What do you think?
Rate this book
The Return
Near Haven is like any other small, dying fishing village dotting the Maine coastline—a crusty remnant of an industry long gone, a place that is mired in sadness and longing for what was and can never be again. People move away, yet they always seem to come back. It’s a vicious cycle of small-town America.
Liza Hawke thought that she’d gotten out, escaped across the country on a basketball scholarship. A series of bad decisions, however, has her returning home after nearly a decade. She struggles to accept her place in the fabric of this small coastal town, making amends to the people she’s wronged and trying to rebuild her life in the process.
Her return marks the beginning of a shift within the town as the residents that she’s hurt so badly start to heal once more.
Length: approx. 85,000 words
Themes: Contemporary fiction, Lesbian
Liza Hawke thought that she’d gotten out, escaped across the country on a basketball scholarship. A series of bad decisions, however, has her returning home after nearly a decade. She struggles to accept her place in the fabric of this small coastal town, making amends to the people she’s wronged and trying to rebuild her life in the process.
Her return marks the beginning of a shift within the town as the residents that she’s hurt so badly start to heal once more.
Length: approx. 85,000 words
Themes: Contemporary fiction, Lesbian
322 pages, Paperback
First published November 10, 2014
4 people are currently reading
103 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 12, 2015
Alas! I've been sitting on my notes for this one, struggling for the motivation to type them up. Nikki's wonderful review cleanly listed off all my objections before I got there; I would very much recommend you read her thoughts before buying this book.
Still here though? Right then -
Liza Hawke is a former collegiate-level basketball player, who leapt at the opportunity to leave the quiet town where she grew up. She immediately fell into bad company, and was left carrying the can (in the form of receiving stolen goods) for a scumbag boyfriend. Now she's out of jail and out of options, reluctantly (so reluctantly) heading back to her tiny town in the hope the residents will take her back in.
Honestly, this book is grey and joyless. Almost aggressively so. Everything the light touches is painfully serious and dour. The relationships – which are key in a story of this type, which is honestly better described as a character study without much plot – those relationships fail in every significant way. Liza is arrogant and alienating. She broods constantly, finding fault with everyone and everything while ignoring their acts of welcome and kindness. This is the symptom of a broader problem - the narrative suffers from an excess of 'telling' rather than showing' - ie there is a severe disconnect between what the author is simply telling me as a thought-dump and what I am “seeing” as the character moves through the world. Nikki suggests that this book as a work of ascended fanfiction, and truly this explains a lot. It would suggest the author has learned to rely on character relationships she can assume are already built in a audience's mind; unfortunately when marketing a work as an original, without that context then “fresh” readers like myself simply don't give a flying fuck about the people described.
I say again, this book is reliant on its characters – the relationships are vital to layering and nuancing the world. Once we've gone through the montage of newspaper clippings and Liza is safely placed in the town, the action effectively stops. From then forward, literally the only things outside of relationships to receive any serious attention are that Liza gets a job and that she finds a lawyer. So the plot is negligible, but the relationships relied on instead are not enough. For example, theoretically the most central relationship is the romance. Alas for the reader, Sofia – the love interest – and Liza have no chemistry. Or rather, we are told they have chemistry, at odds with what we are actually seeing. Frankly, if anything, the main character should have abandoned Sofia as a lost cause and pursued her best friend, whom she had the advantage of actually talking with occasionally and liking somewhat.
But then again, Liza was deeply unlikable – so maybe the best-friend is well clear. Anti-heroes are supposed to be flawed in ways we can relate to – needless to say I felt the main character was contemptuous in the same way a narcissist is, in that she barely considered the impact of her current actions on other people even as the author told us she had “really changed” from the selfish teenager she had once been. Liza was problematic in ways I don't believe the author even noticed.
So there is the rub; certain promising developmental leads we were told as author-exposition never bore fruit; certain characters just showed up without explanation or exposition; the main character is unlikable in terminal ways; the relationships are cold and lifeless; everyone takes themselves too seriously.
The irony is that the author is technically competent, and had a good editor. That's why it gets a star above the floor from me. Musing on my reading experience of this as a whole, I suppose if this had been approached differently, it could have been a good book – not a yarn, because character studies don't really make good yarns. What it needed was a sense of humour, a self-aware protagonist capable of finding joy, secondary characters treated with respect, and a gentle approach to the romance. No amount of technical competance will compensate for those flaws.
I cannot recommend this novel.
Still here though? Right then -
Liza Hawke is a former collegiate-level basketball player, who leapt at the opportunity to leave the quiet town where she grew up. She immediately fell into bad company, and was left carrying the can (in the form of receiving stolen goods) for a scumbag boyfriend. Now she's out of jail and out of options, reluctantly (so reluctantly) heading back to her tiny town in the hope the residents will take her back in.
Honestly, this book is grey and joyless. Almost aggressively so. Everything the light touches is painfully serious and dour. The relationships – which are key in a story of this type, which is honestly better described as a character study without much plot – those relationships fail in every significant way. Liza is arrogant and alienating. She broods constantly, finding fault with everyone and everything while ignoring their acts of welcome and kindness. This is the symptom of a broader problem - the narrative suffers from an excess of 'telling' rather than showing' - ie there is a severe disconnect between what the author is simply telling me as a thought-dump and what I am “seeing” as the character moves through the world. Nikki suggests that this book as a work of ascended fanfiction, and truly this explains a lot. It would suggest the author has learned to rely on character relationships she can assume are already built in a audience's mind; unfortunately when marketing a work as an original, without that context then “fresh” readers like myself simply don't give a flying fuck about the people described.
I say again, this book is reliant on its characters – the relationships are vital to layering and nuancing the world. Once we've gone through the montage of newspaper clippings and Liza is safely placed in the town, the action effectively stops. From then forward, literally the only things outside of relationships to receive any serious attention are that Liza gets a job and that she finds a lawyer. So the plot is negligible, but the relationships relied on instead are not enough. For example, theoretically the most central relationship is the romance. Alas for the reader, Sofia – the love interest – and Liza have no chemistry. Or rather, we are told they have chemistry, at odds with what we are actually seeing. Frankly, if anything, the main character should have abandoned Sofia as a lost cause and pursued her best friend, whom she had the advantage of actually talking with occasionally and liking somewhat.
But then again, Liza was deeply unlikable – so maybe the best-friend is well clear. Anti-heroes are supposed to be flawed in ways we can relate to – needless to say I felt the main character was contemptuous in the same way a narcissist is, in that she barely considered the impact of her current actions on other people even as the author told us she had “really changed” from the selfish teenager she had once been. Liza was problematic in ways I don't believe the author even noticed.
So there is the rub; certain promising developmental leads we were told as author-exposition never bore fruit; certain characters just showed up without explanation or exposition; the main character is unlikable in terminal ways; the relationships are cold and lifeless; everyone takes themselves too seriously.
The irony is that the author is technically competent, and had a good editor. That's why it gets a star above the floor from me. Musing on my reading experience of this as a whole, I suppose if this had been approached differently, it could have been a good book – not a yarn, because character studies don't really make good yarns. What it needed was a sense of humour, a self-aware protagonist capable of finding joy, secondary characters treated with respect, and a gentle approach to the romance. No amount of technical competance will compensate for those flaws.
I cannot recommend this novel.
February 7, 2017
Classic story
I wasn't sure what I was getting into with this book. But the more I read it the more I ended up loving it. The characters were not Perfect, but that is what made them all seem real. They all had something to work through. The storyline was not a fast pace story but it worked. Seeing them all trying to find themselves was interesting. I would definitely recommend this book.
I wasn't sure what I was getting into with this book. But the more I read it the more I ended up loving it. The characters were not Perfect, but that is what made them all seem real. They all had something to work through. The storyline was not a fast pace story but it worked. Seeing them all trying to find themselves was interesting. I would definitely recommend this book.
February 19, 2018
i really liked the story. however the writing bugged me a little. it seemed sometimes a bit rushed and sometimes it lacked attention on the parts where it needed it more. overall i did enjoy it though, plus its gay, so, like.
November 7, 2017
I received an ARC from Ylva in exchange for a honest review
This book is hard to rate... I liked the story and the idea of the story but something about it just couldn’t rope me in... it seemed kind of flat to me there were no ups and downs and it stayed in the same mood throughout.
This book is hard to rate... I liked the story and the idea of the story but something about it just couldn’t rope me in... it seemed kind of flat to me there were no ups and downs and it stayed in the same mood throughout.
February 26, 2017
I rec'd a copy from Ylva in exchange for an honest review. No synopsis necessary. Main characters Liz Hawke (once a promising basketball player) returns home after fulfilling a jail term and her "love interest" is Sofia. There didn't seem to be enough of a hook to pull me into the story and I found it a bit difficult to finish. The plotline was good, I just couldn't seem to settle into it. 2.5 stars
June 1, 2015
To be totally honest I had a hard time getting into this story which probably makes people wonder how it scored a high review. I actually finished this story a while ago and have been letting it simmer and Liza Hawke is still there a little confused but slowly getting into the groove of her new life. This story is solid in that it takes a piece of life and fills it with emotions and events that hit each and every one of us. Ana Matics was able to capture all of this and make The Return into a story that is going to sit with the readers. Liza Hawke is a flawed person in ways that many of us can see in ourselves. She is suffering from repercussions of decisions made when she was young and innocent. Anyone can think back and wish, hope, and envision how our life would be different if only. What I appreciated about Ana Matics approach to this question is her presentation of Liza Hawke's character as she did what many of us probably wish we could do, she goes home. The story doesn't focus on the mistake rather the start of how to transform life yet again and engaging the people that make her family a home.
December 31, 2016
*Note: I was provided a copy of this book by Ylva Publishing
Rating: 4.5
The Return was a story that I loved! We follow Liza Hawke a young woman who goes back to the small town she grew up in after losing her career, money, and she is going through some hard times. We see Liza come home and reconnect with those who she left behind. Through this we see the power of friendship and how people and their friendships can still be strong after being apart for so long. I could easily relate to Liza because she is working towards bettering herself and getting back on her feet.
Disclaimer, I heard about this book because it is based off the show Once Upon a Time and follows the ship Swanqueen. With that being said, this book as a SQ story is much darker then what I am used to reading but the author did an amazing job at showing grief and how past events can leave a mark on a person.
I 100% recommend this book to everyone, not just SQ fans, who are up for a good slightly emotional read.
Rating: 4.5
The Return was a story that I loved! We follow Liza Hawke a young woman who goes back to the small town she grew up in after losing her career, money, and she is going through some hard times. We see Liza come home and reconnect with those who she left behind. Through this we see the power of friendship and how people and their friendships can still be strong after being apart for so long. I could easily relate to Liza because she is working towards bettering herself and getting back on her feet.
Disclaimer, I heard about this book because it is based off the show Once Upon a Time and follows the ship Swanqueen. With that being said, this book as a SQ story is much darker then what I am used to reading but the author did an amazing job at showing grief and how past events can leave a mark on a person.
I 100% recommend this book to everyone, not just SQ fans, who are up for a good slightly emotional read.
November 12, 2015
Absolutely love the cover. The story was good, and it made the most of its interesting setting on the coast of Maine, where the weather is a character in its own right. But I spent most of my reading time feeling frustrated that, with just a bit more writing / editing work, this could have been a really great story. I'm looking forward to next time, when I trust that Ana Matics and Ylva Publishing will earn a fourth star from me! I believe in what you're doing, peeps, I really do.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews