What I Loved: First, we can all just go ahead and say this is a beautiful cover! The lyrical prose throughout the novel was just as lovely. The writing style overall was great - short chapters, multiple points of view that weren't confusing, beautiful illustrations and journal entries. I also loved having a wlw character and an asexual character. 

What I Didn't Love: Here's where we get critical. There was an amazing whimsical/fantasy element to this book but it just wasn't followed through enough for me. It felt very disjointed. For a while you were just reading about average teenagers and then there was a magical lake popping up in the woods. I didn't connect to any of the characters and there seemed to really be a lack of plot.

Overall, I gave this book a three star rating because I enjoyed the writing style and wanted to know what happened to the characters. Although I. was left wanting more, I hope to read more from this author in the future.

This book is thought provoking, omniscient and lyrical. 
It takes menial things and gives them such a magical and dream like quality.

The characters are gritty, each with their own traumas and secrets, none of them are perfect or whitty or overly charismatic. They are real. They feel real.

For the most part, it felt like the woods was our protagonist, I have never read a book like this one before, I wanted to know more about the woods, how and why it was created. Why it chose the little girl with wild hair to hold on a pedestal.

We Were Reckless Things is a book unlike any other, cloaked in a dreamy quality, this book will have you engrossed for hours, trying to connect the dots.

This YA novel takes place in a fictional Minnesota town named Shivery. The main characters; Gaetan, Lyla (Lyle), Amberlyn, and Noemi are grappling with the death of Lincoln (Linc), their friend and brother who drown in the woods. The newest person to arrive in town, Jonas, has to filter through the brief mentions of Linc and the reasons why no one wants to talk about the strange circumstances surrounding his death. 

I really enjoyed the descriptive writing and world building in this book. The plot moves at a slow pace but I didn't mind that as it allowed the characters to develop and have depth. As they learn to trust each other enough to revisit the woods and work on finding out what really happened to Linc, the plot starts to twist. I wasn't entirely in love with the ending, it felt a little unfinished and yet, I liked that it was left up to me to interpret and sort through. I kept thinking about the woods, the lake, and the bits of us we leave as we go though life. I loved that gender identity and asexuality were represented through positive, empowering characters.  Overall, I give this book a 4 star rating. Recommended for fans of YA fantasy and mystery.

Thanks to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Fire, and Cole Nagamatsu for an advanced eBook copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

This story certainly has a great atmosphere, but the plotline was a bit too disconnected in my opinion. I really enjoyed the concept of this book, but there wasn't enough there to pull me in and feel completely invested in the story. It could be a good read for the fall if someone enjoys a spooky atmosphere.

Intriguing premise and gorgeous prose. Ultimately, these characters felt flat to me, so it was hard to stay invested in all of their points of view. But I really liked the lyric phrasing and the eerieness of the setting.

This is a book driven by atmosphere and the lives of its characters. While a mysterious death is at the centre of the novel, the solving of this mystery unfolds in the background while the relationships between characters takes the foreground.

I didn’t fully enjoy this book as I would have preferred a stronger plot and felt the characters alone were not vivid enough to capture my continued interest. With the chapter POV changing between multiple characters, I felt as thought I was seeing into quick snapshots of their lives. However the snapshots were of generally mundane events which were not enough to pull me in for that brief moment and characters generally too flat to make up for that absence of interesting events.

Without feeling gripped by the characters, the lack of plot progression was more of an issue than it might have otherwise been. For most of the book there just didn’t seem enough urgency or mystery. We are told a handful of details regarding the disappearing lake and the mysterious death early in the book, and then no new information is revealed or explored until close to the end. This made it quite hard to stay gripped by the story. 

There was also something I found strange about the overall pacing of the book and the way scenes were included or played out. Multiple times things happened only to be abandoned a page later or described so briefly in two or three sentences. Such as two characters going skateboarding, they get there, it rains, and they leave. Quite a few times I found myself wondering why on earth a particular scene was included at all, hoping it would become relevant later, but it never did. 

The reason this gets three stars from me is that it still has an overall strong otherworldly vibe, a deliberate hazy sense of the potential supernatural. The written descriptions can be quite beautiful and help create that feeling. I can appreciate that even if it wasn’t personally enough for me to stay interested in the book.

We Were Restless Things is a twisted fairytale, YA, coming of age story. It touches on loss, friendship, love, and loneliness. I’d you are intrigued by the strange and bizarre, then this book is definitely for you.

 I absolutely love the concept of this book, the synopsis had me hooked before I even finished reading it, and it did not disappoint. Nagamatsu’s writing style is poetic and imaginative. The book is told through varying viewpoints, and the mystery of Link’s death continues to keep you captivated.

𝚆𝚎 𝚆𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚁𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 is about a group of friends as they navigate their lives after one of them has died in a mysterious way. There is a magical hidden lake that only shows up when Noemi is around. Sometimes there is a lighthouse, sometimes there are magical creatures. There are text messages from the beyond and strange dreams that blur into reality.

I really loved this book. It was strange, mysterious, heart felt, relatable, and extremely imaginative!

We Were Restless Things follows characters who are exactly as the title says, trapped in a town suspended in time with people satisfied with being alive rather than actually living. While the premise sounds great, a fantasy mystery catalysed by the drowning of a teenage boy in the middle of a forest, it unfortunately fell flat.

This is a snail of a book, and it was a hard push to get through the first half to the more intriguing sections. This is exacerbated by the fact that the characters are not particularly endearing, to the reader or each other (not the tight-knit, rag-tag family of dreamers I was expecting), and it was extremely hard to form any emotional connection with them to keep me invested in the story. There were also several romances that seem unnecessary to me, and hindered the story.

Nagamatsu's writing is simply gorgeous though, with vivid imagery that is not so overdramatic that it takes the reader away from the scene, but evocative enough that a distinct, fantastical atmosphere was created. I greatly appreciated seeing an asexual main character in the forefront of the narrative as well.

Perhaps I would have enjoyed it were I younger, and more interested in this kind of story but I do not think I am the target audience for this book.

The whole feel of this book -- the cover, the description -- was haunting and intriguing and I was really excited to see how this mystery story would straddle the realm of fantasy, but I have to be honest, this book was not for me.

The story made me restless. It's not plot driven and it moves very slowly. In fact, it feels like the story doesn't so much move as it does circle around on itself in one place, lingering in the mundane daily lives of those left behind in the wake of their friend's death. 

I like stories that leave me meandering about, clinging to their characters as opposed to the story itself, but the characters have to be able to carry that weight and I'm not sure if these characters did. I mean, they were fine characters, but I wasn't overly drawn to any of them, and I wasn't even sure what it was I was supposed to be getting from them. I figured that would make itself known the further I read, but the whole story was very murky, and everything was just sort of gray and blended together. It created quite a tone, it's very atmospheric, but I'm not sure it ever really became something more than that.

The fantastical elements were littered throughout, but it was all kind of the same thing, something we learn early on and then don’t really learn much more about as we go through. I was really intrigued by the mystery, and I think that is what kept me reading, but it was kind of a disappointment in the end as well.

I certainly didn't care much for the romance parts. One came out of nowhere for me, without hardly any build up or tension at all which made it really hard to care about. There was a lot of diversity in sexuality among all the characters which was great, but a glaring issue surrounded a really interesting conversation about asexuality that seemed to completely negate itself a page later. This was frustrating and just very confusing.

I'm having a hard time of putting into words what I felt about how this book was put into words. There were some really beautiful passages and Nagamatsu is clearly a talented writer, but I kept coming across awkward bumps in the prose that threw me from the story. Words that seemed to fall out of line with the rest of them, making me double back to make sure I read it correctly. This was more than an editing error, I don't think it was because I was reading an ARC, it seemed to be part of the written voice and I found it jarring.

I really don’t know what to say about this. My lack of words isn’t because my breath was taken away, it stems more from confusion and uncertainty and because of that, I have to give this a lower rating. I would be interested in reading something else by the author, but this book just sort of drowned me.

Thank you to NetGalley and SourceFire Books for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. These opinions are exclusively my own.

An atmospheric contemporary fantasy. 

Jonas moves to the small town of Shivery, Minnesota with his Father and his new girlfriend after being expelled from his old school. 

Step-sister Noemi is receiving text messages from an old friend, Link, which wouldn't be out of the ordinary if Link had not drowned a few months prior. The circumstances surrounding Link’s death are also out of the ordinary. As I said previously, Link drowned… on completely dry land, away from any large bodies of water. It just gets weirder from there. 

The story is told through multiple POVs. Some were more interesting than others but I guess we needed all of them to get the big picture. 

I have to say, I really had to push through the first half of this book. It just did not capture my attention right away, and I found myself bored. However, at about the midpoint, things did grab my attention more. Reading this at night in my room by myself gave me actual goosebumps because the creepy factor was high (for my weak self anyways). 

The romance seemed unnecessary. I skimmed through most of their “romance” scenes to be honest, although I did appreciate the asexual representation and there is a f/f romance. 

I guess I was expecting more focus on the creepy murder aspect. I definitely wasn’t expecting the ending that it had… more paranormal or is it fantasy?? I don’t know. 

This book was more about the relationships and bonds we have with others, and how those impact us. 

It was an overall decent book, it just wasn’t what I was expecting …

We Were Restless Things is a young adult fantasy novel. Sure, there's your typical prom and homecoming mentions... there's also a boy named Link who drowned in the middle of a (dry) forest and a mysterious spirit that seems set on taking more lives. 

The story follows three friends on their quest to discover the truth about what happened to Link. While the premise was unique and creative, I got lost in some of the descriptive sections which employed unclear metaphors. (I received a pre-release copy, so perhaps the sections in question were changed before publishing.)

If you're into coming of age novels with a paranormal twist, give this book a read!

A group of three teenagers of someone finding the truth about a murder. Their lives intertwine and now they must discover how Link died in this fantasy book. I really enjoyed this book and thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

A very unique story with a sort of paranormal vibe. The writing style was a little off-putting and the theme took a while for me to grasp. The pace of the book confused me at times. I was drawn to the book by the beautiful cover design, and while I'm not entirely disappointed by what I read, I'm not too happy about it either. The book had a strange story-telling point of view and I really liked that. I'm glad I read this! 
Will post full review of Goodreads soon.

So I didn’t really like this sadly. 

The beginning started off well but it kind of lost me in the middle and couldn’t make up for it in the end. The writing was fine but the plot was almost non-existent in that it was much more of a character driven book WHICH IS FINE I love character driven books. However, the characters here were somewhat unlikeable and I could not find myself to connect with them.  

Like I said, beginning picked off and it sort of faded away as the story progressed. But very interested to see more books from this author because of the writing itself!

This would have been so much more powerful had this been told from one or maybe two POV, not all the ones we get here.   I particularly liked Jonas' voice, his lost feeling as he tries to fit into the world his father has created and the house he's now living in.  Noemi just didn't feel as real, to be honest, and I would have loved more about her photography.  The mysterious lake and what happened to Link was resolved, but the very end didn't work for me (no spoilers).  It all tied up in what felt like a falsely tidy manner, where a little chaos could have worked better.

eARC provided by publisher via Netgalley.

This book feels good on paper: an emotional premise, eerie writing, representation, and an excellent ending that ties into thematic ideas. I only wanted more ensemble cast, and maybe a bit less of whatever was going on with the romance.

We Were Restless Things follows the mysterious death of Link Miller by drowning… in the middle of the woods. In various ways, they all hurt from this: Noemi as she grieves for the boy she had feelings for, Amberlyn as she grieves her brother, Gaetan as he grieves his best friend, Lyle her friend, and new kid Jonah as he tries to find a place in their group.

The indisputable best part of this book is the amazing imagery. This book was eerie and the more fantastical chapters are wonderfully written. They rem

Noemi is asexual. This arc was by far my favorite in the book; she processes her sexuality in both healthy and unhealthy ways, depending on the time. The way her feelings about herself and more specifically, how people would perceive her, impacted her relationships hit me hard. When this came up between her and Jonah, it originally struck me as a romantic arc, but it’s really not; the focus remains on her development. I wanted a bit more out of her ending, if anything.

Some very solid positives over here. Unfortunately, this was not a perfect reading experience for me.

First of all, it’s a book that in structure does not pick up until around 50%. Until then, these characters are essentially just getting to know each other. This isn’t technically a problem. On its own.

But besides Noemi, none of these characters feel as if they have a significant or resonant character arc. Who are these characters? I don’t feel as if I quite know. But We Were Restless Things left me craving… more from its ensemble cast.

As we’re talking about the characters, I want to bring up romance. The dynamic between side characters Amberlyn and Lyle (yes, this is sapphic content) is solid and sweet. The other romantic dynamics… were another area. Noemi is, over the course of this book, technically lusted after by three different guys, one dead. Both of her romantic arcs are… frustrating.

Jonah and Noemi are a well-written couple, except when the premise of their relationship is so fundamentally unromantic. Yes, I understand that two stepsiblings who know each other from childhood are very different from two people who meet for the first time at seventeen. I get that. But as someone who has a stepbrother, one, this entire trope is just nasty, and two, this book uncomfortably leans into that element of siblinghood.

On a more positive note, it’s interesting that this book that was comped to The Raven Cycle also contains two main characters whose relationship is not based on kissing, though for very different reasons. It’s one of those accidents that would still make a wonderful essay about parallels.

To be completely fair to this book in criticizing it, I think I partially have shifted in what genres I prefer over the past couple of years. Had I read this at seventeen, high off my Raven Cycle phase, I’m fairly sure I would have enjoyed my experience far more. So if that’s you… this might very well be worth a try. It’s well-written, and though I wanted more from four of the five leads, they’re all likable.

This had some good parts. I just do not think I was the target audience.

“Whether the lake was rainwater or just difficult to find—whether it was a cursed ocean that only existed when certain people were around to perceive it, like the crack of the proverbial tree falling in a forest—the truth of it wouldn’t bring him back.”

Have you ever felt uneasy in a waiting room or a motorway rest area or a wide expanse of wilderness? Have you ever heard about liminal spaces? They are places of transit, places in-between other places and even in-between time. Now that you can get a grasp of the feeling we are talking about, you will understand the essence of this book. We Were Restless Things by Cole Nagamatsu feels exactly like a liminal space, like the very mysterious “lakeless” forest that drowned the protagonist’s friend, Link, and it is deliciously eerie.

Before this novel, Nagamatsu’s short stories had been featured in a great variety of print and online publications. All of her works are, in some way or another, linked to nature and the power and influence it has and will always have over people who dare to immerse themselves in it. We Were Restless Things is Cole Nagamatsu’s first full-length work and it is definitely a novel full of potential. Despite the book presenting the typical minor slips of a debut work, it has the strongest and most wonderfully gripping atmosphere in the YA sphere of the last couple of months. Cole Nagamatsu creates a sense of eeriness that becomes deeply unsettling in the best kind of way, and that is one awfully complex task to fulfil.

The dreamlike, oneiric contemporary fantasy, based in the strength of wilderness is very reminiscent of The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater, both relying on the power of nature and the unsettling aura that great expanses of forest give off. Nature is personified to the point where it becomes a character in its own right within the narration, something that is brilliantly disturbing and beautiful. In terms of the writing style, again, Cole Nagamatsu is a very promising author. While there is a somewhat overuse of similes, they do fit beautifully within the style of certain scenes where the fantasy she creates reaches its full capacity. This is especially the case in the fragments of Noemi’s dream journal, where Nagamatsu makes the most of her lyrically descriptive style and creates a whimsical ambience that truly takes your breath away.

In terms of plot and characters, however, the novel does fall a bit flat. The narration does not seem to follow a clear timeline, set of events, or a personal development of the characters, so their actions seem rather pointless and it is hard to know where the narration is going. Even though getting to the bottom of Link’s mysterious drowning is the driving force of the story, the characters do not appear to be excessively worried about it most of the time and so both the rhythm and pace of the narration also slip away. Consequently, the most compelling sections of the novel are those that focus on unravelling the mysteries of the forest and its disappearing lake, but they are spaced out in the narration enough to lose their breathtaking shine. However, the author does makes the most of the narration and dialogue to deal with extraordinarily relevant topics, such as the stages of grieving and accepting someone’s passing, coming to terms with one’s sexuality and the effect abuse can have on people and how they treat others.

Finally, in terms of the characters, the three focalising characters—Noemi, Jonas, and Amberlyn—are, paradoxically, the less rounded. It is quite difficult to establish a connection with either of the three, as their personalities are not developed to their full potential and their flaws, even if realistic, overpower them. At the same time, there is also no real feeling of connection between the characters themselves. Even though they all have varying levels of friendship, their interactions feel stiff and lacking a mutual respect for emotional and personal boundaries. This is especially upsetting in the case of Noemi and Jonas whose relationship is quite difficult to read, since neither Jonas nor Noemi herself seem to respect her sexuality—she is asexual (most likely sex-repulsed). In the case of Amberlyn, who could have been a truly wonderful character, which we can see in the blooming relationship she has with Lyle (Noemi’s best friend), she just feels like a ghost of what she could become. Her chapters do not seem to be connected at all to Noemi’s and Jonas’ and barely add any relevancy to the plot development. However, Link and Gaetan, who take more of a secondary role, steal the spotlight for the most part of the novel. These two characters are beautifully nuanced and mysterious at the same time, which makes the reader want to continue discovering more about their personalities and their past.

All in all, We Were Restless Things is a rather solid debut, despite having its flaws. Cole Nagamatsu is more than well versed in the art of establishing a convincing atmosphere and a setting where the most outstanding events can happen. There is no doubt that there is a bright future ahead of this emerging author, and we cannot wait to read her future works, where we hope nature will have as big of a role as it has in We Were Restless Things. We definitely recommend you answering the calling of the forest and diving into the mysterious lake of Shivery…if you are able to find it, that is, because its eeriness is mind-blowing.

We Were Restless Things hooked me with the cover of the book and the synopsis. It was really intriguing and I'm always down for some small town mystery with a hint of romance and fantasy. The book started out pretty great, it kept me off my feet with the mystery. But halfway through the book, the plot was not picking up. The characters were a bit flat and dry. Nothing captivated me anymore but I'm a patient reader and so I pushed through with it. 

I expected to unravel the mystery of Link's drowning through exceptional detective skills and unexpected plot twists, like every other mystery/thriller YA book out there. But that wasn't the case. It was through the people who surrounded Link that his drowning was solved (Noemi, Jonas, and Amberlyn). Despite the  unfortunate plot and dry characters,  I loved Cole Nagamatsu's way of writing! It was poem-like and it captivated me. The way her words were very captivating was the only thing that kept me reading through this book.  I also loved that beforehand I thought mystery was the only genre present in this story but wow I was shook by how she placed diversity in this. The contemporary aspect really persevered and the fantasy aspect with her whimsical and lyrical writing kept me reading. 

Over-all, the writing was great, the characters were diverse and amazing. Cole Nagamatsu's prose-like writing is also commendable. I did not connect with the plot and I only like a handful of the characters but I love the way this book was written! If you're looking for a great character development, beautiful writing, and Mystery with a touch of Fantasy then this book is for you! 

Special thanks to NetGalley for this copy in exchange of an honest review. Best wishes to Cole Nagamastu and the launching of this book.

Oh boy. Where do I begin with this? I think like many, the absolutely stunning cover put this on my radar right away. The blurb also made this book sound like something that'd be right up my alley. Explorations of Grief? Magical realism? A mysterious lake in a forest that disappears at will that lowkey gave me Cabeswater from TRC vibes? I was very read to get my eyes on this book.

Unfortunately, what I got instead was an inexplicably boring book that trailed through a year in the lives of multiple characters that I found for the majority unlikable, with hints of fantastical elements thrown in randomly like small grains of salt to try and keep my interest in this book. The only thing that stopped me from DNF'ing this book or giving it ⭐️ was the 'mystery' and the fact that Cole Nagamatsu's writing style really did keep me captivated at some points, there were some sections of the prose that were really beautifully written, I just wish the plot had been as great.

Our three main POVs all have distinct personalities, which I applaud Nagamastu for, but for the most part those personalities are unlikeable. Jonas is one of the worst characters I've read in a long time, something about him just rubbed me the wrong way in every chapter we were in his POV, he'd say or think things and i'd just be like ?? no thanks - especially during some important conversations with Noemi, another one of our POVs. Noemi is definitely the most fleshed out POV and is meant to be our MC, but I didn't find myself attached to her at all, she definitely comes off a bit too "quirky" girl for me, and some of the things we learn about her are told us quickly and in more often than not a rushed manner.

This book also gave me one of my least favourite tropes, a step sibling romance, and even worse is that it's brought in out of nowhere, with absolutely no chemistry present, and you're expected to root for it. Also, this book has been tagged as LGBTQ, and was one of the main reasons I was intrigued to pick up this, and the representation left me disappointed. There's an important conversation about a certain sexuality that, IMO, is completely spoiled by what follows in the exact same chapter (which is definitely more something that bugged me, maybe other people would relate to it and agree?) 

The climax was also rushed and left me pretty empty, it didn't feel like the three/four hours worth of reading I'd done to get to this point was worth it. i didn't get any closure, and when I finished the last page I was just left with a massive feeling of THAT'S IT? 

I wanted to love this book, I really did, some of the writing present was SO beautiful... but it just went on and on, and then when you finally got to the bones of it... it ended? 
I ended up giving this ⭐️⭐️

This is a debut novel though so I would definitely try something from Cole Nagamatsu again in the future and I wish them all the best in their writing career!

Such an intense and emotionally provocative book. And the cover is super beautiful too--reminiscent of the book's writing.