I could not put this book down and read it in one sitting. It has a gothic fairy tale atmosphere. The action occurs in a short period of time.. As the tension built, I started to have the sense of a train bearing down. The two sisters in the book appear close, but each have their own hopes, dreams, and struggles that create conflict and misunderstanding. An amazing story and quick absorbing read that I highly recommend.

Bear by Julia Philips has an enticing and interesting concept unlike any I have seen before. I was immediately pulled into the story and interested to see where it would go.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hogarth for the ARC of this book!

I ventured into general fiction for this novel set in Washington state. Two sisters struggle to survive while caring for their sick mother. Their mom is steadily getting worse when a bear starts to visit their house. Sam is terrified of the bear and wants it gone, and Elena is enchanted by this creature. While the mystery of the bear unfolds, the story of their bond as sisters unfolds as well. Being the younger sister, like Sam, I understand how people can struggle to figure out the relationship with your sister as you both grow as people. An emotional read that made me question how I really felt at the end. It's one of those books that's hard to rate.

I wish to thank Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of Bear in exchange for an honest review. When I read its description, I thought this book would interest me. The description of the island off the coast of Washington State was vivid and atmospheric. Still, I despised the main character, Sam (Samantha), and thought her constant complaints, rudeness, and condescension were hard to take.

Sam lives on a scenic island with her sister Elena in the Pacific off Washington State. She is a dreamer with imagination and pleasant thoughts for the future. She depends on Elena, who is more practical and organized about their future plans while ignoring their reality. They live with their dying mother, whom they care for, in a dilapidated old house where they grew up. Sam has believed for years that when their mother dies, the house and land can be sold for a large sum of money, enabling them to move away from the island. Both sisters depend on income from low-paying jobs and are desperately in debt. The situation became worse when their employers shut down during the pandemic. Sam is stunned by Elena's admission that the house has a second mortgage, and with their accumulated bills, any plans to move away have become impossible.

Elena works as a bartender at a local golf course, and Sam works in the canteen on a boat that runs between islands. Elena appears to have no interest in men, and much of her spare time involves sensible advice to Sam and time spent with friends. Sam engages in frantic sexual encounters with co-worker Ben in empty rooms on the ferry. Ben wants to date her. However, she does not want to talk to him or see him outside of work. She can be insulting and hurtful to him. She never developed friendships, even earlier with classmates, and resented Elena's popularity. One day, Sam notices a bear swimming toward shore.

Sam is terrified of the bear that shows up around their house. She learns that her normally sensible sister encounters the animal during walks, talks to it, and brings it food. Elena considers the approach from the bear magical and is elated by its presence. When their mother dies, Sam cannot wait to get off the island, and her sister informs her that this is financially impossible. Sam wants the bear gone and contacts Madeline, a wildlife officer. She is told the animal is a harmless brown bear and it will leave if not fed or threatened. She keeps some facts from Elena and Madeline and constantly badgers Madeline to arrange for the bear's removal. The bear has been reported killing livestock.

Elena invites Sam to accompany her on one of her encounters with the bear. Sam's fear increases when she watches it approach Elena from the woods while she talks softly to the animal. She is shocked by its large size and how Elena places herself in danger. Another call to Madeline results in Sam being sent bear spray. She attempts to spray the bear but manages to get the spray in Elena's face and eyes. This angers her sister, who stops speaking to her or returning messages.

Elena has arranged a reception to honour their mother after her death. Sam feels this is unnecessary but reluctantly agrees to attend. She is awaiting an apology from Elena for the bear spray incident and will not accept any blame herself. Many of her mother's friends and neighbours are in attendance. Sam rudely orders Madeline to leave and causes a scene with Elena's closest girlfriend. She is unpleasant with Ben for attending. She attempts to flirt with Daniel, a neighbour, who informs her that he and Elena have been a couple since school days. This further infuriates Sam, as her sister has kept this relationship a secret.
I enjoyed Elena's pleasure from the bear, but I understand why Sam feared her and how her sister ignored all recommendations from the wildlife authorities. Later, it is learned that the bear was a dangerous grizzly, not part of the brown bear species, and had never been seen on the island before.

The ending of the story was terrible.
The book is due to be published on June 25. I urge prospective readers to read some of the more favourable reviews and not be deterred by my misgivings.

I missed out on Disappearing Earth, but after reading Bear I will definitely make a point to read Phillips' first book. The premise of Bear captivated me, so I was thrilled when I received an eARC from NetGalley.

Phillips expertly navigates this narrative with a blend of folklore and contemporary realism, breathing new life into traditional fairy tale tropes. When the bear first arrives on the page, it comes filled with symbolism and expectation, something that carries through the remainder of the story. And although a wild bear traipsing about the neighborhood would certainly be enough to give anyone reason to worry, it's actually the people in the story, not the wandering bear, driving the conflict.

Sam and Elena are sisters who live together with their ailing mother, struggling to make ends meet on a Pacific Northwest island. As the tale unfolds, things that first seemed solid begin to unravel, and relationships are pushed to the limits due to mismatched expectations, long-hidden secrets. I read Bear in one day, unable to turn away from Phillips' exploration of sisterhood, family, and loss.

Overall, Bear delivered so many great things: authentic dialogue, a swift narrative, and complex character interactions. However, the male characters felt a bit flat, and I sometimes struggled to get behind the state biologist's motivations. That said, Bear is a novel that will sit with me for a long time to come, asking me to look deeper into my own beliefs about life and loss.

Well written, interesting read. Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for allowing me to read and review.

📚Book review📚 :: Bear by Julia Phillips

Story premise: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Character development: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Writing style: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ending: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What a wild (literally) ride Bear by Julia Phillips is -- full of intense dread, excitement and whimsy.

Sam and and her big sister Elena are eachothers' whole world, or so Sam thinks. They live with their ailing mother on an island off the coast of Washington state and life isn't easy. In debt and isolated following the pandemic, Sam and Elena's lives are hard. Sam dreams of leaving it all behind and starting over in a new place with Elena. But when a big ol' grizzly Bear arrives on the island and takes a liking to one of the girls, it changes the course of both their lives by revealing who they truly are to each other.

This book reads like a modern day fairy tale without ever being over the top or unbelievable. Phillips bends the typical fairy tale tropes into something so true to modern storytelling. I believed Sam's motivation to leave and Elena's to stay. I believed the bear! I believed the ending. Oh the ending.

I absolutely love how Phillips writes the sisters' tale, with an underlying sense of dread and foreboding on every page. I had a bit of a knot in my stomach from the first moment the Bear appears and the author leaves it there for me to contend with. I felt the entire time like I was being stalked by a giant grizzly in my mind.

For me, the power of this book lies with the ambiguity of "the villain" (for every good fairy tale has one!). While the bear is certainly ominous and ultimately the major obstacle, it never truly becomes the antagonist. It's looming over the story but the antagonism comes from the humans (as it often does in real life) and the choices they make. The sisters take turns, in their own way, playing the role of the "evil" sister (or at least which one is ultimately responsible for their downfall). I found this truly fascinating to watch how the sisters' interpreted the other's actions. These interpretations then played on their own motivations and caused quite a bit of fairy tale catastrophe!

I can't wait to read more from Julia Philipps!

Julia Phillips opens Bear with a passage from the Brothers Grimm's "Snow White and Rose Red" and then thrusts us into the lives of two stisters dreaming of another life as they grind to make ends meet. What follows is a dark fairy tale rooted in the lives of these two sisters and a bear. Sam and Elena's monotonous lives of living paycheck to paycheck to barely pay just the interest on their mother's medical bills are interrupted when a bear shows up on their doorstep. Is the bear real? Is the story I'm being told actually what's happening? These are the questions I asked myself frequently, but I think its best I don't tell you much else. Bear kept me at a distance I didn't love, but that was the only thing negative I have to say. The fairy tale like trance this book walked me into and the questioning of reality it pulled from me ultimately made this a win. The juxtapoistion of childhood magic with the brutal realities of adulthood worked really well. I read it in just two sittings and will be thinking about this for a long time.

This was an amazing book with a curious plot about the relationship of two sisters and the unlikely intrusion of a bear who teaches love, fantasy, and devastation. Another reviewer said it was mesmerizing and I agree. Two sisters caring for an ill mother, the plot is about the sister relationship and what an intrusion of a bear can to that relationship. Although hard to believe that a young woman would have a “crush” on a bear, the story is told realistically and the reader can understand the bear/human connection. That relationship intrudes on that of the sisters and their unique approaches to the bear, becomes the breakdown of sisterhood. Can they forgive each other? But the bear is ultimately a bear. I have two sisters and I think the sister relationship is well told and authentic. May we all have a fairy tale experience like this. I found it an exciting read, sister friendship, fantasy, love.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House (Hogarth) Publishing for the Advanced Review copy.

Bear by Julia Phillips is a modern-day fable/fairy tale about two sisters living on San Juan Island in the Pacific Northwest. Just as sisters Snow White and Rose Red encountered a bear, so do sisters Sam and Elena. Both have dead-end jobs and care for their dying mother while relying on each other for friendship, emotional support, and a sparse social life. While Elena, the capable older sister, finds the bear’s appearances exciting and enticing, sister Sam is wary and uneasy. Just as she did in her magnificent Disappearing Earth, Phillips characters and careful spare language are spectacular. The bear itself casts both an engaging and ominous veil over the sisters and their community. Phillips’ tension building is masterful and leads the reader brilliantly to the shattering climax.

Should you judge a book by its cover? This artist says YES! I don’t think I can even talk about this enchantingly weird book without talking about the insanely amazing cover. Beautiful, eye catching and the perfect tone for this story. The writing and storytelling does not disappoint, but again— weird. While the story is slow moving, its emotional charge and dark vibes keep you in it. Glad it’s over though.

3 stars to the book!
5 stars to that cover!

I am not sure how to describe this book. It is definitely literary fiction and well-written. It is sad. Two sisters, together with their dying mom. Sam, the younger sister, depends on Elena for everything. Elena takes the weight of responsibility onto her shoulders. Misunderstandings between sisters as the younger takes the words from Elena as factual while those same words resonated differently within Elena. Elena piling on responsibility, seeming to hate it, but also taking it on without objecting. Sam believing that her sister and herself were practically intertwined as one. Elena wanting her own life. The bear--who wouldn't want to be loved by a bear--the headrush of making friends with one! Sam hating that her sister is in danger from a bear but more likely just feels pushed aside. A sad story full of misunderstandings with an ending that one can take as the want. Anyway it is taken, this was not a happy, easy book to read. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the digital ARC. This review is my own.

Well written. This is a powerful character study. It is the story of two sisters, of trauma, of healing, and the things that can happen. Set in the San Juan Islands it tells the story of a family and the meaning that things take on. Julia Phillips makes powerful use of point of view and carries her readers into the world she creates.

I really loved the author's voice - I really felt like I knew these sisters and how trapped they felt staying on this island. Without spoiling it, I was super sad at the ending....I would not adapt this for the classroom - but I would recommend to others to read.

The setting: Two sisters in the San Juan Islands--Sam and Elena, both in their late twenties, live with their ailing mother in the house that was their grandmother's. Sam works on the ferry's snack bar and Elena bartends at the local golf club but they struggle to survive financially and take care of their terminally ill mother who can no longer work. They dream of selling the house on the wealthy enclave and leaving the island, but...

A bear turns up near their home. Sam is terrified; Elena is enchanted--obsessed.

The story deals with the sisters' relationship, their relationships with other islanders, their mother's health issues, and their depleted finances.

Once the bear enters the story a new character/plot line is introduced--a woman from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. {Enter Madeline Pettit who breathes some life into the tale, IMHO]. And the bear occupies a great deal of the story.

I was never really engaged in the novel though I kept hoping my opinion would change [it did not]. Loosely based on Show White/Red Rose/Brothers Grimm. I found this novel quite sad.

No spoiler from me: the ending really took me for a loop!

A disappointing read, 3 stars.

For anyone else who has been a caregiver, who needs a dark fairy tale sets in the woods of the Pacific Northwest, this may be just the book for you! I needed to read this. The writing was quite beautiful. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

I find it odd that I'm about to give five stars to a novel (novella? This was short...) that made me utterly miserable, but here we are. It's more or less a dark fairy tale that takes place in the Pacific Northwest and involves poverty, abuse, secrets, death, and--you guessed it--a bear. Underlying the narrative is a very strong allegorical thread. You could write entire dissertations on the meaning of the bear. But, for me, the story as a whole was entrancing, even as I struggled against it. I think this is worth reading. I think it might even be a great work of literature, though the Covid angle still sits oddly--we are, perhaps, in that odd time when it is neither the present nor a digested history.

Well this book was super weird.

First of all; it’s borderline creepy how Julia Phillips managed to write this book and have it published at the same time the world started having a discourse called “Would you rather meet a bear or a man in the woods?” Are you a psychic, Ms Phillips?

Loved the setting. PAC NW island. Population 9000. Two sisters are just scraping by while taking care of their ailing mother in her last days. A bear swims to their island and starts having adventures around the town. The sisters very much love each other, but love is complicated.

Pros; dialogue, character development ,themes. Highly symbolic in the way that you know that the Bear symbolizes something, you just don’t know what. A story you see coming, yet don’t see coming all at once. I would love to read in a book club, because I just KNOW someone else is going to catch something I missed.

Cons; not for those who like happy endings. The last few paragraphs in particular are disturbing. The male characters are boring and one dimensional.

I can’t wait until it’s published so I can have a conversation with you about it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hogarth for the ARC.

Sam and her sister Elena live on the San Juan Islands off of Washington State. They care for their dying mother while toiling at work to make enough money for her the mortgage and the medical bills. Sam has been dreaming of leaving the island with her sister for years, and she believes Elena has the same goals. But when an unexpected wildlife visitor (and the title’s namesake) starts visiting their neighborhood, Elena’s fascination with the bear both terrifies her sister and opens a rift that has devastating consequences.

Phillips is a beautiful writer and I can see how well-crafted this book is. It speaks to issues of class and family, and has a beautiful fairy tale-like quality. The characters are flawed but deeply drawn and realistically rendered. The descriptions of the bear and of Washington state make the setting come alive. Yet somehow I didn’t love this book. I had the same experience with Disappearing Earth, Phillips' other novel. I just found myself irritated, watching the sisters continuously make bad choices. But this is definitely a case of “it’s not you it’s me” as this book (and the author) are extremely well reviewed. So if you like lush descriptions, complicated relationships, and slower character-driven books I’d still recommend this!

While I really enjoyed the writing style and the setting of this novel, overall it just didn't work for me. Based on the description I expected a little more magical realism and action, but ultimately what I actually got was a pretty slow paced, character driven novel that had a promising start but never really delivered. The ending also had me shaking my head and wondering what exactly I just read.