Brilliant story, with Amazing worldbuilding and captivating plot, full of twists! I loved everything about this story, I was so involved

When Jonas is expelled from school, he moves to Shivery, Minnesota to live with his father and his father's girlfriend and daughter, Noemi, in the Lamplight Inn and attend school with Noemi. Awkward and a bit of an outsider, Jonas quickly attempts to make friends with Noemi and her small friend group in the oddest way possible - bringing up the boy that recently drowned under suspicious circumstances in the woods behind the Lamplight Inn.

The blurb about this book advertises it as the mystery of how Link Miller died in a magical forest to which only Noemi holds the secrets. However, what you get is a book that has little to do with Link, a main character who is as confused as the thin plot line, and an array of other characters that seem to offer little to nothing to the "plot." The mystery unraveled at a snail's pace and didn't offer enough satisfaction to justify reading a book about confusing, often offensive relationships - romantic and otherwise.

The one thing that saved the book from having a lower rating was Gaetan Kelly's character. While hated by most everyone in the book, I loved his character. His trauma was written well, and the only thing I did not like was the way he was treated by everyone else. If it hadn't been for Gaetan, I would have given this book one star. The plot was too messy, and the characters were either pointlessly dropped in or insufferable. Jonas, being the main offender, with the way he reacted to the asexual narrative. The way that was treated was offensive and confusing.

I was really excited when I received an eARC of this book. The cover is beautiful and the premise sounds very intriguing. Sadly this book just didn’t do it for me.
I feel like there was so much potential here, and I really did like the writing, but the story itself fell flat. I thought that I would be getting a very interesting mystery but there was more random teenage drama than magical realism.

I didn’t like the characters. They all felt very boring to me. Some of them were pointless to the story in my opinion. Also I couldn’t get past the stepsister and stepbrother romance. What was the point of it honestly? It’s just gross and uncalled for.

This book was very unique in its own way. I loved the cover it intrigued me to want to read this. It took me a little bit to get into it, but once I did, I was hooked and couldn't stop reading.

As an individual who does not often read thriller/mystery type novels, Nagamatsu pleasantly surprised me. Not only did this novel offer the mystery I signed up for but it also provided in-depth studies of relationships and included asexual representation.

Name: We were Restless Things
Author: Cole Nagamatsu
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Rating: 4.9/5
Review:
I really enjoyed reading this book, the plot is well developed. The characters are unigue and well developed. Thrilling, Surprising.

I will say this one was a miss for me. It had the chance to be really great given the drowning of Levi occurred in a forest with no lake. Buuuut that gets lost in the poor plot which felt really dragged out and weird incesty feel between Naomi and Jonás (I get they’re not related but it’s weird and I’m not a fan). Overall it felt really disappointing given how amazing that cover is.

OK, here’s the set-up: In We Were Restless Things, Jonas’s new stepsister Noemi is still getting messages from her ex—who drowned on dry land last summer. Noemi knows there’s more to Link’s death than that, though, and she’s not the only one. Every person Jonas meets in his new life has some connection to Link and is mourning his loss. And somewhere in the woods, there’s a magic lake that Noemi’s dreams keep bringing her back to.

So the positive: The cover is really pretty. Isn’t it pretty? But that’s all I’ve got because this book creeps excruciatingly along on loops of unrelated conversations, and the magic — which really should have been the most interesting part of the book — is boring. Most of the story feels like filler. And while I appreciate that the book has a diverse cast of characters, none of them particularly feels interesting in her own right. (And the stepbrother-stepsister romance feels weird because they keep talking about how they’re related by marriage. I get that they meet as teenagers and didn’t grow up together, but please stop calling him your brother if you’re going to kiss him.) I don’t know, maybe I’m grumpy. This one didn’t do it for me.

Unfortunately this might be one of the most disappointing books that I’ve read in a very long time. I feel like there was so much potential here, and I really did love the writing, but the story itself fell flat. I thought that I would be getting a weird magical murder, and even though that technically is what the book is about, it was just so…bland? Uneventful? There’s just something that was missing from the story and I don’t really know what it was.

I loved the writing, everything was super vivid in the world, and the characters were decently fleshed out. And the concept was really interesting! I think that the author fell flat when it came to actually following through on the plot? I still don’t understand most of what happened or why anything happened? It also ended up feeling like a super easy ending when I don’t think it was supposed to be? And the thing that really made it a 2 star read for me was the fact that I just didn’t care about anything that happened throughout the entire book. I didn’t connect to any of the characters and so I didn’t care about anything that was going on. This was just a very meh book for me.

I am definitely curious to read what the author comes out with next because I really did love the writing, but this one was a miss for me.

this had a super interesting premise but i just couldnt bring myself to finish it. the book read a lot younger than expected.

Slow going to start, this was a very character driven title that I just kept waiting for MORE to happen. It had the bones of an incredible debut novel with a unique multi POV and an asexual character, I was really excited to read this one but it just fell a little flat for me.

I was immediately hooked with this one (which seems to be getting more difficult for me). The plot line of a local boy mysteriously drowning on dry land?? I had to know what was happening next. I thought the author did a great job with making these characters feel multi-dimensional. I knocked a star because the book primarily focused on the perspectives of Noemi and Jonas, and the occasional chapter narrated by the others fell a little flat for me. I think we as readers could have done without those, given the depth already provided by Jonas and Noemi.

Overall, a very eerie, interesting read!

This book fascinated me. I was immediately intrigued by the plot...a boy seemingly drowns on dry land in the mysterious woods, leaving his friends wondering what happened. Meanwhile, the girl he was interested in starts getting text from "Unknown," a mysterious entity claiming to be the drowned boy. In this small town, and in the woods near the town, nothing is as it seems.

First of all, this book is just the kind of thing I like, but I'm not sure how teen readers will respond to it. It's very, very slow moving, which is something I love. I love getting to know the setting and the characters. But it did almost feel a little too slow, and the book seemed a little too long.

The writing was gorgeous. The setting was stunningly drawn, and the characters were gorgeously well-rounded. But the whole thing did feel a little avant-garde. The teens in this book are all quirky in a way that didn't feel quite realistic. I loved them, anyway. I love the way they interacted, and I loved the way they understood each other. (Though I was a little bit weirded out by Noemi and Jonah's relationship, but eh.)

This is one of those niche YA titles that will definitely need to find the right reader.

A slower read, the best parts are the eerie atmosphere and the development of the characters. I really enjoyed going on this journey but I feel like some of the elements could've been fleshed out a little more. Will still keep an eye out for future books from Nagamatsu..

Love the cover! Unfortunately, this book didn't really hold my attention and I struggled to get into it. Very interesting premise.

I held off reviewing this for a while because I wanted to give it another try, but quite honestly, this book fell a little flat for me.

The stunning cover and the interesting premise dragged me in, but the characters never felt 3D—I never got attached to them, never was truly invested in their story.

As always, I recommend trying the book out for yourself because what’s not my taste, may be yours. Happy reading!

I want to thank Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel

4 out of 5 stars

Hmmmmm....how to go about reviewing this? This was an extremely hard book to review. That being said it is also a really good book. Part fantasy, part mystery with a little bit of a domestic drama thrown in I would say the author has to walk a thin line without going over to one side a bit too much. They do an excellent job of walking that line though.

I would suggest not reading too much about this because the story is a bit surprising!

This book started out promising and the premise sounded interesting, but in the end it just fell flat form me. The prose drifted and the pacing was just too slow, which would be okay if I were invested in the characters but I wasn’t. This made it a struggle to pick the book back up and continue, which I did....reluctantly. This one just wasn’t for me.

**Thank you to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire for an eArc in exchange for an honest review. This in no way changed my score**

Unfortunately, this was a Wilder Girls for me. In fact, when I read that book, I created a special shelf for books like this: I call it "beautiful cover, boring book." I'm sad to say I attempted to read this twice and both times, I was bored to tears. I DNF'd about 30% of the way in, after talking to a friend who forced her way through it and being told it doesn't get better.

The characters were very stiff feeling. I didn't get a sense as a reader that the plot mattered to either Jonas or Noemi. And if they don't care, how do they expect me to care? I was intrigued by the idea of the drowning where there isn't a lake, but instead, I'm dealing mostly with petty divorce drama with their parents and whether or not they drink from the milk carton or put it in a glass first. It's not worth the inevitable slump to try and finish this.

2/5 stars. I'm sure someone will enjoy a quieter book but this was too much humdrum Contemporary plot and not enough of the promised plot for me.

What first drew me to this book was the cover it was absolutely beautiful. After reading the description it sounded like a new unique concept for a book. That being said it was a little hard for me to get through. I almost didn't finish it but ultimately wanted to see how it turned out. I did end up enjoying the book. Being told from multiple points of view did add to the story. I think that this book would appeal to a particular kind of reader.