Himself by Jess Kidd REVIEW

I kindly received the novel Himself by Jess Kidd for review purposes.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster Canada. 

A highly unusual tale set in a highly unusual Irish village full of dark secrets…Lushly imagined, delightfully original, and very, very funny, it hurtles along from the very first page” (M.L. Stedman, author of The Light Between Oceans).

I really enjoyed reading this novel and it was easy getting attached to some characters and not so much to others. I got a clear picture of what each character is like. The writing in this novel is wonderful and flows nicely. I love the mix of humour with seriousness. I found it to have a lovely balance of mystery, romance and humour.

The story takes place in a small Irish town. The story is adventurous and made me laugh and intrigued me.  The characters stirred my emotions and allowed me to feel happy, sad and at the end very content.

I really enjoyed getting to know each character. I found my self cheering on the main character Mahony from the beginning.  I found my self wanting to find out what happen to his mother’s disappearance and why she left Mahony at the orphanage. I really liked some characters and annoyed by others. I truly enjoyed the mix of the living and the dead. Yes the dead! Which made it so exciting and gave an erie feel to the novel and pulled me in as a reader. Can you tell I love ghosts?

I really liked the romantic parts. It wasn’t too much. Just the right amount. The book has a great mix of dark parts and funny parts.  I also enjoyed the character of Mrs. Cauley so much. She reminds me of the dancing teacher from the Gilmore Girls in a way. I absolutely love how she encouraged and stood up for Mahony many times.  I feel that Mahony really needed that support. He definitely finds many connections, some are good and some are really bad.  This novel is definitely worth reading.  

I give this book a 4 out of 5!

*Thank you to to Simon and Schuster Canada for this lovely book.