Rating:
4 Stars

Lots of spoilers below (though I don’t spoil the unexpected plot point in part three).

In a nutshell:
Isabel is forced to share her home with her brother’s girlfriend Eva, and Isabel is not one to share. But events transpire, and plots twist, and lives change.

Best for:
People who appreciate good writing and storytelling and who aren’t deterred by very descriptive sex scenes.

Quote that made me think:
“Isn’t that strange, how that works? You can think something that used to be true but isn’t true anymore but still believe it in your bones.”

Why I chose it:
My partner and I only exchange books for Christmas, and this was one he picked out for me.

Review:
This book is broken down into three parts. The first part is a lot of build up and setting the scene. We learn about Isabel – this is all from her perspective. We learn she and her family left Amsterdam during the war and relocated to this home – Isabel, her mother, and her two brothers. Her mother has died, and her Uncle has left it to her brother Louis, but Louis is letting Isabel live there until he decides to settle down,.

Isabel is unyielding. She is controlling, and severe. She reluctantly goes on dates with a neighbor occasionally, but she has no friends to speak of, is harsh to the maid who keeps up the house, and is judgmental of everyone. Then Louise needs to go away for a month, and asks Isabel to host Eva. Eva appears to be everything Isabel is not – bit whimsical, kind, extroverted. Of course things are going to clash.

But the end of the first part / start of the second part, readers can see where this is going. Spoilers kick in here …

Eva and Isabel find themselves attracted to each other. It’s intriguing and well written (though not surprising at all). There is also quite a lot of sex in this part, and I’ve never been a fan of reading sex scenes. I understand why the author includes them, and I’m not sure how the book could exist with even watered down versions of these sections – it teaches us a lot about who these women both are. But that doesn’t change the fact that I really had to force myself to keep reading, as I wanted to see what would happen next. And to be clear in case it isn’t – I don’t like reading sex scenes between or among any variation of genders. I’m sure I could talk through it in therapy or something but eh, usually it’s not an issue in books I choose for myself.

The thing is I am so glad I kept reading, because part three is extraordinary. I didn’t see it coming, it was so well written, and I just was stunned by it. Without spoiling this part, I will just say that it was such an interesting exploration of trauma, and responsibility, and what we owe to others once we have all of the information.

Would I recommend it to its target audience:
Yes, if you don’t mind a lot of spicy bits in the middle.

Rating:
3 Stars

In a nutshell:
Montreal Inspector Sime (pronounced Sheem) Mackenzie has been tasked with leading a team to investigate a murder that has taken place on a tiny English-speaking island in the heart of French-speaking Canada.

Best for:
Those who enjoy stories that have elements set in current day as well as the distant past (in this case, about 200 years ago).

Worth quoting:
Nothing stuck out to me.

Why I chose it:
So I finally bought a book by Peter May – a famous Scottish crime novelist. And then I realised it was the 4th book in a trilogy (I know – hence why I didn’t know it was part of the series) that I hadn’t yet started. So I immediately put that down, and found this (standalone) audio book at my library.

Review:
When I started reading this book, I didn’t know it took place in two areas: Entry Island and its environs, and Lewis island, the outer Hebrides. I should have known May would work Lewis into the plot, as he is famously from there and writes about there, but I didn’t, so when that kicked off the book, I was confused. It eventually makes sense, but it took awhile for me to get up to speed.

There are two stories here. One is of Sime, who is a bilingual Inspector sent to look into a murder that took place in a tiny island of only English speakers. That part of the story is fairly standard crime fare – who did it, is it who we think, is there a twist, etc. The character of Sime is tortured, again, as we often see. His marriage has fallen apart but he still must work with his wife, he isn’t sleeping, and he’s not doing the best job of investigating this murder (did the wife do it?), partly because he gets a bit sidetracked thinking he has some connection to the wife of the victim.

The second story is the one I found much more interesting – the story of another Sime, who lives on a croft in the island of Lewis in the mid-1800s. His family deals with so much horror, including the potato famine (which I didn’t know had also affected Scotland) and the Highland Clearances, which are a nightmare that I don’t think people in the US are taught much about. We follow Sime as he eventually makes his way to Canada, and again, I didn’t realise so many Canadians would trace their ancestors to Scotland, and then … Nova Scotia. New Scotland. Wooooof.

The main story is fine, standard crime novel fare, but the story set in the 1800s was riveting, and was what saved the book for me.

Would I recommend it to its target audience:
For the target who enjoys historical fiction, yes. For the target who enjoys a modern-day crime mystery, not so much.