A short but dense book about a woman, the sea, and her relationships on a island off the coast of California. The books begins as the main character is waiting for her fiance to to return from sea, and preparing for their wedding day. It flashes back to her life on the island, her relationship with her alcoholic/drug addicted father and be absent mother. While I originally rated this book as a 4, given a little time I think I'll drop it to a 3. There just isn't anything that stands out to me to make this book memorable.

Sorry, this one wasn't for me. I couldn't really connect with the characters and couldn't finish the book.

Introspective, imaginative, and melancholic. Familial relationships are at the forefront of this novel. And the seaside setting is so heavily featured it is nearly a character itself.

"Creatures" by Crissy Van Meter was both a sad and moving novel on abandonment, survival and loss. Evie and her father live on Winter Island off the coast of California. Her mom has left, her father has his own issues with responsibility and struggles with drug addiction, and Evie as an adolescent has to figure out how fend for herself and survive in a world where nothing is certain.

The novel falls in a literary fiction genre and Ms. Van Meter's descriptions and portrayal of Evie's life on the island and her connection to the ocean are rich and refreshing. Her character development and the way she deconstructs the story is engaging. I would have liked her to expound more on the various aspects of situations that would have brought more satisfying closure, but besides that there isn't much to fault the story.

This was not your typical "beach" read but the descriptions brought a fulfilling detail to my recent trip to California with the family. I heartily recommend it!

I received this eBook free of charge from Algonquin Books via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. I did not receive any fiscal compensation from either company for this review and the opinions expressed herein are entirely my own.

Creatures by Crissy Van Meter is another one of those childhood-upbringing stories in which the mother leaves and the father stays. While Evie is shaped by the dysfunction of her family, she does love her itinerant, druggie father and is so in need of her on-again off-again mother to love her. Does insecurity and abandonment shape how she looks at her world? Most definitely.

Evie tells her story, moving back and forth on the timeline, in this character-driven novel. Set on a Catalina-like island off the coast of Los Angeles, Evie is about to walk down the aisle as the story opens only to have a dead whale beach itself within smelling distance of her home, her mostly absent mother show up unannounced, and her fiancé Liam seemingly missing at sea.

Winter Island has been her home all her life, a place where she mostly raised herself living off the money her father made dealing in Winter Wonderland marihuana. Sometimes without a home of their own, they shelter with various friends and lovers of her father. Throughout the story, the sea and the creatures living in it are the one constant Evie has leaned on.

The debut novel of Los Angeles-based writer Crissy Van Meter will be a must-read for those of us who find solace in stories about dysfunctional families and how they shape their offspring. We are not alone!
Van Meter teaches creative writing at The Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting May 16, 2020.

I would like to thank Algonquin Books, a division of Workman Publishing, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

This book was not my personal taste. Sometimes I found it hard to follow as it jumped back and forth between past and present, and almost all of the characters were annoying to me. I understand that the artful writing was a redeemable quality for some people, but it just wasn’t enough to outweigh all the depressing plot points for me.

Creatures by @crissyvanmeter is unlike any book I have read before. The writing is raw and in your face. Nothing is sugar coated or sweetened to soften the blow. At 256 pages, it’s a quick read that packs a big punch. It’s weird though. Like really weird, but in a good thought provoking way. ⁣⁣
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Evie spends her life waiting for the other shoe to drop. This is a story of her heart-wrenching life growing up with an alcoholic, drug addicted father and a mother who abandons her and how the dysfunction of her family ultimately shapes her adult life. She has been let down so many times that she’s come to expect it. I’m a sucker for family dramas. There’s something about them that breaks my heart but also makes me realize that things could always be worse. ⁣⁣
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This wasn’t the best book I’ve ever read. Honestly, I struggled through a few parts but when all is said and done, I left me feeling fascinated. I couldn’t stop thinking about how beautiful and authentic the writing was and how different it was from my normal reads. ⁣⁣
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I recommend checking this one out if you like dysfunctional family dramas and you’re willing to experience something weirdly unique with beautiful, lyrical writing. ⁣⁣
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Creatures is available now. It pushed me outside of my comfort zone, and I kind of like it here. 😉 ⁣
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Evie is worried about her fiance who is late returning from his trip at sea. Liam is employed as a fisherman and spends weeks at a time outside of port. While Evie waits for her upcoming wedding day she reflects back on her dysfunctional childhood and her trust issues with long term relationships. Her parents were both negligent and Evie was forced to raise herself while building an emotional wall to keep out the pain.

Evie’s mother left her family while she was a young child. Her visits were infrequent and she would become inaccessible for months at a time. Her father was an alcoholic who made cash selling marijuana to seasonal tourists. Together they were often homeless or living with friends because he could not keep a steady job. As the date of the wedding approaches, Evie is forced to spend time with her mother which unleashes her suppressed issues.

This is a unique debut novel by Crissy Van Meter. It is beautiful yet also dark and complex. I am interested in seeing what this author will be writing next.

My Highly Caffeinated Thought: An honest, smart, and well-crafted coming-of-age story centering around complicated relationships.

CREATURES is a beautifully poignant examination of a woman’s evolution through life experiences, personal connections, and an undeniable bond with the sea. Van Meter masterfully weaves together a tale of love, loss, and the simple facts of being human.

What captivated me about this book was Evangeline. This character is so frank about her family, friends, and lovers that you cannot help but sense the reality within these pages. At times I wanted more emotion from her, but then I realized that this wouldn’t be who she is. There is almost an unbiased observer nature to her, even though she is sharing her life with us.

It is surprising and intriguing how the author delves into the growth of Evie throughout the years. Exploring her flaws and the circumstances she has been dealt with creates a unique book with a profoundly personal story. It is well worth the read.

Atmospheric almost to the point of mystical, introspective, raw, and thoughtful, this novel is a standout. A fictional, isolated island off the coast of LA is the dramatic setting for the story of a woman and the past ghosts of her parental relationships and current, flawed yet soulful marriage. The book is rich with her internal ruminations on relationships, her own shortcomings, and her unsaid desires and longings. The isolated setting and her troubled relationship with her father (think: selling his signature weed strand for him) are reminiscent of The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley and, to a less disturbing extent, My Absolute Darling, though more spare. Excellent novel.

Creatures by Crissy Van Meter was not what I was expecting and let me tell you I wasn’t disappointed. Bouncing back & forth for past to present we follow Evie has she grows up with her father on an island off the cost of California. He is a drug addicted alcoholic who can’t keep a study job. Evie mom leaves the Island leaving Evie to fend for herself with her father. Van Meter was very descriptive with the geography of the Island and island life. My only issue with this book was the length. I felt there could have been more character development.

Thank you, Algonquin Books, for gifting me this DARC via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. Over all this was a 4/5 star read.

Evangeline grows up on a small island off the shore of Southern California. It is home to a myriad of sea creatures which she loves to learn about and lots of wild areas. It sounds like an idyllic environment but her life is far from ideal. Her mother left early, popping in from time to time as she meanders from dream life to dream life, getting Evangeline's hopes up that this time she'll stay but she always leaves again crushing the hope. Her father is the island weed dealer; getting by on charm and what he makes selling his customized brand of marijuana and the odd jobs he gets on boats. They live in a series of apartments or houses, sitting for absent owners, taking shelter in lieu of pay, sometimes camping out for months. It is a very unstable life.

As she grows up, what Evangeline learns best is that everyone betrays you, everyone leaves. She meets a rich girl whose parents travel a lot and she becomes her best friend. But later on, they drift apart and she is another in the long list of betrayals. Evangeline meets and marries Liam but he is gone for long charters as a fisherman and soon there are other woman, another betrayal and perhaps another person who will leave her behind.

The story moves back and forth in time, slowly showing each layer that makes up Evangeline's life and what shapes her. The writing is poetic and dreamy, describing horrific events in a way that makes them almost seem normal. The reader can't help but hope that Evangeline will find a way to capture love as an adult despite her rough start in life. This is a debut novel and the reader will finish knowing that it is a book they won't soon forget and eagerly awaiting Van Meter's next novel. This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.

“Creatures” by Crissy Van Meter, Algonquin Books, 256 pages, Jan. 7, 2020.

This takes place on a fictional island off the coast of California. There is a dead whale trapped in the harbor. Boats are having trouble getting to shore.

Evangeline is preparing for her wedding. Liam, the groom who is a fisherman, is missing at sea.

Evie’s long-absent mother has arrived uninvited. Evie grew up with a negligent father, surviving on the money he made dealing the island’s world-famous strain of marijuana, Winter Wonderland. Although he taught her to respect the sea, she raised herself.

The biggest problem with this book is the jumpy timeline. Not only are the events of the story all twisted together so that every chapter takes on a different moment in Evangeline's life, it often times boomerangs from present to past then back. I didn’t connect to any of the characters.

In accordance with FTC guidelines, the advance reader's edition of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

I will admit that this was a total cover pick for me. I requested an early copy of this book since I thought that the cover looked fun and probably had a good under the sea adventure in it. Boy, was I wrong.

This story is set on Winter Island and follows the main character Evie who grows up with an alcoholic/drug addicted father. Evie's mother takes off when she is just a small child and frequently pops in and out of Evie's life over the years. The story follows Evie from a young child in to adulthood and the trials of living with her father, her mother coming back in to her life at bursts, and also how she handles love and marriage as an adult.

This story deals with disappointments and abandonment from not one but two parents. It was raw, emotional and completely brought me out of my reading slump. I loved every minute of it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for allowing me to read a copy of Crissy Van Meter's debut novel.

Well written and engaging, Creatures is a story of betrayal and foregiveness amid the complicated tapestry of dysfunctional family relationships. Beautiful but bleak.

I was disappointed in this book. The premise was good but the interspersing of research on whales was very distracting. It also added nothing to the plot. Plus the book jumped back and forth through time with no warning so it was hard to follow at times.

This book is pure poetry. People will either resonate with the writing and storyline or will hate it. The book has a nonlinear format...but I think it worked very well. I found the storytelling so unique and loved the way the sea life was worked into the story. I loved this,

I was provided with an advance edition of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I liked the idea of this book, but the writing just didn't catch me. Maybe I needed to know and like the characters more. Something about the tense also just didn't hook me.

I might give this another try another time. It might be that it was just bad timing for me and Creatures.

Thanks to Algonquin and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the story at first and found the writing to be beautiful. The cover is stunning. The story follows a young woman, Evangeline, who grew upon an island not far from Los Angeles. Her mother left her and her father when she was a kid and she was raised by an alcoholic dad. She does research on the sea and the creatures in it which is infused in the story. She is about to get married. That is about the gist of the story and it seems like it could have been told in s clearer way. I kind of felt like there wasn’t a plot. I got irritated with the meandering story and by 75% I was skimming and not caring what happened.

This may be great for someone else, it just wasn’t for me.

This is a story about a woman who had utterly horrible parenting. Her dad is an alcoholic and drug user, actually makes his living my growing and selling a sought after strain of marijuana. Her mother has left, appears spontaneously but doesn’t stay long, nor often is in her daughter’s life. Yet somehow the two bonded. Another mother figure appears but even she doesn’t have the capacity to remain, but does something to help for a while. It’s surprising this woman, Evie, made something of her life. And it isn’t surprising she chooses a fisherman who is out at sea for weeks, or months, at a time to be her husband.

There feels like an undercurrent much stronger than the surface, but a rereading on my part would need to tease it fully out, and well, I didn’t enjoy the book that much. Certainly whales are at the center, and perhaps something about living on an island.

This book is a little bit odd, and not helped by the style. There is a constant shifting in time. You never quite know where in the timeline the story is from one paragraph to the other. Often it works, but sometimes not and it throws the reader, trying to place when, what is going on. If this is a book going to audio format I doubt it would work there, as you have less clues about the time shift.

If you’re someone who can enjoy pain in family dynamics and poor choices by parents, perhaps this will be a good book for you. The sentences can be beautiful at times, and that may be enough to carry you along.