In Wild Dark Shore, we follow the story of Dominic Salt and his three children in the isolated island of Shearwater, who on a stormy day, find a woman stranded alone on the peripheral of their home. Between the uncertainty of the future of the island waiting on the horizon & the whisper of the taunting past, Dominic has to unravel the mystery behind the woman's appereance while keeping his sanity.

First book by Charlotte McConaghy, Wild Dark Shore is my finale for March reading list. Have to admit, at first I was a bit skeptical with what kind of direction this book's going to take me especially with both version of the cover art (I'm a bit picky with that) which didn't raise my curiosity enough. Yet, as my commitment towards myself (2026's personal goal by the way) & cryptic opening of the first chapter, I decided to just trust the universe & keep going.

A choice I didn't regret because this book had a certain charm of mystery that would pull you right off the bat. It's probably the eerie silent of the island, the dark history behind it or the unforgiving roaring ocean but I'm locked in since the first chapter. Everything enticed me, from the world building of Shearwater, which heavily inspired by Macquarie Island (heavily recommended to Google this island and look up the wonderful scenery and ecosystem surrounded it) in which the author had an opportunity to visit herself thus make the setting of this book authentic. The topic of critical condition of environment become the main subject in here & salute to Charlotte to make it as real as possible so as reader, I still feel heavily related to it. The characters also had their own perspective thus make the story more balance and well-informed to the readers so a game of guessing pretty much non-existed. In Wild Dark Shore, Charlotte also raised the topic of sexual assault & child grooming (Hank, you could go to hell by the way), which once again, created a real, authentic & reliable reading experience.

Alas, despite all this perfection, the part where Dom & Rowan unabashedly surrendered in their lust motivated by emptiness and loneliness of their heart didn't amused me at all. Somehow, it felt forced because they're both a widow, trapped in isolated island with nothing but seal and penguins as their witness so some hanky panky would naturally happened. However, it's just my opinion and I think it didn't disrupted the whole fervor of the story.

Anyway, this book is a masterpiece and you guys should read it!

at first I was a bit unfamiliar with the story of Gangga; of course, I have known her as one of the major goddess in Hindu’s culture, she’s basically the source of life that sustain India’s civilization. But my knowledge is limited and I didn’t know her more than that.

Goddess of River by Vaishnavi Patel is a retelling story of Mahabarata from the perspective of Gangga, the goddess of the river. Throughout the story, we see how the transformation of Gangga from an immortal goddess to an ordinary mortal and then back again & her loving relationship with her son, Devavrata or Bhisma. Motherhood & its trials & tribulations, in my opinion, become the main topic inside the book; how Gangga, despite Bhisma keep his distance, always trying to be there for him & gives her advice. This act of love, for me, is a symbol on how mother’s love are boundless & timeless.

Anyway, much praise for the author for doing her research in depicting Gangga’s story. Mahabarata has become one of my best childhood memories; I remember most of Indonesian’s born on the 90’s were literally raised by Indian movies & legends & one of our television station even make their own version of Mahabarata so by reading Gangga’s story, a deep sense of familiarity had washed over me thus make my experience with this book is pretty engaging & enjoyable. Nothing but a standing ovation & five stars.