“Home is where the heart is.” Middletide explores what it’s like to return to the place you know best, the place you grew up, the place that shaped you. It answers the questions some of have as we grow into our adult lives—What is home? And where is it? Is it a place? Or is it a feeling?

Elijah had dreams of becoming a writer. He moved to San Francisco to escape his small town, just outside of Seattle. However, his father’s passing has brought him back home. He must face his past, his decisions, and his biggest regret—not being with the love of his life.

As Elijah navigates his new life in his father’s old cabin, he begins to understand what he wants in life. The novel follows a non-linear timeline that helps you move between Elijah’s life and a murder investigation. Eventually these timelines match up and the mystery is solved.

The setting is an important part of the plot, and that is part of what lost me in the novel. I am not interested in extensive descriptions of nature or homesteading. I found the main character to be immature and the relationships hard to believe.

Overall, I enjoyed the story but I got lost in the exaggerative descriptions and setting.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

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A slow burn that delivers!! The way Sarah Crouch kept me on the edge of my seat trying to figure this one out. Elijah’s character was so difficult to figure out, but in a very good way. The suspense of the trial was too good. I was turning page after page waiting for the Nikita reveal. She delivered!!! I wish I could read this one again for the first time to see what I missed.

If you can make it over the slow burn hump, you won’t be able to put it down! A must read.

Thanks so much NetGalley and Atria books for the eARC.

Elijah and Nikita meet as teens and it feels like they’re meant to be. They are devoted to each other even when Elijah heads away to college. Promises were made and sadly, promises were then broken. But now Elijah has returned. Will Nakita take him back?

Two fisherman find the body of Erin Landry, a prominent doctor in town. Since the death is suspicious, they look to Elijah who owns the property where she was discovered.

The story takes us back and forth through timelines of the investigation and leading up to the death. We get to know Elijah who lives in his father’s run-down house but is loving the simple life after his writing career fails. We briefly get to know Nakita and her father who are Native Americans living on the reservation nearby. As the investigation continues, a clue surfaces that points the killer as Elijah. The murder has been mimicked from his failed novel, Middletide, that the sheriff was anonymously given. The trials he endures and the people that stand beside him were admirable and touching.

The mystery is a slow build that jumps back and forth in the timeline, giving bits of clues as it continues. This became a small frustration for me when I had a hard time remembering facts from each timeline and where those facts fit into the bigger story. There was little dialogue throughout the book but that led to rich descriptions of the land and people, including their thoughts and actions. This became a positive attribute especially for the ending.

That ending was definitely the best part. It was full of shocking information that turned the entire story upside-down. I would have loved more in-depth details to savor during this time but it was a great end to that build-up. It is a solid debut and I’m excited to see what Crouch does next! I recommend this to those that love a slow build mystery with a big bang at the end.

Thank you to Sarah Crouch, Atria Books and NetGalley for the copies!

The book releases June 11, 2024.

I had a hard time seeing this book through. The story is clever - a woman has died by what appears to be suicide but may be murder. As the story advances, it begins to be clear that it may actually be a suicide made to look like a murder. The problem is that the idea begins to dawn a little too early. I realized what was happening and then slogged through the book, waiting for the characters to catch up. The reason why the main character was being framed is just too much of a stretch for me. I liked the characters, the setting, and the idea of the plot. I think it was just the pacing that was off for me.

Short synopsis: In a small town, the Dr is found dead. Everyone assumes it’s suicide until close point to the reclusive young man who just returned.

My thoughts: The writing was beautiful in this. Very atmospheric. But it just didn’t quite hit the mark for me. I struggle usually with police procedurals and this was too much of a slow burn for me. I’m sure lots will love it, just not for me.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was interested in reading this book after a reviewer compared it to What Comes After by JoAnne Tompkins. After finishing Middletide, I think that is a fair comparison. Where the Crawdads Sing is another book that comes to mind.

Like those other books, Middletide is atmospheric in the best way. The small town, the woods, and, in particular, Elijah’s cabin feel like characters in the story. The slow build is excruciatingly tense. I probably could have read this faster, but I felt the need to take a lot of breaks because the tension would get to me. The different timelines and alternating POVs were perfect for slowly revealing the mystery.

I think this was a fantastic debut and look forward to reading more from Sarah Crouch.

This was a slow-moving story that just did not capture my attention. Although picturesque, I could not get invested.

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Thank you to Sarah Crouch, Net Galley, and Atria Books for this copy of Middletide, out June 11,2024!

It’s 1994. The book starts off with Mike, boating to meet his friend Wes. Right off the bat, the eerie yet beautiful landscape was taking place in my mind. The dense forest of trees, the dark deep expanse of moss and woods, made a great hideaway spot for the two friends to fish. But when Mike docks his boat and notices his friend Wes staring off into the distance, he knows something is wrong. As they see Dr. Erin’s body hanging from a tree, they know something foul had to have happened here.

Flashback to 1973, where we meet a young coup in love-Elijah Leith and Nakita. Their love story starts and ends with him moving to make big plans to become an author in San Francisco and leave the small town lives at.

As we continue on in their story, Elijah becomes that recluse author, the dream he left the small Pacific northwest town for. But when he returns home, and returns to the abandoned cabin that his father left him, he starts to truly live alone, only making a friend with Chitto, his dad’s long time friend. Elijah becomes the perfect suspect in this murder/suicide plot.

As each chapter moves, I appreciated the fact that it stayed in chronological order. I absolutely cannot stand when not only the chapters swap point of views, but then also time hop. Who can keep track of that?! I’m not making a mind map while I read.

The atmosphere in this book is something special. I loved envisioning where the story was taking place, and how beautiful yet terrifying these places could look at different times of the day.

Even though I had an inkling of what would happen, it still made me want to keep reading. I enjoyed this and binge read it pretty fast! It keeps you moving and guessing!

What an interesting concept to write a murder mystery with hardly a likable character. The main character only tried to garner positive points toward the end of the novel but was pretty crude throughout most of it. It seemed like the plot had more promise but ended up predictable, plodding, and pretty unrealistic. The descriptions of setting were actually really good…but I did tire of reading about the stinging nettles!

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria/Simon and Schuster for the ARC to read and review.

I would round up to 3.5 stars for this one. This book took a while for me to get into. I really loved the setting and the atmospheric vibes it gave off. Especially the cabin/lake aspect as that’s what I grew up in. It took me a while to really care about the characters and wonder what is going on. The end really threw me for a loop and I really enjoyed how that played out. It was a very good ending and was very well put together. I gave it 3 stars just because I was 3/4 in and just getting into it and interested in the plot/characters. Overall a good read!

The atmosphere while reading Middletide definitely gave Mystery and Moody, which I enjoyed! It had a good even pace throughout the story. For me the characters were well, getting enough about each even including the smaller characters making it all come together fairly well. If you are into earthy, rural Murder Mystery books then I would recommend this book. I honestly can see myself giving this a reread during the spooky season this fall.

Thank you Netgalley and Sarah Crouch for providing the ARC read!

After reading the synopsis, I was expected this suspenseful murder mystery whodunit thriller type book, which I think is a disservice in this case. Yes there is a murder, and yes there is a bit of mystery, but if that’s all you want to get out of this book, you may be disappointed. What I got out of this book is a well-written contemporary fiction story about a man who is forced home after a series of failures, who has to find himself and his future in a world that he left behind. There is more development and connection between the characters than most mystery/thrillers provide, and I cared less about who killed the doctor than who Elijah became.
The mystery piece of it does tie to Elijah’s past, so to say it has no part in this story is not accurate, and it wasn’t my favorite part of this book. Most readers will piece together the crime pretty quickly, and so I was left thinking there was a twist that never really came. Was that a bad thing? For me, not really as I really enjoyed the story that was told. If you’re here for the mystery alone, this may not be the book for you.

**Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books an Sarah Crouch for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review**

Middletide is a moody, atmospheric story featuring a loner living in a remote cabin who is accused of murder. Comparisons to Where The Crawdads Sing are inevitable, and a well deserved compliment to both novels. Like "Crawdads" Middletide relies on vivid descriptions of the locale and scenery (Middletide takes place in the Pacific Northwest, literally oceans away from Crawdads North Carolina Coastline setting) to propel a character driven narrative. With multiple timelines that converge into a stunning conclusion, Middletide is the epitome of engaging-you'll rush through the pages in a determined quest to find out who killed town doctor Erin Landry. Was it Elijah, who had a brief relationship with Erin after the tragic passing of her daughter and breakup with her husband, or someone else who held a grudge against the beautiful but elusive Erin? Middletide's only negative is the slim number of possible suspects-besides Elijah and Erin, the only other major characters are Elijah's long lost love Nakita, her father, the local sheriff and his deputy, and a friend of Elijah's dad who becomes the father figure Elijah lacked growing up. But this short list gives the reader ample opportunity to consider every one of them as the possible killer. The ending of Middletide is both painfully obvious and deeply surprising- like the entire plot it will remain in your heart and soul long after you finish.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher Atria books for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

When aspiring writer Elijah Leith escapes his small town to try to build his writing career, he is disappointed with the results and dejected, he returns home to Point Orchard to restart his life and potentially reclaim his relationship with his teenage love, Nakita, a native American woman (fictional tribe). He also brings with him the draft of his as yet unfinished and unpublished novel. Nakita is not welcoming. She wants to move on with her life.

Circumstances put Elijah and the town doctor Erin Landry together and they form a friendship. Erin and Elijah are both grieving and it brings the together. Erin grieves her daughter who died unexpectedly. Elijah is grieving his failed writing career as well as his inability to restart his relationship with Nakita.

When Dr. Landry is found hanging from a tree in an apparent suicide, all is not as it seems. The unraveling of what happened is filled with intrigue and multiple twists. When Elijah is arrested for her apparent murder, his novel becomes a focus of the investigation.

A little slow on the start, but as the story neared its conclusion it was impossible to put down.

Middletide is an atmospheric mystery and a strong debut novel by Sarah Crouch. The story begins on a misty morning as two fishermen trespassing in a private lake for it's large trout and they are shocked to see a body hanging from a noose. Told in a nonlinear fashion, we slowly learn about Elijah Leith, the owner of this land and the author of a flopped novel.

This book is full of strong but not overly verbose descriptions of the Pacific Northwest, and the small town atmosphere added to the mood as well. The murder mystery moves slowly, and ultimately ends with courtroom scenes which I enjoyed. This is a story about second chances, and earning back trust. The characters are fleshed out enough to be believable, and I felt enough was left unsaid that as readers we could infer plenty of emotion. And while the end probably won't shock you, the journey to get there was quite well done. There was plenty of tension and I was even distracted by a red herring here and there.

My complaints about this book are minor, but worth noting. I counted several instances of fat phobia, namely that the female love interest "had a runner's body" which is in other parts of the book described as lean and lithe. There is NO SUCH THING as a runner's body. If you run, you have a runner's body. Full stop. Also, there was reference to a woman Eli barely recognized because she had "gained fifty pounds." This wasn't said with shame or explicit judgment, so I'm on the fence about it because bodies change and that's okay! But with the runner's body trash, it counts. Also the end leans a bit religious, which is not my bag, but seems worth noting for other readers.

This book!! It is stunning, beautifully written, heartbreaking, and suspenseful full of love, loss and revenge. I found myself wondering repeatedly how it was a debut?! Atmospheric.. this is the word that literally every person in our buddy read used!! It is the most atmospheric book I have ever read!! All of us were so completely thrown off, it took us a long time to figure out what was going on! We did a structured read, so you’re supposed to stop at certain chapters for the day, but a lot of us found it too difficult to stop reading! So many of us finished it within a couple days because we could not wait! After we read and chatted amongst ourselves about our love for the book, the author graciously joined our chat and it was such a nice time talking with her and hearing how she came up with the idea and her past and what she’s working on next!
A lot of people in our buddy read did audio and while they loved the narration, I feel like I’m happy I had the physical copy to be able to flip back and forth! There are a lot of dates and I needed to be able to go to previous chapters to remember exactly when they happened! However, those that did audio really enjoyed it, so I say get your hands on this book any way you can! While it isn’t out until next month, if you are a Book of the Month member, you can snag it there! I don’t want to say much more about this book! Go in blind and be ready to be immersed in the lives of these beautifully written characters!

I was hearing buzz about this book. The premise sounded great, but unfortunately it didn’t work for me. The characters were bland, the pacing was very slow until an abrupt quick ending, and I felt pretty bored all the way.
The author wrote descriptively about the homestead and environment, which was somewhat enjoyable.

I really enjoyed about this story. Just everything about it. The characters were well written. Even smaller characters there was enough detail I felt like I knew them. The story grabs you and pulls you in. The romance the mystery just everything I want in a book.
I will be looking for more from this author. A wonderful debut.

Middletide was an incredible read. To me it felt like Where the Crawdads Sing. with its Earthy vibes and deep rural connection while rooted in mystery. This book contains a whodunit plot, romance, and spiritual elements.

Elijah is a failed writer returning home after a decade of chasing his dream. His childhood home is a secluded cabin in the woods. Years after his return a local doctor body is found hanging from a tree on his property. This doctor was an old lover of Elijah’s and Elijah is therefore a prime suspect in her murder.

Give this one a chance, you won’t regret it. 5 stars!

I really didn't like that the author created a fake Indigenous community when so many exist already and lack accurate representation in media. This seems like it was the author wanting to be lazy and not to research or outreach in existing Indigenous communities, but still wanted to be lauded for having Indigenous characters.