this wasn’t easy but a good read

Once There Were Wolves – Charlotte McConaghy 

Wolves, contemporary, survival, fiction.

Rating 9/10

Inti and her sister Maggie go to Scotland to help bring back the wolf population. She knows that there will be a lot of opposing ideas towards it but this is to save the environment. As she is helping to integrate the wolves into the environment a farmer is found dead. All fingers are pointing at her. She has to come to terms with her trauma and deal with what’s going on around her.

This was sort of hard to read but really good. The main character has this condition that she doesn’t name throughout the novel other than she can see emotions through touch. There were scenes that were very interestingly graphic and vivid. I was slightly disappointed with the size of this novel. I had expected a bit more but that’s fine. This was a one sitting read and I do appreciate the one sitting type reads. 

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too cliche, such a shame

And Then You Were Gone – R.J. Jacobs

Mystery, thriller, fiction.

Rating 4/10

Emily and her boyfriend Paolo go on a fishing trip together. They are happily enjoying their day but the next day he goes missing. His remains are not found, and he is claimed as dead. She mourns the loss and moves onward with her life. Later on, Paolo is found to be alive but the circumstances of his disappearance don’t make sense. Until he tells her some shocking news that alerts her that her life is in danger. He tried to warn her subtly, but she had to learn the hard way.

The idea of the novel and the synopsis caught my attention but after reading the first hundred pages, felt like a copy and paste cliché. This novel was too cliché and not even with a fresh twist. The whole disappearance because lives are in danger scenario has been overdone. I didn’t bother finish reading because I predicted the outcome because I am all too familiar with this cliché. I was satisfyingly right but disappointed in this novel.