This one hurt....I had such high expectations going into this book. However, most of them just fell short for me. I was not nearly as invested in the story as I thought I would be. Which is CRAZY considering how much I love a family drama.

I will say that the full cast narrators did an absolutely fabulous job, and I would highly recommend picking this up on audio.

Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for my early audio arc.

I can appreciate that the author wanted to write a story inspired by her trip to a similar island, but overall I think there’s too much going on with this story.

I listened to the audiobook and I think it was well done but maybe I would have enjoyed this more as a physical book.

✨ ARC REVIEW ✨

Wild Dark Shore by @charlottemcconaghy

4.5⭐️

A perfect blend of mystery, cli-fi and family drama, I was completely obsessed with this beautiful book.

The plot kept me engaged the whole way through, at times I was at the edge of my seat wondering just where this story would go! The characters were crafted in a way that made you feel every single one of their emotions as if they were your own…

Their desperation, their fear and their passion…

Of course, there were themes of climate change and its devastating impact throughout, but these darker topics were handled in a way that was so accessible and impactful. It was an eye opening experience exploring these themes through the minds of the Salt children who approached their world with such curiosity, something we all could do a bit more of.

A story that will equally entertain and make you think - another home run for Charlotte McConaghy! ❤️

Thanks to @macmillan.audio and @netgalley for the ALC in exchange for my honest review! WILD DARK SHORE is out now!!

This was a very enjoyable book and the first book I've read from Charlotte McConaghy. Will definitely be checking out her other work.

Wild Dark Shore was the first book I’ve read from Charlotte McConaghy, and it won’t be my last! I was hooked from the first few pages and the mystery kept me scream-whispering to myself “what is happening?!” throughout the whole story.

I felt truly immersed in the inspired “fictional” island of Shearwater and its many wildlife inhabitants and even fewer human guests. I was gripped by the Salt family and their various quirks, personalities, and secrets. I loved the different perspectives of the characters and being able to understand them individually and together as a family unit.

When Rowan washes ashore during a storm, tensions rise as trust is tested — a trait that is paramount whole living in such bleak and dangerous shores. The secrets that are being kept by both the Salt family and Rowan come together in truly wild ways. The many twists and turns in this novel kept me guessing what would happen until the very end. And even then, I wasn’t prepared!

I was struck hard by the imagery and prose regarding climate change, nature preservation, humanity, survival, and grief. There were a few moments while reading where I could not stop the flow of tears. There were many deep undercurrents and themes throughout the novel that will stick with me for a very long time.

Thank you NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for providing me with the audio arc of this book! The different narrators brought the island and characters of Shearwater alive in very impactful way.

After seeing the hype for this book, I had to request it from NetGalley!

📖: Dominic and his three children take in Rowan, a woman injured in a boat crash off the coast of Shearwater, an island between Australia and Antarctica. As Rowan heals and bonds with the family, there is also a growing curiosity as to why she arrived in the first place.

🤝: This may be a good fit if you enjoy:
- atmospheric novels
- family dramas / slow burn mysteries
- a splash of romance

💭: LOL I think I have another God of the Woods on my hands. To me that means a book everyone is obsessed with that I think is... pretty good. So take my thoughts with a grain of salt. It has a lot of positives: interesting and unique concept, relevant commentary, emotional and captivating moments and some endearing characters. But something didn't click for me. It's hard to explain, but I felt like some storylines that were kind of a tease. For example, I wanted more Raffe and Alex. And while I love books dealing with heartbreak and grief, this crossed my threshold to depressing.

🎧: I was today years old when I learned Saskia Maarleveld was from New Zealand. I had never heard her narrate with a non-American accent before. She's wonderful as always. I will always appreciate a full cast audio, and while two of the kids had the same narrator, I enjoyed Orly having a fun, young voice. It took me a bit to get my bearings, but then I was glad I requested this format and recommend it if you're an audiobook fan!

Rating: I liked it! (3)

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Wild Dark Shore was a fantastic exploration of the ends of the earth and the people who live there. I was not expecting to fall in love with the characters so quickly, but the audio narration pulled me in with an excellent full cast. The family's backstories were engrossing and the slow unfolding of the drama on Shearwater Island kept me hooked until the very end. McConaghy's talent is evident in this and I can't wait to discuss this with other avid readers!

I was sent a complimentary audiobook of this from Flatiron as an ARC & I am unfortunately getting to it a bit late. The multiple POV worked really well in this and was done mixing 1st and 3rd person, which is rare and appreciated. For me I felt a small amount of drag in Rowan finding things out, and I found myself wishing for more detail to leak in, but the building of relationships made up for this, and I didn't see any of the end twists too far ahead of time.

Highly recommended! I’m not quite sure how to describe this book, to be honest: partly climate fiction, partly family drama, partly mystery/suspense. It takes place on an island between Tasmania and Antarctica, a place that used to be a busy research station and which holds a huge seed bank, whose purpose is to save all sorts of seeds against a climate catastrophe. And a catastrophe is coming because the water levels have risen far enough to threaten to engulf the entire place.

The main characters are Dominic Salt, a widower, and his three children, two teens and a 9-year old. When a woman washes up on shore and they nurse her back to health, Rowan becomes virtually another family member, despite questions about why she was headed there in the first place. All this is happening while the Salts are trying to rescue as many seeds as they can by bringing them to higher ground, as they wait for their rescue/evacuation ship to arrive in a few weeks. That’s all they can do is wait because all their communication equipment has been sabotaged by someone. (We do eventually find out who and it’s a stunner.) Mysteries abound and there are plenty of secrets held by each of these remaining inhabitants.

NOTE: This fictional island is based on a real place, Macquarie Island, full of penguins and seals and other hardy wildlife.

I was pulled into the story immediately. I had the privilege of listening to the audiobook which was narrated by a full cast. The narrators are: Cooper Mortlock, Katherine Littrell, Saskia Maarleveld, and Steve West. I loved all the different voices and accents.

The descriptions of this remote place were beautiful and I felt I could imagine it all (with a little help from looking up some info online about Macquarie Island, I confess). The scenes with the humpback whales were so emotional.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to a review copy of this audiobook. It was stunning and I had a hard time “putting it down” to attend to other matters. But I was able to listen to most of it on a long flight and it was a perfect way to pass the time.

This was such a haunting and atmospheric novel. It takes place on a fictional island between Australia and Antarctica that is home to penguins, a seed bank, and a small group of people, including a family with children. This book is slow to begin, but it does a fantastic job of pulling you into the lives of the people on the island. It also clearly lays out the pros and cons of choosing to live in one of the most remote places in the world. At times, I was almost convinced I could make it, but only if all other inhabitants were clearly vetted with ongoing psych tests.

This story was a bit complicated to follow for me - partly because of the multiple narrators (this may be a me problem). But the characters and setting were deeply interesting and engaging, and I raced to finish.

Wild Dark Shore is a compelling story with flawed characters and a unique setting. Set on a fictional island near Antarctica that houses a year round research facility that studies the flora and fauna of the area. It also maintained a global seed vault that safeguards seed samples from almost every country globally, so that in case of a country’s devastation to natural or war-time disasters, the seeds for a future food supply are not lost forever. [In the end credits we learn that author Charlotte McConaghy drew inspiration from Macquarie Island off the Tasmanian Coast and Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway.]

The story begins with the caretaker of the research facility, a father and his three children (2 teenagers and a young son), preparing for an evacuation of the island in a few weeks. All of the researchers are gone already and he is charged with closing the facility and taking as many seeds with him as he can. Then after a particularly bad storm, a woman is found alive on the beach. The rest of the story is how the father and his children nurse the woman back to health and discover what she is hiding, and she in turn uncovers how this family came to live a decade on this inhospitable island and the burdens they carry with them.

Four different narrators were used to make the caretaker, his children, and the shipwrecked woman come to life: Cooper Mortlock, Katherine Littrell, Saskia Maarleveld, and Steve West. They were all amazing in bringing the characters and this story to life. They all showed the appropriate amount of emotion and urgency in all the right places.

Simply put, I cannot recommend this audiobook enough!

I loved the remote setting and the slow burn of this thriller! I highly recommend the audiobook - can't beat a full cast recording.

Fen (17) dives into the remote island’s turbulent waters to drag an unconscious, mysterious woman onto the inhospitable stretch of coast. Rowan searches for her missing husband, Hank (47), the botanist and team leader of the Shearwater’s research base. With a background in biodiversity research, he oversees the seed bank vaults. But during his time on the island, Hank’s communication verges towards incoherency; on a random occasion, he sends distressed emails to Rowan, begging for her help. As such, she finds herself on Shearwater. When she arrives on island, however, only Dominic and his kids—Raff (18), Fen, and Orly (9)—reside there, and she catches the family in the middle of their relocation back to the mainland. Rowan juggles recovery from the shipwreck, getting acquainted with the family, joining their work in caretaking the buildings, developing romantic feelings for Dom, and uncovering the unsolved mystery of her husband’s location.

McConaghy captures nature’s violent elements. She effectively stresses the importance of biodiversity and climate control through her portrayal of wildlife. I also appreciated the kids’ wealth of knowledge about biology from their homeschooled classical education of sorts.

I didn’t so much enjoy the calculated tropes. I don’t like using this comparison because I don’t think there’s anything wrong with YA book—I probably have more of an issue with more recent available publications—but <i>Wild Dark Shore</i> felt “YA wanting to be adult.” There’s a measured, deliberate, over-awareness that YA authors can bring into non-YA books that doesn’t sit enjoyably. Sorry, I don’t know if that makes sense; that’s the best way I can presently describe it. For example, about three-fourths through, Rowan and Dom get together, and readers feel morally iffy about it: Rowan’s married to Hank, and Dom loves Cindy, his wife who died giving birth to Orly, and he talks to her apparition. McConaghy pacifies readers as she later reveals that Hank is a “narcissist.” And I know we don’t believe women, but for the sake of my point, go with me on this. If he clinically has this personality disorder, the story has not provided enough information. Ro and Dom fall in love in the lighthouse because the lonely light-keeping single dad needs this strong woman who can build houses by his side. From this point in the story, it was harder to stay engaged. In the end, we find out Hank slept with under-aged Fen, and it felt unbelievably drama-y for me.

My thanks to Macmillan and NetGalley for the copy. This review was shared on GoodReads on March 11, 2025 (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7384441232).

All the stars. Every single one of them. Such a masterpiece. The narrators, the storylines, the descriptions, the setting m, everything was perfection. No notes. Everyone should read this!

"But, here is the nature of life. That we must love things with our whole selves, knowing they will die.

This book lived up to its expectations. Although, Once there were Wolves, is still my favorite by this author. Wild Dark Shore, is a book that will stay with me for a long time, haunting.

I feel in love with each character, and they broke my heart at some point in the book.

This is more of a slow burn, but the twists are AMAZING.

Learning that the island is based on a real island- WOW!

MUST READ

Thank you so much for this ARC! Charlotte McConaghy is my absolutely favorite author. I have read both of her previous books and was eagerly awaiting the new title. I was lucky enough to receive this audiobook and finished within a day! The narrator is excellent but the story is INCREDIBLE!! The characters were so well done that I have been thinking of them ever since. McConaghy has a special talent for storytelling with a purpose. This story takes place on an isolated island and goes into great detail about The Seed Vault and our planets problem with global warming. It's told in beautiful prose and keeps you engaged without becoming tedious or boring. This is the best book I've read/heard in a very long time. The mysterious setting and story is FANTASTIC! The way a thriller/mystery/love/environmental novel is all wrapped into one made by book nerd heart happy.
I can not recommend this book enough!! Get it!!

Thank you to the publisher and to netgalley!! This book was so atmospheric and engaging! This is my third book by the author and I was so surprised that it turned out to my favorite. The audio and narration was incredible experience and I can’t recommend this enough! The setting of the isolated island and the cast of characters in nature really made this unforgettable.

3.5/5

Charlotte McConaghy's writing always strikes at something untamed and yearning within me. Her latest novel, Wild Dark Shore, is no exception. I was immediately swept up into the remote, rugged beauty of Shearwater Island and the complex family that inhabits it. As mysteries, secrets, and tensions start to build, the lives of Rowan and the Salt family are irrevocably changed, and I was simply pulled along for the crazy ride.

I will say this book is likely my least favourite of the 3 books I've read from McConaghy. I don't think the thriller aspect worked as well here as it did in Once There Were Wolves, and I think the character work is tighter in Migrations. That being said, I am simply so entranced by the author's stunning prose that I am willing to overlook these comparisons. I would recommend this book if you've read and enjoyed McConaghy's other works, or if you are in the market for an atmospheric thriller with dashes of romance and environmental/climate fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Wild Dark Shore is a dark and occasionally wild novel that immerses readers in a tense and emotional survival story. Dominic and his children serve as caretakers of Shearwater, a remote island near Antarctica that houses the world’s largest seed bank. As sea levels rise and the island sinks, they are among the last remaining caretakers, racing to pack up the seeds before an approaching ship arrives to take them to safety. Having already endured profound loss, the family is on edge as they prepare to leave.

Their situation takes an unexpected turn when a brutal storm washes a woman named Rowan onto the shore. Weakened and wounded, she is taken in by the family, who are initially wary of the mysterious newcomer. However, as they nurse Rowan back to health, trust and connection slowly develop. Rowan carries her own painful past, one that led her to Shearwater, but before long, another massive storm strikes the island, forcing everyone to make impossible choices about what truly matters and what they are willing to risk.

The novel is saturated with anger, grief, and heartache. Many of the characters make frustrating decisions—some of which are difficult to forgive. I found myself infuriated at times, particularly by how willing certain characters were to overlook deeply troubling actions. This is not a book for those looking for an easy, comforting read; it is emotionally heavy and at times deeply unpleasant. However, if you are willing to sit with the discomfort, Wild Dark Shore offers a gripping, thought-provoking experience that lingers long after the final page.