The Beached Ones is a story of redemption and forgiveness. It is an emotional tale whose protagonist, Daniel, is immediately likeable and sympathetic. He and his brother, Tony, had a challenging and sometimes violent upbringing. Daniel, who was older, managed to escape, as he found success in the world of motocross. But his loyalty was always to his little brother, and he had a plan to help Tony escape as well.

At its essence, The Beached Ones is a ghost story. That in itself is not particularly unique, but the characters are well developed, and the author leaves interesting questions to be answered by continuing to follow Daniel's journey. That, along with the fact that the book is well written (and the audio book very well narrated), makes this a worthwhile read.

I do think the book should have content warnings for child abuse and discussions of suicide. These were upsetting scenes to encounter, and some readers/listeners might find them triggering. Some, but not all, of the plot twists were ones I predicted, but that did not detract from my enjoyment of the story.

Overall, I found this book to be engaging (if sometimes upsetting), and I would certainly recommend it to readers interested in paranormal fiction. Thank you to NetGalley and CamCat books for the audiobook for review. All opinions are my own.

This book felt like a roller coaster that went upside down, backwards, and through a dark tunnel. There was so much back and forth between the past and the present that it left me confused as to where we were at any point in time. Mix that with the fact that the main character is dead but some people can see him and some people can't and I found myself lost for periods of the book. Then the ending threw me for a loop that I never expected to be coming? This was a supernatural book that has a creepy undertone while also having a heartwarming story of two brothers. I'm really unsure how I felt about this read, it wasn't bad but it was something you really have to pay attention to closely to be able to follow the story line.

How do I describe this?? Other worldly? Mysterious and a little bit scary? Uniquely written it flowed with a growing urgency that could not be identified. It made me nervous and was anxious to see where it was going. It’s told in a past and present POV and I chose to listened to the audio version and Rob Shapiro narrated it, He was an excellent choice and I highly recommend the audiobook version.
The story takes place with a young man waking up and trying to figure out where he is and how can he get to his brother. He has to find his brother. From there it’s a roller coaster of twists and turns and some big surprises. I don’t want to give anything away so you’ll have to see for yourself how it ends. I’m giving this a high 4 ⭐️.
Thanks CamCat Books and IBPA Audiobooks via NetGalley.

I really really wanted to love this book, but I had such a hard time getting into it.

I found the story I little confusing and hard to follow in some places.

This is a book however that I would like to come back to when I'm in a different head space but for right now it just wasn't for me.

This is an interesting book to listen to. The narrator was great and read the story well. The story has a hard time keeping my attention, although the more I listened, the more interesting the book was.

Firstly, let me say that I really wanted to like this book, but sadly for me, it did not deliver. From the offset it seemed an intriguing storyline and I was excited to get into it.
I immediately understood where the story was going (and that wasn't a spoiler) however I couldn't seem to connect with the characters and found myself feeling rather lost.
It took me much longer than usual to get through the story, and I found myself having to relisten to sections to try and get a better understanding of what was happening.
Again, an interesting concept, but it went wrong somewhere along the line, sorry.
I appreciate being given the opportunity to listen in advance and am sure that many listeners will thoroughly enjoy it, but not for me I'm afraid.

The Beached Ones, by Colleen M. Story

Based on the description, “After a stunt jump gone wrong, Daniel finds himself far away from home. All Daniel knows is that he must get to his brother before time runs out.”, I was expecting a mystery/thriller kind of book. This was a strange supernatural kind of book and it sadly wasn’t for me.

I found the storyline confusing and I didn’t connect with any of the characters- I found them annoying and wasn’t sure which ones were dead and which were alive - I’m not sure even they knew!

The audiobook was well narrated by Rob Shapiro.

1.5/2 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review.

The Beached Ones - Colleen M. Story

🎧Audiobook review🎧

I was eager to listen to this following a glowing five star review from a trusted book friend.

Daniel is a motorbike display stunt rider, after a jump goes wrong Daniel must find a way to get to his brother.

He's in limbo. I've read a few spirits in limbo books, Ask For Andrea being the best, Booker Prize winner The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida was good too. It opens up new possibilities as the character in limbo comes to terms with their state, the limitations and has to work out what is it they've got to do.

I didn't take to the narrator, his narration was fine, I found his character dialogue voices cartoony.

I don't know if it was the narration or the writing, it flits about time and place, and I had a job to keep track of who was where when.

I enjoyed the last fifth more, with less dialogue and more direction as it moves to a conclusion.

I can put personally recommend the audiobook, it may well have worked better for me if
I'd read it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Camcat Books

🎧5⭐️

I had the audiobook read by Rob Shapiro, he does an excellent job. I want to listen to more of his work.

Daniel and his younger brother grew up in an abusive home. Daniel escaped becoming a stunt rider. He promised to go back for his brother.
A stunt goes badly wrong, he finds himself in Iowa unscathed, but his life has drastically changed.
He needs to fight through a fog of memories and get across state in five days to collect his brother.

Daniel is the narrator, the story is told by him learning what’s happening, and by him working through hazy memories. It’s a very character driven story with great emotional depth looking at his life and relationships. I was fighting tears on many occasions, especially with Daniel and Tony’s exchanges.

My heart went out to Daniel and his little brother Tony, he was such a sweet caring kid, working as a teenager to help out with household costs, as well as trying to concentrate on his school work and protecting his brother. Their relationship is so heartwarming.

It’s a beautifully written very moving story which broke me in a good way, there were tears. It’s gone into my books of the year.

There are some triggers.

There is a good book in here. Sadly, it's under about 3 other okay books that convolute everything the author tries. This book needs a story editor to rein it in. The lead character and his dynamic with his younger brother is the best part of this story.

There are other good stories here, but the attempt to take about 4 good book ideas and cram them into one incongruent tale is either arrogance or ignorance.

The sad part is, this author could have written 4 good books instead of one that falls short in nearly every regard.
I give it a merciful C because I truly think she crafted a dynamic lead character. Shame he wasn't in a dynamic book.

I used dynamic 3 times. Yep.

There are parts of this book that are very interesting. I wanted to hear more. Then all of a sudden it’s shifts to something else. It’s a very mixed up story. After a while, while listening, my mind kept wandering somewhere else.
I don’t even know how to categorize this book. It’s definitely not for me. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing this advanced audiobook to me.

If this books seems confusing at first, a little disjointed, my advice is hang in there!! It is so worth a little waiting and wondering exactly what the book is about and how the story will take shape and where it will all lead. Daniel finds himself in Iowa and quickly meets up with an ex-girlfriend. With only some disjointed memories to work with following what he begins to realize was a stunt riding motorcycle accident he is sure of only one thing: he must pick up his younger brother Tony from a day camp trip in San Francisco in five days. My heart broke for Daniel the more I learned about his childhood and as more and more pieces of the puzzle fit together there were sections that were hard to read. I began to worry that I was reading a horror story and that is not a genre I typically like. But this is not a horror story. The reader will find themes surrounding life and death, love and forgiveness, and what gives a person the will to keep going or move on. I highly recommend.

I listened to the audio version, which is well produced and narrated. Firstly this book deals heavily with issues of suicide, which is not clear from blurb. There is a rider at the end of the book about this. The first few chapters were interesting. But then the story went into a flashback of years before, with so many characters. At that point for me the story became too slow and confusing. Thank you to CamCat Publishing for the audio ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

This is not your typical book. It jumps back and forth in time as Daniel and his brother Tony are growing up, and back to today. While the beginning is a bit of a murky mystery, it's done rather well in that it's creating the scene set up for what comes next, and whoa when you figure that part out. Daniel wakes up with brain fogginess and unsure about most things except that he's not in the town where he needs to be, which is where his brother Tony is in San Franscisco, and Daniel has five days to get there by 3pm. What happens next is several layers being removed, in the past as well as the present, that unfolds Daniels story to those reading/listening. And what a story it is. Suspenseful and intriguing, and shows the power of love, loss, despair, and hope. Very well done!
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Rob Shapiro and really appreciated his tone and pacing as he brought you deep into the story. Also well done!
*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This review is my own opinion*

I am not a reader who usually likes supernatural stories, but this was an exception. It is an emotional and riveting story of love and hope. After Daniel has an accident that leaves him with no memory of what happens, he knows he needs to save his younger brother. He has flashbacks and it is an emotional read. There is a plot twist that makes it even more interesting.

Thank you Netgalley for this book!

I’m wary of tales featuring supernatural activity, of ‘other dimensions’ and particularly of devils and demons.These are elements that I’m not able to grasp, or to accept; I simply do not believe in such things. So I try to avoid books in which these components are in evidence - though I do make some exceptions. I’ve dabbled with Stephen King books in which telekinesis is practiced and other supernatural activity is in evidence, and I’ve regularly sought out books in which various means of transporting its characters through time is the prime driver of the story. So why can I accept and enjoy time travel when I struggle so much to accept ghouls and ghosts? In truth, I really don’t know.

This story features those that are dead and those that are living, they intermingle and it’s not always possible to discern one from the other. A young man wakes to realise he needs to be somewhere else to keep a promise, and he needs to be there in five days time. His destination is somewhere a long way from where he is now, so this appears to offer the promise of a road trip – now there’s an adventure I really do like. He’d awoken in one place but then, oddly, he is suddenly somewhere else. And now he’s bumped into a girl he knows, perhaps a former girlfriend. Already it’s starting to feel like a mixed bag of my likes and my dislikes. Can it still it work for me?

Well, unfortunately it really doesn’t, and for a number of reasons. Firstly, I quickly started to find the whole storyline too confusing; it’s a very busy tale, with a lot of moving parts and unexplained happenings. I knew I’d need patience to work my way into this one, but that’s something I know I lack. Secondly, I found the main characters somewhat irritating. I could see that they’d both had challenges and some bad luck in their lives, but I couldn’t get a grip on their relationship and I don’t think the chemistry between them quite worked either. Or if it did, I lost it in the confusing nature of their meeting and the oddity of their subsequent interactions. I also found the overall mood quite depressing. It would eventually be explained why this was the case, and though this clarified much of what had gone before it didn’t alter my view of things – for me the ship had already sailed. Ultimately, there’s a mystery here, but no real adventure to drive it along.

I listened to an audio version, competently narrated by the multi-talented Rob Shapiro. Perhaps there’s an audience of readers/listeners who will find this one more appealing than I did, namely those that are more attuned to both the major theme that evolves in the book and also the supernatural elements that are an integral part of it throughout. It’s a miss for me, but I did work my way through the whole story, so two stars it is.

The Beached Ones by Colleen M. Story
Narrated by Rob Shapiro

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to NetGalley and CamCat Books and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Blurb

He came back, determined to keep his promise.

Daniel and his younger brother grew up in an abusive home. Daniel escaped. Now an established stunt rider, he intends to go back to rescue his brother. But then one jump goes horribly wrong . . .

He recovers to find himself in Iowa, unscathed, yet his life has drastically changed. His best friend won’t answer his calls. Even his girlfriend is hiding something. Increasingly terrified, he clings to the one thing he knows: He must pick up his brother in San Francisco. In five days.

From the isolating fields of Iowa to the crowded streets of San Francisco, Daniel must fight his way through a fog of disjointed memories and supernatural encounters to face the truth and pay a debt he didn’t know he owed.

My Opinion

This is not a simple book to read. Daniel wakes up following an accident where his motorbike stunt has gone wrong - he has no memory of what happened. All he knows is that he had to pick his brother up in five days. This is an unusual plot, that was enjoyable but I struggled to follow.

Rating 3/5

I hadn’t realised this was going to be a bit of a paranormal type story and if I had I wouldn’t have chosen it. However I had selected it so stuck with what ended up being a rather confusing tale which I’m thinking now I couldn’t really explain to anyone if I tried.
So just not my cup of tea but others may love the ramblings.

A bit of a slow start to the audiobook and one I nearly did not continue with, which would have been a shame as the story drew me in and engaged me. A brave and powerful message within a well thought out story plot.

I was initially frustrated by what seemed glaring errors in narrative which the author addressed and explained away, so please hold any negativity for a chapter or two.

The book jumps within the timeline, but this enables the author to build the suspense up.

Narration was pleasantly modulated.

A good book worth reading / listening to.

TW: suicide.

Daniel wakes up on a beach, no idea how he got there. After a brief, disturbing interlude with some beached whales, he just as suddenly finds himself in his childhood home.

This paranormal tale continues to get darker and more confusing from there, much as it continues to captivate. You never quite know where the story’s going to take you, until you arrive at the end, a mixture of hope and despair. It’s quite moving, and a bit sad and confusing as well, lingering with you well afterwards.

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