This is a good mystery--not a fast paced thriller but a slow burn mystery about a man returning home and finding himself accused of murder. Better than I expected.

So atmospheric this one. I loved the voice, the mystery, the character development, the small-town mystery. A gem of a novel.

This was a little slow to start, but once it did, I was thoroughly gripped. The back and forth of the timelines I think is what made it harder to get into, but ultimately, it shaped the story.

A beautiful young doctor is found hanging from a tree on the property of the town’s prodigal son and author, Elijah Leith. And while it seems like an apparent suicide there are enough inconsistencies to rule it a homicide. Not only a homicide, but one that follows the plot of Elijah’s book perfectly, making him a prime suspect. As the small town police start digging into the evidence, Elijah has to figure out how to prove his innocence when no one seems to believe him.

A page turner and an excellent debut.

Middletide by Sarah Crouch was a slow burn small town mystery. It was slow to start but did pick up about halfway through. Lots of loss and grief in this character driven story with some fun twists. I look forward to seeing more from this author in the future.

Should all unsuccessful authors be scared? Especially about where their few sold books went or what those "readers" got out of their books. Even those these authors failed to hit NYT best sellers list, should they stick to what they do instead of looking for other jobs (to buy food and get shelter, etc.)? Because both of those decisions could get you in a trouble that you couldn't dream of.

Elijah was going to make it big in CA. He was going to be an author and never come back to the small town he was born in. His only heartache would be leaving this beautiful girl behind. But life... Years later, Elijah came back to the very cabin his father was hiding after his wife's passing. Elijah was not the author he dreamt to be. Only few books were sold and he was back to square one. Even though he had traumas in that place, he still had few friends to keep him in the society. However when a doctor was found dead hanging off of a tree in his property, a story that should be turned into a novel started to unfold.

I didn't want to put this book down. Although I had my guesses (which turned out to be correct), I was still surprised the way things turned out. Denial and depression could make people unspeakable and unimaginable things. I was sad that one of the characters wasted all their potential and future to set up an elaborate plan instead of finding peace.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance audiobook copy. This one was a struggle for me to get through I was just bored from the beginning

Favorite parts:

+ I loved the description of the setting. I saw many reviews that compared it to "Where the Crawdads Sing", and although the settings take place in different geographic locations, the descriptions of the settings were very similar. I also especially loved them, being from the PNW myself.

+ The mystery/romance was interesting and engaging. I wanted to keep reading and was invested in the characters and their outcome.

Parts I could've done without:

- I thought it was strange she made up the Indigenous tribe. It almost seemed lazy and like she didn't want to put effort into researching one of the hundreds of existing tribes that do exist.

Overall: I enjoyed reading this and it would have been a solid 4 star read without the imagined Indigenous tribe. I am interested in reading future works by Crouch, because I do think she is a talented author despite that questionable choice.

Sometimes format matters. I started 𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐝𝐞 a couple of months ago and set it aside. I was enjoying it, but not feeling connected. When @librofm offered it as an ALCI decided to try it again. It was the right choice because the audio format totally worked for me.

Middletide is a genre defying debut. It's set in the Pacific Northwest and is a mix of mystery, drama, romance, and revenge. The atmospheric elements of nature are elevated in the audio format. The story's tight tension is unveiled at a steady pace in its 288 pages.

Middletide was an excellent read. Crouch does a great job with the atmospheric details of the creepy setting. I flew threw it!

This was a beautifully written, atmospheric read. The beginning was a creepy setting and the characters were all easy to connect with. I couldn’t put this one down.

The premise of this one sounded so interesting to me but sadly it was a bit of a miss for me. The book was simultaneously a little boring but also was confusing because there was so much going on and it was hard to keep up especially with the two timelines.

I also really didn’t like the fact the author created an indigenous group. As far as I can tell the author is white so it gave me the ick that she created a new group. Especially because she made the Nalira’s (the main love interest who was indigenous) the leader of the indigenous group and a christian preacher. I just felt like it was a weird mix.

The ending did bring the story together well and increased my rating slightly though it seemed like some of the court aspects weren’t super well researched.

I wasn’t super excited to keep picking it up but wanted to finish it to see how it ended. I ended up just increasing my audiobook speed so I could get through it a little faster.

While this wasn’t my favorite debut I do feel like it had potential and I would consider picking up future books by Crouch.

This book is the perfect example of a slow burn mystery, which I usually tend to enjoy. That being said, this one took me a particularly long time to warm up to and I wasn't sure if it was going to be for me. However, I'm glad I persevered because I did end up enjoying it overall. It starts off with a bang, tapers off shortly after, then picks up momentum for a riveting courtroom finale (which I loved!)

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for access to the e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

What a fun puzzle, along a nice story about an aspiring writer who wants to get back to his roots (sort of) after his dreams didn’t work out in the big city. He goes back to Puget Sound (great atmospheric detail) in Washington State and before you know it, there is a dead woman hanging on a tree, and while it might LOOK like a suicide, there is way more to this mystery than first appears.

In previous efforts, author Sarah Crouch respresented the U.S. in the Olympic marathon…and now she has begun what I suspect will be a good career as a mystery novelist. Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for this honest review. It is a solid four stars, might have been five but I’m midway through some medical treatment that has interfered with my focus…but I actually loved it so it is highly recommended.

The synopsis of this book sounded so interesting, I couldn’t wait to read it. Unfortunately, I got 50% into it and decided to give up. The book was so boring. Nothing interesting happened. It was written with two timelines : the present and when Elijah and Nakita when they were teenagers. It was supposed to be about the death of Dr. Erin Landry but half way in and I didn’t know anything about her death and had just found out that the murder was exactly like the book that Elijah had written. The fact that Nalira’s father was a Christian preacher and the leader of an indigenous group really through me off, This book just wasn’t a right fit for me.

Middletide by Sarah Crouch is a thriller/mystery and I was excited to get my copy. I love a good thriller and this had all the makings of a good one. The body of Dr. Erin Landry is found hanging from a tree in a quiet Puget Sound town. It first seems like a suicide but it eventually is deemed suspicious. The fact that is found on a hometown guys, tree, doesn’t help the rumors and speculation of the town. Elijah Leith is a famous writer who comes home and is now seemingly unable to write. The fact that Dr Landry death comes straight out of one of his books, is even more shocking.
Sheriff Jim Godbout’s investigation is all over the place. Things just seem to perfect to be the truth, so he has to investigate and ignore some of the obvious clues and dig deep to find out the real reason for her death.
Now Elijah has come home for reasons or doesn’t want to talk about. He is out of money and tries to make a new life in his old home. He also starts a relationship up with an old love.
As the town is more convinced of his guilt Elijah must fight to prove his innocence. Who would be able to frame him, so well? How could it be anyone other than him?
This story had me a bit confused. There was so much going on and I couldn’t keep up. The story just wasn’t for me. It was hard to like/understand the characters. Too many twists and turns makes for a very tough read. I want to thank Netgalley, Atria Books and the author for my copy for an honest review. It goes without saying, that I love the opportunity to read any and all stories. I am lucky to have the opportunity to read and review and I try to be as fair as I can be. This book just missed the mark for me. I am sure though it was for someone else. What are your thoughts?

I will fully admit I was drawn to read Middletide purely on the cover. It is a gorgeous cover. The story idea sounded like an interesting mystery and I did enjoy it but wish it was so long. Some parts felt drawn out and I know why but it seemed like there were lulls here and there. Overall loved the ending and the twists.

Although I was under the impression that this book was a mystery or thriller, I think it was really more of a romance. I enjoyed Elijah's story very much but found it unbelievable that he would have been so utterly destroyed by one bad review. Any author is going to receive bad reviews. But, I did enjoy his journey of self discovery and living off the land. Nakita was also very likable but I felt that I never really got to know her. I think my chief complaint about the book was the sections about legal and court room procedures appeared to not have been researched at all. All and all, though, I found the book to be entertaining and enjoyable with some unexpected twists and turns. This was a debut novel and I would read a subsequent novel by this author.

Best book I’ve read this year!!! I absolutely cannot recommend this one enough! Best I’ve read in a long long time. I felt at home from the first page. Will be rereading this fall!!

I wasn’t the intended audience of this book. I did not find it interesting. It jumps back and forth between present day murder and the past. At first I didn’t know the point of the past, it didn’t fit with the present day and was dull. There was 1 present day chapter, then 2 from the past and I was just wanting more about the present day murder. There was so many details and back and forth, the story was all over the place. I finished it so I could write a review since I got this from netgalley, but really I should have DNF this one.

What I enjoyed:

_Mix of genre kept it interesting.
-complex characters
-immersive setting
-small town

What I struggled with:
-slow burn, like very very slow
-fictional tribe

Thank you for allowing me to read and review this book. I thought it was good for a debut and would recommend it to others. I look forward to following the authors career.