Review: MORE THAN WE CAN TELL by Brigid Kemmerer
More Than We Can Tell by Brigid Kemmerer Also by this author: Letters to the Lost (Letters to the Lost, #1), Call It What You Want
Published by Bloomsbury Children's on March 6th 2018
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 416
Source: Netgalley
Amazon
Goodreads
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
MY REVIEW:
Although set in the same universe as her popular book Letters to the Lost, Brigid Kemmerer’s latest novel More Than We Can Tell is a standalone story that follows two teens who are each carrying around a heavy burden of secrets. Eighteen-year-old Rev Fletcher was raised by an abusive father until he was removed from his home at age 7 and placed with foster parents who eventually adopted him as their own. Even though he now lives in a loving and supportive environment, Rev is still occasionally haunted by the horrors of his past and by the fear that he will somehow grow up to be like his father. Rev lives a normal life and gets by most days without dwelling on his fears too much, but when an unexpected letter arrives from his father, all of those fears rise to the surface and threaten to pull Rev under. He doesn’t know what to do and doesn’t want to upset his adoptive parents, so he keeps the letter a secret even though it is eating him up inside that his father has somehow managed to find him after all these years.
Rev is not the only one in More Than We Can Tell living under the burden of secrets and fears. High school junior Emma Blue is also battling some demons of her own. Emma is a gamer and a gifted coder, so gifted in fact, that she has designed an entire video game from scratch. Coding and designing video games are what Emma wants to pursue as a career, but her father, who actually designs video games for a living, is never around to support her, while her mother, who is a doctor, thinks all of this gaming is just a waste of time. Because she feels they don’t really support her, Emma works on her video game in secret and doesn’t even try to show her parents what she is doing or how good at it she really is. Things get messy, however, when an online troll starts sending her threatening messages through her game. The comments escalate to the point where Emma is basically being sexually harassed through the internet, but because Emma fears her parents will just tell her to delete the game she has worked so hard on, Emma decides to shoulder the burden of this harassment herself and doesn’t tell anyone what is going on even though she is actually afraid of the troll by this point.
Rev and Emma meet by chance one night while Emma is out walking her dog, and the two of them hit it off immediately and are able to open up to one another in ways that they don’t feel like they can with anyone else. Will their new found friendship turn into something more? Can they help each other deal with the secrets that are wearing them down?
Wow, where to even start with this book? Honestly, I loved pretty much everything about it. It’s filled with wonderfully complex characters, relevant themes, beautiful relationships, and so much more. It made me laugh at times, and it also made me tear up a few times, and I’m a sucker for a book that grabs all of my emotions like that.
I fell in love with both Rev and Emma right away, for very different reasons. Rev was just such a beautiful soul and it hurt my heart to watch him struggle with the memories of what his awful father did to him. It especially got to me that he was so worried that he would turn out just like him, when everything about his personality screamed that he would be the exact opposite. I hated the way his father kept getting into his head and dragging him down, but at the same time, I could easily understand how it kept happening.
I loved Emma because of her independence. I didn’t necessarily agree with her keeping things from her parents, but at the same time, I admired her strength and her determination not to give up on her dream of designing games for a living. My inner geek also loved that she was so passionate about STEM and that she was a pretty badass gamer as well.
The relationships in More Than We Can Tell were beautifully written as well. Rev’s loving relationship with his adoptive parents, Geoff and Kristin, was especially moving to read about, knowing how awful his life had been prior to coming into their home. I teared up several times just watching them love and support him even when he, at times, tried to push them away. My love for this relationship also extended out to them all for inviting another troubled teen into their home. Even though he wasn’t exactly central to the overall storyline, I loved the character of Matthew for many of the same reasons I loved Rev and so it was lovely to see him find a home, even if it’s only temporary, with a family as great as Rev’s (On a side note: I would love to see another book set in this universe that follows Matthew.)
The friendship between Declan and Rev was probably my favorite part of the entire book. I’ve actually not read Letters to the Lost yet, but I’ve heard this friendship plays a role in that book as well, so I fully intend to go back and read that. These young men are about as close to brothers as they could possibly be. I enjoyed the ease of their banter, which is just so funny at times, but most importantly, I loved that Declan always seems to just “get” Rev. He’s tuned in to what Rev needs, even if Rev doesn’t know it himself. There’s one scene where Rev loses it at school and throws a punch at Declan. Instead of getting mad about it, Declan shows up at Rev’s house right after school and, to paraphrase, says “Come on. If you need to punch it out, let’s go find you a better target than my face” and takes him to work through his frustrations on an actual punching bag. That’s friendship right there.
The growing relationship between Emma and Rev is lovely too. I loved their little meetups on the lawn outside the church and how easily their conversations flowed from the silly and casual to the more serious things that were on their minds. Kemmerer does a beautiful job here of advancing their relationship from strangers to acquaintances to friends to maybe a little something more without it feeling like insta-love.
I could go on and on about all the things I adored about More Than We Can Tell but I’m going to close by saying that in addition to the beautifully drawn characters and relationships, what really pulled me into this story were all of its themes. This is a story about love, family, friendship, forgiveness, and trust. It also serves as an important reminder to give your family a chance to have your back and that you don’t always have to shoulder your own burdens.
I can’t think of a single issue I had with More Than We Can Tell. It’s just a wonderfully crafted story on every level.
Brigid Kemmer’s More Than We Can Tell is a beautifully written and moving story that will grab you by the emotions and won’t let go. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll fall in love with Rev and his family and friends. I look forward to reading Letters to the Lost soon because I’m ready for more from the universe.
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
Rev Fletcher is battling the demons of his past. But with loving adoptive parents by his side, he’s managed to keep them at bay…until he gets a letter from his abusive father and the trauma of his childhood comes hurtling back.
Emma Blue spends her time perfecting the computer game she built from scratch, rather than facing her parents’ crumbling marriage. She can solve any problem with the right code, but when an online troll’s harassment escalates, she’s truly afraid.
When Rev and Emma meet, they both long to lift the burden of their secrets and bond instantly over their shared turmoil. But when their situations turn dangerous, their trust in each other will be tested in ways they never expected. This must-read story will once again have readers falling for Brigid Kemmerer’s emotional storytelling.
About Brigid Kemmerer
BRIGID KEMMERER is the author of LETTERS TO THE LOST (Bloomsbury; April 4, 2017), a dark, contemporary Young Adult romance; THICKER THAN WATER (Kensington, December 29, 2015), a New Adult paranormal mystery with elements of romance; and the YALSA-nominated Elemental series of five Young Adult novels and three e-novellas which Kirkus Reviews calls “refreshingly human paranormal romance” and School Library Journal describes as “a new take on the supernatural genre.” She lives in the Baltimore area with her husband and four sons.
Review: THE WICKED DEEP
The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw 
Published by Simon Pulse on March 6th 2018
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction
Pages: 320
Source: Netgalley
Amazon
Goodreads
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
MY REVIEW:
I’ve always been drawn to books that feature witches, so as soon as I saw its alluring synopsis promising “Hocus Pocus and Practical Magic meets the Salem Witch trials,” Shea Ernshaw’s debut novel, The Wicked Deep, quickly became one of my most anticipated reads of 2018. So, did it live up to expectations? Well, yes and no. The Wicked Deep is an atmospheric and engaging read — I read it easily in about a day. That said, however, it was also the kind of read that had me yelling at the characters as I was reading because I just couldn’t believe some of the things I was reading. I’ll try to elaborate on that without giving away any major spoilers…
Set in the cursed town of Sparrow, Oregon, The Wicked Deep is a story of revenge. Two centuries ago, beautiful sisters Marguerite, Aurora, and Hazel Swan moved to Sparrow. They were disliked immediately because of the way the townsmen fawned all over them and eventually they were accused of being witches and drowned in the town’s harbor. Every summer since the drowning, on the anniversary of their deaths, the spirits of the three sisters wait for teenage girls to enter the water and then they inhabit their bodies until the summer solstice. Their goal? Revenge. Like sirens, the sisters use the bodies they’ve stolen to then lure unsuspecting teenage boys into the harbor where they drown them. No one ever knows whose bodies have been taken over and once the summer solstice comes, the spirits go back to the bottom of the sea and those who were inhabited have no recollection of what has happened. Everyone in Sparrow seems to just accept that this is their fate and they have even gone so far as to morbidly exploit the curse, even referring to it as “Swan Season.” The curse has made Sparrow quite the tourist attraction and people come from miles around to see if what they have heard is true. The town throws ‘Swan’ parties and then just passively waits for the ritual to play out each year, with no hope of ever stopping it.
Things change this year, however. A young man named Bo arrives in town on the same night the Swan sisters are set to return. Bo meets 17-year-old Penny Talbot, a local who like most others, has just accepted this as her way of life. Penny fills him in on the curse and warns him that as a teen boy, he’s likely to be a potential target. The two of them start to bond and, instead of passively riding out the ritual like she does every other year, Penny becomes determined to keep Bo from falling victim to the sisters. While Penny is busy trying to keep Bo safe, seeds of discord are being sown in the town and some of the boys decide it’s time to end this curse once and for all. Someone comes up with the idea that perhaps if they can figure out which girls are inhabited by the spirits, they can kill those girls and thus prevent the spirits from returning to the sea, thus breaking the curse. This leads to a modern day witch hunt with the girls now in just as much danger as the boys.
Can the townspeople stop the curse? Can they even justify taking the lives of three innocent girls to possibly stop the curse? Can Penny protect Bo from the curse? Why did Bo conveniently show up in town that night anyway? So many questions….
I absolutely loved the atmosphere that Ernshaw creates in her novel. It’s an enchanting recipe of quaint small town quirkiness combined with the haunting and creepy vibe that this two-hundred year old curse casts over everything. Small details like the sisters using song to lure teen girls into the water to steal their bodies just added to the overall sensory experience of reading. If I was rating on atmosphere only, this would be five stars for sure.
The legend of the Swan sisters was fascinating as well. I really liked how Ernshaw allowed more and more details about their story to unfold as we’re watching the curse play out in real time. The Swan sisters were actually interesting enough that I would have loved an entire book devoted just to them, but Ernshaw does a nice job of seamlessly weaving together the past and the present to show us how the curse began and why the sisters are so bent on seeking revenge against the people of Sparrow.
Out of all the characters, Bo was probably the character who intrigued me the most. He was so mysterious and it felt like he was hiding something when he first arrived, especially the way he claimed to not be a tourist yet conveniently showed up on the first night of “Swan Season.” I felt like I was watching him most closely while I was reading, trying to figure out if he had ulterior motives for arriving in Sparrow when he did.
Okay, so let me reiterate that I enjoyed reading The Wicked Deep. As I’ve already mentioned, I read it in a day and literally could not put it down until I knew how it was going to end. That said, there were some things about the story itself that just drove me crazy and had me yelling at the characters (a lot!) while I was reading…
- I could not understand, for the life of me, how an entire town of people could continue living in a place where they know the same thing is going to happen every year. You know young men are going to drown and yet even if you are the parent of said young men, you’re cool with staying in this town? I couldn’t get past this because I just can’t fathom staying in a place like this. It should be a deserted ghost town.
- Speaking of being a tourist haven – Even if you have accepted your fate as some kind of “collective guilt,” why would you exploit this tragedy by bringing more people to your town? Are they hoping to lure in other families so that maybe non-local kids drown instead of their own?
- The teenagers’ cavalier attitude toward the entire curse. Again, you know as a teen girl in a small town, you have a very high chance of being one of the three who are “chosen” by the sisters and that if chosen, they, using your body, will murder young men. And you know as a teenage boy, that you stand a pretty good chance of being lured out to a watery grave. So why the heck do these idiots have a huge party down on the beach the first night of “Swan Season” every year and dare each other to drunkenly wade out into the water to see what happens?
Aside from not understanding why the people of Sparrow do what they do, I also guessed what was supposed to be a huge plot twist very early on, so that was a little disappointing. I will say it’s a great twist though, a total game changer, so if you don’t guess it early on, it will blow your mind when you get there.
One other area where I felt things were a bit lacking was in the area of character development. You’ll notice that aside from Bo, I didn’t really mention any other characters and that’s because I didn’t really feel all that invested in any of them. It felt like they were just there to advance the plot regarding the curse. Penny probably had the most development out of any of them but I still didn’t really feel any connection to her. Since I’m one who likes to connect with the characters, I’m reading about, this was a little disappointing.
While in many ways The Wicked Deep lived up to expectations – it’s one of the most atmospheric books I’ve read in a while and I definitely enjoyed the unique premise of the cursed town and the three sisters’ quest for revenge, the book fell a bit flat for me in other ways just because I couldn’t get past the unrealistic behavior of the people in the town and didn’t feel much of a connection to the characters. I still wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a haunting and creepy witch-themed read.
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
Hocus Pocus and Practical Magic meets the Salem Witch trials in this haunting story about three sisters on a quest for revenge—and how love may be the only thing powerful enough to stop them.
Welcome to the cursed town of Sparrow…
Where, two centuries ago, three sisters were sentenced to death for witchery. Stones were tied to their ankles and they were drowned in the deep waters surrounding the town.
Now, for a brief time each summer, the sisters return, stealing the bodies of three weak-hearted girls so that they may seek their revenge, luring boys into the harbor and pulling them under.
Like many locals, seventeen-year-old Penny Talbot has accepted the fate of the town. But this year, on the eve of the sisters’ return, a boy named Bo Carter arrives; unaware of the danger he has just stumbled into.
Mistrust and lies spread quickly through the salty, rain-soaked streets. The townspeople turn against one another. Penny and Bo suspect each other of hiding secrets. And death comes swiftly to those who cannot resist the call of the sisters.
But only Penny sees what others cannot. And she will be forced to choose: save Bo, or save herself.
About Shea Ernshaw
Shea Ernshaw is an Oregon native and YA author. She often writes late, late, late into the night, enjoys dark woods, scary stories and moonlight on lakes. She drinks loads of tea and believes sunrises are where unicorns hide.
She lives with her two cats, a dog, a husband, and a stack of books beside her bed she still needs to read.
Her debut THE WICKED DEEP will be published by Simon & Schuster/Simon Pulse in 2018.
Discussion Post: Books Guaranteed to Pull Me Out of a Reading Slump
It has happened to us all at some point. One minute you’re on a roll, reading one incredible book after another, and then boom, it hits…the dreaded reading slump. As soon as the slump hits, you try book after book from your TBR pile, but nothing seems to satisfy and instead of being the wonderful hobby that you love so much, reading suddenly becomes a chore.
I’ve been fairly lucky on this front and (knock on wood!) have only fallen into a reading slump a few times in my life so far and most of those were in college when I was required to read a lot of books for my English major that didn’t necessarily appeal to me. But man, when those slumps do hit, they just make me so depressed. Seriously, is there anything worse for a book lover than to suddenly not enjoy reading anymore?
Usually switching to a different genre for a while is enough to help me bust through my slumps, which is how I’ve developed such eclectic tastes in books over the years, but every once in a while, changing genres is not enough. Sometimes I just have to set aside my entire TBR pile and go back and revisit some cherished old favorites that always remind me why I fell in love with reading in the first place and give me the kick in the pants I need to get back on track with my reading.
So what are my go-to slump busting reads?
CHILDHOOD FAVORITES
There’s nothing like taking a moment to go back and rediscover those favorite characters and settings from my childhood. I’m a huge fan of doing this, especially now that my son is old enough to read my childhood favorites. I’ve been trying to instill a love of reading in him so it has been wonderful for us to read and enjoy my childhood favorites together. He gets to discover these wonderful characters for the first time and I get to take a stroll down memory lane.
BOOKS THAT RESONATE
These are books that no matter how many years have passed since I first read them, I still think about them. They taught me lessons that have stuck with me to this day and they are books that are guaranteed to make me think. These are books that I remain passionate about no matter how many times I re-read them.
BOOKS THAT MAKE ME CRY
I don’t know about other readers, but sometimes I think my reading slumps are caused by other things that are going on in my life at the time. It’s not necessarily the books I’m reading, it’s just me. Whether it’s work stress, family drama, or whatever, just something gets all bottled up inside and when that happens, I feel like I need an emotional release and so I will reach for a book that I know will give me that good cry.
BOOKS THAT MAKE ME LAUGH
On a similar note, maybe a good cry isn’t what I need. Maybe it’s a good laugh. I don’t read a lot of funny books so this can sometimes be a challenge, but there are a few silly books out there that I love to pull out when I need some laughs. I know Pride and Prejudice is technically more of a romance than anything else, but the banter between Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy, not to mention the silly antics of Mrs. Bennett, is always good for a laugh. And I’ve all but abandoned the Stephanie Plum series for now, as I mentioned in this week’s Top Ten Tuesday post, but let me tell you, if I hit another major reading slump, I wouldn’t hesitate to grab a book or two from that series. If the misadventures of Grandma Mazur and Lula don’t bust a reading slump, nothing will, lol.
HARRY POTTER
Yes, this series is in a category all by itself. I didn’t read it until I was an adult so I can’t consider it a childhood favorite. But in a lot of ways, it covers all of the other topics above and then some. There’s just something about picking up one of these books that feels like coming home. Whenever I read them, I not only fall in love with the characters and the story all over again, but I also think about how many other readers this series has captivated over the years. This is the series that made so many people fall in love with reading, and I get caught up in that spell and all is right with the world again (at least as far as my love of reading anyway, lol).
So, what about you? What kind of books do you turn to when you’re trying to pull yourself out of a reading slump?