The premise was good here but I felt in execution something was severely lacking. The story became too predictable and the author focused too much on mundane things that made no sense.

Honestly none of the characters here were especially likable or even tolerable at times. Just a strange mishmash of things. Nothing cohesive. At least it was a short and fast read.

The Memory Collectors by Kim Neville is an amazing book. I had not read any reviews about this book before I started. I had no idea in what I was in for. Evelyn has a special ability to sense the feelings left behind on objects we own; both good and bad. She meets up with Harriet, a hoarder, who wants to make all of her treasures in to a beautiful museum of sorts. You learn of everyone's past and where their lives have taken them.
Neville introduces you to all sorts of interesting characters as you learn about Evelyn and Harriet's past.
I loved The Memory Collectors. It definitely makes me thing about my own vintage finds and what interesting lives they have already lived. Kim Neville's writing is easy to follow and flows very nicely. The chapters are a nice length, nothing to terribly long. I will definitely be looking for more works by her and will be recommending this book to others. Special thanks to NetGalley, Kim Neville, and Atria Books for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

* I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

What a beautiful book. It started off a little slow as the author laid all the pieces for the story but once it got going, I was hooked. This was such a unique read. I don't think I've read anything quite like this. The idea that all objects hold memories from their owners really resonated with me. Ev and Harriet were such interesting and different characters to follow and I enjoyed seeing how they played off each other and ultimately helped each other. I haven't read much magical realism but might have to find a few more to dig into soon!

** I received a copy of The Memory Collectors by Kim Neville from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.**

Objects like people have memories and emotions attached to them, some are good and some are bad. What would it be like if you could sense these emotions? For Evelyn, that gift is the thing that scares her the most. The items with good emotions attached she tries to sell at the Chinatown Night Market, the others she destroys before they can destroy her or someone else she loves. Harriett hoards these items like treasures and surrounds herself with so many that they begin to affect her neighbors. When the two of them meet by chance, Harriett knows that Evelyn will be strong enough to do what he has never been able to, and together with the help of Evelyn's friend who is an artist, they begin to create a museum to help heal through the power of the objects. But will their fears get in the way of working together or will they be able to heal their own troubled pasts?

This is the first book by Kim Neville that I have read and I really enjoyed it. I love the concept of objects taking on the emotions of their past owners, and how that would influence the feelings of them as they move on to new owners. I personally enjoy a bit more character development in books, but overall the story was good.

I loved how the entire story was woven together and how the characters developed over the course of the book. I’m not sure I’ve read anything like this book before.

Evelyn and Harriet both carried their secrets and pain while also carrying the strong emotions of others. The bright objects and stains give them a way to hide from their painful histories.

It did take me a bit to get into the story but once I did, I was hooked.

This was a really unique book that fell into the magical realism category. I usually don't love that genre but I am glad I read this one. I loved the idea that our objects have emotions attached to them, and I thought that the author did a great job incorporating the fantasy idea of emotionally "stains" on objects into the very real human struggle with the past. While I enjoyed this book for the most part I do think it could have been more heartwarming, though that also could have been my mood at the time.

This was a captivating story in the vein of magical realism. Two women who have the ability to store memories of strangers... Beautiful and evocative!

Well written. Kept me interested. Told via two points of view. I had to pace myself because it did not grab me at first, but after I settled in, it went well!

A Big Thank You to @Netgalley and @AtriaBooks for the free e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What if you could feel the emotions of objects that you come across from previous owners? This is the basis of this book that adds a touch of magical realism.

The main character, Evelyn (Ev) feels the emotions people leave behind on objects, She sees it more as a curse than a gift and tends to find items that are harmless enough to sell at a local market.

Meanwhile, Harriet is a hoarder who collects thousands of these items, causing her neighbors to fall ill due to the overabundance of emotions seep through the walls.

When the two women meet, Harriet knows that Ev is the only person is the only person who can help her create a dream museum: full of items from her collection that carry a variety of emotions and memories for people to appreciate.

However, there is a dark element from each of their lives that keeps bubbling to the surface. Eventually, they both have to confront their dark pasts to help heal their lives.

I liked the idea about feeling the emotions in the items in the story. I also liked that Ev pursued a dream she had (with a little help from her sister Noemi) with the sailing. It seems to calm and cleanse her of being overwhelmed by the items.

If you enjoy a little magical realism, then this is the book for you!!

The Memory Collectors has an interesting premise - Evelyn is able to feel the emotions people leave behind on objects. At first this sounded like some sort of superpower that I might like to possess, but as we get to know Ev, we can see the havoc that this has wreaked on her relationships and her life. She lives in a sterile apartment and manages to get by by selling some of the more harmless found objects at the Night Market, but even this turns into a disaster. Ev eventually meets Harriet, a woman with the same ability to recognize the emotions and memories in everyday items, but Harriet has a different approach than Ev; she hoards objects. Each woman views her gift (or curse) differently; Ev calls these objects "stained" but Harriet labels them as "bright". The two women work together to create a museum of sorts, filled with treasures that will positively influence the emotions of visitors.

“They would gravitate to the objects that held the emotions they most needed, and without even realizing it, they would be filled up. Changed.”

This is a book worth reading to see if Harriet and Ev can succeed.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the book.

Creative and fresh, captivating storytelling perfect for fans of The Scentkeeper. Well written and engaging, magical realism adds complexity to this haunting tale that is pure goodness from start to finish. A solid read

This one started out slow, and I didn’t initially connect to the characters, but I kept going with it, and just before the halfway mark, it clicked and I ended up really enjoying it.

Eva has the power (curse?) to be able to feel the emotions people leave imprinted on inanimate objects, just like her father did. She’s never met anyone else who has the same ability until Harriet finds her. Harriet also has the power -- although weaker than Eva’s -- which is why she needs Eva’s help to curate her collection (hoard?) of items into a museum of memory. But Eva has never been able to cope around other people’s belongings.

I’m still not sure what Harriet’s real motivation was outside of just collecting more items (or maybe the hoarding was her true motivation,) or why she latched on so tightly to Eva. It was a lot more clear that Eva lived how she did out of guilt and fear, especially from her mother’s death, which left her and her younger sister foster children until they aged out. (This is not a spoiler.) As the story went on, I felt really bad for Eva, especially as it became clear how terribly her sister treated her for the most part, even though she couldn’t see it for herself. 

Honestly, these characters were strange and the book was strange, but the premise was intriguing, and once I warmed up to it, I  wanted to see what would happen, and I even think I’m okay with how it ended. If you like this genre, I’d say give it a read. 

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Atria Books in exchange for my honest review. It did not influence my opinion.

I'm kind of kicking myself for not reading this as soon as I got approved for it!

This book was really good. It is a story of two women, Harriet and Ev, they can sense emotions or memories from objects, that they call stains. Some are pleasant and some are not.

Ev doesn't want to keep the objects that contain the bad memories, she believes they should be destroyed. However, Harriet is hoarding all of the objects that she finds and they are making her neighbors sick.

This book was intriguing, original, and exciting. I was hooked from the beginning.

I definitely recommend this book if you like magical realism. I saw they compare it to The Scent Keeper, I wouldn't say it is like that but kind of has the same feel.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for this eARC.

This is a WONDERFUL story. I don't care if you don't like magical realism, The Memory Collectors just works. There's a lot of sadness to this book, but there's also some hope. Please give it a chance!

The Memory Collectors by Kim Neville is a unique story of a sisterly bond, new friends, and a skill that is magical yet useful.

Ev and Noemi have been through a tragedy. At a young age, their father murdered their mother then supposedly killed himself. Ev has carried a guilt with her for years, and after being through. many foster homes both with and without her sister, she has somewhat settled in Vancouver. Her skill at finding "stains" and selling them at a market is useful, but when she meets Harriet, she is taken aback that there is another "stain finder" like her.

Harriet hires Ev and Owen, Ev's friend to help her sort her apartment and put her "stains" into a museum that can bring people joy. When Noemi comes back into Ev's life, things begin spiraling out of control.

I really enjoyed this distinctive story about friendship, trust, and collecting memories. Ev was sometimes an unlikeable character, but I believe by showing her flaws, it made the reader connect with her on a different level. I was not a fan of Noemi, but Owen and Harriet were both interesting characters that fit into the story well.

Overall this book was great, but it did seem to jump from place to place quite a bit. I LOVED the authors descriptions of all the objects that were in the book (and there were A LOT). It made me relive childhood memories of collecting random things I found in a park, mall, or while traveling.

Such bc a cool premise. Sometimes “gifted” characters can feel too magical but I loved this. At times too detailed for me but I can see where that adds to the reading experience for others.

It's an interesting idea, that objects take on positive or negative feelings based on their surroundings that they can then pass onto other people. It reminded me a little of that old show Warehouse 13. It was interesting to see how different objects affected people and how the same bunch of objects could be seen as either precious or dangerous depending on the beholder. Most of what the objects could do was cool, a few moments were creepy. I thought the author did a very good job having everything make sense. A story like this could have gotten very confusing very quickly.

I found it much easier to connect with the one of the main characters than the other. Harriet made sense to me, Ev seemed a little more mercurial, maybe too focused on her own ends. Also, some character's actions right at the end seemed off. That said, the story was very good overall. I enjoyed it for the most part and am very curious what other stories the author will write in the future.

So, I ended up not really being a fan of The Memory Collectors. I feel like there's really not enough background or character development that kept me interested. Instead I just questioned everything and I ended up losing interest. The book sounds really good but it just didn't really grab my attention enough.

Do you collect keepsakes? I definitely do. I have a little something from each member of my family and I always love looking at them on my shelf. ⁣
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The Memory Collectors is a unique story featuring to people who collect memories. The story is told with such exquisite detail that I felt like I was holding each object in my hand and feeling the power of each “stain”. ⁣
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If you want to read this one for yourself, you can! It was published on March 16, 2021!⁣

In this debut novel, two women with the same special ability meet. Each handles their gift in a different way. Both are able to feel the emotions that people leave behind on objects.
Ev believes that most such items need to be destroyed, although the ones she deems “harmless” she sells in order to make a bit of money.
Harriet, on the other hand, hoards the items in her house, and the aura is actually making the neighbors sick.
The two help each other learn to control their gift, but don’t realize that the darkness that is the other side is threatening them both.
A great story. Hopefully Neville is working on another book.