What do readers think of Tenderness by Rowan Beaird? Write your own review.

I enjoyed the fact that the emphasis is on character development rather than action. But would have been enjoyed learning more about the inner workings of cults (like Synanon) and how they manipulate intelligent people to join and stay.

Tenderness by Rowan Beaird is a beautifully written story that unfolds at a gentle pace, allowing the characters and their relationships to develop naturally. While I found the beginning a bit slow, I appreciated how the story gradually drew me in.

One of my favorite aspects was the alternating points of view, which gave each character a distinct voice and added depth to the emotional journey. The shifting perspectives helped me better understand the motivations and vulnerabilities of everyone involved.
This is a thoughtful, character-driven novel that explores love, family, and the complicated choices we make. Readers who enjoy quieter stories with strong emotional undercurrents and well-developed characters will likely find much to appreciate here.

Thank you to BookBrowse & NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

This story hooked me from the beginning. The writing is beautiful, and the complex characters are fairly well developed. I learned a little more about Synanon. I liked having the story told by three different narrators. The plot developed slowly, at a steady pace, with emotional tension and a somewhat ominous feeling hanging over it. Themes of complex family dynamics, love, friendship, heartbreak, disappointment, and grief would be good discussion topics for a book club. I wanted a little more detail about the ending and how it affected various characters.

From the moment I started Tenderness, I became involved with the characters and was very curious about where they would be when the book ended. This isn't to say that I liked them or even found them easy to understand, but I definitely cared about them. The issues the characters faced were difficult. Most of action in the book happens at a destination wedding which takes place over a long weekend providing for moments of reflection and looking back over what happened prior to the wedding.

I enjoyed the author's writing very much. Her descriptions are excellent; I felt I could actually see what was happening. I believe this would be an excellent choice for a book group. Discussing the characters, their actions and their decisions would provide opportunities for discussion. I feel certain there would be disagreements on how characters acted which always provides for good interaction among book club members.

I will look forward to reading other books by this author and thank BookBrowse and NetGalley for allowing to read Tenderness and offer some thoughts.

Shay, a recent escapee from the notorious cult Synanon, is to be wed to her affluent boyfriend over the weekend at his parent's island getaway. Among the guests, tension ebbs and flows as cult members are spotted and an old boyfriend rekindles his relationship with Shay.

Family dynamics, cult culture, possible murder, violence, the value of telling the truth and the differences between the haves and have nots alternately rise to the surface and quietly sink in this hard to define genre of a novel. Possibly part murder mystery and romance, a few of the characters are interesting, yet the action or lack thereof, tends to confuse and slow the already rather banal story.

I found the book chapters hard to follow and many times a bit redundant. The one redeeming part of the book was the title. It was perfect for this book. The author showed how tenderness could exist among characters. A tenderness that was long term that could be relied upon. Interesting the children were tender with each other in spite of lack of parental role models. The parents seemed to be self-serving and uncaring towards their offspring.

TENDERNESS
By Rowan Beaird

3.5 stars rounded down
Set in the 1970s on a remote island off the coast of Virginia, Tenderness unfolds over the weekend of Shay and Andrew's wedding. Having recently escaped a violent cult, Shay arrives carrying emotional scars and secrets from her past. As family and friends gather to celebrate, tensions simmer beneath the surface. Shay's brother, William, hopes to reconnect with her, while Joel, a former boyfriend, struggles with unresolved feelings. Rumors of an uninvited guest only add to the growing unease.

This is a slow-burn literary suspense novel that leans more heavily into family drama and character exploration than cult thriller. Told through the perspectives of Shay, William, and Joel, the story maintains a sense of foreboding, with the cult's shadow lingering over much of the narrative. As the wedding weekend progresses, it becomes clear that nearly everyone is keeping secrets.

The emphasis here is on emotional tension, relationships, and character development rather than plot-driven suspense. The characters are messy and flawed—which I generally appreciate—but I found many of them frustrating, making it difficult for me to fully connect with their journeys. The mystery didn't truly gain momentum for me until the final quarter of the book.

I did enjoy the isolated island setting, which added to the atmosphere and sense of confinement. This was my first experience with Rowan Beaird's work, and while Tenderness was ultimately an okay read for me, I would be open to reading more from her in the future.

The audiobook narration was solid, and I appreciated having different narrators for each of the main characters, which helped distinguish the shifting perspectives.

Thank you to NetGalley and BookBrowse for the eARC

The novel Tenderness by Rowan Beaird comprises 5% dialogue and 95% "tell, don't show" narrative in the form of long, interior, explanatory passages, sapping the story of energy and ultimately preventing the reader from engaging with the characters and story.

Astonishingly, Tenderness gives little to no sense of Synanon — not the cult's complexities, evolutions, and deep evils, its methods and expansions, its leaders and yes-men — although Synanon was supposed to be a primary component of the novel.

The novel evokes virtually nothing of the year 1976, despite some throwaway phrases about clothing. It conveys no sense of era at all.

William and Joel both come across as uninteresting losers; they certainly aren't characters who could earn and sustain the reader's attention. And Shay is more of a concept than a character. These problems are due in part to the "tell, don't show" narrative, but run deeper than that: the three main characters don't give the reader any reason to invest in them, for better or worse.

Tenderness as a novel is neither "tender" nor tough — thus the title is a head-scratching misnomer.