I didn’t particularly enjoy this book, so it was a DNF from me I’m afraid.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

I struggled to really get into this book - I'm unsure if it was a formatting issue with the kindle version, or whether this was actually the author's intention, but there are no markers of scene changes. Sometimes a scene will begin in a new paragraph, sometimes within the same paragraph as the scene before - call me old-fashioned, but what is wrong with chapters?? Again I don't know if this was an intentional choice, but it can be very disorienting to be reading about a scene taking place in a pub, for example, and suddenly we are on top of a cliff with no warning.

The main characters are quite unlikeable, and while that isn't necessarily a bad thing, it becomes very hard to root for them, or understand their actions. Jenny in particular is very hard to stomach at times - she really gives privileged white woman vibes who's never had to deal with anything going wrong in her life before. The way that she talks about her life in London slipping away (when she's literally been back home for less than a day) is so dramatic that it's hard to take her seriously. At first I didn't mind this, as it is clearly the point when we read about Alex's POV, and we see how the way Alex views Jenny is similarly as a privileged girl who doesn't know true hardship. Alex's character is an interesting one and I enjoyed reading about her life, however I felt this was all for nothing by the end, seeing as her and Jenny just becomes best friends as if they haven't been hating each other's guts the whole time. The only likeable character is Ben, Jenny's London boyfriend, who comes to visit her in her little town and clearly has the same sense of bewilderment and disdain that I had reading about them. Once again however, his likeability is negated by the fact that he gets back together with Jenny by the end. I wanted to scream at him to run a mile!

I also felt like there were some inconsistencies in the timeline of Alex and Jenny finding out about the truth of their relationship with Ted and each other. I don't want to give away spoilers, but there are moments when Jenny acts surprised at what she is learning, when previously there was mention that she already knew it.

Jenny returns home to her seaside village for her father’s funeral. Everybody knows everyone. Lots of memories, then lockdown happens and Jenny stays with her mother.
It is interesting to read about the different relationships in a close knit community.
This book was not for me, as I prefer more lighthearted reads and like to put the difficult times of COVID and lockdowns behind me.

"Things We Lose in Waves" beautifully tells the story of people facing change in Ravenspurn. Jenny returns to a storm-hit village dealing with natural disasters and a pandemic. The book explores relationships and identity as characters like Jenny, Alex, and Si try to rebuild amidst challenges. It's a touching tale of strength found in vulnerability, showing how courage and hope can help in rebuilding when life brings significant transformations.

I was very interested in the book because of the description, but it just wasn't for me. I tried to get into the story and care about what was happening, but I just didn't. I don't think the writing is bad and I think this book has an audience, it just wasn't me.

It is March of 2020 and Jenny Fletcher is back on a desolate stretch of coast battered by the North Sea in the tiny town she grew up in, and which she has spent her adult life trying to leave behind - for her father's funeral. Jenny only plans to stay for a couple of days to perform her daughterly duties before heading back to her real life in London, until a national lockdown is announced and she finds herself trapped in a dying town, her only company her distant mother and all the other people she left behind, including her first love, Si, and her sometime friend/sometime rival, Alex.

Things We Lose in Waves (author Lucy Ayrton's second novel) is told from three perspectives - Jenny, Alex and Jenny's boyfriend, Ben, and the narrative flits between various points in 2020 and 2004, just before Jenny left Ravenspurn and Alex stayed. Of the three, Alex feels like the most fully realised, consistent character, and I found her chapters by the far the most interesting.

Having read a host of recent books that feel very consciously set in 2019 in order to avoid having to deal with the aftermath of the pandemic, it's refreshing to read a novel that faces it head on. It is a bold choice though: 2020 is such a recent - and, for many people, raw - period in history, of which everyone who lived through it has such specific memories, that readers will inevitably be scrutinising the book for accuracy and relatability.

The novel weaves a slew of Covid hot topics into its narrative - the early ambiguity over what was or was not allowed; stockpiling and shortages; furlough and working from home (if you could); masks and hand sanitiser; shielding and the urge to police one another's behaviour. Some of these work well, such as the subtle way Alex and Si's story highlights how the pandemic widened the gap between the haves and the have nots. Others felt forced - notably the section of the novel which focuses on Jenny's boyfriend, Ben, who visits from London between lockdowns and spends his time judging everyone's approach to the pandemic, making uncharitable assumptions about his girlfriend and preaching about Black Lives Matter.

This part of the book was a real low point for me, and I found Ben to be a deeply unlikeable character, which I'm really not sure was the author's intention. From the beginning of the story, Jenny notes how she has felt forced to compartmentalise her life in London and her childhood in Ravenspurn in order to start afresh and be her own person, yet Ben seems determined to assume the worst of her at every juncture and makes no attempt to try to understand what it might be like growing up in a place where everyone made up their mind about you long ago. When she tries to explain how important community is to a declining town like Ravenspurn, he shuts her down immediately because ‘It’s not getting killed by the police, though, is it?’ On this note, I am always wary of white authors writing as Black characters, especially when discussing racism; it doesn't feel like our story to tell, especially when the publishing industry still elevates white voices.

A real strength of the book is the language the author uses to paint Ravenspurn as an almost gothic setting, all crashing waves and crumbling cliffs, particularly in contrast to 'the shine and hard lines of London.' The gradual, inexorable way in which the town is being reclaimed by the sea thanks the coastal erosion is an apt metaphor for the town's inhabitants. Just as they are resigned to the periodic loss of the caravans that perch on the cliff's edge, and to the inevitable eventual disappearance of the ruined hotel, so the townsfolk have accepted their lot as one of poverty, unemployment and limited prospects. They personify the simmering resentment many people in the north, particularly the rural north, felt towards Londoners whom they perceived - rightly or wrongly - to have had an easier time during the pandemic. Some of the characters feel very exaggerated and unlikely, but as a group they provide a realistic depiction of the ennui that can set in if you never leave your hometown. In Ben's part of the book, it was interesting to see the townsfolk clash with someone they saw as representing this privileged urban elite, and to see how impossible it was for Jenny to straddle the divide - they want to reject her as they feel she rejected them, and yet she will never be able to turn her back on them for good.

Some of these historied dynamics are intriguing, but more than one is explained away in a handful of sentences, leaving some key plot points just glossed over. The big reveal is so heavily signposted that it looms opressively over the narrative, an anvil waiting to drop, which only serves to make the reader exasperated with the main character - how did Jenny not know?

Overall, though there were elements of the book I enjoyed, it never quite added up to more than the sum of its parts.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dialogue Books for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.

The Things We Lose in Waves is a beautifully written story set on the Yorkshire coast. The story follows Jenny, whose life is falling apart just as the 2020 pandemic lockdown begins.
Herein in, Jenny has to face her demons from past and future. The losses, the grief and how we move through them.

Lucy Ayrton has done a beautiful job describing how beautiful and how desolate coastal life can be. Being a coastal person myself, originally from East Sussex coast and then migrated north to East Yorkshire. I felt that I was in Ravenspur, feeling that bitter wind of the winter months but how beautiful it is in the summer. My heart went out to both Jenny and Alex, both characters were very relatable to me. Both fighting their corners for their perspectives and feeling like everyone misunderstood them. I loved the ending of the book and what transpired. We lose, we grieve only to love again. 4.25 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Thank you NetGalley and Lucy Ayrton for this arc for an honest review .

"Things We Lose in Waves" by Lucy Ayrton is a hauntingly beautiful exploration of grief and resilience. Through lyrical prose, Ayrton paints a vivid emotional landscape, taking readers on a poignant journey of healing and self-discovery. This novel is an evocative, powerful tale of loss and the human spirit.

I didn't think I wanted to be reminded about what it was like during lockdown but through reading this book I remembered how terrifying it was, not knowing what would become of us and that it's only through the lens of now that I can feel weirdly nostalgic about the shut down. This novel bought back some of the not knowing and highlighted that we only really see the past clearly once we have stepped away and had a different vantage point. Which is what happens to our main character in this book. Revisiting home with all its unaddressed issues and unresolved stories. The star of the book was the wonderful descriptions of the North East coastline and the quickening erosion. A really great read and congrats to the author who worte it during what must have been a fairly turbulent time. It's was my bedtime story for a week and I looked forward to it every night.

Things we Lose in Waves by Lucy Austin

Ravenspurn is falling into the sea. Perched on a remote cliff, storms are claiming more land and more livelihoods each time they hit, and the pandemic is imperilling this isolated community even further. Jenny is returning to what was her home village, but now is a ravaged landscape, eroding into dust.
After her father's death and stuck in a village She desperately escaped years ago Jenny has to make the most of it while ' You must stay at home ' mantra we all lived under.I

There have been a few negative reviews about this book , but I disagree. I believe the author caught the despair of Jenny. , her father's death , having to return to a village where the people within it are living , quite literally on the edge knowing their homes could be lost forever , and the knowledge of the younger people not having much of a chance of good prospects if they remain there. In a word , bleak.

So in conclusion the author set the book to match the feelings of the people within it.

Jenny has recently returned to Ravenspurn on the Yorkshire coast to attend the funeral of her father when the pandemic lockdown of 2020 is announced, forcing her to stay in the town she was desperate to leave as a teenager. The bleak town is slowly disappearing into the sea whenever a storm hits thanks to coastal erosion and the place is steeped in strained relationships and secrets.

Setting a book in a place and among people who are facing struggles can provide a really compelling background in fiction but it's a fine line between struggling and relentlessly bleak. This book veered towards cliche for me in its descriptions of the people of the town - there were far too many stereotypes, every character seemed to be strained to the limit to fit a type and it made them all both unbelievable and unlikeable. The constant warning of "there's a storm coming" felt overdone and repetitive rather than creating an atmosphere of tension and, although the main character was repeatedly said to be not as thick as she appeared, she did seem absolutely clueless about the central secret which was so obvious from the start that I found it hard to believe that was the big unveiling at the end.

All the big secrets and problems between characters were set up as major issues and then resolved in a couple of paragraphs and again, that meant the tension was undermined. Apart from a very odd and gothic final shock twist that seemed a little pointless, it settled into a happy ending that felt trite.

There was some nice writing in the book but the plot and characters didn't really work for me, I'm afraid.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in return for an honest review.

#ThingsWeLoseinWaves #NetGalley

A candid and precise look-back at the recent past and the strangeness of COVID times.

Jenny returns to her home of Ravenspurn for her late father's funeral, a tiny town perched on a cliff overlooking the sea that is encroached on more and more with every storm. Stuck facing the town's guarded inhabitants, including her former boyfriend and friend, Si and Alex, now a couple, Jenny must reflect on the unresolved tensions of her past that keep her tied to Ravenspurn and all of its inhabitants.

This is the first novel I have read that has emerged out of the recent pandemic. I say recent, yet it is remarkable how quickly the very phenomena Ayrton writes about has upended my life then left it again. Reading the characters' experiences of the first lockdown felt like moving back in time three years - uncertainty over the future and what was deemed safe and legal, medical anxiety, the odd places people found themselves in having become 'stuck', for many, stuck in their childhood bedroom. I felt that Ayrton captured these little thoughts and moments very well. She deftly weaves in these pandemic anxieties with Jenny's discomfort at returning home - her strained relationship with her mother and other characters and the feeling of not quite belonging to the place she 'made it out' from, made all the more prominent by the juxtaposition of Ben, her boyfriend. Ayrton writes authentically of the personal clashes of upbringing, wealth, class, education, geographical division, and the ecological consequences that often impact deprived areas, as well as the disjuncture between the people of Ravenspurn and Ben, both of whom are unable to fully understand each other's worlds.

I found this a very enjoyable read but I do not think Ayrton was treading new ground with this book. While she writes very well and her characters are believably and empathetically portrayed, the plot and the characters felt very predictable. I wanted to be a little bit more surprised by each character but they remained firmly within their own realm, and acted according to the notion I formed of them within the first few chapters. This took out out an element of anticipation to my reading experience but it was positive overall nevertheless.

This was one of the dullest books that I have ever read. So much so that I had to stop reading it.
The author did very little to captivate me to read until completion
This is the first story that I have read that relates to COVID, the lockdowns and the restrictions imposed when allowing people out. I felt that this was all lost in the dullness of the lives of the main characters involved.
There didn't seem any real purpose to Alex, Si and Jen in relation to each other or what the whole point of book was.
The only question that I wanted answering whilst trudging through the pages was regarding the stolen necklace but that wasn't enough to entice me to finish the book.
The Author clearly described the hotel in great detail and I felt that more detail in the story would have been beneficial.
I googled the name of the village in the first few chapters so knew what happened to the hotel - had I not then perhaps I would have read more to sooth my curiosity but in hindsight I am glad that I had so I didn't need to continue any longer that I did
The thing that really threw me with this book was the lack of breaks for chapters. I would be reading one line and then the next line made no sense whatsoever until I realised that there should be a break. I'm not sure if this was how the book will be or if it was like this prior to being published?

I wanted to like this. Local small town drama in a town falling into the sea sounded like something I'd enjoy. But I just, didn't.

Every single character was unlikeable, but not in a purposeful way. I have little to no patience for people who seem to go out of their way to have crap lives just so they can complain about it. And Alex lived her whole life going 'waaa nothing ever works out for me' while doing nothing about it. Why was everyone in the town so aggressive about everything? Why was Ted painted as the good guy when he was as shifty as everyone else?
I felt like lockdown was an unnecessary inclusion, I hope not all authors decide to do a covid storyline as basic as this, it feels like a cop out.
Jenny and Ben were an odd pairing, there was nothing at all that made me care about them and I was glad when they broke up, and annoyed that they got back together.
Plus, i don't know the race of the author, but if she is anything other than black then she shouldn't have tried to write a section of the book from the perspective of the only black character as he experiences racism. And the chapter written from 8 year old Alex was weird as well.

Also the term 'pass agg'. No no no.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC but this wasn't for me.


There was also a handful of spelling mistakes. Page 156 has the word 'then' instead of 'than', which is a personal ick of mine.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this early copy of Things We Lose in the Waves by Lucy Ayrton. This was an enjoyable read with some interesting structural choices

I'm afraid I gave up halfway through the 'Things We Lose In Waves'.. The author doesn't use paragraphs correctly - changing from a location or time period in the midst of a paragraph which is both irritating and confusing. In addition, the book is poorly edited with inconsistencies in the content and missing punctuation (eg. missing apostrophes).