Review: The Tiger Catcher (End of Forever #1)

Title: The Tiger Catcher (End of Forever #1)

Author: Paullina Simons

Publisher: 15th April 2019 by HarperCollins Publishers Australia

Pages: 528 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: romance, time travel

My Rating: 2 crowns

Synopsis:

Can true love ever die?

Julian lives a charmed life in Los Angeles. Surrounded by friends, he is young, handsome, and runs a successful business. Everything changes after he has a fateful encounter with a mysterious young woman named Josephine. Julian’s world is turned upside down by a love affair that takes him—and everyone else in his life—by storm. For the two new lovers, the City of Angels is transformed into a magical playground.

But Josephine is not what she seems and carries secrets that threaten to tear them apart—seemingly forever.

A broken man, his faith in tatters, Julian meets a mysterious stranger who tells him how to find Josephine again if he is willing to give up everything and take a death-defying trip from which no one has ever returned.

So begins Julian and Josephine’s extraordinary adventure of love, loss, and the mystical forces that bind people across time and space. It is a journey that propels Julian toward an impossible choice which will lead him to love fulfilled…or to oblivion.

The Tiger Catcher takes readers from the depths of despair to the dizzying heights of joy in the first novel of an unforgettable trilogy of love lost and found. For all fans of Outlander, The Time Traveler’s Wife, and Jojo Moyes.

My Thoughts

Paullina Simons fame from ‘The Bronze Horseman’ trilogy saw her loved by many far and wide. So news of a new trilogy had fans in eager anticipation. Billed as an ‘epic romance’ was encouraging. Sadly, however, Paullina has some known misses for her equally huge hits and I found this latest instalment fell into the former category. Whilst the concept (following along similar lines to Time Traveller’s Wife) was understandable, this book regrettably fails, in my opinion, due to some really poor and unlikeable characters. 

It would be hard to describe the relationship between the two main characters as epic, as the type of love portrayed was anything but. Both leads were difficult to connect with and the first part of the book is rather drawn out with little gained. Josephine I just did not like  (at all!) and Julian lacked a backbone. For me, it wasn’t love, rather convenience and infatuation. There was just no depth to their relationship and I could not be sold on it.

The concept is credible as stated and quite unique. I cannot really elaborate as it would give away some incredible twists and turns. Yet, I feel it is important for someone venturing into this read to understand that this is no regular romance as there are unusual plot twists. I could be more accepting of this if I was invested in the two main leads, however, that was never going to happen. 

I am so disappointed that I did not like this book as I was hoping for a romance on the scale of Tatiana and Alexander (Bronze Horseman) but it was not to be. Instead I was given shallow characters where one was manipulative and the other, gullible. Two stars for Paullina’s writing and research, with credit for creative imagination.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

The Summer Garden by Paullina Simons

Don't let the size of this tome put you off - you should find yourself flying through the pages. If you've gotten this far and read The Bronze Horseman and The Bridge to Holy Cross then you'll be dying to finish the series and reach a resolution for Tatiana and Alexander. You won't be disappointed.

I don't want to give anything away but this was definitely written at the same calibre as the first novel. It was just as gut-wrenching and just as powerful. Finishing these three books, gave me such a feeling of satisfaction. This story, of two people in incredible times, THIS is what reading is all about.

This is the kind of book you dream about at night. These are the kind of characters who infiltrate your thoughts all day. This is the kind of story that stays with you for your lifetime. I may never have lived in Lenningrad during WWII; I may go to my grave having never seen Russia but I have experienced it with a ferocity that only an imagination can conjure. I have lived someone else's lifetime within my own...and what an incredible lifetime it was.

These are novels I will revisit again one day. I cannot praise them highly enough. I wish I could read them for the first time again!

Royal Rating:

The Bridge to Holy Cross

If 'The Bronze Horseman' stole my heart then 'The Bridge to Holy Cross' has stolen a few weeks of my reading life. Was it worth it? Well, it still deserves 3.5 stars but I do have a few bones to pick in my review. Consider yourself warned.

This book began brilliantly. I was absolutely enthralled from the opening chapter and Simons effortlessly kept up a pace and tension that rivalled 'The Bronze Horseman'. On my birthday, I was reading it on my work break and something major was happening. As my lunch break ticked over I literally had to FORCE myself to put the book down. I had a crazy conversation in my head about priorities and work responsibility that just kept being met by my whingy inner-child who answered with 'But it's my BIRTHDAY!'. The point of telling you this is so you understand the depth of my rapture for this book.

Then, the flashbacks started. Now Simons had been EFFECTIVELY using flashbacks to keep up tension and give the reader an understanding of Alexander's childhood up till that point but then she made a big mistake. There was about 150 pages in the middle of the novel that I was forced to skim as the author retold the story of Tatiana and Alexander. Seriously, she retold a condensed version of The Bronze Horseman. Now being that she wrote both books in third person, I can honestly not for the life of me understand why she did that if not just to fill up space. No new information was revealed.

Needless to say, my enthusiasm for the book was considerably curbed at that point. I forced myself to keep reading but it took me another two weeks to get through. It was actually the idea of going on to read my other birthday books that spurred me to hurry up and finish this one.

And then something surprising happened.

I got hooked again.

The ending to the novel was as breathtaking as the start and Simons was completely redeemed for her sagging middle. The story of Tatiana and Alexander is so powerful that it could probably carry even the most boring plot but Simons's magic is that her plot, most of the time, is as frenetic as her main character's love scenes. The remind me of a Russian Jamie and Claire, a Russian Nathaniel and Elizabeth, a Russian Henry and Claire. They are a love of such passionate, violent proportions that the Red Army can't keep them apart.

So, as faithfully as one of Stalin's commrades I will read 'The Summer Garden' even though the size does make me a little dubious. I am well and truly captured by Tatiana and Alexander and I just have to know what becomes of them.

Royal Rating:

The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons

I am now forever indebted to my friend Belinda who begged me to read this book (I believe I am now one in a long list of Paullina Simons converts for Bel). I had previously read 100 pages of Tully and wasn't too impressed but I thought I'd give it a go anyway.

I am so glad I did!

What a beautiful book!!!! Alexander is absolutely amazing and the love story weaved between him and Tatiana is heart-wrenching. This love story is easily as emotionally involving as Jamie and Claire (Outlander) or Henry and Claire (Time Traveller's Wife). The romance component of this novel allowed the characters to grow and the author to show them at both their best and worst. Passionate and gutsy, the characters in this novel do not disappoint.

I haven't read a book set in the Soviet Union in WWII before so that was a large draw card for me. The war and historical elements were a massive part of the book without being overbearing or losing their human feel. I found myself with damp eyes more than once during the starvation of Leningrad and came away from the book with a greater understanding of a time and place that previously held no interest to me.

I don't know why but I always thought of WWI & WWII as boy's history and Medieval England as girl's history. Silly I know. Maybe it's because my Dad loves to tell me stories about the warfare of WWII and Mum has regaled me with individual survivor tales of that period. Paullina Simons however has changed all this for me. I am proud to announce that I will no longer automatically turn up my nose at WWII novels and exclaim "That's too modern," like it's a dirty word.

The only criticism I could possibly offer The Bronze Horseman is that at times it does tend to go on too much and you may find yourself skimming. I did just feel like that was purely a by-product of the author being so completely engrossed in her characters though. It's a fair trade-off.

Royal Rating: