I thoroughly enjoyed The Scent Keeper. I was glued to the novel through the hard ans sensitive introductory chapters, to the middle growing pains of love and reality, and into the realization filled last chapters. It is a novel filled with a young girl’s growing, learning, collapsing and coming to terms with the realities of her entire life.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a digital ARC. Put this on your May TBR. Fans of Where The Crawdads Sing and The Great Alone will especially like this one. But while a coming of age story where a child lives alone in remote land (this one with her father), this is a uniquely original story. The writing is beautiful and vivid. I didn’t want this one to end.

I was thrilled to receive an early copy Erica Bauermeister's newest book - I am a huge fan! The Scent Keeper is a magical book. Written in Ms. Bauermeister's signature lyrical style, she shares a story both uplifting and heartbreaking. I loved every word.

'The Scent Keepe'r by Erica Bauermeister is a beautiful story about discovering the sensory depths of love. The descriptions of the scents wafted through its pages intoxicating me with their tones of heartache, loss, and survival. I thought the characters were beautifully flawed and relatable. The story-line about a family who collect scent memories was unique and magical. This book reminded me of 'The Perfume Collector' by Kathleen Tessaro although more enchanting and quirky. I never knew something like scent branding existed, and so I finished this book wanting to learn more about this obscure practice. The story ended with many unanswered questions but I believe this was intentional. I have a new-found appreciation for scent and its power to reveal the truth.

Emmeline lives on an island with her father, seemingly the only two people on it and definitely the only two people in Emmeline's world. Her father collects scents and keeps them in tubes which are then locked into drawers. When the inevitable happens and Emmeline is thrust into the "real" world, she is unprepared to say the least. Eventually using scents she makes sense of her world.

A fully engrossing read that I couldn’t put down. Fell asleep reading this late at night then woke up in the morning and read nonstop to finish it. Have to say the ending was a bit of a let down after the rest of the book, seemed quite cut off and too harsh.

Other than the ending I’d say this was a perfect read for a winter. Greatly enjoyed the characters and tone of the book. The story was very original at first but devolved into something more common.

Still giving this five stars as it was one of those rare books I couldn’t put down.

I wanted to read this book because of the way that scent can transport us. The sense of smell is the most evocative of all the senses, just a whiff of perfume, cut grass or baking can transport us back to another place and time. Bauermeister centers her story on Emmeline, a girl growing up in an idyllic island setting, with a father keen to teach her about the marvels of nature by using her senses. She is obsessed with the scents that are stored in bottles in drawers in their home, but has no idea what they are or how they were made. Soon Emmeline is forced to leave her island home, along with its mermaids and magic. It’s how she attempts to understand her childhood as an adult that frames most of this magical, lyrical tale. A perfect read on a cold winter day