Thank you to @RandomHouse and #NetGalley for the digital ARC of #Bear. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

I hadn't read this author before and the blurb intrigued me enough to request it, but this book didn't work for me. The story/plot was fine although I didn't pick up on the fairy tale retelling until I read some other reviews. I empathize with the main characters situation - barely getting by financially, caring for a dying parent, feeling isolated & alone - but I wanted more perspective. It would have worked better for me if the narrator switched back and forth between Sam and Elena. Unfortunately, I found Sam, the main narrator, really annoying and couldn't get past her attitude.

Thank you Random House & NetGalley for the ARC!

Bear was a departure from my typical reads, but it definitely kept my attention. This is a hard book to review, because I'm still trying to collect my thoughts even after finishing a week ago. I would say the last 50 pages were really shocking and kind of strange to me, which definitely impacted my feelings about the rest of the story.

Thank you again for the ARC!

Bear, by Julia Phillips! I am not even sure what to say... This book is so much more than the actual words printed on the page. As a teacher, I feel the need to go back through it and read for more depth. The initial read was wonderful, but there is so much hidden meaning in the pages that a re-read is necessary for me. Please read it for entertainment, but know that this is one you'll not likely soon forget!
Thanks, NetGalley and the publisher, for providing me with the ARC ebook I read and reviewed. All opinions are my own.

Wow, this book was depressing! I hated the tone of the book, the plot, the characters...the setting was the one redeeming quality. I say skip this one.

**Thanks Random House Publishing Group via NetGalley for allowing me to review this book.

I really enjoyed parts of this book much more than others. The story about the sisters and the dying mother I thought was very well done and got me interested. It was a lot of a big fan of the bear part of the story however

A Dark and Unsettling Family Drama

SUMMARY
Two sisters, Sam, 28, and Elena, 29, are trapped by the slog of life and the responsibility of taking care of their dying mother. They live in a rundown house that belonged to their grandmother. Their debts are mounting exponentially, and they cannot afford the healthcare their mother needs. Both girls are exhausted, working tirelessly to juggle the needs of their mother and working multiple shifts in dead-end service jobs to make ends meet. Their lives are difficult and boring until a bear swims to the island.

Sam and Elena have always been close, but their differences have never been more apparent than when the bear shows up on their doorstep. One of the girls is scared, while the other sees it as exciting. One sister thwarts authority, while the other plays by the rules. One complains incessantly, while the other keeps her thoughts to herself. While both girls dream of a better life, their secrets will ultimately tear the sisters apart.

REVIEW
BEAR a dark and unsettling family drama loosely based on the fairy tale of Snow-White and Red-Rose. But this is no happily-ever-after fairy tale. Despite the beautiful setting on San Juan Island, the story revolves around two unhappy girls, who work hard and are suffocated by their circumstances.

The author, Julia Phillips, skillfully describes their struggles, drawing readers into the story with her atmospheric writing. Although I found it challenging to like the main characters, I couldn't put the book down. My favorite part of the story was the bear.

I received an advance reading copy of this book from Netgalley and Random House in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher Random House Publishing Group / Random House
Published June 24, 2025
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com

Bear by Julia Phillips

In my first iteration as a librarian, I worked in the Children’s Room and was lucky enough to order folk and fairy tales. I loved pouring over the various versions of classics, and sought out esoteric tales and stories from other lands. Once I read a little known Brothers Grimm story called Bearskin. It’s about a poor soldier who makes a deal with the devil and must spend 7 years in the same clothes; ragged and unwashed. Disguised in this way, the man struggles to connect with other humans-they are scared of his appearance and assume he’s a beast in the truest sense of the word. Until he is seen by the youngest daughter of a poor man.

Julia Phillips creates a modern day fairy tale reminiscent of Bearskin set on an island in the San Juans off the coast of Washington. The seemingly bucolic setting turns dark pretty quickly as we meet a small family doing what they can to keep creditors at bay. Two sisters work hard to support their ailing mother; Sam serves food to visiting passengers on the ferry and Elena works for the well-heeled at a golf club. Their lives are changed forever upon the arrival of a bear, Sam first spots it swimming in a channel, but gradually the bear appears to follow them to their home in the woods. Sam reacts in fear, not only of the bear but of the changes its appearance manifests in her sister. Elena however, begins to glow and finds a peace that she didn’t know existed. Phillips excels at illustrating the complicated relationship of sisters; these two love each other through and through, but can also hurt one another in devastating ways. In turns magical and powerfully realistic, I absolutely couldn't put this book down.



Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for generously sending me an ARC.

I received a free ARC ebook of <i>Bear</i> from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

The characters in <i>Bear</i> are mesmerizing. Sisters Elena and Samantha are burdened with too much responsibility and too few options. Their mother has been dying, painfully, for years while Elena and Sam move dutifully, mechanically, through their stagnant lives. Elena, the older by thirteen months, is the responsible one; she maintains the limited finances and does most of the physical care of their mother. Sam is the dreamer, holding on to the hope that somehow, sometime, she and Elena will leave the poverty behind and live.

In their adolescence the two had faced violence and cruelty from their mother's live in boyfriend. That experience drew them closer together but further away from the kindness of others. Covid restrictions exacerbated their isolation and, for Sam at least, made their dream of escape her only dream.

When a bear suddenly appears on the island just outside their shabby home, Elena and Sam react so differently. Elena seeks it out repeatedly while Sam views it as a threat to their present and their future.

The young women struggle for financial relief, medical assistance for their mother, and perhaps most importantly, for hope. This is an amazing book.

Bear, by Julia Phillips, is a gripping sister-story pitted against the slow-burn of their daily lives, stuck in an existence of poverty and the struggle to care for their terminally-ill mother. Set in the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington, a bucolic getaway for tourists, the conflict in this story is palpable. The reader is hit with thematic tension: woman against nature, family history and relationships, poverty versus affluence, the longing to escape, and the consequences of getting blinded by emotion.

Sam, the younger sister and anti-hero, is completely wrapped up in the sisters’ childhood plan of selling their dilapidated house and property to escape their constricted existence and start anew; so much so that she completely ignores their family’s mounting medical bills and debt. Elena, the practical sister who takes care of everything gets caught up in an unlikely and dangerous obsession with the island’s latest resident, a huge and hungry grizzly bear who swims to shore only to get distracted from his northern journey. The power of dreams and the brute force of nature collide into an unsettling conclusion that will stay with you after the final page.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC of this haunting modern-day fairytale that makes its debut on June 25.

Sam and Elena live on San Juan, an island in Washington, and work full time trying to cover expenses caring for their ill and dying mother. Their lives are upended when a huge bear shows up on their doorstep and the sisters have very different reactions to the bear’s presence in their lives.

Julia Phillips wrote a beautiful novel about family and the bond between sisters. Her writing was fantastic and I felt immersed in the setting. I loved the flawed characters and felt their motivations easy to understand.

This is also one of my favorite covers I’ve seen in a long time! Stunning

I would recommend this novel to anyone looking to read an atmospheric, slow paced novel about the importance of family.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for access to this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Julia Phillips’ sophomore novel, Bear, is a slim story about an island off of Washington’s coast, two sisters trapped there by caretaking duties and mounting debt, and an interloper who sets off an irreversible series of events. While Disappearing Earth was an expansive, wide-reaching tale with regard to both narration and physical landscape, Bear feels claustrophobic from the start. You are immediately thrust into Sam and Elena’s constrained life: their mildewed house, threatening bills, the constraints of the island, the ferry canteen below deck where Sam works, the credit card limits.

I liked and didn’t love this book. I adored the interiority of the slew of narrators of Disappearing Earth, and I felt trapped in and sometimes annoyed by Sam’s brain, the protagonist. However, I loved the spare writing, the simplicity of the story, and it ended outstandingly (which is a hard feat to pull off!). Phillips’ nature writing is lovely, and the fairytale motif was well executed. It was an excellent pick for a rainy afternoon.

For fans of The Great Offshore Grounds by Vanessa Veselka, Cassandra at the Wedding by Dorothy Baker, fairytales, angry female main characters, and the Pacific Northwest. Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the ARC.

Bear by Julia Phillips fell flat for me. I was looking forward to a modern retelling of Snow White and Rose Red, which has been done many times, so well. This seemed like mindless whining from unlikeable characters and although I finished it, I'm not sure why I did. Thank you to the author publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

I was intrigued when the synopsis for the book described it as a retelling of a fairy tale. I had to see what it was all about. Fairy tale or not, I enjoyed this book. I loved the Pacific Northwest setting and always love to read about the bonding of sisters.. Sam and her sister Elena live on San Juan island on the coast of Washington, where they care for their dying mother. A migrating bear in the area disrupts the sister's usual daily routines and brings to light secrets kept between them. I should have known what was coming but the ending was a bit of a surprise. Thanks to author Julia Phillips, Random House | Hogarth, and NetGalley for the complimentary copy of this ebook. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

This book was ok, not great. The story of the sisters and their mother was good. Suspense about the bear activity was OK. I just didn't care for the ending.

Would I recommend it to friends? Debatable.

Nothing is what it seems. The small town on an island popular with tourists. The landscape unchanged for centuries. The sisters devoted to each other. The care they give their once beautiful dying mother. The visitor who changes their lives forever. Phillips is masterful in crafting an illusion in plain sight of tragedy.
Young sisters barely finishing high school are minimally employed in service jobs. Ten years on during the pandemic they are now young women. Together they are the sole caregivers for their mother, suffering from employment related devastating respiratory illness. Without comprehensive medical insurance they are faced with mounting debt. Over time their girlish dreams are eroded and their lives are reduced to the physical, emotional and financial toll of caregiving.
Phillips uses beautifully spare language to reflect the barebones existence of the family doing what needs to be done. The sisters stand in for the national family care crisis. The island is impacted by the loss of tourists during the pandemic and climate change. The women’s mistrust of authorities and bureaucracy is endemic to those struggling on the margins of society.
Hope is something everyone needs. When the visitor appears, he transforms their lives.

I can say with confidence that I’ve never read a book quite like BEAR. This is quite a peculiar yet transfixing tale about two sisters living on an island in the Pacific Northwest. Sam and Elena work in the tourism industry and can’t seem to get ahead with the costs of caring for their ailing mother. When a bear shows up on their property and stays a while the sisters have vastly different reactions. Light on plot but heavy on family dynamics, BEAR explores the complexities of dreams deferred, the sacrifices of caregiving, and slight sisterhood rifts that become insurmountable chasms. Filled with mysterious intrigue, BEAR is a unique story I won’t soon forget.

READ THIS IF YOU
•appreciate a story with a memorable ending
•enjoy a vivid PNW setting
• seek out unique and potentially divisive reads

RATING: 4/5
PUB DATE: June 25, 2024

Many thanks to NetGalley and Hogarth for an electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Bear is the reminiscent story of two sisters who must care for their terminally ill mother. Set on the beautiful island of San Juan Washington, Elena and Sam live in a rundown house that belonged to their grandmother. Their lives are drab and ordinary until one day a big brown bear appears near the house. The Bear sets off a series of events that you must read the book to find out. Sorry no spoilers here.
Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for my ARC in exchange for my opinion.

This really was captivating, even though the plot is kind of silly. I had to see what happened with the bear!

I have very mixed feelings about this book and really not sure how I truly feel about it. I found the first part very interesting and well written about poverty and surviving. However, after halfway through, it became monotonous and somewhat boring / hard to follow. I liked the premise of Bear, but I kept wanting a true plot and storyline to come through. Overall, it was okay.

Thank you to net galley for the arc in exchange of an honest review.

I have never felt less intelligent than reading the reviews raving about how wonderful this book is. I can say that Phillips does an excellent job showing the mind-numbing crush of poverty and life in the smallest of small towns with no options. Otherwise, I’m not sure what else she was trying to say. Perhaps I’m just not that smart. Bleakest of bleaks. Nearly threw my iPad twice. More power to you if you got something out of it