The synopsis dragged me in and that's where it ended. I was sadly brought out of the writing by the jumping around of the story and the writing style didn't gel with me.

Could work for others, so give it a try if it sounds like something you'd enjoy

Wild Fires is a story of grief, it delves so deep into how grief and death effect everyone differently. I loved the character Cass, and I loved her mother. What a character her mother was! I did laugh out loud at a couple of phrases she used, I could picture her perfectly in my head. Big, headstrong, no nonsense woman, who wouldn’t be afraid to smack you round the head if you were cheeky.

Cassandra’s family seemed so shrouded in mystery and secrets, and I loved figuring things out from the past. I particularly enjoyed the parts which went back to the past, to Trinidad, when the aunts were young, getting jobs, meeting boys etc. The sound of the fresh food in the store, the colours and the heat. Made me want to be there.

I think you’d like this book, it stays with you for a while after. Try it.

Thanks again to HarperCollins for letting me join the tour, and the book. And of course to Sophie Jai for writing it.

Sophie Jai’s wild fires is a book about grief, family and discovery. It’s a book that at its Main core focuses heavily on a family who some could call dysfunctional but are just all trying to process the death of a close family member that was a core factor/build in said family.

I would say it’s a multi generational family story, but don’t go into it expecting to get similarities of other multi gen families that have came out in recent times.

Jumping back and forth through flashbacks we see half the story told from the perspective of our protagonists mother and siblings when they are young.. to present day where we get the perspective of our narrator Cassandra who is notified about her cousins death and comes to fly and stay with her family back in Toronto.

As Casandra’s time back with her family unfolds, we see family secrets and family drama start to unravel and break itself out of the woodworks and come to the forefront.

Overall I would say I enjoyed Wild fires by Sophie Jai. It gave me teases of Memphis by Tara M Stringfellow and Black cake Charmaine Wilkerson. It excelled in places, in others I thought it fell flat too and lost its way a little bit. I just have to be honest but that’s all I shall say.

Cassandra returns to her Trinidadian family in Toronto after the death of her cousin. This is a tale of family secrets, inter-generational trauma and grief - all the things I usually love. Although I enjoyed the writing and descriptions, sadly I just didn’t fully connect with the story or characters. I was left feeling a bit lost and detached. Having said that, I would like to read more of Sophie Jai’s writing - I definitely think she’s got something special in the future!
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. All views are my own.

I found the plot too jumpy and the cast a little confusing - the family tree was helpful, but needing to refer it meant it was a little tricky to enjoy the book as it interrupts the flow.

I was intrigued by the description of this book and looked forward to trying it out, however unfortunately it just wasn't for me. I found it confusing and disjointed and I struggled to maintain interest in the characters or plot, what little there was. The only positive I have is that I liked the author's turn of phrase on occasion. I did finish the book as I kept hoping that something would draw things together and clarify what the purpose of the book was but unfortunately that was not my experience.
I read an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

"Grief is like an inside joke: you have to have been there to really get it."

This book is Sophie Jai's debut novel, based on Cassandra's family trauma, brought to the surface after her cousin's death. The drama spans through generations before hers, and it is not long before secrets are revealed, and memories are relived.

Initially, this storyline had enormous potential. Unfortunately, it did not flow well for me. Although this author's writing style intrigued me, there was too much jumping between timelines and generations. Being thrown into the action is usually an ideal way to pull in readers; however, this did not work well in Wild Fires.

I have not written this author off entirely, as this is the debut, and we all must start somewhere right; as mentioned, the potential is immense. I am confident that this author can produce fantastic reads with a bit of tweaking, so I will be picking up her future work!

Overall, this did not work for me, but why not read it for yourself and see what you think?

DNF. It's extremely rare I don't finish a book and I wouldn't usually review it. I just could get into this book or make much sense of it. I tried and made it to 58%, but it wasn't getting any better and I was just skimming it at that point. It was a depressing story based around a funeral (but not overly so or emotional at all), with flash backs to different times in the families lives. Other than that, I don't really know what else happened... nothing really.
Also, it was difficult to read and follow the dialogue as it was in an accent or how the characters would have spoken(?).
Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy and opportunity to read and review.

I’m glad there was a small family tree at the beginning. It’s a story with a large cast of characters and it’s easy to get muddled up so that was a big help.

This book is a real exploration of character and inter-generational families. It’s not heavy on plot and the narrative doesn’t take up masses of time; instead it focusses on how the family navigate grief whilst rediscovering each other. There’s a nice balance between the present narrative and the backstories of our characters. Some of them have bigger roles than others and some I clicked with more than others - especially the older generations - but they’re all expertly detailed.

On a personal note, I will say I prefer it when speech is not written in a dialect or accent as it removes me from the action and the meaning behind the speech because I’m too focussed on the physical words; and yet I know this can have the opposite effect for other readers, so it’s definitely a personal preference.

It’s very original, unlike anything I’ve read before. Sophie has really gone to town with the description of place, character and emotion; I think she’s got a successful career ahead of her if this debut is anything to go by.

Not everything is answered in the book, a lot is left up to your own interpretation and understanding, and I think that’s quite nice, as each reader takes something personal away with them.

For me, I found it fascinating to read about characters from a different culture and background as me - it gave me something to think about as well as enjoy.

What's the book about?

Cassandra becomes immersed in learning more about family secrets after returning home shortly after the death of her cousin. When a family member disappears, everything around Cassandra begins to crumble, leading to the family's decline.

My thoughts:
Wild Fires is a tale of family, despair, and trauma passed down from generation to generation. It's written so well, and so much of it felt so relatable to me that it made it difficult to get through the book at times.

The story of a family of two generations of Hindu sisters, originally from Trinidad and now living in Canada, and how a terrible tragedy over twenty years ago shaped their lives, now, and then. Told through the eyes of Cassandra, middle sister of the younger generation of sisters, this is a fascinating insight into family dynamics and how sibling bonds can tear, distort but never be truly broken. The narrative captures lives that have seen love, loss and hardship and builds a colourful, convincing portrait of amazingly-resilient women.
The unbearable silence of family secrets permeates the story - like Cassandra, we long to know exactly what happened in the past. Tension grows as hidden truths emerge and both generations of sister confront each other. delivering a masterful gem of literary fiction that I would recommend to all readers.

The focus of Sophie Jai's debut novel is a family full of secrets and wracked by a generation of grief. Although the blurb suggests all the secrets will come out, I was left with questions unanswered. Still, I felt some quiet enjoyment in my time spent lurking in the sprawling Rampersad house.

Five years after fleeing to England, Cas is summoned back to the family home in Toronto for a funeral. Her cousin Chevy has died suddenly in his late 40s. There is no question - she must return. When she arrives at the unnaturally quiet house all the residents are there, shut behind the doors of their own rooms in their grief over the unexpected death. Her mother, her two sisters - one older, one younger - two aunts. But no Chevy of course. Auntie Moira and Uncle Bass are also on their way from Trinidad, and once they arrive, that's it. The whole family. A family that tends to count its number by those missing as much as those present.

The first ordeal will be the funeral, which Cas dreads, knowing that their unsuspecting Canadian friends and neighbours will be shocked by the family's particular style of Trinidadian mourning. But even Cas herself is shocked when Auntie Rani tries to climb into the coffin with her nephew. Then there will be Cecelia's birthday to get through. In her early 20s, Cece is still the baby of the family and Chevy's death will not be allowed to interfere with the celebration. But somewhere in between, everything begins to unravel, and by the time Cece's special day arrives, not all family members will be present.

My favourite parts of this story were the historical elements, detailing the family background from when they still lived in Trinidad. This focused largely on the older generation, plus Chevy as a child. But I also enjoyed the interplay between the 3 sisters of the younger generation; brought up between the two cultures and kept in the dark about some really key family events. Finally, special mention must go to the house, which was almost like a character in its own right.

If you asked me what the plot of this book was, I wouldn't really be able to tell you. I have no idea what actually happened aside from the funeral which is the main plot point of Wild Fires.

But what I can say is that I enjoyed the writing style, the descriptions of the setting(s) and the overall feel of the novel.

I didn't connect to the characters, but they were interesting to read about. I think they would've been even more interesting if the time jumps weren't all over the place and if everything was happening in a clear timeline.

There's a family tree at the start which I looove, but the formatting was off for my version so I couldn't get into it as much as I wanted to, and didn't flip back and forth whenever new characters appeared to see how they were related.

Wild Fires also deals with grief, and it does it well, but the previously mentioned time jumping sometimes (often) got in the way of that.

So overall it was a perfectly fine debut, maybe around 3.5 on the rating scale. I'm sure Sophie Jai will only get better in the future.

*Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*

I am sorry, I don’t usually review DNFs but this book didn’t work for me. It started smack bang in the middle of an event that held no interest for me, talking about a range of characters I didn’t know or care about. I was all at sea and the book didn’t get my attention.

The only things Cassandra knows about her family are the stories she’s heard in snatches over the years: about the aunt and cousin she never got to meet, about the man from the folded-up photograph in one of her aunt’s drawers, and of course about her cousin Chevy, and why he never speaks – but no one utters a word about them any more.

Great book, I loved this read.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

Unfortunately this one wasn't for me. I found the timeline difficult to follow and I struggled to follow the characters.

I enjoyed Sophie Jai’s debut novel. ‘Wild Fires’ is a touching depiction of grief and how it affects a family. It’s an intimate look at the inside workings a multi-generational family, which deals with layers of pain, regrets and secrets.

Despite this book being about an awful lot of women, Jai depicts each one as unique and somehow made it easy to keep track of who everyone was and the ways in which their stories intertwined. I particularly enjoyed the story of Cassie’s Aunt Rani – her tale was unique and I felt a lot of sympathy for her.

I found it interesting that one of the few male characters in this novel, Chevy was practically mute. There are strong female characters in ‘Wild Fires’ who are allowed to shine in their domestic setting; sometimes they support each other, and sometimes they tear each other apart.

‘Wild Fires’ is a story of choosing to remain or to leave, of knowing when it is a time for battle or a time to run. It shows how even the closest of families may snap when faced with its grief. Sophie Jai has a talent for depicting the quiet and everyday in a way that is both alarming and touching, and I look forward to reading more from her in the future.

This book had so much potential.
But to me, it was sadly unfulfilled.

I recognize that it is a debut novel and maybe the author could improve in the future. I must admit that the writing style was there. You can see that the author knows how to write. Where it lacked was the structure and cohesion. It was slightly confusing with the location and who was related to whom and in what way, maybe the number of characters did not help either as we spent little time with them to actually connect or know them better to also care.

The book on top of all of that deals with trauma that spans through generations. I enjoyed the bits about Trinidad and Toronto I have to say but all in all because of the issues I mentioned above I think it needed more work before it was released to the world. I might be wrong and others enjoy it much more than I or maybe it was also part of the messiness of life that was portrayed with writing devices that do not work for me. Either way, congratulations to the author for their book and look forward to seeing their development nonetheless!


Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK for the e-copy! Thoughts and opinions are my own.

Let me start by saying that I loved the way this was written. It was really beautiful prose mixed is with a conversational style that put you right in the midst of this family. The book overall has a lot to say about generational family dynamics and how grief plays out amongst it.

The characters were mostly fascinating but there were perhaps just too many and not enough time to establish each one. I did struggle to follow how everything was interlinked. It hopped between characters, locations and timeframes constantly. I often found myself going back over bits to try and pick up the thread. I'm still sure there are bits I missed.

As a whole, this does well when it comes to writing style, atmosphere, and showing the complicated emotions at play. It just falls down a little on the plot front.