Just under 4 stars for me. First of all, I love the characters in this book. I especially fell hard for both Hawley and Loo. The Bullet chapter were riveting, scary, and nail biting. At times the bullet chapters reminded me of the stories told in "Second Hand Lions." The present day chapters sometimes were good but left me feeling anxious. At times the bullet chapters reminded me of the stories told in "Second Hand Lions." There were very sad moments, extremely touching moments, and heart-warming moments in this story. The ending left me a bit frustrated and confused. But, I'm a sucker for a happily-ever-after or at the least a solid resolution.

Samuel Hawley has been on the run with his daughter Loo for years, packing up and relocating every year, never getting too settled, too comfortable. Loo doesn’t know why they have to live this way, but her mother is dead, her father is all she has, and she loves him. It really isn’t that bad. She doesn’t remember it being any other way.
Then one day, when Loo is 11, Hawley decides it’s a good time to settle down somewhere, and he takes Loo to her mother’s hometown of Olympus, Massachusetts to lay roots. As the years pass and Loo grows into a young woman, she learns more and more about her father’s past, including some painful truths she hadn’t expected, gets questions answered about her mother, of whom she knows very little, and starts to grasp the person that she is and the kind she wants to be.

The tone of this book reminded me a bit of All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood crossed with a smattering of The Wolf Road by Beth Lewis. A little gritty, but not overwhelmingly so. Perhaps it’s the survival aspect that connects them, the idea that when our lives are at stake, all bets are off. Also, that doing bad things doesn’t necessarily make us innately bad, that we are still capable of loving and being loved, that there is always room for change, always room for forgiveness, to make amends, to do better and be better.
Hawley may not be the perfect father, but damn if he doesn’t try. Loo’s upbringing is far from typical, but somehow it suits her personality, she takes it in stride, and she loves her father fiercely. Love isn’t always easy, and love between parent and child is rarely simple, but despite all the extraneous crap that gets tossed at them, their bond remains intact.
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley is about a lot of things – redemption, sacrifice, friendship, forgiveness, family – but ultimately, it’s about love. And it’s a love story worth reading.

Father - daughter love

Samuel Hawley and his daughter, Loo, have had an unconventional life. Hawley has had a criminal lifestyle since he was young and he and Loo have a nomadic existence after Loo's mother dies, moving often to stay away from criminal elements in Hawley's past.

He finally decides it's time to settle down and give Loo some roots so they move to Olympus, Massachusetts where Loo's mother was from and where her grandmother still lives.

This book was totally different than anything I expected. I loved the characters - even when I didn't (if that makes sense).

The technique the author used to tell the story, giving readers a peek back at events in Hawley's past was perfect.

This is a story of a damaged man, who loved his wife completely, and who does his best to raise his daughter in a way his wife would have wanted her raised. And it's about a daughter's love for her father even knowing he's not a perfect man.

I don't know if this review makes sense to anyone but me. It is one of the harder ones I have reviewed. But just know I enjoyed it immensely and recommend it highly.

I received this book from The Dial Press/ Random House through Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review.

This was such a wonderful book, the fathers haunting past, the bond between family members, and the emotion in this book stays with you long after you've put it down.

This is the second sleeper 5 star book I have read this year. I really like it and will probably still be thinking about it in several months but it never made me skip something else just to read it which is what I need for a 5 book. That being said, this is the story of Samuel and Loo Hawley. It is told over two timelines: Loo in current times as a teenage girl, and Samuel in the past through the events that eventually give him 12 shooting injuries. Through these episodes, we learn that Loo's mother died and that Hawley hasn't always been a law abiding person, how Hawley struggled with parenthood and Loo with herself as she moves from childhood to adulthood. Ms. Tinti beautifully highlights the intermost feelings of her characters, especially the internal struggles they face throughout the book. Heart warming and heart breaking all at the same time, this is a beautiful book!

Tinti's long-awaited latest novel (after the great The Good Thief) was well worth said wait--it's one of those books you can totally rip through in one sitting, and you probably will want to. It's centered on a girl with an unconventional childhood, who, with her father, is maybe finally settling down--interspersed with tales from her father's criminal past. The two stories gradually intersect to strong results. I was not super into the daughter's love interest, who takes up way too much space in the story, but enjoyed her interest in astronomy, her dealings (and her father's) in a small town, family secrets coming to light, grand theft auto etc. Really entertaining and gorgeous writing. A/A-.

I love a good anti-hero. Many of my favorite movies and TV shows are those that send my moral compass spinning: Is this a good guy who does bad things? Or a damaged human being who is not all bad? I enjoy that gray area a writer creates between the good and the bad, but I wasn't drawn to Samuel Hawley in the same way I was when I first met Walter White, Tommy Gavin, or Tony Soprano (three of my favorite TV anti-heroes). I found Loo to be a more compelling character in this book than Hawley. Perhaps my expectations were a bit too high for Papa Hawley before I even started reading.

What I did love about this book was the way it's structured. It's a story of Hawley raising his daughter Loo after his wife dies when Loo was an infant. The chapters alternate between Loo's coming-of-age story, and flashbacks that reveal more about Hawley's dark past as the chapters reveal his physical scars from being shot, and the emotional scars that he carries below the surface. It is very easy to envision this book as a movie, as the descriptions are very vivid. The question I keep asking myself is would the movie be as good if it wasn't structured the same? That is to say, if not for the anticipation of the flashbacks intertwined with Loo's teenage woes, does the story still stand up on its own? I'm not sure that it does, because it truly is the developmet and slow reveal of the characters that kept me interested in this book. I'm not sure how well that would translate to cinema.

Thank you to the publisher, and the author for approving my Netgalley request and providing a copy for me to read and review.

Even though this book was tough to read at times, I loved it. The main characters of Sam Hawley and Loo are so interesting. Sam Hawley has led a tough life and the reader gets flashes of his life in the form of chapters dedicated to each of the twelve times that he was shot.

Samuel's daughter, Loo is a teenager now and she has gotten used to staying only a short period of time in one place and never really feeling like she belongs. They eventually end up in the home town of Loo's mother, who died when she was small. There is quite a bit of mystery around Sam's background that is slowly doled out in the bullet chapters and in the interactions with some of the town's residents that grew up with or knew Loo's mother. Part coming of age story, part thriller, but definitely a page turner. Once I hit around the halfway point and started seeing where this was headed, I stayed up late to finish it. I really like this author! Her first book, The Good Thief, was also excellent.

Samuel Hawley is a thief who happened to fall in love with a beautiful young woman in a diner. The novel tells the story of their life together, mostly on the run, and what comes after with the pain of loss. The bulk of the story is set in Olympus, MA where Hawley tries to "go straight" working as a fisherman. It happens to be Lily's hometown. The real star of the story is Loo, their daughter. She depends on Hawley for shelter and safety and has lived in myriad locales, eight schools in eight years. She loves the house Hawley chooses in Olympus. Living in a house is a new thing for her. Loo can't believe how big it is and wonders how they will fill it since the bulk of their belongings are Hawley's guns. It is in Olympus where Hawley teaches Loo how to shoot. She meets her grandmother and has more adventures as well as a pseudo normal existence. This child has lived a full life that most of us could never understand.

All in all love between father and daughter can be a wondrous thing. Hawley loves Loo and tries to keep her safe. Reading this new novel will give you the answers to the many questions you might have once you start.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Dial Press (March 28th 2017).

The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley is about Hawley, a former(ish) thief and killer and his daughter Loo, who knows little about her father's life and her mother, who died when she was an infant. They move together to the small fishing town of Olympus, where Loo uncovers the past as events come back to haunt them. The story alternates between Hawley's past and how he got his scars and the present from Loo's point of view.

I've seen this advertised as a thriller, but it's really not. There's not much mystery to me in how a man who kills for a living ended up with so many bullet scars. I've also seen this advertised as a coming-of-age story, which it is. If in a more violent manner than most people come of age. It took me a while to get sucked into this book because of that violence. Both Hawley and Loo solve most of their problems by fighting and have no qualms about breaking fingers and almost killing people when they're upset. There seem to be no repercussions for these decisions for Loo, and even though Hawley has bad things happen to him, he never seems to show any regret for killing people, only for the negative effects this has had. I think I was supposed to like Hawley more than I did. Even though he has an admirable love and loyalty to his daughter, I couldn't get over how he treats other people.

Tinti has a beautiful way with words, and I did love certain symbols that kept reappearing in the book, such as watches and stars, that played big roles later on. There were some scenes that were hard to read and made my heart sink, and there were some that were lovely, too. I especially liked the ending and the last few pages. I think if I could have set my morals/values aside, I would have loved this book. I just had a difficult time doing that.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dial Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Wow!  This book definitely took me on one heck of a scary and thrilling roller coaster ride!

THE TWELVE LIVES OF SAMUEL HAWLEY by HANNAH TINTI is an absolutely riveting and captivating tale of a father’s love for his daughter.  This book drew me in right from the very first chapter and throughout all of the 12 bullet wounds that Samuel Hawley endured to the very last heartfelt chapter. Loved it!

HANNAH TINTI delivers a touching, moving, heart-wrenching, impressive, and very descriptive read here which was beautifully told through two alternating timelines of the past and present.  Each bullet that Hawley takes is a way for us to explore his past and influences some part of Loo’s story in the present which links both stories together in the end.  The structure of this tale took me on an adrenaline filled ride that was exciting, fun, and fearful for an absolutely enjoyable and thrilling reading experience.

I couldn’t help but to feel a little bit scared of Samuel Hawley and love him at the same time.  I was rooting for him as I could see his goodness and the love that he had for his wife and his daughter.  The love and connection that Hawley had with his daughter outshined all the violence and flaws of this character in this adventurous story between a father and daughter.

To sum it all up it was a harrowing tale of love, hope, discovery, acceptance, and forgiveness that was entertaining, exciting, fast-paced, and a quick read with a satisfying ending. Highly recommend!!

Thank you to NetGalley, Hannah Tinti, and Random House / The Dial Press for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book for a fair and honest review.

Review found on blog & Goodreads
Two Sisters Lost in a Coulee Reading
http://www.twogirlslostinacouleereading.wordpress.com

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This was a quick read for me. Cleverly written and a good coming of age story. I found myself not loving it though. Loo and her father have a very interesting relationship. I found myself fascinated about the secrets surrounding her dead Mother. There were just parts lacking and a little over the top for my taste. Still a good book and it will capture honest audience.

I fell a little bit in love with Samuel Hawley, and I’m not usually the kind who goes for bad boys. You won’t find me on the back of anyone’s motorcycle or learning to shoot cans off a stump in the woods. My husband wooed me with an impressive vocabulary, a stable job, and a perfectly timed Hemingway pun. And, okay, yes, once by bending over to put on his shoes. I’m not a total square.

But Hawley is that very complicated kind of bad, the kind with a deeply seated sense of justice. A Clint Eastwood sense of justice that allows brutality but only when directed at the right people. He’s seen things. He’s done things. And he’s been in enough tight situations to know how to get out of them. That much is obvious—he’s been shot twelve times, and the novel is framed around the stories of each of those bullets meeting Hawley’s body. In between these flashbacks to Hawley’s checkered past is his present life with his teenage daughter, Loo. If Hawley seems like an unlikely type to be a single father, that’s because he is, and sometimes his parenting style is a bit, shall we say, unorthodox. But he loves his daughter, even if he’s not able to give her anything close to a normal life.

Hannah Tinti is clearly a writer who cares about craft. The structure of the novel is so intentional, reading the last chapters was like pulling up a well-oiled zipper. It all comes together so beautifully. I don’t mean all the details are neatly wrapped up and everything is perfect. It’s just that Tinti seems to have thought a lot about the reader’s experience. I’ll be very surprised if this doesn’t end up on my short list for favorite books of the year.

With regards to Dial Press and NetGalley for the advance copy. On sale March 28!

For some reason, this book didn't hold my interest. I only read about half of it before abandoning it all together.

Thanks Random House Publishing Group - Random House and netgalley for this ARC.

Sacrifice, toughness, and clever ways to kill are skills a little girl learns from her father but this book is not what it may seem at first. Pulls you in and doesn't let go til the end.

This is an interesting book and quite honestly, I’m kind of at a loss on how best to write this review without giving too much away yet at the same time trying to do justice to the book. There are so many things to talk about with this book, so many angles to explore, so many points to discuss, it’s actually a bit overwhelming.

From the get go, when we as readers are introduced to the main character Samuel Hawley, we already know that he is a tough guy with a dark past – a past that possibly involved some amount of violence given the number of guns and ammunition he owned. Not long into the story, we find out that Hawley didn’t just have a violent past, he actually had a criminal one that involved robbery, assault, and even murder. Basically, he was a “bad guy,” a seemingly hardened criminal constantly on the run from his checkered past – and he had the scars to prove it: the twelve bullet wounds all over his body. After his beloved wife dies in a tragic drowning accident, leaving behind an infant daughter, Hawley finally decides to step away from his previous life of crime to raise his daughter Loo and make it his life’s mission to protect her at all costs. Eventually, Hawley’s past catches up with him and his daughter in their present lives and together, they must face an uncertain future amidst a past that threatens to destroy them.

This is the kind of book that cannot be placed “nicely” into any one genre or category because there is so much going on in the book all at the same time. There were times when this book felt like a mystery thriller, where I found myself right alongside Loo growing curious about her mother’s mysterious death and trying to put the pieces together with each clue that is dropped as the story progresses. Other times, it felt like a coming-of-age story centered around Loo as she grows into her teenage years and struggles to come to terms with her father’s past and the ominous influence it has on her present life. The chapters that detailed Hawley’s past exploits and the significance of the various bullet wounds on his body read like a suspense novel, with the intensity building up as each detail of Hawley’s situation is revealed. The gun battles and brawls and constant references to alcohol and bars as well as the idea of a menacing tough guy who is inherently good doing battle with those who are truly evil all remind me of those cowboy westerns I used to watch as a kid, except this one was in a modern setting. There was also the family drama element with the various relationship lines interwoven throughout the book: father-daughter (Hawley and Loo), husband-wife (Hawley and his wife Lily prior to her death), mother-daughter (Lily with her mother Mabel Ridge and also briefly with her own daughter Loo), grandmother-granddaughter (Loo’s tensed relationship with her grandmother Mabel Ridge), etc. And of course, there was the romance element in Loo’s relationship with her classmate Marshall.

In terms of structure, this is where the book is unique in that it essentially uses the scars on Hawley’s body as a “blueprint” for the entire story. As the narrative cuts back and forth between past and present, we are taken from Loo’s current life back to her father’s past, with every other chapter telling the “history” of each of the twelve bullets that had once gone through Hawley’s body. There was also quite a bit of symbolism interspersed throughout the story, especially in the chapters dealing with Hawley’s past, as well as metaphors about love, death, the significance of time, etc. I also picked up on a few subtle parallels with Hawley’s story to Greek and Roman mythology, which I felt was very clever of the author to weave into the story in such an unassuming way. As for the writing, I appreciated how descriptive the author was and the compelling way that the story was told. With that said though, the prose did feel a bit clunky at times and some sentences I had to read twice because the flow seemed a little off, but since this was an ARC and I understood I was reading an uncorrected proof that would probably undergo some more editing prior to publication, this was not too big of a deal for me.

As I said earlier, it is hard for me to do justice to this story through a short review. I would recommend reading the book and experiencing it for yourself. The only caution I would give is that there is quite a bit of violence in the book as well as some gritty depictions of criminal acts that some readers may find offensive. Personally, I struggled with some parts and actually disagreed with some of the characters’ actions, attitudes, and handling of certain situations, but overall, the story was good and I found myself still being drawn to the characters, despite their many flaws.

Received advance reader copy from Random House via NetGalley.
(Expected publication date: March 28th, 2017)

4 stars

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. It tells the story of Samuel Hawley and his daughter Loo. Samuel Hawley is not a good man. He's a thief and a killer and he's led a dangerous and deadly life. When he meets Lily after a job goes bad, he finds something he never thought he'd have - love. He tries to go straight but when Lily gets pregnant he needs to go back to his old ways to support his new family. When Lily dies he is lost in his misery and leaves his daughter Loo with Lily's mother.

When Loo is a young girl Samuel goes back for her and they lead a nomadic life, never staying anywhere too long and always looking over their shoulder. Samuel teaches Loo how to handle a gun and defend herself. The two eventually settle in a small town in MA where Lily grew up. The two find out quickly, however, that they are not welcome. Loo is an outcast in school and Samuel has a hard time finding work.

The book is told in alternating chapters between the past and the present. The past chapters explain how Samuel got each of his 12 gunshot wounds and the present chapters chronicle Loo's relationship with her father and her struggle through adolescence. Samuel will do anything to protect his family and as his past catches up to them both, he and Loo find out just what they will do for each other.

The book is well written and holds your attention. It is both a thrilling ride and a heartbreaking coming of age story. I recommend you read this book.

As someone who grew up the next town over from Salem (Peabody), I am always very interested when novels featuring The North Shore are written. I am always a little critical because the author, usually not from the area, only focuses on Salem or Gloucester and what they are most known for: Halloween (Salem) and fishing (Gloucester). It always irks me to read those books because the stereotypes scream from the books. The girl whose ancestors come from Salem and she finds out she has powers (Salem) or the fisherman who battles nature to get the big haul (Gloucester). Usually, I can’t get through the book, I have to DNF it because I want to gag. Happily, though, The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley doesn’t have any of those stereotypes and that itself is refreshing. Also, the author herself is from Salem, so she knows the areas from Rockport to Lynn probably as well I do and that added just that extra touch of authenticity to her book.

I actually had to go google Olympus and Dogtown. Just to make sure that Olympus isn’t there. Massachusetts is famous for having small towns that you can drive through and miss. Take Hathrone. It is a tiny town between Danvers and Middleton. When I say small, it is teeny. I think that it is actually considered part of Danvers but it has its own zip code and post office. I didn’t know it existed until about 15 years ago….when the guy I was dating actually told me about it….lol. So, googling Olympus to check it out became my main goal. Dogtown, I goggled too even though I knew it was real.

I kinda felt bad for Loo in the beginning of the book. She moved around a ton and had a father that kept major secrets from her. Saying that the moving around didn’t affect her would be lying. When they settled down in Olympus, things got really bad for her. I am glad that the author had Loo react the way she did to bullying. It was real. Nothing was hunky dory after the rock in the sock incident but the kids left her alone. And her anger issues after that. Oh Lordy, she needed anger management classes, therapy or both. Even with her kinda boyfriend, Marshall Titus, she was mean. Put it this way, Loo wasn’t a nice person by the end of the book, even though she tried to be one.

While Loo’s story wasn’t easy to read, Hawley’s story was even worse. The author chose to tell his story by each bullet wound that he got (12 in all). Hawley was not a good man….far from it. But he did try to turn himself around when he married Lily (Loo’s mother) and then they had Loo. But his past criminal life kept sucking him in and it eventually cost him everything. I could see why he was hiding it from Loo. He was protecting her but still. He should have left well enough alone (read the book if you want to know what I meant by that).

Hawley’s story and Loo’s story was seamlessly brought together towards the end of the book. The events that happened at the end of the book did leave it up in the air. You don’t know if there will be a HEA or what. That was pretty refreshing. I can see people complaining about it though, saying that all books need clear-cut endings. But with this book, nothing was clear-cut so why should the end be?

How many stars will I give The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley: 4

Why: An engrossing book that kept me turning the pages until well after my bedtime. The characters were very complex and their relationships with each other and other characters were complex too. This is not an easy read, so be warned. I liked it because it was different from what I usually read and like I said above, the characters were complex.

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Adult

Why: Violence, language and some sexual situations.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**