Oh this one was so good! Beautiful writing! I couldn’t put it down. It had me hooked from the first page.

I’m all for a slow burn read, in fact they are my favorite type of thriller/mystery books to read, but this was a crawling-almost never getting to the actual mystery read. And when it did get to the point, it just fell flat for me. Maybe just too much build up to get there. The characters, the main character to be exact, was not like able at all. He seemed very childish. And the jumping timelines was confusing for me to keep track of when something happened. I know this is a debut novel so there is definitely room for improvement and I will read from this author again. Thanks to Netgalley and the author for the ARC.

This book had a solid premise, but it absolutely failed to deliver in every single way. The mystery was boring, the court case was unrealistic, the pacing was painfully slow, tthe PNW weather/wilderness somehow failed to become a character despite everything being set up for it to be, and the characters felt hokey. This felt like a rip off of Where the Crawdads Sing that didn't hold up in any way (setting aside the issues with that book's author).

Most of all though, the author created a Native tribe from thin air and stuffed the story full of colonizer stereotypes about Native people. And I just... did this not go through a sensitivity read? Did ANYONE read this book before it was published? This was a Book of the Month pick and I'm incredibly disappointed in them too. Every single Native character embodied the "noble savage" stereotype. Are there Christians who are also Native? Of course, there are. But why create a tribe and then basically limit their values to loving nature, being Christian, and basically nothing else beyond this stereotype? There was no nuance here, no real reflection of culture or history. There were real no comparison discussions against the non-Natives. Did the author take what the Quileute have said about the harm the Twilight series has caused their communities into account and decide this was a better option? I don't know, but this was awful in every single way.

We have Native authors who write wonderful books that reflect their history, culture, and current reality. Read their books. I don't think I could recommend this book less.

A huge thank you to the author and the publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

This book starts with a murder that looks like a suicide in 1994. Then it jumps back in time to give us Elijah's life story. "Atmospheric" is code for "too much description about nothing much", unless you are just really interested in reading about his failed career and his ability to homestead. Basically Elijah sucks. He has convinced himself he can only live with the girl who he abandoned years ago, she moved on and got married, but (conveniently, I guess?) she is now widowed. They have a fight, at which point the recently divorced town doctor starts dating him. Throughout the book, there are glimpses into the investigation, if it can even be called that, as the two cops take the most convenient and obvious evidence at face value and use no critical thinking skills whatsoever.

This book was kind of jarring to read, the murder was the main plot but also a background story somehow, and it just didn't flow well. I appreciate the ARC from NetGalley and the publisher.

This was a great book, one of my favorites of the summer. I enjoyed the imagery and detail to the story that Sarah Crouch portrayed. I think fans of Where the Crawdads sing will enjoy this read!

3.5 stars rounded down

Middletide follows Elijah, a now 30-something who left the Pacific Northwest in his youth to pursue writing, leaving his family and high school sweetheart Nakita behind. Having failed in his writing career, Elijah returns home and tries to rekindle things with Nakita. When his ex-girlfriend Erin is found dead on his property in the same manner as his novel, Elijah becomes a main suspect and has to fight for his freedom.

Middletide had an interesting premise and delved more into the legal system than most crime thrillers I read, something I really appreciated. It was well written and I loved the setting of the book. I felt like I could imagine Elijah’s house and its surroundings quite well.

This novel is told in many different timeframes and follows several characters. At times this was difficult to keep track of and I can only imagine how confusing that could be to an audiobook listener. Once I got used to the characters, however, I was able to keep track of the plot. The twist was quite predictable and the ending was a bit too neatly wrapped up. There was an epilogue that, while cute, could have been left out.

Overall this novel wasn’t for me, but I would recommend it to fans of crime thrillers with an emphasis on the legal system.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for access to this ebook in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed this book and was impressed to discover it is Sara Crouch's debut novel. Yes it starts a bit slow but kept me turning pages to unveil the mystery. It has a mixture of romance, crime drama, mystery and courtroom drama...what more could you ask for? In my opinion, it's not getting the credit it deserves so I will be recommending it to my reader friends. My thanks too the publisher for providing a review copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This is a debut book for this author. I believe she has a lot of potential and I will look forward to more of her work. This one was good but not great. It let me down in a few ways. It was not a thriller but was a mystery and while I enjoyed reading this book I did believe all along who was responsible for the Doctor's death. Though I did think it was for other reasons so the author did get me with that.

Elijah wanted nothing more than to be a writer. After his novel was deemed a failure he returned to his hometown and set about fixing up the cabin where he and his father had lived. He also set about fixing things between him and his first love Nakita.

Nakita lived on a reservation and had fallen in love with Elijah. When he left to go to college and begin his writing career she waited. He was suppose to return to their special place on a certain date. He didn't.

For what was suppose to be such a great love I was very disappointed. It took Elijah seventeen years to return. He thought he would just come back, apologize, and everything be alright. Nakita would just fall into his arms like a love sick pup. Right...

I didn't believe most of this story. Yes it was interesting and it was fairly good. But. A love story or a return to a love story. I didn't buy that. Nakita would not have been swayed by him again. I just do not believe it. She married and had a good life. She loved the man she married. He died in a horrible accident and she mourned him. Then she and Elijah became a couple again. Like nothing happened. Yes she made him suffer a little, but not nearly enough.

Elihah was very childish in my opinion. He just didn't do it for me. I think he came across as more of a teen than a man in his mid to late thirties. At the ages they were I just can't believe they would not have had an intimate relationship once they did get together. That was just unrealistic.

The investigation into Erin's death was so poorly done also. While I did expect that the book would come into play at a later date didn't help though. Why the police didn't check into who sent it raised questions for me. I know that was an important part but still. Sloppy job on the cops behalf. It didn't seem like they ever looked for anyone else or any other cause.

This was an interesting book and it was a fun read. There was just to many things that didn't add up for me. It never wowed me in any way.

Thank you #NetGalley, #Atria, and the author for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

3/5 stars. Read for yourself and decide. It's worth reading.

3⭐
Middletide by Sarah Crouch
Genre ~ Mystery thriller
Publication date ~ June 11, 2024
Page Count ~ 288


Middletide by Sarah Crouch was a book that found its way into my hands over a few nights as I settled into bed. I quickly invested in the characters and found the author did a great job of bringing each to life for me. This included our tertiary characters like Elijah's dad and best friend Chitto, Nakita's dad and also Jeremy, who I was happy to see mature throughout the story. What I didn't like is our protagonist, Elijah, is hellbent on reuniting with Nakita even when she turns him away. No, means no, eh? And her dad supporting this (actually relating it to a biblical story!) is absolutely cringeworthy IMO. I found the timeline transitions to be a bit confusing at times and had to reorient myself to where I landed in the story.

All in all, a great debut from this poetic author and a book I'm glad I spent time with.
Thank you to Atria Books and Netgalley for the EARC. All opinions expressed are authentically my own.

📖 Book Review 📖

🎧📱 "Middletide" by Sarah Crouch

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
published June 11, 2024

This debut mystery novel was not at all what I expected and I am so glad I didn’t judge a book by its cover 😉 Beautifully written, full of descriptions of the land, and just a lot of details made me feel like I was in the book.

One peaceful Saturday morning, in the small, Puget Sound town of Point Orchards, two fisherman find the lifeless body of Dr. Erin Landry. She is hanging from a tree on the property of Elijah Leith, way back in the woods, only accessible in high tide if you came by water.

Sheriff Jim Godbout’s initial investigation points to an obvious suicide, but several clues just don’t line up. When foul play is suspected, and he discovers that the circumstances of the doctor’s death are eerily similar to the plot in Elijah Leith’s own novel, the small town Sheriff has a lot on his plate.

At 33 Elijah returns to his childhood home where is father has recently passed away. Elijah went away to college and had big city dreams of being a great writer but after his novel wasn’t successful he has lost hope. He decides to restore the cabin and hopefully rekindle his relationship with Nakita, the beautiful girl from the nearby reservation whom he loved and left after high school.

Point Orchards begins to doubt Elijah’s innocence- just too many things point to him as the murderer. He must fight against whoever is framing him for a reason he doesn’t even know.

Book 3 of July 2024
Thank you to @netgalley for this eARC

#bookstagram #letsread #somanybooks #bookreview #bookrecommendations #readersofinstagram #readmorebooks #booklover #bookishlove #readersgonnaread #bookishaf

“Middletide” is an atmospheric, moody summer slow burn debut that focuses on the complexities of a small town and the events following a suspicious death of their beloved doctor.

Read if you like: books with lots of layers, subtext, twists and details.

What I enjoyed: Elijah and Nakitas relationship was the most interesting part of this book for me, I found myself invested in these characters and the relationship development between them.

What I didn’t love: The summary to the crime and mystery component of the book felt a little too convenient and rushed for me. There was evidence that didn’t make sense combined with the stereotypical “dumb ignorant small town cops” angle.

Overall the book had an eery, poetic sense to the writing style that I enjoyed. If this is your vibe then definitely give it a try.

Thank you to Atria Books, Sarah Crouch and Netgalley for the EARC.

Publish date: available now

Some will describe this as a slow burn but it was mostly slow with very little burn. The first 30% was really setting up the characters. Maybe I’m just easily confused, but I found there was a steep learning curve to getting all the timelines straight - it jumped forward and backwards, years or months or days, which took some time to get the hang of.

The highlight for me was concept. Kudos to Sarah Crouch on this, a great debut!

TLDL: Good concept, poor execution.

Ironically, I’d give Sarah Crouch the same criticism that the MC Elijah Leith received.

I’ll leave you with a few wise words of wisdom from my favourite character, Chitto:
“‘Nobody cares’… It frees you up to fail. At the end of the day, no one gives a rip.“

3⭐️

The atmosphere was written very well, and I felt loss and grief throughout. It was a little slow moving, and harder to be invested in. I do want to read more from Sarah, and thought this was a great first novel!

This story explores themes of love, loss, and the complexities of human relationships with depth and sensitivity. A captivating read that keeps you engaged until the very end.
I could not stop reading!

Middletide is one of those books that has so many layers to pull through, but there’s also parts that just feel like they are missing too.

This was a good book. I was engaged the whole time and I really connected on a deep level with the characters. This being a debut novel, I am intensely excited to see what Sarah Crouch comes out with next because I’ll definitely give her another read.

What this book is not: it’s not a thriller. There are some dark parts, like opening with a woman hanging from a tree - that’s horrific, but after that this book slowly unpeels each layer carefully.

What worked for me was the relationship between Elijah and Nakita. I was rooting for them from the beginning and their story was what initially pulled me in and kept me going.

What didn’t work for me: the twist. Not because of the twist, I was fine with the twist, but the first half of the book we had two very smart cops for a small town that quickly turned into idiots and the “evidence” in the case just didn’t add up. It felt like the author wasn’t invested in the mystery of the story and threw it in there to classify this at a literary thriller rather than just focusing on the important characters. Just my opinion.

I feel like if there is going to be a trial, the author needed at least 100 more pages to build that up and at less than 300 pages, it just wasn’t there. I’m trying not to get spoilery, but I had so many nitpicky issues with how the murder storyline played out when I was far more interested in the characters and the rest of the story.

All in all though, this book was beautifully written and I enjoyed it.

I do also want to say that I’m uncomfortable with what appears to be a white woman writing about the Pacific Northwest Indigenous People, but fictionalizing a tribe. I can see where that may have been her idea to try and be respectful of tribal people, but that is kind of erasure in itself when working with a tribal person on her book could have been something she did. It doesn’t sit right with me and I’ll have a really hard time recommending this book for that.

This is an interesting mystery. The blurb says for fans of “Crawdads,” and yeah. It is a pretty similar type read and similar story. A small town “whodunit” from the POV of both the police and the accused. Didn’t suspect the ending, a few red herring and good dialogue. Believable, interesting, flawed characters. I will remember this story.
Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC.

Some books force you to slow down and settle into a story. Some books make you consider if the ending is really what is important or if how we got there is even better.

Middletide is one of those stories.

From page one I was interested and captivated by this small town story. It felt immediately character driven and that's the kind of story that always appeals to me. It's something that helps me to get inside characters heads and dwell there for a moment. This story isn't demanding and it's often more quiet. From the lonely, lost boy who's dreams have turned sour, to the lost love of his life...I was attached to their story and how it would unfold.

This story was soft and sweet but always slightly on edge due to the looming murder mystery overtaking the town. I loved how the author added Native American elements, and that it made me want to go pick up stories from indigenous authors. I loved that we got some Christian elements that were often subtle but some of the more impactful lessons in the book.

The last 25% had me on edge wondering how our characters would endure, and I loved some of the fun twists that I found unpredictable. If you're willing to be still and immerse yourself in a slower paced but poignant story with characters that feel rooted in reality...Middletide is a debut that I would highly recommend.

The audio was fantastic! Highly enjoyed it and feel like it only increased my enjoyment of the story.

One niche I adore is books that revolve around other books, weaving them seamlessly into the plot. The concept of a murder that eerily mirrors the protagonist's debut novel, which was a commercial failure, interested me immediately.

The characters in this story are not entirely likable, which adds to their realism and complexity. Their deep histories and personal struggles make them human and relatable, contributing to the book's success as a piece of literary fiction. Crouch's ability to develop such intricate characters is commendable. The varied types of love portrayed in this book are profound and integral to the storyline.

Elijah - Seeking a fresh start, Elijah abandons everything to move to the big city and pursue a career as a novelist. We see Elijah dealing with an internal wound from losing his mother and subsequently his father, who succumbed to grief and alcoholism. However, his novel flops. His journey to restore his father's old cabin becomes a source of pride and passion, symbolizing his own personal growth. As the land flourishes, so does Elijah, transforming into a new man.

Nakita - is left behind by Elijah but chooses to move on with an incredible man whom she eventually loses. She must navigate her own grief and rediscover herself, figuring out the direction she wants her life to take. I loved Nakita's internal thoughts and actions because she was the most mature person in the entire story.

Erin - is the hot blonde small-town doctor who carries a significant amount of trauma. She seems to be in a shock state the entire book so she has a really meh personality.

Overall, I think this is a great mesh for literary fiction lovers, and crime/mystery lovers. I would highly recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC.

This book was so atmospheric, I felt like I was there the entire time. While it was described as a thriller, it read more literary to me. It did not take away my enjoyment and my concern for the characters. Really good.

Such a great debut for this author! The character development throughout this storyline kept me guessing in this murder mystery wrapped around a great love story. So well done!