Holmes has written a great tale about a disfunctional family, set across the 70s and 80s; the latter being when siblings Kit and Robyn return to their old neighbourhood to seek answers. The plot ticked all the boxes of your standard dramatic fiction novel, and I enjoyed it a lot!

An interesting mystery that will keep you turning the pages to put the pieces together, A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME is the tale of a family doing just the same thing - putting the pieces together years after a tragedy, trying to solve their own mysteries. An astonishing debut novel with beautiful writing, Holmes will shock you with the depth of her characters and their emotions.

Thank you to Agora Books and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for honest feedback. This was a very drawing read for me, as everything was a mystery. Even the mystery itself was a mystery...meaning that the protagonist, Robyn, and all of the other characters know what happened on the "tragic day" in question...However, there is a lot of mysterious facts surrounding why it happened.. or at least that is what you are trying to figure out the entire time. The story alternates between 1988 (present) and 1976/1977 (Robyn's childhood). Robyn and her brother Kit, have returned to their childhood home, where they haven't been in roughly 10 years, determined to find answers. Between the two time lines, with Robyn's detective work and memories, information slowly begins to eerily reveal more and more information leading to quite the dynamic apex.
The reason I am giving this book only 3 stars instead of 4, is that I found myself growing tired of being SO in the dark about so many things. At first I was so intrigued that I knew nothing, I had my detective hat on, I was ready to figure it all out...until I realized I was just confused and getting bored. I think if I would have had a little bit more information or hints of what actually happened that was so bad in Robyn's childhood I would have been all in. Maybe the "2 mysteries" were just a little too much for me, personally?

That being said, I think the writing was impeccable. In fact, I'm changing my official rating to 3.5 stars because the writing was so great. The characters were real and relatable and the emotions ran deep. When the characters were meant to be feeling certain things, I was feeling it with them...including scared and creeped out. I think fans of mysteries will enjoy this book and really look forward to reading more from Marianne Holmes in the future!

A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME is available now for pre order on amazon and will be released on September 13, 2018

I was looking forward to reading this book and certainly the beautiful lyrical prose, descriptions and characterisation were excellent.

1976 - Robyn hangs out at the lido and follows her big brother everywhere. But as the heatwave goes on, it's clear everyone is keeping secrets from her - who is the strange man following her, why is her mum always looking after crying woman and what does Kit know about the life they fled.

1988 - Robyn and Kit return to their home town and no one has moved on. It's time for Robyn to understand the events of that sweltering summer.

I really wanted to enjoy this book and it had an excellent premise, unfortunately I found it a little confusing and slow. I appreciate there was a need to build up tension and drama but the jumps from present to past lost me a little and I wasn't always sure what was happening.

The reveal at the end was good and unexpected, but it was dragged out a little too long - making it clear a big twist was coming.

I did enjoy this author's writing and would read other novels by her but this one didn't quite do it for me.

Thanks to netgalley and agora books for this e-ARC.

I was slightly conflicted with this book. I like the premise of it but wasn't overly hooked by the execution. Robyn is aware there is something bad about her father but her mother never talks about it. The book jumps between several points in time and gets a little confusing because of this. The writing is beautifully done and is ripe for analysis but the plot just doesn't grip you.

This book was very hard to read..At times it was confusing and all over the place. It also just kept dragging and never getting to the point of the story and going in circles..It took me almost a week to read and I usually read a book in a day or two. The ending was the best part of this book.

2.5
The characters and the setting were very good! The author can write and the switching of timelines was handled deftly. The set up had me wanting answers but you need quite a bit of patience for this one. At almost the halfway mark I considered throwing in the towel when I barely knew more than I did after the first chapter or two. Since I requested it I persevered.

The story does start to eventually give some twists and reveals. There were a few things that I didn’t anticipate and the author was clever to tie it all together as such. The ending was satisfying. I liked the premise, characters, twists and conclusion it just needed some action more quickly or should have been trimmed down... to keep interest.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and Agora Books for a copy in exchange for a honest review.

To be completely honest, I only read about 20% of this book. So I can only "review" what I actually read. Though the book flows well, I found the part I read to move along quite slowly. I know that's supposed to add to the build-up of the mystery but I found it to be very frustrating. I found myself not really caring about Robyn or Kit...i may, in the future, try to read this again..but for now I'm giving up.

I didn't want to put this book down,pretty much finished it in one sitting.
There were times where I was frustrated as to how vague it was on what exactly happened... but as the book went further into the story,it made perfect sense.
Both timelines had me gripped,and there was enough tension and menace to have me on edge of seat.
Everything was rolled out nicely,with reveals perfectly paced.
All good.

Read the entirety of this book this morning – a beautifully written literary mystery with a gorgeously immersive sense of place and time – anyone who ran wild through the Summers of the 70’s and 80’s will relate strongly to this story, although hopefully none of them had a Summer exactly like these…

This is also a multi layered family drama, we watch through the eyes of young main protagonist Robyn as she tries to understand and interpret adult behaviour, her own secretive nature and sense of self playing a divisive part as events unfold.

One of the huge strengths of this novel comes in the relationship between Robyn and her Brother Kit – older than her, with stronger memories of where they came from, their yin and yang is beautifully told and absolutely riveting. As is the mystery playing out on the page in front of the readers eyes…I won’t spoil it at all, this is a journey of a novel and as such best read cold.

I loved it. Clever, a little haunting, often unexpected, author Marianne Holmes is a talent to watch – her use of language brings the lives of her characters and the paths they wander to vivid, wonderful life.

Highly recommended.

I found this book very difficult to get into. The characters went easy to like and I felt like it really moved slowly in some parts. #netgalley

*I would like to thank the author/publisher/Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review*

Thank you for this early copy!

I would recommend this to anyone who loves a well-written thriller. I will be checking out more from this author in the future!

Thanks to Agora Books and Netgalley for an early copy.

I love the cover design on the book. For a debut novel, I find the plot to be sweet and interesting.