I was really surprised by this book, as I thought it was going to be a thriller, but instead, it was a literary women's fiction masterpiece, which I loved!

The story is about a girl called Eulabee, a girl called Maria, and their friends, who are from San Francisco, and the book is set in the 80's. The writing was superb, and I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook narrator, who did a great job. It felt like I was on an adventure, in a different space and time. This isn't the type of book I would normally read, but I am so glad I did, as it was a lovely surprise to really enjoy it! I have been to San Francisco for three holidays in my past, so it was really nice to be back there in this book! Highly recommended!

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

This audiobook appealed to me mainly based on the gorgeous but simple cover however I'm pleased to report that it’s story is just as gorgeous. A coming of age tale based around Eulabee, a teenager living in Sea Cliff, San Francisco and attending a prestigious and elite school. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and the narration is excellent. Thank you Net Galley.

An intriguing mystery/coming-of-age story that is both subversive and funny. Vendela Veda does a great job of capturing that transition between being a child and a teenager, and exploring the dark microcosm of teenage girl society in the 1980s. Eulabee and Maria Fabiola go to a private girls school in the exclusive San Francisco neighborhood of Sea Cliff, and are best friends until Eulabee notices that her friend is growing and receiving a lot of attention in a way that she is not. Much drama ensues, including several missing persons and a potential kidnapping. The audiobook is narrated by Marin Ireland, who does a fantastic job of emoting all of Eulabee's feelings and experiences and I think this made the story even more enjoyable than reading it on paper.

Eulabee is 13 and growing up in San Francisco during the 80’s. She, along with a lot of the community, is swept up by the enigmatic Maria Fabiola and as her best friend, Eulabee is suspicious when Maria disappears.

This book is a good example of a ‘coming of age’ novel. The characterisation of Eulabee is really well done, she has a distinctly dark sense of humour that comes through brilliantly. I also liked the sense of a world saying goodbye to the free love of the 70’s and adjusting to the harder edges of the 80’s.

For me however, the storyline failed to grip me enough to love this book. It’s enjoyable overall, the exploration of the theme of trust was good but I just felt a bit underwhelmed overall.

Unfortunately my app didn't work for audio on this so I read the e-book instead. Therefore I can't comment on the narrator for the audio but I LOVED the book.

The book is wonderful at evoking the claustrophobia of teenage years, when friends fall out and it feels like the end of the world.

It‘s set in 1980s San Francisco where Eulabee has a friend (Maria Fabiola - great name!) who seems to eclipse all their other friends and mesmerise even adults.

I read this in practically one sitting - highly recommended!

I tend to avoid reading YA books and books written from a teenager’s point of view because I have quite enough embarrassing teen angst of my own to relive at 3am without adding a fictional character’s, thanks very much. I decided to make an exception because Vendela Vida’s ‘Run the Tides’ sounded interesting, and I’m so glad I did – what a riot.

We Run the Tides is a debut adult fiction novel about teen Eulabee and her magnetic best friend Maria Fabiola, who both attend an all-girls school. One day a disagreement separates Eulabee from her friendship group, and then Maria Fabiola’s sudden disappearance puts Eulabee and her ex-friends right at the front and centre of school gossip.

Vendela perfectly captures teenage girlhood – the moment that puberty comes creeping, forcing you from preteen into teen, and the hold that friendship can have when you’re young and impressionable. Eulabee is a great narrator. She’s got a great sense of humour, and though she’s very observant there’s still a layer of self-centredness that naturally comes with being thirteen. The result is a protagonist who is, in some sense, wiser than her years and with a better grasp of what's right and what's wrong than her friends, but is also drawn towards the pull of her classmates. So many great moments, especially towards the end of the novel, and her interactions with English teacher Mr London – I was very sad to say goodbye to her.

Maria Fabiola. Oh, Maria Fabiola. Her surname is never dropped, and rightly so – she fully deserves her wonderful parody of stardom. She’s absolutely awful, a horrible friend and a *really* shameless liar, but God, did I admire her tenacity. I’d quite happily read a sequel from her point of view, watching her outrageously lie her way from drama to drama.

Incredibly good fun. I did read it as an audiobook, but I’ll be picking up a physical copy for a reread too, because minus one scene with an older man at an engagement party that I wasn’t sure was necessary, this was a perfect read for me. It almost makes me nostalgic for school days – almost!

Thanks @netgalley for my audio copy – and great narrator choice!

This review also appears here at my bookstagram tackling.the.tbrs; instagram.com/p/CP3vYfEryIi/

I love books about female friendships, especially set around this gentle period of coming of age! This was a superb story about how we can get carried away when we are young, how easily inspired and manipulated we can be when chasing popularity and being liked! I enjoyed the setting, and the protagonist was excellent. The way it also finished years ahead brought a nice touch. Very enjoyable read, and something I might revisit in a little while!

I thoroughly enjoyed this thought provoking novel. At times there was a level of specificity that I really liked, while at other times it felt general in a powerful way - a chosen anecdote reflecting something that felt very true to female and girlhood friendships, I thought a lot about things from my own youth - and I understood why we were being told them. There was a rich sense of character that allowed me to feel both a connection to and also the absolute difference between myself and the characters in the book.

The audiobook narrator was good with a deadpan delivery of our protagonist's off beat humour and managing to convey well the underlying emotions to many of the scenes.

I was reminded of Clap When You Land, Another Brooklyn and some of Curtis Sittenfeld's short stories. High praise indeed.

My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

We Run The Tides by Vendela Vida.

Eulabee is thirteen. It’s 1983. She lives in a foggy Oceanside neighbourhood of San Francisco, yet to be conquered by tech giants.
Eulabee and her friends know the streets. They know who lives where, they know the tides and how to cross beaches safely and they know the private school and its intricacies , where they all attend.
Then they see something horrible on the walk to school or do they? They disagree with what they witness and friendships are fractured and Eulabee is ostracised. The community is shaken by a kidnapping and a web of lies and mystery engulfs their lives.

This book was not what I thought it was going to be. I loved it. It was wonderfully poignant , a little bit dark, witty and lovely.

It perfectly captures the beauty and awkwardness of being an almost 14 year old girl. The influencing power of friendship and the depiction of friend groups where there is always a queen bee who pulls the strings. It explores how teenage girls are viewed and how they view themselves. I think we grew up quicker in the 80s and 90s than most teenage girls do today. Maybe I’m naive but I think or rather hope, life as a teenage girl is a bit easier today.

Eulabee’s mother is Swedish and there’s some lovely telling of Swedish traditions throughout the story. I loved the relationship between mother and daughter, it’s very much in the background to the main story but it’s well captured.

The whole book is exceptionally well written. It reminded me , in parts, of Sally Rooney’s writing and it’s a story that completely brought me in from the opening chapters and was impossible to put it down, very addictive reading and a satisfying conclusion. Recommend.

4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


I listened to this on audio and the narration was perfect. The melodic voice of the narrator captured the humour, uncomfortableness, warmth and wit of the book, so well.

We Run The Tides is out now. Thank you to @netgalley and the publishers W.F Howes for the review audiobook copy.

An intriguing mystery/coming-of-age story that is both subversive and funny. Vendela Veda does a great job of capturing that transition between being a child and a teenager, and exploring the dark microcosm of teenage girl society in the 1980s. Eulabee and Maria Fabiola go to a private girls school in the exclusive San Francisco neighborhood of Sea Cliff, and are best friends until Eulabee notices that her friend is growing and receiving a lot of attention in a way that she is not. Much drama ensues, including several missing persons and a potential kidnapping. The audiobook is narrated by Marin Ireland, who does a fantastic job of emoting all of Eulabee's feelings and experiences and I think this made the story even more enjoyable than reading it on paper. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a story that is a little bit dark, mysterious and funny all at the same time.

This feels sub-Megan Abbot tracing those dangerous teenage years of influential friendships, burgeoning sexuality, confusion and misplaced confidence - a loss of innocence story. But it lacks depth and doesn't always make sense. The audio book is excellent, though, with a clear and characterful narration. Book 3-stars, audio book 4-stars.

I liked this book, it works well as an audiobook and the narrator is very good.
This book had intrigue, suspense, drama, and a decent storyline! There were definitely some twists and turns , I definitely recommend reading this book! Or even better lay back and listen to the audio version.

A super quick read, very captivating. The story, the writing and the narration draw you in right away. Especially likes the last part, when we get a look in the adult life of our main characters. Reccomend this if you want something fast.

You know it's a good book when you're excited to do chores so you have an excuse to listen to more...

Set in the '80s, We Run The Tides follows Eulabee and her close-knit group of friends at her exclusive private middle school in a well-off area of San Francisco in the '80s, near the coast. One of those friends, Maria Fabiola, is that magical, special girl, the one who goes through puberty first, who seems to capture everyone's imagination. The girls' friendship is tested after they witness something on their walk to school, and then Maria Fabiola goes missing.

I adored this book. I loved the writing, the descriptions of San Francisco, the aspects of Swedish culture dotted through the book (where Eulabee's mum is from) and how the friendships and the repercussions of the falling outs and Eulabee's worries/concerns felt so completely realistic. Despite the fact that the main character and I have two decades and an ocean between us (and I didn't go to private school), it felt so relatable, taking me right back to those awkward, difficult early teenage years. Also, while some stories felt like they could have been explored more (such as the new au pair and Eulabee's father's family) it also felt like that's how a girl of Eulabee's age might have experienced them - at a time when your world is quite small, centred around school, close family and friends, perhaps it's right that you wouldn't delve into those other lives and experiences so much.

I listened to this on audio and thought the narration was great too, thoroughly transporting me.

A book I can imagine re-reading and recommending to anybody who loves a story about girlhood and being a young teenager (I wouldn't say it's coming-of-age exactly, but you might well like it if you enjoy those sorts of stories). One of my favourite reads of the year so far.

This is captivating. A rich and sweeping story of a group of young friends in 1980s San Fransisco who navigate that awkward and devastating moment between childhood and adulthood. Eulabee is a realistic, somewhat tragic character, who moves through the Bay Area streets at the mercy of boys, parents, shame, truth, lies, and missing girls. Short chapters amp up the drama, and the early part of this book comes off almost like a thriller. Just what happened to Maria Fabiola, and what does it have to do with the event Eulabee refused to lie about involving the creepy man in the car? It becomes a sharp coming of age story that is authentic, nostalgic, captivating, and sad. The narrator here is great, though offers Eulabee a slightly more confident tone than I expected. Her shifts between character work well, and her accents offer added realism. I enjoyed this: a great day's listening.

Book blurb: We Run the Tides is about young teenage girls in 1984…

Me: Outta my way!

There’s really no faster way to sell me on a novel than to tell me its set in the ‘80s, unless you also mention the protagonists are of my generation (Gen-X, represent!). That basically means there was no way I wasn’t going to read Vendala Vida’s latest book, even if early reviews have been somewhat mixed.

The thing about We Run the Tides though is that it is perhaps so accurate in its depiction of being a 13-year-old girl that it is awkward, uncomfortable, and cringe-worthy. Girls are mean, and natural-yet-kinda-gross things are happening to their bodies. What’s your gut reaction when you hear the word “puberty?” That might be a good indication of how you’ll feel reading this book.

The audiobook benefits from narration by the always-stellar Marin Ireland. She’s a nice fit for the first-person voice of main character Eulabee. I could really relate to her struggles being ostracized by the popular girls, particularly the pathological liar leader of the pack. I’m just not sure all readers will… or will want to.

3.5 stars

I received a complimentary review copy of the audiobook from W.F. Howes LTD via NetGalley. We Run the Tides is now available.

This is a glorious and engaging coming of age story about friends Eulabee and Maria, teenagers gadding about San Francisco. The two girls share everything until a chance encounter on the way to school one day leaves each of them believing completely different things. The resulting strain on their friendship comes to a head with Maria’s disappearance. Has she been kidnapped? Yes, there is some suspense, but the overwhelming takeaway from this book is recapturing that once in a lifetime feeling of freedom we all had before we had to grow up