sammy234's review against another edition
5.0
The Tiger Catcher is not Paullina Simons best work, and I would not suggest you start here if you've never read her before, but it's still brilliant.
So it gets five stars from me, even though it probably only deserves a four.
If you've never read a Paullina Simons book before, start with The Bronze Horseman trilogy and then move on to Tully. Only read Lonestar after you've read The Bronze Horseman, because they're connected, and don't read The Girl in Time Square until after you've finished all three of those books. It's a wonderful novel, and superior to most books in my opinion, but not as good as some of her other works.
So it gets five stars from me, even though it probably only deserves a four.
If you've never read a Paullina Simons book before, start with The Bronze Horseman trilogy and then move on to Tully. Only read Lonestar after you've read The Bronze Horseman, because they're connected, and don't read The Girl in Time Square until after you've finished all three of those books. It's a wonderful novel, and superior to most books in my opinion, but not as good as some of her other works.
momoshmueli's review against another edition
1.0
So bad lol. It progressively got worse and just plain weird. Literally none of the characters are likable.
hellosarahlou's review against another edition
2.0
Definitely not the book I was expecting to read. Very different from her other novels. Struggled to get through it & often at times wish it would end. Can usually get through a fiction in 2-3 days but this took me a week š« Love Paullinaās work but The Tiger Catcher didnāt do much for me.
elligraydee's review against another edition
2.0
Paullina Simmons is my favorite author (the bronze horseman, girl in time square, red leaves, 11hours). Sheās also had some duds (road to paradise, song in daylight) due to unlikeable characters.
The Tiger Catcher regrettably falls into the second category. Josephine is awful, Julian is irritating and their love story was not even.
Please let the next installment be better.
The Tiger Catcher regrettably falls into the second category. Josephine is awful, Julian is irritating and their love story was not even.
Please let the next installment be better.
sarah621's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
It's no Bronze Horseman, and it's not as good as Outlander - I didn't like Josephine very much and wasn't quite sure what to make of Julian, so didn't fully buy in to the love story between the two - but nonetheless I was sucked down the rabbit hole and when I finisheĀ itĀ I immediately started reading the next book in the trilogy.Ā
delena_mae's review against another edition
2.0
This was the first book from this author that I have read and it was not what I was expecting. The book was well written and easy to read but it was hard to feel compelled by the weak story line. By the end of the book, I just wanted to know how it ended and was not compelled by the actual character development. I don't think I will attempt to read any more from this author, it's not my cup of tea :)
korisulewski's review against another edition
1.0
Probably 1.5 stars... Iām SO sad by this. The Bronze Horseman is my favorite book so I had really high expectations for this one.
But instead of an epic love story, I got a love found, lost, and found again story between two extremely unlikable characters. I barely could get myself to finish.
But instead of an epic love story, I got a love found, lost, and found again story between two extremely unlikable characters. I barely could get myself to finish.
tasmanian_bibliophile's review against another edition
4.0
āāIām dead, then. Good.ā Those were the first words she said to him.ā
Meet Julian. He is handsome, young and runs a successful business. And then he meets Josephine. Julian falls head over heels in love with Josephine. His world revolves around her, everything else in his life becomes secondary. But Josephine is a complex and mysterious woman and she has secrets.
Events and secrets separate Julian and Josephine, but he is unable to accept that he is separated from Josephine for ever. He sees Josephine everywhere; he wants to be reunited with her. In his search, Julian moves from the USA to the UK. His friends, whom heās pushed away, worry about him. Julian has hit rock-bottom, when he meets a mysterious stranger who tells him he may be able to find Josephine again. He will need to give up everything. Sometimes, love requires taking risks.
āThereās an essential conflict built into timeās very natureāthat each and every event was once future, is now present and has since passed.ā
Julianās quest to find Josephine involves time travel and while time travel doesnāt always work for me, it does (mostly) in this story.
āWhile Julian ate, Devi talked to him about the art of catching tigers.
āYou must be quiet and motionless. A tiger is a fearsome, awe-inspiring, lethal force of nature. To catch him will require everything you have. You must become fearsome and awe-inspiring yourself.āā
I donāt want to write more about the story, to spoil it for intending readers. If you are prepared to jump feet first into a work of fiction, to assume that anything may be possible and that (perhaps) true love will triumph, then you may also enjoy this novel. Just imagine. I found this novel very different from Ms Simonās other novels, enjoyable in a different way. This is the first novel in a trilogy, and Iām very keen to read the next instalment.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers Australia for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Meet Julian. He is handsome, young and runs a successful business. And then he meets Josephine. Julian falls head over heels in love with Josephine. His world revolves around her, everything else in his life becomes secondary. But Josephine is a complex and mysterious woman and she has secrets.
Events and secrets separate Julian and Josephine, but he is unable to accept that he is separated from Josephine for ever. He sees Josephine everywhere; he wants to be reunited with her. In his search, Julian moves from the USA to the UK. His friends, whom heās pushed away, worry about him. Julian has hit rock-bottom, when he meets a mysterious stranger who tells him he may be able to find Josephine again. He will need to give up everything. Sometimes, love requires taking risks.
āThereās an essential conflict built into timeās very natureāthat each and every event was once future, is now present and has since passed.ā
Julianās quest to find Josephine involves time travel and while time travel doesnāt always work for me, it does (mostly) in this story.
āWhile Julian ate, Devi talked to him about the art of catching tigers.
āYou must be quiet and motionless. A tiger is a fearsome, awe-inspiring, lethal force of nature. To catch him will require everything you have. You must become fearsome and awe-inspiring yourself.āā
I donāt want to write more about the story, to spoil it for intending readers. If you are prepared to jump feet first into a work of fiction, to assume that anything may be possible and that (perhaps) true love will triumph, then you may also enjoy this novel. Just imagine. I found this novel very different from Ms Simonās other novels, enjoyable in a different way. This is the first novel in a trilogy, and Iām very keen to read the next instalment.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers Australia for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
whiskeyinthejar's review against another edition
3.0
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
There'll be another time for you and me.
There'll never be another time for you and me.
In what is a planned trilogy, The Tiger Catcher introduces us to Julian and his love and obsession for Josephine Collins. From the moment he sees her on stage he is captivated and can't believe when he sees her again months later across the country in a book store. Simons' has this couple's story swirling questions of fate, destiny, mere coincidence, or eons of soul searching. Written in an ephemeral tone, the sentences are shorter at times and moments with and between Julian and Josephine felt like short bursts of energy; the texture of the story takes some getting used to.
The majority of the story is told from Julian's point of view which I think hurt my personal connection to Josephine but probably works for what the author is going for in regards to the overall series structure. After Julian reconnects with Josephine, he immediately breaks up with his girlfriend and becomes consumed with her. He has a very close friend named Ashton that from the beginning is very wary of Josephine and at first you'll probably read it as jealousy; Josephine also has a friend, Zakiyyah, that reads the same way. The story takes a turn, however, and details are revealed about Josephine and the bubble Julian has been living in gets popped.
Be careful who you pretend to be.
The beginnings chaotic happiness is contrasted with the middles abject grief and Julian ends up wandering London and addicted to Klonopin as he deals with the loss of his Josephine. With the knowledge the reader now has about Josephine, there won't be much empathy for this character and Julian's views, thoughts, and emotions start to read very skewed; the beginning feeling of soulmates will be questioned. The writing style of this part made it hard for me to really connect to the characters and therefore this extended wallowing made the story drag. If you have read Simons before though, you'll know that little, seemingly innocuous details, can later have high importance, this thinking kept me locked in.
Julian was no one on a river of nothing on the way to nowhere, all because a Hmong shaman said, you want to see her again?
The later half brings in the mystical aspects that the writing style and tone were working for and the pace started to pick up again. I love when author's take real things, like the Prime Meridian and Transit Circle, and infuse them with myth while utilizing them in fantastical ways. The story shifts from grounded in reality to time travel as the Hmong shaman, Devi, Julian fortuitously or destined found his way to, tells him that while Josephine may be lost to him in this world, he can find her in another. The story then shifts to the year 1603.
āBut they still won't be cheering for you, Lady Mary,ā Julian says. āThey'll be applauding for the thing you're putting on for them, for someone else. Don't you want to be loved for the young woman you actually are?ā
āDon't speak to me so presumptuously about love,ā she says. āAnd no, I want to be loved for the woman I pretend to be.ā
This part of the story I really struggled with, as even though, Mary (aka Josephine) is supposed to be more immature, it makes Julian's obsession with her even more frustrating. If it is the author's intent to make you feel this way because the payoff and understanding develops in the second or third book, I suppose that is understandable since reader's go in knowing this is a trilogy but it still makes this first book a struggle to get through. This latter thirty percent or so, was all Mary being a brat and introducing the idea that maybe we can't change the threads of our fate, predestined is predestined. Heavy questions but not relayed with very enjoyable characters to read about; my relationship with even Julian became very frayed here.
The story ends with Julian leaning toward a possible cataclysmic decision. The fabric of the story and characters was a little murky at times and I wish we could have gotten to know Julian's friend Ashton better (the real love of Julian's life perhaps?). Their friendship was the highlight of the story for me and the only one that rang true. What I found missing could easily be by design because of the trilogy aspect but I'm not sure I connected with or was pulled in enough to read on in the series.
There'll be another time for you and me.
There'll never be another time for you and me.
In what is a planned trilogy, The Tiger Catcher introduces us to Julian and his love and obsession for Josephine Collins. From the moment he sees her on stage he is captivated and can't believe when he sees her again months later across the country in a book store. Simons' has this couple's story swirling questions of fate, destiny, mere coincidence, or eons of soul searching. Written in an ephemeral tone, the sentences are shorter at times and moments with and between Julian and Josephine felt like short bursts of energy; the texture of the story takes some getting used to.
The majority of the story is told from Julian's point of view which I think hurt my personal connection to Josephine but probably works for what the author is going for in regards to the overall series structure. After Julian reconnects with Josephine, he immediately breaks up with his girlfriend and becomes consumed with her. He has a very close friend named Ashton that from the beginning is very wary of Josephine and at first you'll probably read it as jealousy; Josephine also has a friend, Zakiyyah, that reads the same way. The story takes a turn, however, and details are revealed about Josephine and the bubble Julian has been living in gets popped.
Be careful who you pretend to be.
The beginnings chaotic happiness is contrasted with the middles abject grief and Julian ends up wandering London and addicted to Klonopin as he deals with the loss of his Josephine. With the knowledge the reader now has about Josephine, there won't be much empathy for this character and Julian's views, thoughts, and emotions start to read very skewed; the beginning feeling of soulmates will be questioned. The writing style of this part made it hard for me to really connect to the characters and therefore this extended wallowing made the story drag. If you have read Simons before though, you'll know that little, seemingly innocuous details, can later have high importance, this thinking kept me locked in.
Julian was no one on a river of nothing on the way to nowhere, all because a Hmong shaman said, you want to see her again?
The later half brings in the mystical aspects that the writing style and tone were working for and the pace started to pick up again. I love when author's take real things, like the Prime Meridian and Transit Circle, and infuse them with myth while utilizing them in fantastical ways. The story shifts from grounded in reality to time travel as the Hmong shaman, Devi, Julian fortuitously or destined found his way to, tells him that while Josephine may be lost to him in this world, he can find her in another. The story then shifts to the year 1603.
āBut they still won't be cheering for you, Lady Mary,ā Julian says. āThey'll be applauding for the thing you're putting on for them, for someone else. Don't you want to be loved for the young woman you actually are?ā
āDon't speak to me so presumptuously about love,ā she says. āAnd no, I want to be loved for the woman I pretend to be.ā
This part of the story I really struggled with, as even though, Mary (aka Josephine) is supposed to be more immature, it makes Julian's obsession with her even more frustrating. If it is the author's intent to make you feel this way because the payoff and understanding develops in the second or third book, I suppose that is understandable since reader's go in knowing this is a trilogy but it still makes this first book a struggle to get through. This latter thirty percent or so, was all Mary being a brat and introducing the idea that maybe we can't change the threads of our fate, predestined is predestined. Heavy questions but not relayed with very enjoyable characters to read about; my relationship with even Julian became very frayed here.
The story ends with Julian leaning toward a possible cataclysmic decision. The fabric of the story and characters was a little murky at times and I wish we could have gotten to know Julian's friend Ashton better (the real love of Julian's life perhaps?). Their friendship was the highlight of the story for me and the only one that rang true. What I found missing could easily be by design because of the trilogy aspect but I'm not sure I connected with or was pulled in enough to read on in the series.
sharondblk's review against another edition
2.0
So, this book is about a guy (Julian) who meets a woman (Josephine) and they fall in love.
The first two thirds of the book I quite enjoyed. Yes, the couple felt like infatuation, rather than love, but that works with the plot. Then the whole thing goes crazy. Now, the fact that this book is compared to The time Travellers Wife and Outlander probably gives a hint as to what happens next. The main problem for me is that I found the main female character vacuous, manipulative and irritating. The "hero" is so wrapped up in his idea of her that he cannot even consider the reality. So, the question the book is claiming to try and answer "Can true love ever die?" is the wrong question. This is insta-love, it's based on lies and it undermines what Paulina Simons is trying to do.
I do thank NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Spoiler
Then he finds out her name is not actually Josephine, she's called Mia and she is engaged to another man. he never wants to see her again, but then he does and then she gets shot. Then he travels back through time and she is called Mary and she's an arrogant, annoying person. They have lots of sex anyway, because their love is true. Then she dies again, and he pops out back were he left the time line. Since it's been mentioned that every soul gets up to seven go rounds, I imagine the series will be Julian popping in the Mary / Josephine / whatever she is called now timelines. I certainly won't be reading it.The first two thirds of the book I quite enjoyed. Yes, the couple felt like infatuation, rather than love, but that works with the plot. Then the whole thing goes crazy. Now, the fact that this book is compared to The time Travellers Wife and Outlander probably gives a hint as to what happens next. The main problem for me is that I found the main female character vacuous, manipulative and irritating. The "hero" is so wrapped up in his idea of her that he cannot even consider the reality. So, the question the book is claiming to try and answer "Can true love ever die?" is the wrong question. This is insta-love, it's based on lies and it undermines what Paulina Simons is trying to do.
I do thank NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.