"You don't recover. Not all the way. But you do move on. You have to."
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This is an unexpectedly complicated reviewing experience for me. I *LOVED* reading this with the Reading is Subjective Book Club, but I felt pretty neutral about the book itself. It started really strong with Marcellus' emotionally complex character, but sort of lumbered to the final pages. Based on the synopsis, I expected a lot more page time for Marcellus, and honestly would have preferred that.

The reveal happened way too soon for it to be momentous to me when Tova

handed Cameron the ring. 

I also felt like Van Pelt made Marcellus redundant to the plot because Ethan knew the connection already, as did other characters. It felt like the whole octopus friendship thing was a marketing gimmick.

I took a star off for Van Pelt's non-ironic use of the term "perky boobs". I cannot stand that phrase and the underlying nonsense. Cameron's character was deeply unlikeable for 99% of the book, and the 1% of his redemption at the end was rushed with no foundation laid. It felt inauthentic. The dialogue in general also felt really clunky to me.

I liked how Van Pelt wrote about Tova's grief, but I felt like her character was almost unrealistic in her stubbornness. Her shift to openness also felt really sudden/rushed. I think I was just expecting a very different book and so I was thrown off by this. Some of the tone (mostly Cameron) also felt a bit juvenile.

Love the club, felt meh about the book. April is much more promising!!