It Comes and Goes in Waves: #ComeBackForMe by Heidi Perks @HeidiPerksBooks @arrowpublishing #TeamHeidi #BlogTour

🥳 HAPPY PUBLICATION DAY, HEIDI PERKS!

Thank you for writing amazing novels turning me into a huge fangirl! 🎉

You can read my review of Now You See Her here!

I would like to thank the amazing Rachel at Century for inviting me to be part of this blog tour and, more importantly, to hold my #TeamHeidi banner high on this special day. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Title: Come Back For Me
Author: Heidi Perks
Date of publication:  11th July 2019
Publisher: Century
Format: e-ARC
Number of pages: 400
Rating: 🧚‍♀️🧚‍♀️🧚‍♀️🧚‍♀️🧚‍♀️

A shocking discovery. An island wrapped in secrets.You can bury the body, but the truth will always surface…

A tiny island community is stunned by the discovery of a long-buried body. For Stella Harvey, the news is doubly shocking, as the body is found in the garden of her childhood home. The home her family fled without explanation twenty-five years ago.

Now, questioning her past and desperate to unearth the truth, Stella returns to the Dorset island.
But she quickly finds that the community she left isn’t as welcoming as she remembers – and that people in it will go to any length to protect their secrets. But one thing rings true… You can’t bury the truth forever.

Two times, one rhythm. You see, each of Heidi Perks’ books has one rhythm. They change according to the story the author has decided to tell. But underneath the beautifully crafted music, there’s a familiar note, this firm knowledge that you are in good hands. The core of Heidi Perks’ work makes your mind react to an invisible song.

Two times, one family. In 1993, Stella and her family leave the island they have been living on for years, in the middle of a stormy night. These days, Stella is a therapist living in the city. Now, I love therapists. In capable hands, they become the best subjects to analyse. It is fascinating to see how they can fail to understand a situation they find themselves in when they spend their time advising others! The mind works in special ways…

Stella never really came to terms with leaving Evergreen, the tiny island she used to call home. With its 100 inhabitants and remoteness, I first wondered who could live there, and why. Then I began to see it with Stella’s eyes, kids eyes, filled with happy memories. Memories which gave me a picture that would later be distorted. Atmospheric doesn’t even to begin to describe the book. Each description is raw, the cold clashing hard against Stella’s warm recollection of the place, as if Evergreen itself doesn’t want to be disturbed. Too late for that!

When Stella learns that a body has been found at the back of her old house’s garden on the island, curiosity takes the better of her and she can’t stop the nagging feeling she must go back. I admire how the author always hints at where in their life her characters are, and in Come Back For Me, the news of a crime so close to her childhood home comes at the right time for Stella. It acts as a trigger, a sign that some things have been left unsaid, some secrets have hung in the air too long, and that some things need to change. Accompanied by a cold breeze created by the sharp and exquisite pen held by Heidi Perks, I began a journey with Stella, her parents, her sister Bonnie, and her brother Danny.

The thing is, journeys are not always nice and easy. Islanders are not always happy to see new and old faces on their land. The two different timelines gave me the impression to be on a boat, a slave to tormented waves pushing me at times closer to the shore, at times far away towards the horizon.

The past and the present play tug-of-war, revealing bits and pieces slowly, excruciatingly. Heidi Perks did a magnificent job at creating a palpable tension with her narration of the summer of 1993, that fateful summer before the family had to leave. You get the sense something awful has happened, but days go by and I bet you whatever you want that you won’t be able to keep your mind from going crazy with all kinds of scenarios. With a limited list of characters and a really small place for all to be, I was kept on my toes, feeling layers after layers of secrets and lies pile up to create a tide that nothing would ever stop.

The present reveals itself piece by piece too. I had a feeling that that night when everything changed had had tremendous consequences on the family and I was absolutely right, but it was pure delight to discover who each character had become one page after the other. Scars from the past heal but never leave. Dysfunctional, broken in places no glue or tape can fix, this family is the perfect lead in a drama full of shadows. I felt claustrophobic on the island. I felt claustrophobic in Stella’s shoes, past and present. I felt my chest tighten every time I thought I was getting closer to the truth. The behavior from old and new islanders left me puzzled, sad, scared, but always, always wanting for more! It was as if the air itself was trying to speak while the people were stubbornly keeping their mouth shut. Why? Isn’t a dead body a good enough reason to talk? Sometimes, it’s not!

Come Back For Me gave me the chills. It offers me questions and a quest for answers. I am in awe of how the author used an unearthed tragedy to dig up a giant chunk of history. Finding out what happened to the victim is a mean to get to what happened to Stella and her family. I loved how the author intertwined the story of the island with the events that led them away. I don’t know about you, but I don’t mind reading about such settings when they are both beautiful and dark!

Heidi Perks has a unique way to catch your attention. More than another psychological thriller, Come Back For Me is a family masterpiece with a thick coat of intrigue and family drama. This novel is a cry from the past and from a place.

You can grab your copy today as it’s publication day!!! Amazon / Hive

Don’t forget to check out my fellow bloggers’ posts on the book! You won’t be disappointed!

Heidi Perks lives by the sea in Bournemouth with her husband and two children.
Heidi graduated from Bournemouth University with a BA (Hons) in Retail Management, and then enjoyed a career in Marketing before leaving in 2012 to focus on both bringing up her family and writing.
Heidi successfully applied for a place on the inaugural Curtis Brown Creative online Novel Writing Course and after that dedicated her time to completing her first novel, Beneath The Surface.
She has a huge interest in what makes people tick and loves to write about family relationships, especially where some of the characters are slightly dysfunctional.
Her second novel, Now You See Her was published by Century, part of the Penguin Random House group in 2018 and became a Sunday Times Bestseller and Richard and Judy book club pick.
Her third novel Come Back For Me is out July 2019 and she is now writing her fourth to be released in 2020.

Advertisement