This book was a mixture of tales...between an abusive relationship, the study of orgasm, and a touch of the paranormal. I really liked each aspect and how they were woven together into one. The going back and forth from past to present and from one life to another flowed freely.

The abusive relationship really hit me hard. The author did a great job of describing the situation and helping you understand how a person can continue to endure such atrocities.

Relationships between some of the people in Copper Cove are slowly exposed. And the story is intriguing.

While I'm not a fan of the paranormal, this one was not spooky. It was more of a sense of being tuned into those around them...a sense of caring of humans and animals.

I will definitely read more books by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

I loved this story! It was beautifully written and had a very interesting gloomy atmosphere. I liked the interwoven stories.

Music of the Deep by Elizabeth Hall is an atmospheric read. Set in a coastal small coastal town, the story follows the lives of three women. Alex who is the main character is running away from a dark, painful past. Through the chapters, readers get to keep up with her new life on the island. Her back story is told through chapters that contain flashbacks on her life. These chapters were so dark and intense. I was heartbroken by the events that took place in her life and kept hoping that things would turn around for her.

Other main characters include Emmie and Maggie. Through the chapters, we get to learn more about Emmie, the animal whisperer. Through flashbacks, readers also get to learn about the tragedies in her life. Maggie is the biologist who takes Alex in. Like the other two women, her past is shrouded in secrets and pain.I loved these three women.

The setting was a character in itself. The town was rumored to be haunted and had all kinds of ghost stories. It’s the kind of town where tourists flock around Halloween because of the ghost tours. In addition, the MC moved into a house that is thought to be haunted. To add to the spooky vibe, the house is right next to a cemetery. In this town, there are also orcas. I liked the role that the whales played in developing the character of the town. The residents were also an interesting addition to the narrative. I especially liked the spinsters.

This was a beautiful story about pain, loss and hope. Friendship is also another key theme. It is not the usual kind of book that I’d normally go for so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Fans of atmospheric reads will certainly enjoy this one.

The Music of the Deep was such an atmospheric book! I haven't read this author before, but she is a solid writer and can create an almost palpably tense mood with her words. The story was engaging and I actually felt I learned something of the plight of the orcas. Very interesting and an entertaining read at that!

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book ; advanced copy ; I absolutely loved the book ; I had a very hard time putting the book down ; kept me very interested ; the characters were very intriguing, the depth of the story is magical ; and not to mention learning about the great creatures of the ocean .i would recommend this book

An diesem Buch ist vieles außergewöhnlich und ein großer Spaß zum Lesen!
Es ist spannend und fesselnd, oftmals sehr erdrückend geschrieben. Tolle Geschichte, sympathische Charaktere mit Tiefe und vile wissenswertes als Dreingabe.

Alexandra moves to a coastal town in Washington after fleeing an abusive marriage. She makes friends with locals and learns her new town has a "haunted" reputation. She is trying to start fresh while trying to run from her own "ghosts".
This book follows Alex and her journey to adjust to her new life as well as the plight of Orca whales off the coast of her new home.
I really enjoyed this unsettling but captivating story - in the end it's all about love and families.
Thank you to Elizabeth Hall, Lake Union Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC of this wonderful book.

Elizabeth Hall brings readers the haunting tale of a woman escaping an abusive marriage. Alex Turner moves to the Puget Sound in search of peace and finds true friendship and community as well. Hall's voice is lyrical, descriptive and stirring. This novel not only delves into surviving abuse but also the plight of a J-Pod of Orca whales off the coast of Alex's new Pacific NorthWest home. Hall intertwines the subjects in such a way that the reader will be truly affected.



What I liked:



Abusive relationships are not something I have had to endure myself in my own life and I can't say that I have truly felt I understood why some women choose to stay with their abusers. In Elizabeth Hall's book, The Music of the Deep the reader sees how Alex's relationship with her husband Daniel deteriorates slowly and becomes so volatile that she feels both love for him and fear of him. I honestly felt like I came away from reading this novel with some clarity in my own mind about how this sort of thing happens and what motivations are behind the victim's actions. I thought Hall just had a way with allowing the reader to share in Alex's pain and to understand her as a character.



I loved the friendships that Alex creates in her new home. From Maggie, the marine biologist she is working with to the local knitting club. Hall develops her characters slowly and with great depth. Little by little we learn more about these women and the lessons they learn from each other. The bonds between women are always something that intrigues me. The deep lasting friendships that women can create with each other are simply unexplainable and Hall really captured the essence of that idea in this book.



I don't know about you guys but I have always been a big fan of whales. They are so large and majestic and beautiful. Hall is able to not only educate her readers about handling abusive situations in this novel but also to educate them about the plot of the killer whale population and what is happening to their ecosystem as we continue to ravage the oceans of her vital resources. I found myself very invested in the plight of this Pod and the whales who were fighting for their habitat. Hall affected me with her writing and I'm sure I won't be the only one. Such a well written side theme to a very good novel.



What I didn't like:



The book blurb is slightly misleading. Some readers will pick this book up with the thought that it will center on the "haunting" paranormal aspects of the town that Alex has moved to. Though this is discussed in the book it is a minor theme and the blurb should have projected more of the true synopsis of the book.



I didn't really feel as though this book was necessarily women's fiction. When I think of that genre this is not a book that I feel falls in that niche. Yes, the protagonist is a woman and she does make friendships and grows immensely within the book, but somehow it didn't quite seem to fit. It was not a beach read or a cutesy novel. This one had some substance to it and some mystery, some informative aspects. There was just a lot more to it.



Bottom Line:



This is a good read. It doesn't fit the description given but it was very well written, engaging and informative. It was about a whole lot more than a possibly haunted town. If you picked it for that reason you are still gonna get a really good book, so no harm, no foal. I can't say that I totally related to the main character, Alex but I really liked her. And I understood her battles within herself. I loved the friendship aspect of this book and the Orca theme was exceptional. Give this one a try. It's a perfect book club pick, but maybe a little different from most women's fiction titles you might pick up.

This is an incredible novel of three women. Alexandra [Alex], who does archival work at the University of New Mexico, Emmie, who can sense hurt in animals and sometimes in people, and Maggie Edwards, a marine biologist studying Orcas in the waters of the Pacific Northwest.

Touching on domestic abuse, loneliness, love in all its many variations, the way Orca families are like ours and the ways they aren't. In the end, it's all about family.

I read this EARC courtesy of Net Galley and Lake Union Publishing. pub date 04/17/18

Six stars. Wonderful, touching, a real mixture of everything. Mystery, murder, paranormal, friendship. I loved the fact that there was very succinct descriptions. It wasn't overly descriptive but was just enough to make the characters real. The only thing I would add is a mild trigger warning for the abuse. I wasn't expecting descriptions and I feel that might be something which some readers might get triggered over. I've been in those situations and while this wasn't a graphic retelling it was enough to make me feel uncomfortable. However, I loved it, I loved everything else about it. There was so much beauty in the whales, you could really feel the heartbreak for their situation. I'm not ashamed to say I cried over her relationship with her mother because I feel rather the same about mine. A very easy book to empathize with.

Today is publication day for this book, so I am happy to be sharing my review of it with you all as it launches to the wider world, and it is definitely worth picking up. I’m not sure why this title caught my eye on NetGalley as it is not by an author I know – serendipity or more supernatural forces at work? Whatever it was, am I glad it did, as I raced through it in 24 hours and enjoyed every minute.

It is a very hard book to categorise – part ghost story, part nature tale, part women’s fiction – an unusual blend that had the potential to be a jarring mashup but the writer has woven the different elements together very skilfully to make a compelling narrative that had me gripped to the last page.

It follows the stories of three different women. We meet the central character, Alex, as she arrives in the tiny town of Copper Cove on a small island in the Puget Sound on a dark day in December. She is ostensibly there to assist a local woman, Maggie, catalogue the years of research she has done into the local population of orcas, but we soon find out that her story is more about what she is running from than where she is running to. To add to Alex’s tension, Maggie is hiding her own secrets, and her neighbour, Emmie Porter (rumoured to be the local witch due to her amazing powers with animals) is somehow involved. To further add to the tension, Alex is staying alone in a large old house on a hill on the outskirts of a town rumoured to be the most haunted town in Washington State…

The author sets up the story in its location very well. The tiny town, distant from land and civilisation, in the dark days of winter, is suitably claustrophobic and menacing enough to compound Alex’s already well-honed sense of dread and the secrets she gradually unveils grow increasingly creepy. During the last fifth of the book, I was sat up in bed, my heart thumping, ripping through the pages to find out what was going to happen – it really is a page turner.

The story gradually unveils the back story of the three women in a series of flashbacks which work very effectively, gradually pulling in to a point where they start to interweave and finally explode as one at the culmination of the book; it is very skilfully done and the characters are thoroughly drawn and believable, even as parts of the plot are asking you to suspend your disbelief beyond the every day.

One of the main reasons I picked up this book in the first place, and where it did not disappoint was to do with the setting. The Pacific Northwest is an area that holds a particular fascination for me and this book has only increased my longing to visit. The setting lends itself perfectly to the storyline, and the author does an amazing job of placing us firmly in the centre of the landscape. You don’t need to flex your imagination too hard to be able to picture the island, the town, the water and the natural phenomena she describes. I have a particular fondness for members of the oceanic dolphin family and this books blends a lot of interesting information about them into the plot seamlessly.

The book isn’t perfect. I would have liked a little more description about the town itself. To a degree the ending felt a little rushed and there was a flurry of ‘coincidences’ and happenings in the denouement which stretched credibility to the very furthest point of acceptability within the confines of what I believe the book was trying to be. However, all in all this was a great read. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I would recommend it without reservation. I doubt anyone who picks it up will regret the time they invest in it.

With the death of her mother, Alex Turner finally flees her abusive husband. She ends up in Puget Sound, working for marine biologist Maggie Edwards. Maggie has been studying orcas for pretty much her whole life. While staying in Copper Cove, Alex meets Caroline and joins the spinsters. The spinsters are a small group of people who enjoy knitting and spinning. There's a bunch of spinning jokes about whacking their wool. Alex may have tried to run away from her problems, but she can't hide from them. Not when she has an extremely abusive husband who will not let go.

The book focuses on Alex, Maggie and Emmie. I loved getting to know the characters. My favorites were Emmie and Robin. I wished there was more closure with respect to Robin, but there isn't always a happy ending. Caroline and David brought a lighter side to the book. All the orca information was an added bonus. I loved reading about them and what made up an orca family. The friendships Alex made in Copper Cove mirrored the orca pod. They wouldn't let her drown. It was great to see her new friends come together and protect Alex. There was so much emotion is this book.

I loved the story, the writing style and mostly the characters. I definitely recommend this book and can't wait to read more by the author.

Thanks to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and the author, Elizabeth Hall, for a free electronic ARC of this novel.

The Music of the Deep by Elizabeth Hall - This book was a very pleasant surprise. I enjoyed all the characters and it was nice getting to know them, maybe even wish for a series. The setting being a small coastal Puget Sound town was a great location for the main character to settle and begin her recovery. I do wish it hadn't taken ten plus years to get there. Throw in an ongoing Orca story, a little knitting and spinning with a touch of the supernatural and this book is a winner.  Thank you Net Galley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read a great novel.

THE MUSIC OF THE DEEP is the kind of book that I felt hooked me right from the very first page. If I could, would I have read non-stop until I had finished the book, alas I started late in the evening and then had to sleep. I wish more books were like this, captivating and beautifully written.

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION: http://freshfiction.com/review.php?id=65560

This is a bittersweet story of three women-told in alternating chapters. Maggie, Emmeline, and Alex all have backstories you can empathize with and although Alex is meant as the "lead," I found Maggie, who works with orcas, the most interesting. I appreciated learning more about those wonderful endangered creatures. This is atmospheric (the paranormal suggested in the blurb is kept to a minimum), nicely plotted, and well written. Thanks to net galley for the ARC.

The Music of the Deep was an engaging read from the first to last page. The title, a reference to the Orca’s rhythmic melodious breaths, gave voice to the beauty and dangers of their existence.
The was a well written story with an eerie, captivating setting that set the tone for despair and loss, yet also renewal and hope.
The author effectively tackled a myriad of topics such as the paranormal, bullying, and teen relationships. However, the most powerful and heart wrenching ones were those concerning the orca and spousal abuse, and ultimately, perseverance. The highly developed characters, their dialogue, and interactions placed the reader on an emotional roller coaster throughout the story. It was an amazing read!

This is a fun little book - I'd describe it as PNW Gothic and I really enjoyed it. It's a quick read but good character development, really nicely paced and I found myself anxious to get to each next chapter and understand what had happened next to each character (it essentially alternates between the life events of 3 women). Unusually for this type of book, I was equally invested in each character! The "supernatural" is kept pretty light and not spooky -- very much in the real-life vein of "hmm, that's odd" so I enjoyed that aspect as well. I loved learning more about the Orcas and really, really found her descriptions of the PNW to be very evocative, they made me want to go back up there soon!

I received an advance copy from NetGalley for a fair review.

'For most of her life, Alex had been the rogue electron, that weird anomaly that orbited just outside the nucleus of the rest of humanity.'

Alexandra Turner flees from her abusive marriage to Puget Sound, deciding to work for Dr. Margaret Edwards of renowned marine biologist whose life purpose is focused on Orca whales. The locals of Cooper Cove are superstitious, and swear that the captain’s house is inhabited by ghosts. For the locals, the town is known for being haunted, which serves tourism well. But for Alex, it’s the living who have terrified her more, it’s the ghosts of her past, of her abusive relationship and loss of self that haunts her. Owing to her ‘rabid intelligence’ she’s always been a misfit and living in a broken home once her father left, she plunged further into study. At 28 years old and with a masters in library science, she was finally living a fulfilling life, until the handsome geologist Daniel Frazier took an interest in her. A whirlwind romance takes place, and despite her mother’s warnings, she ends up marrying him. It isn’t long before the real Daniel starts to show himself through his omissions, his manipulating, and threats. Alex suffers major losses, and escapes to Cooper Cove.

Working for Maggie she learns about orcas, a mysterious beautiful underwater world, of creatures boring their own pain, heard in their music of the deep. The orcas are twined perfectly with the story. Maggie hears voices in a fog, wonders if indeed there is some truth to the locals beliefs. or else she suffering a mental breakdown. Restless and tortured, she is trying to find peace in her new surroundings but the past won’t release its teeth from her. She finds friendship with the local knitting group, the ‘spinsters’, but Maggie is perceptive, and knows there are lies binding Alex. She made a promise to her dying mother, and being here with Dr. Maggie is how she is honoring it. Emmie is an important character too, as her and Maggie share a past that has created distance and resentment. A past that has Alex curious, with a town full of secrets of its own, are restless ghosts such a surprise?

Alex will learn you can’t outrun your pain, and that a stand must be made. Maybe, if she’s lucky, she will find her clan, make a family and be able to survive a past that refuses to let her go.

This isn’t my usual read but I really enjoyed a story about intelligent women, all struggling with the past, coming together. The orcas were just as interesting as the humans, as sensitive and I learned things I didn’t know. There aren’t always happy endings for us, nor for nature, everything isn’t always fixed at the end, but there may be hope for Alex.

Publication Date: April 17, 2018

Lake Union Publishing

Thank you Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC

Escaping her past, Alex ends up in Copper Cove, Washington State, interning for Maggie, a marine biologist.
Copper Cove is a small, tight community where everyone knows anyone. There's laughter and tears, caring and sharing and some highly sensitive individuals. Some say it's haunted and tourists visit to join the ghosttours.
Parallel to this cosy environment runs the river that's home to the Southern Resident Killer Whales, the JPod. Maggie has studied these majestic animals all her life but over the years the pod has been decreasing. A diminishing ecosystem does not bring enough salmon to the area. It's a sad story (you can find many references of this endangered species on You Tube). The workings of the pod however are a sight to behold and very well described.
The two stories bound together make this a highly recommended magical read.

I absolutely loved this book. Actually I basically read it in one sitting because I just couldn't put it down. I don't know if it was the plot or the author's lyrical writing I am not sure. The characters were well developed and I became emotionally involved with them very easily. I loved the casual mentions of paranormal activity as if it could actually happen. Which it actually may have. Any way you must definitely pre order this book so it'll be waiting for you on release day. It's unputdownable so don't do what I did which was to stay up way past my bedtime just so that I could finish this book.. Happy reading!