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plumeriade's review against another edition
2.0
i barely got past her meeting her dad before i said, oh with this mysterious act he's either gay or dying or both. there's nothing bad about this book, but i don't think there was much actual development of their relationship and the fact that this is a ~issue book~ about her dad but they can't even say the word GAY is just. eh.
leeann20's review against another edition
3.0
I liked the relationship between Clare and her father, but Jaylin and her brothers could have been done away with.
the_clavicule_of_ac's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 ⭐️
A short, introspective read, but missing something. Not life changing, but still impactful.
A short, introspective read, but missing something. Not life changing, but still impactful.
elephant's review against another edition
4.0
This is a lovely story about 15 year old Clare. After her mother gets married for the third time, she sends Clare, who is pining for her stepfather, her mother's second husband, off to visit her father, whom she has not seen since she was too young to remember him. On an island with a virtual stranger, Clare discovers who her father is and what his secrets are. It takes some time, but they forge a relationship as they care for the terrapins that her father catalogues and tries to save even as nature and washashores thwart them. The story is a quick read, and I enjoyed it very much. I received this book free to review from Netgalley.
kit_e's review against another edition
3.0
I was very excited to get a chance to read and review this book. I read Everything I Was a while back and really enjoyed it, so I jumped at the chance to get my hands on this one as well. I had mixed thoughts on this one. I really, really loved it for approximately 99% of the story. The characters are great, the main character Clare is just the perfect mix of stubborn independence and wanting to still be a kid. I hearing her thoughts on her mom and new husband, as well as her first reactions to moving to a really tiny town in Cape Cod and her father, a man she hasn't seen in years.
I really liked some of the little turns that the story took. Since this book isn't out yet I hesitate to give anything away, but suffice it to say that everything Clare believe's about her father and why he left (and stayed away) is up for reconsideration. He's not the man Clare thought he was, and she finally as a chance to both get to know him and find a little bit of herself away from her mother.
Beyond being a coming of age story for Clare, we also get some local issues sprinkled in as we learn about the terrapins who nest on the beaches. Clare's father works tirelessly to save the terrapins and their habitat, which is being encroached on by the people who are building up the land attached to the beach. While living with her Father Clare is introduced to a whole different way of life, and finds herself caring about more then just herself.
And here's the 1% of the book that I didn't like. The ending was very abrupt. The writing was great and I was invested in Clare and her father and even in the terrapins, but then the story seemed to just end, and I'll admit I was disappointed. I wanted to know more. Did Clare end up staying with her father? Did Eleanor (the terrapin Clare saw and named) survive? Did her eggs hatch and make it back to the ocean? Did Clare find the inner strength to stand up to some of the rude kids in town? In essence, what happened next?? I found myself scrolling back and forth to make sure that I really was at the end of the book and that I didn't miss anything. I just wasn't ready to be done with this story yet. Which, on one hand isn't a horrible problem, you want readers to be attached and to want more. However, on the other hand, I don't like closing a book feeling disappointed.
Overall this book was great. I loved the story and the characters, but at the end of the day I wanted more resolution to the story lines. I'm kind of hoping that there is more to come about Clare and her father and their work with the terrapins! This was a lovely story about family and finding yourself, and I think many people will be able to see themselves in the pages of the book. So while I'm hoping for more, I am able to set this book down satisfied that Clare is okay and that she has many great adventures in front of her!
I really liked some of the little turns that the story took. Since this book isn't out yet I hesitate to give anything away, but suffice it to say that everything Clare believe's about her father and why he left (and stayed away) is up for reconsideration. He's not the man Clare thought he was, and she finally as a chance to both get to know him and find a little bit of herself away from her mother.
Beyond being a coming of age story for Clare, we also get some local issues sprinkled in as we learn about the terrapins who nest on the beaches. Clare's father works tirelessly to save the terrapins and their habitat, which is being encroached on by the people who are building up the land attached to the beach. While living with her Father Clare is introduced to a whole different way of life, and finds herself caring about more then just herself.
And here's the 1% of the book that I didn't like. The ending was very abrupt. The writing was great and I was invested in Clare and her father and even in the terrapins, but then the story seemed to just end, and I'll admit I was disappointed. I wanted to know more. Did Clare end up staying with her father? Did Eleanor (the terrapin Clare saw and named) survive? Did her eggs hatch and make it back to the ocean? Did Clare find the inner strength to stand up to some of the rude kids in town? In essence, what happened next?? I found myself scrolling back and forth to make sure that I really was at the end of the book and that I didn't miss anything. I just wasn't ready to be done with this story yet. Which, on one hand isn't a horrible problem, you want readers to be attached and to want more. However, on the other hand, I don't like closing a book feeling disappointed.
Overall this book was great. I loved the story and the characters, but at the end of the day I wanted more resolution to the story lines. I'm kind of hoping that there is more to come about Clare and her father and their work with the terrapins! This was a lovely story about family and finding yourself, and I think many people will be able to see themselves in the pages of the book. So while I'm hoping for more, I am able to set this book down satisfied that Clare is okay and that she has many great adventures in front of her!
miraeli's review against another edition
3.0
Returning to Shore was a nice, quiet, introspective and slow little novel that I read more or less in one sitting. I can honestly say I haven't come across another YA contemporary novel quite like it. It focuses on the main character and her relationship with her father, and there's no romance involved at all.
I might have liked a bit more development and closure on Clare's relationship with her mother, but the relationship with her father made up for any lack on that part. And it seemed like Clare was mostly static throughout the novel; I don't remember thinking she really grew or changed much by the end of the story.
I will say, though, I was rather irritated by how the point of Clare's father being gay was dealt with. A big deal is made out about how he married her mother and had her, and then realized he was gay. It's a rather stereotypical story, and furthermore, it completely erases the existence of bisexuality. He could have been married to her mother and still liked men and been with one after they divorced. It wouldn't have changed much.
Still, that huge flaw aside, I liked it well enough. I'm glad I read it.
(A copy of this novel was provided by the author and publisher through NetGalley for an honest review.)
I might have liked a bit more development and closure on Clare's relationship with her mother, but the relationship with her father made up for any lack on that part. And it seemed like Clare was mostly static throughout the novel; I don't remember thinking she really grew or changed much by the end of the story.
I will say, though, I was rather irritated by how the point of Clare's father being gay was dealt with. A big deal is made out about how he married her mother and had her, and then realized he was gay. It's a rather stereotypical story, and furthermore, it completely erases the existence of bisexuality. He could have been married to her mother and still liked men and been with one after they divorced. It wouldn't have changed much.
Still, that huge flaw aside, I liked it well enough. I'm glad I read it.
(A copy of this novel was provided by the author and publisher through NetGalley for an honest review.)
brucemri's review
4.0
I saw this book recommended as an example of young-adult fiction that also works for adults, and it is. This is a small but lovely, quiet story. The main character's a 16-year-old girl sent off for time with her father, whom she hasn't seen since she was three and has no memory of, while her mother's off on her third honeymoon. Clare peels back the layers of mystery around her father's life with her mother and his disengagement, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. It would have been easy to set up some standard pokes at Clare's mother's very much upper-class life against her father's much poorer life studying sea turtles in Cape Cod Bay, but the father's compassion undermines a lot of snap judgments.
There's a secret at the heart of it all which unfolds gently, and with a bunch of the messiness that so often characterizes real life. Knowing makes some things easier, others harder, and Demas does a great job with Clare's profoundly conflicted emotions, at her father, and at the surrounding world while she's trying to make sense of things.
Since it's tagged as LGBT fiction, the broad strokes of her father's secret will come as no surprise, but this is nonetheless a book very rich in discoveries. I'm glad I read it, and will be looking for more from Demas.
There's a secret at the heart of it all which unfolds gently, and with a bunch of the messiness that so often characterizes real life. Knowing makes some things easier, others harder, and Demas does a great job with Clare's profoundly conflicted emotions, at her father, and at the surrounding world while she's trying to make sense of things.
Since it's tagged as LGBT fiction, the broad strokes of her father's secret will come as no surprise, but this is nonetheless a book very rich in discoveries. I'm glad I read it, and will be looking for more from Demas.
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