I really thought I’d love Gull Island based on the synopsis, but it turned out not to be for me. The story was slow-paced, and I struggled to stay engaged. The main character, Sarah, is a historian who’s grappling with the aftermath of a tragic event from her past. She’s drawn to Gull Island, where she hopes to uncover something that will help her find peace. While I appreciated the idea of her journey, the pacing was too slow for me to really connect with her or the story.

I’m sure this book will resonate with some readers, especially those who enjoy slower, more introspective narratives, but it just didn’t capture my attention the way I hoped it would.

Upon reading the synopsis, I was intrigued by this thriller/mystery and was offered an advance reader's electronic copy via NetGalley (which I have read late). I made the mistake of reading the reviews on Goodreads before reading this book myself, and so I went into this one perhaps a little biased.

But let's start with the positive. I enjoyed the writing style, which was descriptive and easy to follow. The author succeeded in giving me the "heebie jeebies" early on in the story, setting the scene for this mystery/thriller/horror book. There are some interesting twists to the plot.

However, the positive ends there. Those twists happened only at the very end of the story. The first 30 ish chapters are a slow-paced setting of the scene with little buildup. There is zero dialogue. The entire story is told from the main character's drunken stupor, and even at the end, I was left a little bit confused with what actually happened and still had several questions about parts of the story that were left unanswered. I wish the author had used less words to set the scene and recount the past, and instead work on better developing the plot.

That being said, while I didn’t hate this book, it was a letdown despite having the potential to be much, much better.

Potential trigger warnings: child abuse, domestic violence, abortion, emotional abuse, murder, gore (may not be an exhaustive list).

Thank you NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for the gifted electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me. It is not my usual genre of novels and I just couldn't see to get into this one. Please do give this one a try though as there are many great reviews, it just was not for me.

2.5/5 Stars

Jude returns to her family cottage on Gull Island to try and uncover memories of her past, along with her father's will after he has mysteriously disappeared.

This book was SLOW and felt like it dragged on forever for such a small book. I did enjoy that the narrator was unreliable, as that is one of my favourite tropes, but even then I was bored the majority of my time reading. All of the characters in this book were unlikable, making it hard to connect with them. I also found the writing to be choppy and a bit repetitive, which became tiresome after awhile. I switched to the audiobook, and I do think that helped with the enjoyment of the story overall.

I almost DNF’d this book at 25% but thought I’d give it a chance. Sad to say, it didn’t improve until the end. The story was bleak and gloomy and it was a difficult read for me. I mostly skimmed it and I kept on falling asleep, which was highly unusual for me as I love psychological thrillers. After finishing it, I wished I’d DNFd it. This story was just not for me.😔

I did not finish this one, it was not for me, I couldn't relate to the characters, and just did not care for the story.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada and Netgalley for the digital arc of this book.

When I first started Gull Island I was pleasantly surprised to see that it took place on an island in Georgian Bay that was accessible by boat from Honey Harbour. Growing up my grandparents had a cottage just past Honey Harbour on old highway 69 (now the 400) so I was able to picture the setting perfectly in my mind. As I continued with reading Gull Island I soon realized that I was dealing with an unreliable narrator and a twisted story of a terrible family filled with terrible people. This book left me on edge and with bad dreams when I wasn't reading it. It is quite that psychological thriller that will leave you wondering what just happened.

A personification of the ghosts who haunt us throughout life.
​
How did the book make me feel/think?

I don’t know who my father is — but I do know I’m 48% Norwegian. I watched my father die twice, once literally and once metaphorically.

“Gull Island” resonated with me as a representation of the unresolved questions and emotional ghosts that can haunt us when we lack critical pieces of our personal history and identity. This kind of uncertainty indeed leaves many of us feeling adrift and disconnected from ourselves, like we’re wandering alone in a fog.

When everything we hold dear seems to slip away or becomes lost in the darkness, it can be an incredibly challenging experience. The feeling of being crushed by the walls of discovery can be overwhelming, and it’s natural to seek coping mechanisms like alcohol to numb the pain.

“Gull Island” is about surviving and finding a way to get back up regardless of how daunting the journey in front of us appears to be and what creatures lurk in the dark.

As the pages turn and the darkness begins to recede, readers become emotionally invested in the protagonist’s (Jude) quest for answers and self-discovery. They share Jude’s hopes, fears, and triumphs, and they will find them cheering for her as she navigates the twists and turns of her journey.

That’s how “Gull Island” made me feel.

WRITTEN: 9 September 2023

Gull Island is Anna Porter's new novel.
Jude's father has not been seen in almost a month. Him disappearing is not unusual, but Jude's mother wants her to look anyway. One of the last places left to look is Gull Island, a private island and home to the family cottages. It's early in the season still with snow still on the ground. She doesn't think he'll be there, but her mother has also asked her to look for some documents.

The lead characters is of course Jude. Everything we see and hear is from her view and perceptions. With every new picture she finds or a treasure found from her younger days, memories of her childhood are remembered and inspected.

Is what she remembers the truth? Has she covered up the ugliness and hidden it away all these years? As a reader, can I believe what she is saying and seeing? Why? Well, Jude is a (very) unreliable narrator, for a number of reasons. She's a raging alcoholic for one. But what about the noises she's hearing? This uncertainty kept me turning pages to the final chapter. I had to know what the truth was. Porter teases the reader, dropping foreshadowing many times and alluding to what happened in the past.

"My dreams were leeching into my consciousness, making it hard to know what was real. That's all. I had to focus."

Porter has given us a detailed setting for the novel. I was able to easily build the island in my mind.

Gull Island is a slow burning read, one that takes the reader through a disturbing exploration of a dysfunctional family.

I wanted so badly to love this but I think it just wasn’t for me.

The writing is lovely but I was honestly really bored. I almost DNF’d this 115 in pages in because it really felt like nothing was happening.

I will say the author is great at writing an eerie atmosphere and there was sort of a weird dread in the pit of my stomach while reading.

2/5 stars.

This book was unfortunately not for me.
I was expecting lots of twists and turns. Having finnished the book I still don't really know what the point was.
I found it hard to get through, had it not been an ARC I would not have finnished.
I loved the cover, plus side!

Thank you netgalley and simon & schuster for the ARC in exhange for an honest review.

This book was very slow for me. I had a hard time picking it up. I’m sorry it just was not for me. I do hope other enjoy it more than I did.

DNF at 20%

I love a psychological thriller but at 20 % in there is nothing thrilling and no plot in sight. The writing is disjointed and I haven’t been able to find any correlation from sentence to sentence let alone each chapter to make any sense of what is happening.

There are clearly many characters in the family but none of them have been provided with enough background to follow their stories or relevance.

Unfortunately, I just can’t make myself continue on.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review.

Gull Island by Anna Porter is a mildly-suspenseful thriller about family history (and present) and includes what one would hope for in a thriller including a storm, dreams, a will, photos and a level of ghostly creepiness.

Jude goes to her family cottage on isolated Gull Island to discover more about her her estranged father's disappearance and will. Animals, darkness and solitude give her the heebie jeebies. She uses alcohol to numb her problems and fears. She digs and discovers far more than she had ever imagined. Her mother and sister are involved, too, and drama ensues.

Secluded island settings always captivate me; it's what I liked about this story. But the level of suspense and cohesion are unfortunately lacking. For some reason the writing didn't connect with me and didn't engage my interest. Alcoholic juvenile main characters are not my wheelhouse. The blurb sounded promising but I was unfortunately left befuddled and disappointed.

My sincere thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for my copy of Gull Island.

I regret spending time on reading a portion of this book. A few chapters in I already know that this would not work for me. The sentence construction, story flow, characterization, - it wasn't for me. I was hoping for an atmospheric and creepy thriller but I did not get that.

Sorry, it's a no for me.

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Gull Island releases September 5, 2023

I fully regret spending my time on this title.

Straight away, I noticed that the writing style was very different with a lot of short and choppy sentences. The fluidity just wasn’t there and it really impeded the reading experience.
Not once did we actually see the fmc interact with anyone else in the present timeline on the secluded island (any and all dialogue is presented as flashback styles). I never realized the exclusion of any active dialogue would bother me so much until I read this.

I was hoping to get something eerie and atmospheric, but the story really fell short.
This read like such a flat trip down memory lane from the perspective of an alcoholic, rather than a gripping mystery about the search for a missing father.

The characterizations were so odd and I felt like I knew more about the main characters sister, Gina, than I did about the main character.

<i>Gull Island</I> suffered from a lot of tell, not show, and it took too long to convey the plot to the reader.
Jade’s motivations as a character (especially tying into the end reveal) made absolutely no sense, and nothing was explained properly.

In my opinion, this just wasn’t a strong psychological thriller, and probably would have fared better with a completely different approach to the writing structure, with more opportunities to be outside of the narrators head.

cw: alcoholic, parent with dementia, unfavourable views towards autistic people

Jude returns to her family’s secluded cottage searching for some answers from her past. Along with her father’s will as he’s disappeared and Jude’s mother has asked her to locate the will.

A nasty storm hits, the power is out and Jude’s only transportation off the island has drifted off.

Will Jude escape? Or will her drinking habit get the best of her?


If this wasn’t an ARC, I would have abandoned this read at the beginning. I had such a hard time with it. The characters weren’t introduced well at the beginning. The author didn’t really explain where the story took place. Had I not been from Ontario, I wouldn’t know where the location was.

I really didn’t understand the plot of the book and I didn’t find it matched the actual story. It went around in circles, repeated the same things.

I was ready for a real, gripping psychological thriller, but this wasn’t it.


Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for a DRC. Gull Island is available September 5.

LAKESIDE 🛶 book review featuring “Gull Island” by Anna Porter!

BOOK REVIEW: 🖤🖤🖤/5

Jude returns to her family’s remote cottage on Gull Island to search for ANSWERS. Her estranged father has gone missing and her mother has asked her to seek out his will.

Returning to the island and the destitute cottage now feels lonelier then ever … and Jude has flashbacks of the dark times of her childhood. As she looks for her father’s will, she is also looking for proof that at one time she had a happy and loving childhood. But sadly, slices of good times were far and few between 💔

When a terrible storm severs the tie to her boat, Jude is now a prisoner of the island and must come face to face with much more than the long buried secrets of her family. Jude has a drinking problem and this adds to the haunting and unreliable nature of the story. It is hard to decipher what is reality and what is not as she SPIRALS into the nightmares of her troubled family and the island ☠️

Thank you kindly to @simonschusterca @netgalley and Anna Porter for my advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review! This book releases on September 5, 2023! Always happy to support a Canadian author 🇨🇦

Jude is an author of YA books who finds the answers to all her problems in a bottle. She is the epitome of an unreliable narrator. With her father missing and her mother wanting to make sure she is left everything in the will, Jude travels to the family cabin to see if she can find the documents.

There were parts of this book that were deliciously creepy and twisted. We are also pretty overwhelmed with a large cast of characters that at first we have no idea how they fit together. It does eventually all make sense as Jude wades through her childhood memories and untangles the truth of what has gone on in her recent months, so be patient and let the story unfold.