Unfortunately the ethics behind this book and the recent story that has come to light regarding the author's actions on Twitter have caused me to DNF it.

This is a book unlike any I have read before. The premise was intriguing and pulled me in from the first page. The story is about a woman murdered on her birthday whose consciousness survives in the body of a 3-yr old boy. I wanted, no I needed to know who killed the woman and why!

I fell in love with the characters and the mystery. I was flipping the pages like a crazy person.
This is definitely a genre bending novel which doesn't conform to norms, which I absolutely applaud and love. Elements of thriller, supernatural, and a peak of Magical Realism.

I enjoyed the geographical setting of both Jordan and the US, this added to this character driven story.
Highly recommend this book !

They Called me Wyatt is the story of Siwar, a Jordanian woman who falls to her death on her birthday. She is reborn into the body of a young boy named Wyatt. Through him, she sets out to prove her death was not a suicide and find her killer. This was certainly a unique concept for a book and the idea of reincarnation is very intriguing to me. What I found most interesting was learning about Siwar's life as a woman in Jordan. We get the perspective of a young woman who hopes for change in coming to the US and the realities of her life when she does. I struggled with this one a bit due to its slower pace and high frequency of grammatical errors. I felt this one read like more a memoir than a murder-mystery.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Thanks NetGalley!

This was definitely an unique and interesting premise for a book. I truly have never read anything similar.
The basis is that Siwar dies suddently at the age of 25 after a night out. Her soul finds itself in the body of a speech - delayed three year old boy named Wyatt. As she comes to terms with what has happened, she is determined to somehow find her murderer through Wyatt. As he grows older, Siwar "pushes" him into investigating her murder back in her homeland.

The premise of this book caught my attention, but overall, it fell short. I had to force myself to get through parts of the story so I could finish the book.

Siwar Salaiha is a Jordanian college student in Maryland. It’s her 25th birthday and she’s at a bar celebrating with friends when suddenly her life is cut short and she is murdered. Siwar may be dead physically but her consciousness is reborn into the mind of three-year old boy named Wyatt. Once Siwar comes to terms with her new situation, she is determined to somehow find her murderer through Wyatt. Time passes and Wyatt eventually grows older, making it easier for Siwar to “push” him into investigating her murder, even guiding him back to her homeland, Jordan. Wyatt’s life is turned upside down as he becomes enthralled in solving Siwar’s murder, and eventually comes across a clue that slowly unravels the truth about that night.

This book has a lot of different emotions wrapped into one great story. Most importantly, it’s a glimpse into a young woman’s journey through her short life and the risks she takes in an attempt to find her true self. Siwar’s upbringing is detailed and narrated with such skill that you can’t help but put yourself in her shoes and react to situations as if they were happening to you. As a Jordanian, Siwar’s upbringing was very different than mine, but being raised by immigrant parents myself, it was nice to see some similarities. I really enjoyed how Natasha Tynes skillfully described the culture and life in Jordan without veering away from the storyline. From beginning to end, this book held my attention and wrapped up nicely. I recommend adding this to your TBR list for the summer!

Natasha Tynes asks a lot of her readers in her debut novel They Call Me Wyatt. The speculative fiction book is filled with changing timelines, jumping perspectives, switching narratives and futuristic storylines, and requires readers to pay careful attention. While the idea behind the novel is strong and touches on many timely and important topics, the point of They Call Me Wyatt often gets lost in translation.

When 25-year old Jordanian student Siwar is murdered while studying in Maryland, police write the case off as suicide. Three years later Siwar’s conscious awakes in the body of a three-year-old white American boy named Wyatt. Unable to communicate through her new hosts body, Siwar cannot investigate her death or reach out to her friends and family. Years pass and eventually Siwar’s presence begins to fade from Wyatt’s mind. He grows up to become a kind, charming young man with a deep interest in the Middle East. When Wyatt begins dating Siwar’s niece he learns about her death, and begins to investigate the crime to bring her justice and peace she her mind re-awakens within his own.

They Call Me Wyatt flips between several timelines: one in the 1990s as Siwar is growing up in Amman, one in the early 2000s as Siwar awakens within three-year-old Wyatt, and one set several decades into the future when Wyatt begins investigating Siwar’s death. The first two timelines, which made up most of the first half of the book, are fairly easy to follow, and do a good job of setting up the rest of the story. Siwar's early life is the most interesting part of the book, depicting what it's like to be a young girl, then student, then woman in Jordan.

It’s in the third timeline – when Wyatt has grown up and Siwar’s conscious had mostly faded – that problems arise. Tynes uses futuristic technology and frequent cultural references to hammer home the fact that significant time has passed. Dialogue like, “Come on, babes. It’s 2026. Everyone is using Drive-Less. All the statistics showed that they’re safer than a real driver,” feel inauthentic and forced. Mind-reading technology, fictional diseases and artificial-intelligence systems take away from the real human story at the heart of They Call Me Wyatt, and their presence detracts from the story’s core themes.

They Call Me Wyatt touches one some very important topics – immigrant experiences in the United States, racism, classism, violence against women. Tynes has set out to tell a story that spans decades, crosses continents, and convey timely messages, and there are many moments where she successfully explains and explores the experiences her characters face in crossing language and cultural barriers. Siwars stories of growing up in Jordan and learning about her sexuality while also trying to cultivate her love and reading and writing are poignant. As a young woman, she is bound by harsh and frustrating rules which, if broken, could result in a lifetime of shame and judgment for her family. But as a teenage girl Siward desperately wants to explore the world and experience the freedoms of love and intimacy. It’s part of the reason she leaves for the United States.

It’s hard to overlook some of the more confounding aspects of They Call Me Wyatt. The book relies heavily on the idea that a dead person’s mind can survive and be placed in another body. While this isn’t the most far-fetched idea to ever be used in literature, it’s difficult to mesh this science-fiction-esque narrative with the rest of the story. What’s even more troubling is the way Siwar’s mind brutalizes Wyatt’s body, emotions and relationships. Understandably desperate to solve her own murder, Siwar often convinces Wyatt to drink heavily – she is most present in his mind when he is drunk – and ignore the needs of those around him. She even convinced him to date her niece which, if you stop and think about it, has vaguely creep connotations.

They Call Me Wyatt’s ending is clear but unsatisfying. No obvious strings are left hanging, but it doesn’t feel like the right way to cut off Siwar and Wyatt’s stories, especially considering the strangeness of their relationships with one another and the strangeness of the situation in general. Overall it’s a bold debut novel with a strong central idea, but lacks the clarity of writing and compelling enough characters to really pull it off.

When I first started reading this book, I didn’t really enjoy it much, but as I read, it started to get more interesting. The first part of the book felt a bit repetitive at times, and the book’s pace was slow at times. I understand that this is not real life, but some things are generally illogical. They just don’t make sense. The characterization also could have been better; sometimes a character’s actions would seem uncharacteristic of them, with no compelling motive behind them.

However, the book did keep me hooked! I really wanted to find out who killed Siwar. Later on in the book, things start getting more interesting and it makes you wanna read more.

This book truly has a lot of potential and I did enjoy reading it. One thing I loved about it was the awesome book recommendations that were just mentioned there; works by authors like Ahdaf Soueif. I was planning on giving this book 3 stars, but that awesome PLOT TWIST bumped it up to 3.5.

I’d recommend giving this book a try and seeing what you think of it!

They Called me Wyatt has an intriguing premise; Jordanian student Siwar Salaiha is murdered on her 25th birthday and her consciousness enters the body of a three year old boy called Wyatt. We see Siwar trying to adapt to being an adult mind trapped in the body of a truculent three year old and the bewilderment of Wyatt's parents trying to understand the change in their son. Following a medical procedure, Siwar's consciousness becomes dormant until Wyatt is 25 years old by which point he is a Middle Eastern studies graduate. Wyatt takes an interest in Siwar's death and sets about trying to find her murderer.
Despite the plot hooking me in, I found it difficult to suspend my disbelief at times particularly in the first part of the book and crime is not my go-to genre. Despite this book not being for me, I can see that it has received a lot of positive reviews and suspect it would appeal to readers of crime and thrillers. Thank you to Netgalley and the author for providing an ARC

This book starts off with the murder of Jordanian student, Siwar Salaiha on her 25th birthday. Her consciousness goes into the body of Wyatt who was born on the same day Siwar was murdered. I received an advanced copy of this book from Natasha Tynes and Netgalley in exchange for my honest review and it comes out on June 21. This book was unlike anything I have ever read before. The story kept me guessing up until the very end as to who killed Siwar and I loved Wyatt's character.

I want to quickly say thank you to Netgalley and the author for allowing me to have a copy of this book. This book automatically drew me in because of the plot and the cover. I really enjoyed the book and seeing the distinction between the two characters Siwar and Wyatt. The author did an amazing job in making me feel for the characters as the last half left me anxious when the killer was revealed. I loved hearing about Siwar's childhood and how she grew up. There are so many positive things I can say about this book as I loved reading it and I couldn't put it down. I definitely recommend checking out this book.

"You know what they say about birthmarks?"
"No, I don't." he said, his eyes closed.
"They are the wounds of your previous lives."
Wyatt chuckled.

This is the story of Siwar, a Jordanian student, who was murdered on the day of her 25th birthday, and whose conscience is trapped in the body of a boy named Wyatt who was born the day she died.

WOW this was good! Never once did I think i had the mystery solved, which kept me turning the pages! The book focuses on many topics, but to me the topic of "belonging" was the most prominent. I really enjoyed this book and would reccomend it.

Thank you to the author Natasha Tynes for reaching out to me and asking if I would be interested in receiving a copy of her novel via Netgalley to review. Thank you for creating such a unique and unforgettable story.

Thanks to Netgalley for a free copy.

The book follows Siwar, a Jordinian lady who dies young but becomes trapped in the brain of a white "entitled" young man. During the story Siwar's lecturer talks about her using "cliché's in her writing and yet so many cliché's are used in this book. I'm not sure if it's intentional or irony but I hope so!

I really enjoyed learning about the differences in culture and environments. There's a mini story within the story which I actually thought was really good. The story deals with a lot of topics like racism, sexism and mental health. The story is set in the future and there's a sci-fi element to it.

I'm so pleased I'm finished reading this book. It took me a few attempts as I found it hard going, so had had to put it down and come back to it after a week. Because of this I wouldn't say I "enjoyed" the book but I'm sure many others will.

The premise of this was super interesting and the story itself is fairly captivating. However, I had one too many issues to really get on board with this novel.

Firstly, the overuse of words and phrases became grating. 'cogent' 'HELLO WORLD, I'M AWAKE' and 'ran his/her hands through their hair' were used so often that I felt like at least one of those listed would appear in every single chapter. It was just a bit overkill and uneccessary and drew me out of the story.

Secondly, the dialogue is just so unrealistic. I find it fascinating how inner monologues were handled so well in terms of the writing but then the spoken dialogue sounded as if it had been in a different language and then translated to English by Google. I think with a bit of work though, that issue could be ironed out.

Finally, the resolution was underwhelming. I get what the author was trying to do and I usually don't mind out-of-the-blue conclusions but it just didn't gel with the rest of the story, for me.

I seem to be in the minority of those who disliked the book overall but the premise and story were let down by the execution.

Thanks to California Coldblood Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy for review.

This book was given to me by the author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
When Jordanian student Siwar is murdered on her birthday, her consciousness survives, finding refuge in the body of a three-year-old boy, Wyatt. Eventually, her consciousness goes into a dormant state after Wyatt undergoes a major medical procedure.

Fast-forward twenty-two years. Wyatt is a well-adjusted young man with an affinity towards the Middle East and a fear of heights. Wyatt learns about Siwar’s death, which occurred twenty-five years ago. He grows obsessed with Siwar and spends months investigating her death. His investigation forces him to open a door he has kept shut all his life, a spiritual connection to an unknown entity that he frequently refused to acknowledge. His leads take him to Amman, Jordan where after talking to her friends and family members and through his special connection with the deceased, he discovers a clue that unravels the mystery of her death. Will Siwar get justice after all?

I was very intrigued by the concept of this book. The author is very creative to have thought of something like this!
It started out great for me. I was liking it a lot and excited to see where it was going.

Unfortunately, I got to the 70% mark and just couldn’t keep going. It was becoming drawn out and I couldn’t stay interested. There were many instances of the author giving her opinion on the American way of life which seemed unnecessary. I hate not finishing a book or giving an unfavorable review. I’d almost rather not review in those cases, but I’m just providing my honest opinion as I was asked.

First of all, thank you to the author, Natasha Tynes and California Coldblood Books, an imprint of Rare Bird Books for sending me an eARC of the book in exchange for an honest review. It is a mystery/thriller with a touch of the supernatural.

Siwar is pushed off a rooftop to her death and wakes up in the body of a young child. Her conscious lives on and she has the opportunity to investigate her own murder, but to do so she has to wait years in limbo.

The description of this book had me intrigued and the various story lines had me curious. I liked reading about Jordan and it's culture and I sympathized with Siwar struggling to find her own identity in her birth country but also not really fitting in in the US.
I perhaps would have liked a more in depth character description of all the suspects, to get a clearer understanding of motive to want to kill Siwar.

But overall an enjoyable read.

A creative take on reincarnation and soul survival. Wyatt is taken by Siwar who was murdered. Wyatt decides to dig into the murder and find out what happened. A different take on life and death but intriguing

Interesting book! Different from everything I’ve read in years. I really liked the concept. The story was okay and I really liked the ending.

Synopsis:
They Called Me Wyatt tells the story of Siwar Salaiha, a girl from Jordan who found her calling, her freedom in the University of Maryland (USA's) Creative Writing Course. The book starts with her death on her twenty-fifth birthday, a mysterious death, the details to which she cannot remember. Her death was ruled as a suicide by the police but she denies it, adamantly. But, how is she denying it if she's already dead?

Siwar's consciousness has found its way into a baby boy from Seattle, Washington. A boy who goes by the name Wyatt Shepard. He was born on the exact day that Siwar died. What is this bizarre connection that years later, twenty-five years later to be precise, Wyatt is determined to find out as to what exactly happened to Siwar on that ill-fated day, without knowing what is it that drives him to do so?

Review:
My first read from this genre – speculative novel – where the epigraph itself pulled me in.
"Yes, there's something the dead are keeping back." (from Robert Frost's The Witch of Coos)

"Dying was not the worst part. It was what came after dying."
Some strong opening lines, and bang on to the essence of the storyline, as everything in the story begins after Siwar's death – an intriguing afterlife in the body of a three-year-old toddler. The book is divided into two parts. The first part follows the events leading up to Siwar's death and her tough days as an adult brain in Wyatt's three-year-old 'speech-delayed and limited fine motor skills' body. The second part starts with a twenty-five-year-old Wyatt and is majorly told from his point-of-view with Siwar butting in a few times in-between. With the author highlighting the dates with the chapter numbers and often mentioning the years going forward and backwards throughout the story, the timeline of the story runs smoothly and there are no issues in following it.

The first part has a slow build-up and the book picks up steam only in the second part. But, it is totally worth every page. It's like enjoying the spicy flavours of a dish, slowly. Siwar's various exploits make for enjoyable reading.

The author writes a gripping narrative, with cross-cultural references, in a tight-knit story. It is a heart-warming blend of everything similar yet different. The author also goes in-depth in trying to break free of the prejudices against other cultures – prejudices which mostly arise from wrongful depictions in movies and popular media. And when one of my favourite dishes is mentioned, I love the book more for it.
"We chatted for a bit then she invited me to breakfast. She made me Shakshuka, a tomato egg dish that was brought to Israel by Tunisian Jews."
It is quite an ingenious concept, though as intriguing as the story is, it did remind me of Stephenie Meyer's The Host.

On to the characters, Siwar is just your average girl, looking for an escape from the stifling boundaries of her country and society, dreaming of the free world overseas. She is such a relatable character.
"They keep saying that I'm good at school and that I shouldn't waste my time on novels."

"So, here you are
too foreign for home
too foreign for here.
Never enough for both."
(Another epigraph which resonates throughout the story. From Ijeoma Umebinyuo's Questions for Ada.)

Also integral to the story are Wyatt's as well as Siwar's respective families. The connection between their families through Wyatt's relationship with Hoda (the daughter of Siwar's older sister) may have been engineered by Siwar but provides quite the conflict to the story. At times, I even felt bad for Wyatt whose entire life seemed to be consumed by this one girl. Was anything even real in Wyatt's life? His relationship, his studies, etc.

With the introduction of Hoda in the second part, the story gets as eerie as it is exciting.
"You know what they say about birthmarks?"
"No, I don't."
"They are the wounds of your previous lives."
And the futuristic technology is also interesting, some things new while there are also good old few. After all, the story terminates in the year 2026.

The ending is something else, totally unexpected, out of the blue. It hits you and keeps you on edge. Siwar not only smiles but shines throughout. The case is finally closed. But, I have mixed feelings. Siwar and Wyatt's relationship is odd while his and Hoda's is confusing but, the story wasn't really about relationships so… Though Krista did provide a nice perspective on that. (Oh, I totally forgot to mention that she's one of my favourite characters – Wyatt's mother. While Ibtissam, Siwar's mother's intuitiveness had me spellbound. Mothers are of a different ilk, aren't they?)

Highly recommended!

P.S. I wish I could read Siwar's entire journal, like Wyatt had the chance to read it.
"Guilt, women's middle name. Apology, their first."
Kudos to the author for giving such a strong voice to Siwar.
(I am saving her journal entries for re-reading, for every time and always both – On Belonging and On Death.)

It would have been a 5/5 and 'all the stars in the world' read for me if not for the ton of grammatical mistakes, incorrect tenses, repetitions, misspellings and missing words.

Also, I sometimes feel that I am different too and I have felt so for quite a long time. And I have a birthmark too (nope, not saying where it is!). Does that mean I have a previous life which I don’t remember? (grins and winks)

I loved this book, I picked it up and I couldn’t put it down. It somehow perfectly encompassed a mystery, immigration, love, and a little magical realism. I can’t say any more without giving anything away, but I would highly recommend this book to everyone!

They Called Me Wyatt follows the story of Siwar, a 25-year-old Jordanian who was killed while attending school in the United States. This same day Wyatt was born. Three years later Siwar consciousness is awakened in Wyatt's body. This series of events develop an interesting plot that will lead to the discovery of what happened to Siwar the day she was killed.


This book is a mix of supernatural and mystery. The story is set between the time Siwar is stuck in Wyatt's body, She living in Jordan and the time in the US before her death. Siwar is a strong and well-developed character. The mystery around her murder kept me reading. Although is not my go-to genre I really enjoyed it.

Thanks to Natasha Tynes and Netgalley for proving me with this E-Arc in exchange for my honest opinion. #TheyCalledmeWyatt #Netgalley