Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read and review the debut novel by Kim Neville - 4.5 stars for such a unique book!

Evelyn has always known she was a special girl. Like her dad, she had the ability to feel emotions from objects. This gift has caused Evelyn to hide herself away from things and people because she can feel all the stains, as she calls them, left on objects. She scrounges for items that are less harmful and sells that at a night marketplace. The ones she feels are dangerous, she locks away. Noemi, her sister, comes in and out of Ev's life - both trying to make sense of what happened to them as children. When Evelyn meets Harriet, another person who sees the brightness in objects, she is astounded that Harriet is able to surround herself with so many objects; however, her collection is making her neighbors sick. Harriet convinces Ev to help her curate her collection into a museum of objects that would make people feel only positive emotions. However, darkness still lurks in the background and threatens all three of these women.

I loved the idea that objects absorb feelings and can cause people to have varied reactions to those objects. Harriet and her mom were hoarders because each of the objects was so valuable to them - a feeling most of us can relate to. As I get older, I see the very many objects that are accumulated as a result of a life. Those things are difficult to get rid of and they don't incite the same feelings in others. This book was wonderfully written - there are past mysteries to solve as well as the magical feeling that envelops every page. It was easy to lose yourself in this world and I really felt for these characters and what they were experiencing.

Great debut - can't wait to read more from this author!

Struggled some with getting into this book. Maybe it just wasn't for me with the fantasy aspect & all. Not the worst I have ever read but not my favorite.

Thanks to the publisher & NetGalley for advanced copy in exchange for my honest review

What a great book! "The Memory Collectors" by Kim Neville is destined to become one of my favorite reads of the year. It's the kind of book that makes you want to take a day off from work so you can keep reading. I was utterly captivated by the story of two very different women, Evelyn and Harriet, who share an unusual gift-the ability to feel the emotions that people leave behind on objects. Together they must learn to control their gifts and block out negative influences, and Evelyn must struggle to overcome her dark past in which her family was destroyed by negative emotions left behind on an object.

I absolutely loved this book! The author's beautifully descriptive writing sucked me into the story from the very first page and didn't let me go until I had read the last word. The characters came to life and I found myself worried about their welfare and cheering at their triumphs.

"The Memory Collectors" is an impressive debut novel. Kim Neville is definitely a writer to watch and I look forward to reading her future works. Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the privilege of reading an advanced digital copy of this wonderful book in exchange for my honest review.

In this tale, objects reveal more information to our main characters than people do; certainly they carry more powerful emotional power than those imparted through word or affect. THE MEMORY COLLECTORS is a story of two women consumed by objects that ‘speak’ to them of their past associations and the human interactions that enveloped them. These associations, in turn, cause the women to react in different ways, one collects objects, the other shuns them. Once they meet, however awkwardly, they will find resolution to their lonesome struggles. The book is really a series of mysteries and is rather tense and taut. The book blurb describes it as similar to others that have similar themes yet warmer tones; this is a definite mystery with hard edges. No one has had an easy life in this tale. But it is a very good story and the twists and turns kept me engrossed and fascinated, well into the night, wondering how everything would be worked out in the end. Author Kim Neville did a great job with this effort and I’ll look forward to reading more of her work. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

What a propulsive book! I loved the characters. They were so well rounded and real. This book was a great read and I was hooked the entire time!

With the strange ability to detect emotions left behind on objects, Ev has always kept herself apart from those around her worried she will fall to the same horrific end as her father. When she meets Harriet, an older woman with the same ability, Ev decides that might be able to help each other, Ev will help Harriet sort through her hoards of treasures and Harriet will help Ev learn to control her ability. When Ev's sister returns pushing for answers to their past, Ev learns that Harriet suspects Harriet might have a connection to her family.

With one of the most unique premises I've seen in a while - a mix of contemporary fiction and magical realism, The Memory Collectors draws you in with its engaging storytelling. Ev, a modern-day Elsa struggling with her powers, is an easy character to cheer for as she begins to discover herself. If you want a dash of magic in a character-driven story, The Memory Collectors is a great choice to read this spring.

a book of two time periods that showcase a slightly magical, slightly gothic story. It was originally published in 1924. While I love classics, I find that they can drag on (dont shoot me) and this one was like that. The overall story was excellent but it takes some plodding through a slow paced beginning to get into the meat of the story later on.

Ev has the ability to feel the emotions people leave behind on objects. To her, this is more of a curse than a gift. Her father had the same"gift and it eventually drove him insane. He ended up killing her mother and then himself leaving 8 year-old Ev and her four year-old sister alone, to live out their childhood in foster care. Because of her ability, Ev has ben unable to hold down a normal job. So instead, Ev dumpster-dives with her friend Owen. She finds things with positive emotions to sell at the Night Market. Meanwhile, in another prt of town, Harriet hoards what she calls "bright things". Unfortunately, she has collected so much, she no longer has room in her apartment and they are spilling out into the hallway of her apartment building. The strong emotions attached to all of her "things" are making her neighbors sick, and she is going to have to find a new place to live. When Harriet and Ev have a chance meeting , they discover their shared ability, and agree to work together to use their gift to create something that will help others.
This book was wonderful. It is told in 3 parts: before Ev's parents died, after they died, and current day. It was beautifully written. It was magical, and transported me and kept me captivated from start to finish. I highly recommend this one!

The Memory Collectors // by Kim Neville

I was very excited when the publisher sent me a print ARC for this book. The cover is gorgeous (it matches the story so well!) and the summary sounded fascinating, not like anything else I have read. I love epic fantasy books but I also find it so fun when a little bit of magic is mixed into the normal world that I myself am familiar with. It makes me wonder what kind of real magic might just be out there somewhere.

The Memory Collectors is Kim Neville's debut novel. I have been enjoying reading authors' first books for the past couple of months because it is fun to see where they start out and how they develop over time. While this book certainly is not perfect, I still think it is an absolutely fantastic start to this author's career. I am a little disappointed with myself for not having saved a couple of quotes to include in my review because there is certainly some beautiful prose sprinkled throughout this novel. There are two POVs, Ev and Harriet, with quite different pasts that resulted in two distinctly different ways of viewing their gift - the ability to touch objects and feel the emotions of past owners.

The story feels a bit slow in parts but I still felt that each scene was there for a reason, whether to set up for later action or to give us better insight into the characters. I liked how it flipped to the past here and there, and how that allowed us to piece together little bits of the future as well. There isn't as much happiness as you would hope for in a story about emotional magic, though there is a lot of hope for it at least that drives the characters forward and towards each other. The last third of the book is actually rather dark, more so than I usually read, and I was a little worried about it negatively influencing my opinion of the book since I am a bit of a wimp when it comes to scary things in books and movies, but I assure you that pushing through this to the end is well worth it. The different parts of the story in the end come together so well in a way that I had not expected at all but it is a fitting end to the story.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

One Sentence Summary: Ev can feel the emotions people leave behind on objects, and so can Harriet, but the women differ on how they view their gift while the dangerous past of a third with the same gift looms over them.

Immediately after reading the book description, I knew I had to read this one. It reminded me of Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen, my favorite magical realism read, and The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender, which I enjoyed more in theory than in actuality. I loved the idea of objects holding the emotions and memories of their former owner and was intrigued by the dark past of the third person with the same gift as Ev and Harriet. The Memory Collectors turned out to really deliver on the magical realism and I really enjoyed the focus on family and the effects of the same gift on different people. It also shed a new light on hoarding that I found really interesting.

The Plot: A Story of Gifts and Family

When they were very young, Ev and her younger sister Noemi's parents died. But their father had a special gift that allowed him to feel emotions from objects, a gift he passed down to Ev. As an adult, Ev thinks of the emotions as stains, as something to be either used for her own gain or be destroyed. She holds her gift at a distance and does everything in her power to keep herself sanitized from them.

Harriet, much older than Ev, is a hoarder, but only keeps the objects with a brightness, an emotion left behind by its owner powerful enough to call to her. She can't bear to give up her bright objects, but it's affecting her neighbors.

It's sheer coincidence that Ev and Harriet meet, that they discover they have the same gift. Harriet is desperate to teach her, to make her love the bright objects as much as she does. But Ev sees them as stains and Harriet's massive collection as terrifying. Noemi also has her own suspicions about Harriet, her own secrets, as it turns out the three women are more connected than they thought and need each other to keep them from spiraling down the dark path a third person with Ev and Harriet's gift took years before.

The Memory Collectors surprised me by how intense it was. Focused on emotions and memories, I thought it might be a bit dreamy, a bit magical, with a bit of an edge. Something pretty like Garden Spells. But I was so wrong. This story sucked me in, made me switch sides between Ev, Harriet, and Noemi the entire time.

Told by Ev and Harriet, I loved how it took the same gift and took it down different roads with the two women. It created a clash of wills and a whole host of secrets that helped make this a compelling read. There's so much tension, but also so many lighter moments. I loved watching the characters come to love and suspect each other for various things throughout the story. They became an odd family of sorts, and not without their own squabbles and side taking.

But my favorite part was just in how it all unraveled. It was all so well-timed, so perfect, but never contrived. Every moment of the story builds up to something else. I could have done without the back and forth in time from before and after Ev and Noemi's parents died and the darkness shrouding the third person with the gift felt a little weak, but it all did come together by the end. Every bit lent a little more meaning, a little more depth, so I left the story quite satisfied.

The Memory Collectors is also a story of family and sisterhood as much as it is about objects holding emotions and memories. There's a push and pull between Ev and Noemi, a wall of secrets between them. Ev wants to be the consummate big sister, but Noemi is determined to do things her own way. Their family is wrapped tight to the plot of this book with Ev and Noemi at the center. The gift divides them almost as much as it divides Ev and Harriet, but the resolution to each turns out to be quite different from the other, and completely natural. I loved that everything happened so naturally, that the characters drove the story, that it was one step back and two steps forward the whole way through.

The Characters: A Kind of Dysfunctional Family

While Ev and Harriet are the narrators of The Memory Collectors, Noemi and Owen, an older friend of Ev's, have large roles as well. They created something of an artificial family, but their ties are more tenuous and their relationships hampered and shadowed by secrets.

Ev is really into keeping her life sanitary. She's almost obsessed with it, and tries desperately to shake her family past off. She's doing the best she can to cope with life and the gift it has dealt her, but I think she's also really curious about what else she could do with it, what she could be capable of, and suspicious of how Harriet handles their gift. Her need to understand, to make a living, and to protect her sister really push the story forward, so I found her to be the most interesting character. The only thing I was puzzled by was her being half Chinese. I didn't ever get the sense that she was even part Asian and it only seemed like a useful thing to the telling of the story than something integral or defining to Ev herself.

But Harriet is quite a character herself. The gift runs in her family, so she inherited her mother's collection and continually adds to her own. I loved how she thought of objects as being bright instead of stains, adding a light color to the whole story. Harriet is absolutely a hoarder and I loved how the author and the story handled the issue through her. I couldn't help but view hoarding in a completely different way while reading this book, and I loved Harriet's struggles. I could feel them so well, her attachment to her bright objects, but she also isn't a fool, so her story read something like therapy sessions.

Noemi and Owen also added new angles to the story. As characters without the gift but who are closely tied to Ev and Harriet, they view the objects in a very different light. They view Ev and Harriet differently. Noemi felt like a loose cannon, but she kept things interesting. Owen was more of a solid rock, but even he was a little shaky. I did really enjoy his relationship with Harriet, though, and he added a bit of softness and love and acceptance into the mix.

The Setting: Vancouver, Canada

The Memory Collectors is set on the Western side of Canada in Vancouver. I don't know much about the area, but didn't get much of a Canadian feel. It felt like it could have been any city near the ocean, though the book did mention other nearby places to help place it on the map.

Clearly, this book is set in a large city. It gives a great sense of there being lots of buildings, lots of people and traffic, and various parts of the city different from each other. The Chinatown market felt busy and full of haggling. The area Harriet grew up in felt stately and old. The alleys were prevalent as Ev and Owen spent a lot of time dumpster diving. There were plenty of places for all of them to run to and hide out.

Overall: Surprisingly Intense

The Memory Collectors impressed me with how it so deftly wove magical realism in. It felt like I was reading a fiction novel, but the magic was most definitely there. It was a nice balance and I really enjoyed all the tension, family drama, and secrets that were thrown in. Ev and Noemi's ancestry threw me a bit, but I think that was the only thing that really bothered me. The end felt a little drawn out as well, but, then again, I really couldn't stop reading it. This is the kind of story that dug its claws in and held on. I was fascinated and really, really wanted to know how it all turned out, how the gift would ultimately affect them all. Overall, a surprisingly intense read, but one I had a hard time putting down.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

I really enjoyed the story. I am a fan of magical realism and this book offered a somewhat darker perspective on the genre. I loved the writing and could really feel the emotions associated with each object the characters interacted with. There were some parts that were a little dragged out for me, but overall, this story was very intriguing. I would definitely recommend it to those who enjoy a bit of magic!

Told in two perspectives, we have women who discover that they can ‘relive’ emotions and memories from found objects. While Ev believes that her “gift” is more of a curse, and the objects she finds need to be handled carefully and then destroyed, her absolute contrast is Helen. Helen has the same gifts but is obsessed with collecting and keeping these items: and the overload of emotional energy they are releasing into the world is affecting those in proximity to her.

When Ev and Helen meet, purely by chance – there isn’t a great “oooh you are like me” moment – it's more subtle, as Ev tries to influence and push Helen into her own way of thinking. But Helen thinks that people can benefit from the memories stored in her found objects: using the energies for good. The premise here is wonderous, but there was something holding it all back from achieving this goal. Characters here weren’t particularly memorable without their “ability” to feel/see past events tied to the objects, and the magic that I hoped to find was often shrouded in the mechanics of making the ‘museum’ or finding the objects.

I will say that Neville used words and phrases beautifully: giving visual imagery of ‘moments’ that were clear and evocative, but these moments were fleeting, as the story and the lack of actual emotional connection to the characters weighed them down. While I hoped to be swept away with magical moments and items that, when described, allowed me to feel those emotions contained within – I wasn’t moved. A great premise with moments of brilliance that left much on the table. There will be more to come from this author and I’m curious to see how her writing improves and strengthens to take concepts to full bloom.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility,

Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-aS6 /” > <a> I am, Indeed </a>

This charming novel will pull you into Ev's secret world from the first age, and entrance you with it's magic. it's hard to believe that this is Kim's first novel! It's a book to remind us that everything we do leaves a trace, sometimes not where we expect it to, nor do we consider the consequences therein. As Ev and Harriet realize the bond they share, they also realize how outside forces pull on them differently, but ultimately they share the same loss and emotions. It's a stunning book about what makes family, and what can rip their bonds apart. This one will sure to be a book fo the year, so don't miss it!

<b><i>There's a story in each object. When you walk through the exhibit and see it as a whole, it feels kind of magical. Like an enchanted forest built from loved objects.</b></i>

First I'd like to say the cover is so beautiful and magical in and of itself, I do origami and I thought it was a wonderful way to bringing the inside of the book out.

The Memory Collectors is refreshingly charming, honest and sweet. It's pretty different to most of the other books I've read recently. Instead of angst ridden drama or scare to death me thrillers, Kim Neville's story is playful and quaint - the definition of whimsy.

As a Canadian it's always fun to come across an interesting story set in my home country and support authors from Canada. In The Memory Collectors we're treated to a couple plot lines set in Vancouver B.C. Although it's far more than just two character's stories. I loved how different plots are seamlessly worked together into one book.

I love the idea of finding old objects and feeling what their previous owners felt. This story was magical, lyrical and enchanting, I hope Ms. Neville has more books on the horizon.

This book was amazing - it was very beautifully written, and made the story really come alive.
The story follows Ev and Noemi, sisters who were in a foster home due to the fact that their father killed himself and their mother when they were young. However, the story takes a turn because Ev can feel the "stains" in objects - how emotions have manifested themselves in the objects.
This brings her to Harriet, who also can sense the feelings inside objects and hoards them for this very reason. With all the twists and turns in the book, I really was caught off guard continually by what occurred and I definitely would recommend it for that very idea. I definitely think it's a must read for this coming year.
A really interesting concept for a book and I really loved it.

This ebook was provided by NetGalley in Exchange for an honest review.

mixed feelings about this one, took me awhile to get into it. I liked the relationship between the two main characters and was interested in their back stories as well. It got painful and weird at times and then resolved in a way that was moving.

The Memory Collectors was a very interesting book about people who can feel emotions on objects. They call them stains. The main character is a younger woman who uses her gift by selling people things at a flea market type place. The other main character is a hoarder who collects stained objects.. Their lives intersect and the story unfolds in an amazing way. I found the characters well-written and became really invested in them. The atmosphere was so realistic that when they are in the hoard mansion I felt claustrophobic, I could feel all the junk surrounding me. Beautifully written. and such a wonderful story at its heart.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. What a wonderful and unique story! The idea of all things having some type of emotion and life attached to it make you think and look around at your own stuff. The Ev and Harriet's ability to deeply connect and read each thing is magical in itself. A magical read.

I read this book as an ARC from Netgalley and before I was half way through I ordered a copy for a friend. It is a magical book, but so very real for the characters. A story of sisters who survive a tragedy when they were small and how it shaped their lives. The author takes you on a journey through memories. It is so worth the read, it really is.

I recommend this book 100%!!

Ev can feel emotions people leave on objects. Harriet hoards treasures and the feelings are making her and her neighbors sick. Harriet feels Ev can help her to make something beautiful out of her treasures. As the ladies make a museum of happiness, they get closer. I enjoyed this book with its magical realism blended in but thought it was just a tad slow. The characters are wonderful. I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.