This book wasn't for me, and honestly I don't think it's suited for middle-grade readers either.

A lot of words and descriptions and no real content or depth of story.

I struggled with this book, I just couldn't take to the characters or the story therefore i am unable to recommend.

I found this audiobook hard to listen to, there was a lot of detail provided at all times and it was overwhelming. I found myself getting lost in the minutiae and losing sight of the overall story. I had to go back a couple of times to try and see what I missed, only to find out I hadn't missed anything, the story was just confusing.

I was really hoping for more or a succinct ending but I felt that it ended quickly with no real resolution. I don't know if the book is easier to read or understand but I hope it is.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Really wanted to like this but it was rather confusing and abrupt in the ending?

I was very excited to listen to Twelve Nights by Andrew Zurcher, because it promised to be a story about adventure and magic, much like some of my favorites. The premise is good; it reminded me of A Wrinkle in Time: two children set off on an adventure to find their father, who is missing. However, the children in this story were quite young...I think eight and four. I found it to be very wordy and the things that the eight year old, Kay, were supposed to be thinking we quite fluid thoughts for a child. I felt it was much too mature for an eight year old. However, I tried to keep going, thinking the magic would make it worth it. I made it almost half way through the book. I couldn't finish is though. I hate to leave a negative review, because I know someone put their heart into this. And I have read excellent reviews about it. However, it just didn't hold my attention. I really did try. I even found myself rewinding parts and listening to them again. The narrator's voice was delightful. The plot was very good: there was just too many words. They didn't all fit for me. I am grateful for the opportunity from NetGalley to listen to it. And I appreciate the opinions of other reviewers and all the work that was put into the story, both print and audio. It just wasn't for me. I am leaving a three star rating, though, because I believe there are some who will enjoy the style and the story.

Free ARC from Netgalley.

In Twelve Nights Kay's father is taken by the wraiths to the land of stories and imagination.

There are so much good stuff in this. All kinds of stories from books and mythology and history and just, everything a storyteller loves. And I did love that, but I fell off the main story. I kinda want to reread this in physical format to really dive into it. I think listening to it made my mind wander too much.

This audiobook presented a real challenge for me.

The narrator did a great job however, the access was very thick and at times became unbearable to listen to. The accent reminded me of the chimney sweep from Mary Poppins and is probably appropriate to the time and place of the story. But at times it became harsh and grating for me.

I was really looking forward to this adventurous story but once in it, I found it to be very stressful, full of information that raised more questions for me than the story provided answers to. (How does mom and kids find out that their father has been replaced at work and no one knows him and they just go home and go to sleep? If he's missing, why is mom not calling the police? Why is the fathers tooth sitting around the house and not in his mouth? And why is it considered a treasure for the family and the kids are carrying it around like it's a medal? Such strangeness. And that's just a few of the questions I had in the first couple of chapters!

In some cases, answers were provided later in the story, but in some cases I never received answers. Overall, it was just too confusing and a real struggle to appreciate the current event transpiring when I'm still hung up on the 30 questions I had from before.

And I'm confused about the audience for this story. I thought it was a children's story but maybe it's for YA? It seems pretty scary for a children's book.

I'd say this should be labeled as a dark adventure. That might target the correct audience of readers. But the lack of clarity throughout would still be an issue.

Thank you to #NetGalley for providing this book. I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy and all views expressed are only my honest opinion.

I didn't tag this middle grade because even though it's supposed to be, I don't think it fits well. The story is about a young girl and her sister going on an adventure to find her father, okay so far. But then the plot gets overly complicated and is very slow moving. I found it difficult to understand what was happening and I can't imagine a twelve year old enjoying this.

I will say that this had decent bones. I like the idea of the Erasers making people disappear and the Authors weaving stories. There's also a sisterly bond that strengthens throughout the story which I appreciated. I think this just needs to be gone over and simplified a bit so it's not as tangled. The ending is also very sad and ends on a cliffhanger, but I'll need a rework of this book before I jump into book two.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

1.5 stars.
Twelve Nights follows Kay as she and her sister Eloise, look for her missing father. Her world is changed drastically when she meets the Removers Phillip and Will.

I genuinely enjoyed the first chapter and getting to know the characters. I unfortunately, I ended up DNF’ing this book a quarter of the way, which saddened me because the premise sounded extremely promising. This book was compared to Alice in Wonderland, and I had expected it to be more whimsical and magical. It fell flat for me plot wise and regrettably, the characters were not interesting either.

Kay is incredibly young, and that is honestly all I could gather about her from what I read. Her age was not revealed in the portion I read, but she sounded and felt like a child from the prose. However, she did not acta like a child. I’m sure there are very few children who would readily go off with strange men who roam their bedrooms at night. Her age and the overall theme of the book did not match, making for a very jarring reading experience. I feel that if Zurcher had aged up his main characters (to be adults or older teens), it would’ve made for a more compelling story and may have resulted in readers being more attached to Kay.

Her sister and mother were interesting enough, but forgettable. Her father’s role was to be missing, so I felt nothing but his absence in the story. If we had gotten to see Kay’s family before he disappeared, her father’s disappearance would’ve had more gravity.

The story lacked clarity and structure, and I found myself constantly confused and lost as to what was going on. I admit that reading audio books requires closer attention to plot points, but I re-listened to sections and I still couldn’t quite grasp them.

Overall, this book left me disappointed.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Okay, so, when I first got Twelve Nights I was thinking it was a nice children's book that would fly by with no questions. Ha! That didn't last long at all.

In the beginning, the main characters seemed like children to me but then like 2.4 seconds later I was filled with so much confusion and questions. Questions that had me thinking that these weren't even children to begin with. Which definitely had me going down a deep deep and very dark rabbit hole because it was a children's book.

Or so I thought.

All confusion aside, I honestly didn't care about any of the characters or the adventure that they went on. Yeah, in the beginning it seemed kind of cool but then it just became a hot mess that my brain was too tired to catch up and explain it to me.

In the end, I'm just glad that it's over and that I got to dive into this weirdness of a book.

I’m just confused. Isn’t this supposed to be a book for children? I felt like this story is too complex, scary and slow paced for children to follow. If I was confused and bored, I can’t imagine what kids would feel while reading this.
I spent so much time listening to this book, waiting for it to get better but it never happened. And I really thought it was me, because I re-listened to hours of it just thinking it was my fault and that maybe I wasn’t paying attention. But I was, and I got to the conclusion that I was not the problem.
I think the biggest issue I had with this book was how painfully slow it was. I think it’s supposed to be an adventure book, but the scenes are so slow that it feels like they were never ending.
The characters were incredibly boring, and when I think about the two main characters they’re either sleeping or crying. And why are they leaving in the middle of the night with two men/creatures? What about their mother? I thought that was weird. But that wasn’t the only problem, there are so many plot holes and unexplained situations in this it’s insane. Oh, and did I mention there is mythology in the mix? I was just confused the entire time.
I will say that if you like very descriptive books, this one's for you. The author describes anything and everything in this and he does it beautifully, so if you prefer descriptions in books over plot maybe you’ll like this? And the narrator is also pretty good, I would love to hear more books narrated by her!
It’s no fun forcing yourself to read a book. And keep in mind I listened to the audiobook version. I didn’t know listening to an audiobook could be so hard. I appreciate my free copy, but it was definitely not for me!

***A big thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review***

I saw this was compared to A Wrinkle in Time and thought I would love it. While I can see the comparison, I don’t think it was as good. I was disappointed by the ending and will not be picking up a second book if it comes out. I expected so much more from this. It feels as if this was only half a book; which I always hate.

I enjoyed the writing. The descriptions were beautifully executed. However, the story itself fell flat for me.

I was bored about half way though this. I did finish it but only because it was a Netgalley audiobook ARC otherwise I would have abandoned it.

This book was recieved from Netgalley for an honest review.

Twelve Nights by Andrew Zurcher
Narrated by: Liz Pearce
Publication Date: February 16, 2021
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Description from NetGalley...
“Kay’s father has gone missing on Christmas Eve! And when Kay and her sister Ell go to his office, everyone he works with claims never to have heard of him. So later that evening, when Kay wakes up to find two mysterious strangers outside her bedroom window, talking about her father and looking for the last remnants of his existence, she demands to know what’s happened to her dad.

The two strangers, Flip and Will, are wraiths, on a mission to bring Kay and Ell’s father to their world—the world of woven stories and grand imagination that their father has spent his career studying. Only things in that world have gone very wrong, and the Bride of Bithynia, the only being who can set things right, is nowhere to be found. Can Kay and Ell find their father and join Flip and Will in a centuries-old battle to save the world?”
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Thank you to @NetGalley @recordedbooks and RB Media for the ALC in return for my honest review.
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My thoughts...
This is a debut novel for Andrew Zurcher, and I thought this was quite imaginative. It was a fantasy book for children. I would say 10 and up. Though, that might even be too young, as some scenes were quite disturbing. It did remind me of the Philip Pullman series. The audiobook narrator was engaging, the ending a bit disappointing as it fell prey to trying to hook you to the sequel. But, overall, as a children’s fantasy book, I thought it was entertaining and probably better on audiobook because it got confusing.

#ContainsSpoilers

Twelve Nights begins magically. Kay’s father vanishes overnight. And when I say ‘vanish”, I mean “vanish”. There’s no trace of his existence left anywhere. At night, Kay and her sister Eloise discover some strange beings in their bedroom who seem to be linked to the mysterious disappearance of their dad. That’s where their quest to bring back their dad begins, leading to an adventure of a lifetime.

In spite of the poor rating on GoodReads, I went for this book enthusiastically because the blurb seemed so promising. And the book lives up to this promise, till about 35%. The scenes move by quickly, and I waited eagerly to know what happened next. Unfortunately, after that point, the whole book collapses.

In an adventure book, pacing is key, and the slow narrative filled with overabundant descriptions and a paucity of action simply kills the interest. But there are people who enjoy descriptions in any genre. So I could have forgiven this flaw.

There are many gruesome scenes, leading me to wonder who is the exact target audience for this book. It is too scary for children, too descriptive and slow-paced for adventure lovers, and too tame for fantasy lovers. But there are readers who would have loved this strange mixed narrative. I could have ignored this flaw.
The story seemed to borrow a little bit from varied sources. You see glimpses of Egyptian mythology, Greek mythology, and many children’s fantasy series. But to create a new story from multiple existing sources too is creative. So I could have let this go.

What I cannot ignore or forgive is this: The title says “Twelve nights” but this book narrates what happens only on six nights. The story is left incomplete, evidently for a sequel. But there is no evidence on the GoodReads page of the book to indicate that this is the first of a series. I forced myself to go through the whole book even after it became boring simply so that I could know what happens at the end, hoping for a happy ending to the girls’ adventure. And then to discover that we are just halfway done? Not right at all. It was disappointing, to say the least.

I am giving 2 stars to this book for two reasons: One star goes to the first 35%, which is simply brilliant. I wish the author could have retained that same momentum throughout. The second star goes to Liz Pearce, the narrator of the audiobook. I doubt I would have completed the audiobook were it same other narrator. She enlivens the proceedings to the best of her abilities and is magnificent with her narration. I would definitely love to hear more audio books narrated by her.

Thank you, NetGalley and RB Media, for the Advanced Audio Review Copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.