PLOT & PACING:
The novel follows Aubry Tourvel, a girl cursed to keep moving—unable to stay in one place longer than a few days without dying of a mysterious illness. On paper, it’s a fascinating premise. In execution, it felt like watching a series of disconnected postcards flip by. There was little cause and effect, no clear stakes, and no satisfying arc—just “and then… and then… and then.”

CHARACTER & VOICE:
Aubry, the central character, never really came alive for me. Because the novel is told in third person and spans decades, it’s hard to feel truly tethered to her emotionally. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was watching her from a distance, rather than walking beside her.

STYLE & ATMOSPHERE:
There are some lovely passages here and there, but overall the prose didn’t elevate the story enough to hold my attention. I paused the book around the 100-page mark, only returning months later to finish it on audio—and even then, I struggled to connect.

THEMES & DEPTH:
Westerbeke’s novel attempts to explore ideas like fate, isolation, and the search for meaning—but without a strong emotional or narrative throughline, these themes feel abstract rather than earned. Without clear consequences or evolution, it’s hard to feel what any of it means.

PERSONAL TAKE:
I wanted to love this. Truly. I picked it up because of the Addie LaRue comparison, and if you’ve been following along, you know how much that book means to me. But this wasn’t it. It’s not that the premise didn’t have potential—it’s that the storytelling never followed through in a satisfying way. Still, I respect the ambition and the effort of a debut author stepping into such big narrative shoes.