena Alvarez is living a cursed life. From the deadly fire she accidentally set as a child, to her mother’s abandonment, and now to an unwanted pregnancy, she knows better than most that small actions can have terrible consequences. Driven to the high mountains surrounding Leadville, Colorado by her latest bad decision, she’s intent on putting off the future. Perhaps there she can just hide in her grandmother’s isolated cabin and wait for something—anything—to make her next choice for her.
Instead, she is confronted by reflections of her own troubles wherever she turns—the recent widower and his two children adrift in a changed world, Elena’s own mysterious family history, and the interwoven lives within the town itself. Bit by bit, Elena begins to question her understanding of cause and effect, reexamining the tragedies she’s held on to and the wounds she’s refused to let heal.
But when the children go missing, Elena’s fragile new peace is shattered. It’s only at the prospect of fresh loss and blame that she will discover the truth of the terrible burdens we take upon ourselves, the way tragedy and redemption are inevitably intertwined—and how curses can sometimes lead to blessings, however disguised.

My Review:

Find your inner strength during your most troubled times while reading Among The Lesser Gods, a Contemporary fiction novel by Margo Catts about a young woman finds that what she thinks is something horrible happening in her life could actually be a blessing.

What I liked:

1. Favorite character: Elena.  Catts told the story through Elena's point of view and I think that was a smart move.  One could feel what she was going through by feeling like you were inside her head.  After reading this book, I don't think if it was written in a third person POV we would've had the same reaction.  I could feel her pain that she was going through from the first page up until the end.  You wanted the best to happen to her as we went through her life once she went to visit her grandmother.  She had a very complex life which Catts brought out in the book very well that you felt bad for her and understood why she acted the way she did.
2. The description of scenery once she got to where her grandmother lived.  The story takes place in a state I have never been to, but with Catt's description in the details of where Elena was going to stay with her grandmother helped me to imagine what kind of life she was living once she left California.
3. The mystery.  Reading the summary, I knew what to expect.  But as I kept reading, there was more mystery and twists and turns than I expected.  I was kept on the edge of my seat wanting to read if these mysteries were solved.  The one that was most surprising was that of Elena's aunt whom she never knew.  That was a major twist I wasn't expecting to happen in the book.  The mystery that hit me the hardest was when Sarah and Kevin went missing.  After all those two children went through in their short lives, Catt's brought more horror into their lives by having them go missing.  Another that got my attention was the mystery of an accident Elena blamed herself for happening since she was ten years old.  She was only a child to be holding such a burden and held onto that inside for so many years.
4. Catt's didn't stick to just one theme in this book.  While there was much suspense, thriller, and mystery in the book, she also added some romantic tones into the book.  It helped break apart from the all the bad that was happening in Elena's life as she felt that everything she touched was curse.
5. The ending tied everything together from the beginning.  Catt's ended it with everything being complete, nothing leaving us hanging on.  What needed closure was tied up nicely in the end, leaving you complete.

What I Didn't Like:

1. Random characters showing up out of nowhere, such as Leo and Poppy to name a few.  Catts already had more than enough characters in the book that fit the story, but having more cme in out of nowhere was not only confusing, but I found some of them to also be boring and not needed.   It was almost as if Catts just needed to add something to fill up spaces in the book.
2. The mystery of Sarah and Kevin missing was cut too short.  I wish Catts had written it out longer in more chapters.  It was rushed and could've been more suspenseful if it was longer, perhaps the children being lost for a longer period of time.  Something more that would give us more to look forward to.
3. Elena telling her story about the fire when she was a child was rushed.  Again, it was in a chapter that seemed to be put in there out of nowhere with Leo being present.  Why?  Of all the characters in the book, Catt's should've had Elena tell the truth to someone who was more main the book, not a character who didn't seem to have any importance.

I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars.  It was a very well written contemporary fiction novel and I would recommend it to any woman who wants to read a book about an independent woman who wants to write all her wrongs, something many of us could relate to.  You will never get bored while reading this book when you get hit with a new twist every few chapters.