Title: Hold Back the Tide // Author: Melinda Salisbury
Date of publication: January 5th 2021 by Amaya Ash // Print length: ebook, 336 pages
You can buy this book from Amazon
From internationally bestselling, acclaimed author Melinda Salisbury comes a darkly seductive story of murder, betrayal, love, and family secrets in a small town in the Scottish Highlands.
Here are the rules of living with a murderer.
One: Do not draw attention to yourself.
Of course, when you live with a murderer, this is impossible. Even the subtlest of spectres is bound to be noticed.
Which leads to the next rule.
Two: If you can’t be invisible, be useful.
Everyone in this quiet lakeside community knows that Alva’s father killed her mother, all those years ago. There wasn’t enough proof to arrest him, though, and with no other family, Alva’s been forced to live with her mother’s murderer, doing her best to survive until she can earn enough money to run away.
One of her chores is to monitor water levels in the loch-a task her father takes very seriously. Their family has been the guardian of the loch for generations. It’s a cold, lonely task, and a few times, Alva can swear she feels someone watching her.
But the more Alva investigates, the more she realizes that the truth can be more monstrous than lies, and that you can never escape your past …
Trigger Warnings: death (of a parent), murder, trauma, guns, violence, gore.
Diversity Tags: –
Writing Quality 5/5, Character Development 3/5, ‘Couldn’t put it down’ – ness 3/5, Intellectual Depth 3/5, Originality 3/5, Overall 3.4/5
I hope the new year found you all well! I took a short break from the blog, but now I’m back, and I’ll start to post weekly again. Without further ado, let’s talk about Hold Back the Tide, which was an interesting read, to say at least.
He told her over and over that he was sorry for what had happened, but that he needed her to get better. For her own sake. For my sake. And she didn’t. Wouldn’t. Couldn’t, I see now.
When I first started this book, I was utterly surprised. The beginning was grabbing and on and all the chef’s kiss. From there, sadly, things went down.
Alva, the main character was introduced at the very beginning, and she was the only one who had a strong background. Gavan was one of Alva’s friends, and throughout the entire book, I felt as if he was only there to make the other characters more engaging. By the time I finished the book, I didn’t even know what happened to him. On the other hand, Ren made everything better. He had a sassy attitude, and he made you smile from time to time. I liked him a lot, but as always, I wish we knew more about him.
“I wouldn’t expect—” “I’d cut your balls off if you even thought about it,” I snap, wrenching my hand from his.
The premise was promising, but the author put way too much accent on a certain event, and all the events onwards became predictable. This novel was classified as a horror story, and I could see it as being scary. The only downside is that it lacked the element of surprise
On the bright side, though, the action was fast-paced and the book was quite easy to read. This novel has a little over 300 pages, but even so, I managed to finish it in less than a day.
“No,” he says immediately . “They’re not gods. They were never gods. It was a word people used to explain things they didn’t understand, creatures they couldn’t comprehend.”
Overall, I could see why so many people liked this book, as it is easy to read and even interesting, but for me, the lack of originality and the fact that it was so foreseeable, made me give it three stars. I would still recommend it for the ones who are just getting into horror!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Melinda Salisbury was born in the 1980s in a landlocked city, before escaping to live by the sea. As a child, she genuinely thought Roald Dahl’s Matilda was her biography. When she’s not trying to unlock the hidden avenues of her mind, she’s reading, writing, or traveling. She lives in the UK and can be found on Twitter as @MESalisbury, though be warned she tweets often.
I love your review!
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Thank you so much!
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