Middletide was a surprising, thought-provoking book. While it could definitely be coined as a suspense/thriller, it often read more like a romance drama and self-discovery novel.

It begins with the mysterious death of a small town’s young and beautiful doctor, Erin, who recently experienced the devastating loss of her young daughter.
Elijah is the town’s recluse who lives alone in the Northern Pacific woods after his father’s death and a failed pursuit as a novelist brings him back to his childhood home.
The story follows two timelines: one that details the police investigation after Erin’s death and another that charts Elijah’s return to a lonely existence as he learns to live off the land and confront his past mistakes.

In this book, the beauty and provision of the land is starkly contrasted with the dark and painful aspects of humanity. It showed a similarity, though, in the toil it takes hands to reap a harvest and hearts to mend relationships. Just as a laborer of the land can produce growth or cause destruction, so pain has the potential to do either.
Giving it 4 stars- it was moody, mysterious, and a little out of the box!
Triggers include suicide, death of child, death of parents, death or spouse.

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I love a great character driven mystery and Sarah Crouch has definitely delivered with Middletide.

Things start slow in this tense book set around the discovery of a body hanging from a tree that then opens up secrets and questions in a small, isolated town. The story really picks up momentum in the second half though, and the characters are fully flushed out as the mystery unfolds.

Mystery fans are going to love this one and I think it is going to be a hit as a summer read.

Debut mystery - interesting premise. I think I would have rated this higher if the main characters did not seem so flat. Loved the setting - Elijah, the author seemed a bit unbelievable to me and perhaps I am judging too harshly. I also question the author's decision to use a fictional Native American tribe for the story, although they were portrayed respectfully

Dr. Erin Landry is found hanging from a tree on failed writer Elijah Leith's property. It looks like suicide, but closer inspection shows that it's murder and parallels Elijah’s novel. He had returned to his childhood home to restore it and rekindle an old relationship, but the town is turning against him as the real killer is set on framing him for murder.

The story has a past timeline of the 1970s that skips to 1988 when Elijah returns to the area, and 1994 when the doctor is found. This essentially sets up two different storylines for the novel, but they eventually meet up in 1994, giving us a different perspective than what police have. Elijah was ashamed of his failure in California, so he generally isolated and worked on reestablishing his parents' homestead. The doctor once found was clearly killed, setting up an investigation that circles Elijah even before the similarities are discovered. Someone deliberately puts Elijah’s novel into police hands, and they find Erin's journal as well. It really doesn't look good for Elijah at all going into the final third of the book.

The past timeline really gives Elijah’s backstory and history with Nakita Mills. Their on-again and off-again relationship spans from their teenage self to the present, working through grief, misunderstanding, and differences in needs. This is a book about owning the past and coming to terms with it, then moving forward as best as you can.

There were lots of issues with the believability of the court room proceedings but I didn’t really care. This book was an enjoyable read and the ending was satisfying, even if a little farfetched.
I enjoyed the descriptions of nature and the homesteading. The beginning is a bit slow, but I enjoyed the resolution. It was a solidly good book for those who enjoy domestic thrillers and police procedurals. I’ll be on the look out for more work by this author.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC.

The prologue of Middletide hooked me right away. Unfortunately, the rest of the book did not live up to the promise of the first chapter. I did enjoy the author’s writing style, but I found the premise of the book to be implausible and somewhat predictable.

I really struggled with this book. Despite the fact that it was well written I struggled with the multiple time lines and the multiple points of view. It felt more like I was reading a book for high school credit and that I would need to take notes in order to follow along. The ending, while implausible, was the best part of the book and I could see where the author had been going with the storyline but I wish it hadn't taken so long to really draw in my interest.

I was so excited to receive an arc of this book based on the synopsis and gorgeous cover. Middletide is pitched as a small town mystery revolving around the death of a beloved young doctor. While the atmosphere was insular and claustrophobic (in the way I love in a mystery) and the nature descriptions beautiful, unfortunately the rest of this novel really fell flat for me.

Every single character was one dimensional and made stupid decision after stupid decision. None of these characters, including the doctor, had apparently ever heard of therapy or having a discussion like every other adult living in the real world. All characters were absolutely insufferable and horribly self centered, making the story borderline unreadable.

The writing style overall was mostly fine, though at times it was fairly clinical and boring, which was an unwelcome contrast from the previous ethereal nature writing and made the slow burn mystery drag far more than it should have.

The plot was…unfortunate. The reasoning behind the suspected murder, later confirmed to be suicide was honestly far fetched and absolutely ridiculous. Erin blaming someone for her daughter’s death instead of going to therapy or blaming herself for her poor vehicle maintenance was absurd. Additionally, while shoddy police work can definitely be prevalent in small towns, the LE/court portions of the book were poorly researched and laughably bad. The process through which Elijah obtained a lawyer was truly ridiculous and nearly made me DNF.

Finally, I was baffled by the decision to create a fictional indigenous people instead of researching one that already exists in the area. The name for the indigenous people was Squalomah, which seems suspiciously close to a slur commonly directed at indigenous peoples. The fact that one of the members was a Christian pastor was a strange choice. After that reveal, the whole book began to feel like a Christian pandering attempt, including the epilogue, in which Nakita renounces her cultural beliefs as a myth at her wedding during a bible reading.

Middletide follows Elijah Leith through alternating timelines. He grew up in Point Orchard, a small town in Puget Sound. He left after high school graduation to move to San Francisco and become a writer. After his father passed and his book failed to sell, he came back home. He is trying to acclimate back to his old life, when the town’s doctor is found dead on Elijah’s property. Questions are raised, because the details of her death are similar to Elijah’s book.

This book sucked me in quite quickly. I found myself wanting to pick it up more than I had time for, and it definitely kept my interest. While I did find the ending predictable, the atmosphere and character development was enough to overshadow that. Would definitely recommend!

This was a great debut! Don’t let the three stars fool you. I did enjoy it. I didn’t know it was a mystery going into it. It was a unique plot and I didn’t guess the ending. So that’s a win for me!

This book is just going to get a 3 from me sadly. I was really, highly anticipating It and maybe that’s part of the problem! When it’s getting compared to where the crawdads sing, i loved that book, I’m going to have some high expectations. The beginning is really bland and hard to become invested in either storyline or any of the characters. The novel jumps back and forth between two different timelines and neither one, i really cared that much about. Maybe i just wasn’t the target audience and that’s okay!

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was absolutely crushed to not love this one after seeing so many promising reviews on Bookstagram.

“Middletide” started out with a bang for me, with the discovery of the doctor’s body. But it fizzled out by 15%. After multiple attempts at restarting this one, I have to conclude that it was not for me.

I enjoyed this story. It starts with a death and then a journey to find the killer. It’s a book about coming of age, love, loss, and finding oneself woven into a murder mystery.
Thanks for the advanced copy.

This is story is one part coming of age, one part mystery, one part love story...and I wouldn't want it any other way. I believe this is the authors first published novel and she knocked it out of the park. I look forward to reading more of her books. Oh and that cover... gorgeous! This atmospheric mystery took me by surprise!

Absolutely loved this story. It was so atmospheric and the romance intertwined with mystery was fantastic.

A scintillating tale that weaves love, loss, and revenge into its pages. The plot is cleverly crafted with some unexpected twists. I loved this atmospheric thriller.
Many thanks to Atria and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

“Sometimes, writing is like being in a trance, and you suddenly stop and look up, surprised that you’re sitting in your own house and not actually living in the world of the story.”

First, I love that quote. That’s how I feel reading these stories that these writers create 🥹

Second, I loved this book. I stayed up late to finish it and I’m so happy I did.

Genre: Mystery/Suspense
Synopsis: Erin is the town doctor. When she is found dead on Elijah’s property in the exact way he wrote about in a novel… it’s hard to believe that he isn’t the murderer.

Review: This story keeps you guessing the whole time. I had my suspicions, but I always felt uneasy about it. I was reading this book as fast as I could! Only having (very short) nap times and right before bed (when I’m so tired I just pass out) to read, will really delay finishing a book 😅

This story was twisty, the setting was Pacific NW, there were two timelines and 3rd person POV.

If you like mysteries, pick this one up. You won’t regret it.

Thank you so much to NetGalley & Sarah Crouch for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review!

“Middletide” by Sarah Crouch is a debut novel set in the Pacific Northwest when two fisherman find the body of a prominent doctor hanging from a tree.
The story is told through two time frames. While the writing was good, the plot just didn’t work well for me.

I had seen a few posts hyping this book up so I had high hopes for a great mystery. I didn’t love it sadly. It was good just not great. Elijah is a hopeful writer whose book plot is used to commit murder. The story moves along quickly but it just fell a little flat.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

3.5/5
Middletide opens with the discovery of a body on the edge of failed writer Elijah Leith's property, and it seems as though the crime was lifted straight from the pages of said writer's obscure book.

Elijah left Point Orchards right after high school in pursuit of fame and fortune and a successful writing career. Over a decade later with no success in sight, he returns to his hometown to lick his wounds. He sets to repairing both his childhood home and his relationship with his high school sweetheart.

I loved the setting of Middletide. Port Orchards sounds like the quintessential Pacific Northwest small town. I loved reading about Elijah's progress as he restored the cabin and property. I especially appreciated how the author perfectly handled the relationship between Elijah and Nakita.

However, I must say I'm a little disappointed in the ending. It's probably kind of weird to say that I loved the exploration of Elijah's relationships with his father, Chitto, and Nakita more than the actual mystery part of the story. The mystery/suspense portion of Middletide was a bit underwhelming. Overall, it's a decent read, and I'll be looking for what Sarah Crouch writes next.

Read this if you like:
• Mystery/suspense
• Books set in the PNW
• A book within a book
• Books with fated love vibes