Book Review: The Hummingbird's Cage by Tamara Dietrich

The Hummingbird's Cage was a book that made me want to instantly pick it up and read it and within one page I was completely hooked. 
To everyone in Wheeler, Joanna has the perfect life with her handsome sheriff husband and beautiful daughter Laurel, but behind closed doors there is a different story. Joanna lives with a monster, a cruel, manipulative man that she has be subject to abuse from for ten years. Joanna should have fled a long time ago, but that ship had long sailed and now Joanna feels trapped. That is until a stranger offers her the chance of an escape...
The beginning of Joanna's story was incredibly hard hitting. Tamara gives us a scarily realistic look at domestic violence and what it can do to a person. It not surprisingly made for some difficult reading and all you want is for Joanna to find away to leave with Laurel. When their escape comes, my heart was beating so fast; I almost felt like I was with them trying desperately to get away. Tamara creates an absolutely brilliantly tense and heart-pounding atmosphere and a storm could have been going on around me and I would not have been able to tear myself away as Tamara's writing is that immersive.
Having read similar stories before, I thought I had a fair idea of where this story was going to go, but I could not have been more wrong. I won't give too much away, just to say that once I realised just quite where Joanna and Laurel had ended up, I was not quite sure how I felt about the development. However I could not bring myself to stop reading and after my initial doubt, I actually found this new twist almost refreshing. It may not work for some readers, but it definitely worked for me and it definitely gave it that stand out feel.
An emotional and immersive read with a refreshing and very unexpected twist.

The Hummingbird's Cage is out now and available from Foyles

Curl up with a cup of Twinings Tea!