Blog tour: Damage by Caitlin Wahrer

 

Tony has always looked out for his younger brother, Nick. So when he is called to a hospital bed where Nick is lying buttered and bruised after a violent sexual assault, his protective instincts flare and a white-hot rage begins to build.

As a small-town New England lawyer, Tony’s wife, Julia, has cases involving kids all the time. When Detective Rice gets assigned to this one, Julia feels Nick is in good hands. Especially because she senses that Rice, too, understands how things can quickly get complicated. Very complicated.

 

After all, one moment Nick was having a drink with a handsome stranger; the next, he was at the center of an investigation threatening to tear not only him but his entire family apart. And now his attacker, out on bail, is disputing Nick’s version of what happened.

As Julia tries to help her brother-in-law, she sees Tony’s desire for revenge—to fix things for Nick—getting out of control. Tony is starting to scare her. And before long, she finds herself asking: Does she really know what her husband is capable of?  Or of what she herself is?

I was so happy to be asked to be on the blog tour for Caitlin’s book. I read this book a little while back on Netgalley and thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks to Penguin Michael Joseph for my e-arc and my gorgeous physical proof! Make sure o check out the last few blogs on the tour!! 

I really enjoyed this book. I wasn’t sure where it was going to go and it took a few turns before it got to the end, this was a good thing as it kept me guessing for a while! 

The story is told from a few different points of view. There is Nick, Tony, Julia and Detective Rice. I really felt for Nick the whole way through the story. The first thing that caught my attention about this book was the male sexual assault storyline, it’s not something I think I remember reading in a book before. So this piqued my interest. Poor Nick, the trauma he endured and was going through afterwards was awful and my heart really went out to him.

Julia I liked, she is a strong woman and knows what she wants. She is Tony’s wife, and Nicks sister in law. Tony was a strange one. I liked his character and the caring nature behind him, but he was easy to snap. I can’t imagine I wouldn’t feel the same though, so I understand his anger and frustration. Detective Rice was one to figure out too, he seems sneaky and underhanded. 

The story has so much hurt in it, sadness and love. It digs deep into relationships with marriage and family. I’d definitely read more from his author.

Thank again to Penguin Michael Joseph, and Caitlin Wahrer for my early copy of the book!

All Girls by Emily Layden

An all-girls boarding school in a hilly corner of Connecticut, Atwater is a haven for progressive thinking and feminist intellectuals. The students are smart, driven and worldly; they are also teenagers, learning to find their way. But when they arrive on campus for the start of the Fall term, they're confronted with startling news: an Atwater alumna has made a troubling allegation of sexual misconduct against an unidentified teacher. As the weeks wear on and the administration's efforts to manage the ensuing crisis fall short, these extraordinary young women come to realise that the adults in their lives may not be the protectors they previously believed.

All Girls unfolds over the course of one tumultuous academic year and is told from the point of view of a small cast of diverse, interconnected characters as they navigate the social mores of prep school life and the broader, more universal challenges of growing up. The trials of adolescent girlhood are pitched against the backdrop of sexual assault, consent, anxiety and the ways that our culture looks to young women as trendsetters, but otherwise silences their voices and discounts their opinions. The story that emerges is a richly detailed, impeccably layered, and emotionally nuanced depiction of what it means to come of age in a female body today.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher John Murray Press, and the author in return for an honest review.

I liked the sound of this book, set in an All Girls Boarding school, what fun this could be! The story focuses on a historical allegation of sexual assault and rape, made by a former student against a teacher. The school newspaper/magazine try to get involved and the school try to keep it under wraps as much as they can. We see a lot of similar stories from girls, which all tie into the theme of the book, and it’s what I knew and expected to happen. But the biggest downfall was that there were far too many characters and it took a lot away from the story. I got confused between girls, forgot who was who and what happened to each girl.

I have this 3 and half stars as it has an important theme, but I couldn’t eat past the many voices in the book.

Thank you to John Murray Press and as always the author, Emily Layden.