Call Me Evie is an outstanding debut novel that doesn't just deliver on the mystery/thriller front--it offers deft characterization which results in characters you actually care about! And it's so hard to write teenagers well, but JP Pomare does an excellent job. I can't wait to read Pomare's next book! Very highly recommended.

I was confused during the first few chapters. The way the story started, I kept wondering what the heck was going on here. But I'm glad I kept reading. As the story progressed, I became more interested. No character comes across very likeable here. And Evie didn't seem to have much of a personality to me until towards the end. Maybe that was because she couldn't remember much of what happened "that night"? There are some flashbacks of before and after, so I was able to see glimpses into her life before she called herself Evie. She remembers bits and pieces gradually, but can she remember it all before it is too late?

The more I read, the more curious I became and wanted to find out what happened and who the actual cause of all the trouble really was. I don't want to give too much away because this story is best to go into somewhat blindly and to discover clues for yourself along the way.

When reading Call Me Evie, I thought I knew where the story was headed. How it would end. But I didn't know. That's the thing with this story. You'll think you know something....you'll think you have it all figured out, but you won't. Not fully. Not until you reach the end. Call Me Evie is a unique and suspenseful tale that held my curiosity and kept me turning the pages wanting needing to know what happened.


RATING: 3-3½ out of 5.

Hmm this was a weird read for me, not sure how I feel so I’ll just sort of think out loud with my review and try to process my thoughts and feelings about this with you guys!

This is told in two timelines, before and after and nothing is very clear throughout, especially at the beginning. Evie narrates and all you know is that she’s being held captive, but her captor isn’t hurting her, he says he’s protecting her. You have no idea from who or what exactly they’re hiding from and neither does Evie. It’s all very vague and there are so many questions and while I usually like unknown factors I was annoyed by how little is revealed and how painfully slowly things do end up coming out. When things do finally come to a head I just felt like it was all sort of stupid and weird. It didn’t make a ton of sense for me and there were also several secondary characters that seemed to serve no purpose in the story in the end. I was left thinking, but why about most things about this one. It was all just messy and clunky for me and left me going, what??? and not in a good way.

To end on a positive note, one aspect I did like was the idea of memory and how that can be manipulated or changed throughout time and for various reasons. I’m gonna say no more on that but just that it was an angle I hadn’t exactly seen before and I always appreciate a fresh approach. I seem to be in the minority on this one, there are several glowing reviews on Goodreads that show this may be a me problem because plenty of people loved this so keep that in mind!

Just call me Evie is such a twisty book. Every time I thought I held a grasp on what was happening I was wrong. It’s extrwmely difficult to review a thriller like this without giving away spoilers. It wasn’t my favorite, there were moments that didn’t flow or weren’t as cohesive as I’d like but it was still a mind bender.

2.5 stars

I’m not quite sure how I feel about this book. It took a bit for me to get into it (much longer than normal for this genre, which is one of my favorites). Parts of it were just boring, and some parts were confusing. There were some twists, particularly in the latter part of the book, that were unexpected. For a debut, I guess it’s okay. I’d be willing to check out other books by this author in the future.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy, but I wasn’t required to leave a positive review.

I was quickly invested in this fast paced story as it started out with an adrenaline-rush of a first chapter. The story moves along at a good clip as it goes back and forth between what Evie is trying to piece together from the information she remembers and what she gets from the man who claims he's trying to protect her from what waits for her at home, and from her memories of her life as Kate, a normal teenager in Melbourne. The book lost me somewhat in the last part, where an additional perspective is added and the story got a bit muddled. It's a decent debut novel, and it seems like most reviewers had better luck with it than I did!

Kate is fuzzy on a number of things, but she knows her name isn't really Evie, the man she's with isn't actually her uncle, and she needs to be in Melbourne with her friends, not stuck in some shack in New Zealand. Her “uncle” keeps saying it's for her own protection. Something horrific happened back home. As long as she trusts him and takes her medication, eventually her memories will come back. Can she trust him? Can she trust herself? The narrative bounces between timelines and takes forever to build up any steam, but the long-delayed twists are worth it.

If unreliable narrators is your thing, then this one is for you. Twists and turns abound and your loyalties will be tossed back and forth as well. Keeps you guessing until the very end.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The ending left me reeling--totally unexpected. Well-written and great characters.

This book bored me senseless. It just wasn’t fast enough or riveting enough to keep me wanting more. The characters were slow and barely developed. It just I couldn’t stand it tbh!

“Extreme emotions - rage, bliss, grief, ecstasy, agony - are amber; they preserve memories whole.”
Call me Evie is an intense ride. The story starts with a jolt and is full of mystery and twists. Imagine working on a puzzle and as the pieces start to fall into place and the picture comes into view, you feel like you have a grasp of what you’re looking at...then, once you think it’s complete, you realize the puzzle is actually a hologram picture and when you change your view point a little it’s a completely different picture than the one you initially saw. Well, that basically describes this book. It deals with some tough to swallow scenarios and no character is black and white. I stayed up late reading so I could discover how it ends.

First 70% of the book - 3 stars
Last 30% of the book - 5 stars.
This was a very slow burning story from the start. The first few pages created a great amount of intrigue but then it was weighed down and repetitive for the next half of the book.

Something has happened and Evie/Kate is at the center of it until she is taken away by a man we only know as Jim. Chapters set before the event cover Kate's relationship with her boyfriend and best friend, Willow. It is these relationships that seem to set the stage for the "event' that leads to Kate being taken away to Maketu. Chapters after the event detail her captivity at the hands of her "uncle Jim" who maintains he is keeping her safe from everyone who is looking for her/blaming her for the awful thing that happened.

The author kept me pretty clueless throughout the first half of the book. Almost to the point of frustration. The reader really doesn't know anything of substance until half way through. We are introduced to meaningless townspeople (name-calling kids), and multiple trips to the beach of no consequence. I wouldn't have minded so much if I would have gotten more of a description of the people and places. I had no connection to where she was staying or the town she was in. It was really just a narrative of daily events and routines that got a little boring after awhile.

The second half is a different story. The author finally reveals some new relationships and some secrets are alluded to that allow the reader to start forming actual opinions about the characters. In the first half, I could simple guess who was the true victim or who I should detest with no real foundation to base it on. Kate/Evie's attempts to escape are a bit questionable. Just when it seems she has everything she needs to go she just ends up going back to the house and to bed. Confusing at best. But when the author decides to put everything out there and allows more characters to tell their point of view, the novel really takes off and is very satisfying. Surprisingly, I think this story will stay with me for awhile and I will recommend it to others with the caveat of "the beginning is a bit slow". I appreciate Netgalley/G.P. Putnam's Sons allowing me to read review this novel ahead of publication.

Chilling unputdownable Kate Bennett is being held captive in a remote cabin Bill the man holding her there is her her captor or is her protector .Bill keeps telling her..protecting her for her own safety &why does he keep calling her Evie & why does she have no memory of what he implies happened, .Multi layered mysterious kept me guessing and racing through the pages.#netgalley#putnam

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of Call Me Evie! I genuinely enjoyed this read. It had me hooked from the first page, and I was surprised that who I thought was the antagonist was completely wrong! It's always exciting to me when I can't guess the ending, and this book was one of those! I will say, I did think the book kind of dragged on, and I found myself really wanting some excitement to happen about halfway through. Overall, I thought this was a good book and will be recommending my library to order it.

I love mystery/thrillers that have you guessing until the very end and Call Me Evie most definitely fit that bill!!! Throughout this addictive novel, I was constantly changing my opinion on whether Kate should stay in the remote cabin in the woods with a man she is unsure of or she should run as fast as she can!! The storyline was smartly crafted and the shocking twists were plentiful—loved that! I was so surprised to learn this novel is J.P. Pomare’s debut because it’s just that good! Call Me Evie is a solid 5 star read that will surely keep you up into the wee hours of the night reading because it’s absolutely unputdownable! I am so excited to read anything and everything J.P. Pomare comes out with next!

Call Me Evie is a exciting thriller that I could not put down. Is she kidnapped or is she being protected because she committed a crime? Why can't she remember? Why does this weird guy call her a different name? This is a page turner that everyone needs to read.

Is he her protector, or her captor? Kate Bennet has been held in a cabin in a remote town. Bill, the man who is keeping her there insists he’s keeping her safe, that she can’t go home to Melbourne because of the terrible thing she did. He also insists on calling her Evie. Kate has no memory of the event Bill is talking about, but he insists he’s doing this for her own good. As Kate’s memories begin to slowly surface, she’s frighteningly aware that her memories don’t match the stories Bill has been telling her. Is her mind protecting her from some terrible crime she’s committed, or is Bill lying to her? This is one of the most intense and heart pounding stories I’ve read this year. Bill gets my vote for creepiest character in a thriller