I have been reading Caroline Leavitt’s books for a very long time, longer than I’d like to admit! I think I might have even been in college when I read my first one. So I was happy to be part of the influencer tour for the book.

Days of Wonder had a lot of elements I really enjoy in books–the mother was a seamstress who had left her religious Jewish family behind to become a single mother, her daughter is now getting out of prison where she both learned how to knit and got her college degree and is starting over. She had put a child up for adoption and is interested in meeting her She even gets a job writing advice columns! All things I love.

I did feel like the book was a bit far-fetched in both the crime (no spoilers but it involves foxglove poisoning) and how well she did in prison especially since she was supposedly there for six years. At apparently a great prison that actually tried to rehabilitate her but still. She seemed troubled before she went to prison (very odd obsessive relationship with her boyfriend ) but really didn’t seem the worse for wear after leaving. She was interested and slightly obsessed with finding the child she put up for adoption thinking she would be in prison for 25 years but who wouldn’t be. It was cute to have knitting be part of what brought them together.

I felt like there wasn’t a major reason to have the family that adopted her daughter be so troubled. There was a lot going on her mother’s life and her life. Adoption isn’t cheap and you have to be very organized and I honestly had a little trouble thinking this couple could manage to do it in the first place.

Overall, I did like the book and the characters felt real. It was just a little too much drama and heartbreak in every aspect of everyone’s lives and back story. Not one person had a happy life? The book also had a strong young adult feel to me, especially the parts about the teen relationship that ended in her going to jail. I would have liked a little more depth into why and how she got into this relationship. While I enjoyed her mother’s backstory and small romance, I almost felt like it would have been served better in another book. A sequel? A prequel? One book about the mother and one about the daughter would be been perfect. Instead, I felt like we got a slightly incomplete picture of the two women, especially in the later part when we learned more about the daughter’s boyfriend’s backstory–which was also very tragic!