Wednesdays are for (free) books

Wednesdays are for (free) books - The Tiger Catcher

There are spoilers below. Read on an your own peril. Read this book at your own risk anyway. I was very excited when Paulina Simmons The Tiger Catcher came up on NetGalley. Back in the day I loved Paulina Simmons. Tully, Red Leaves, and of course The Bronze Horseman. I will admit I never finished that series, it just went on a bit. Anyway, this was the late 90s and early naughties. Ancient history. Maybe I was more romantic then, I don't know.

So, this book is about a guy (Julian) who meets a woman (Josephine) and they fall in love. Then he finds out her name is not actually Josephine, she's called Mia and she is engaged to another man. he never wants to see her again, but then he does and then she gets shot. Then he travels back through time and she is called Mary and she's an arrogant, annoying person, not that she wasn't annoying before. They have lots of sex anyway, because their love is true. Although she doesn't know about any of that. Then she dies again, and he pops out back were he left the time line. Since it's been mentioned that every soul gets up to seven go rounds, I imagine the series will be Julian popping in the Mary / Josephine / whatever she is called now timelines. I certainly won't be reading it.

The first two thirds of the book I quite enjoyed. Yes, the couple felt like infatuation, rather than love, but that works with the plot. Then the whole thing goes crazy. Now, the fact that this book is compared to The time Travellers Wife and Outlander probably gives a hint as to what happens next. The main problem for me is that I found the main female character vacuous, manipulative and irritating. The "hero" is so wrapped up in his idea of her that he cannot even consider the reality. So, the question the book is claiming to try and answer "Can true love ever die?" is the wrong question. This is insta-love, it's based on lies and it undermines what Paulina Simons is trying to do.

I don't like giving a two star review to an e-ARC, particularity when it is actually well written, but i realised if someone gave me the sequel I wouldn't read it. If someone offered to pay me to read the sequel I still would have to think very hard. I thank NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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