What an intriguing book. Split into two parts, one told from Siwar's POV and one from Wyatt's POV, this story kept my attention and had me asking the the question... Who killed Siwar?

Natasha Tynes offers a unique voice in They Called Me Wyatt. Not only is a murder mystery it is a coming of age for two characters. This story unfolds with a Jourdian women finding conscious self trapped in an american three year old boy. Not only is it a culture shock its a life shock. This novel is a great read.

Thank you to Netgalley, Rare bird books and author Natasha Tynes for providing me with an advanced copy in return for an unbiased review.

I was hooked on the premise, killed on her 25th birthday Silwa's subconscious is implanted on a 3 year old boy wyatt, she remains dormant until wyatt turns 25 and he hunts for her killer.

I thought i sounded fascinating a cool new mix of thriller, paranormal muder mystery.

While i enjoyed the book i felt it did not live up to what i hoped it would be in the end but i still enjoyed

This was the most bizarre book I have ever read. I had trouble fitting it into a genre, but I think paranormal murder mystery could work. I'm not sure if any other books like this exist, so I was very intrigued by the synopsis. The book started off strong, but I quickly lost interest.

I read an advance copy, which could explain the alarming rarity of commas throughout the book, but either way, this book needs another look by a heavy-handed editor before publication. There was too much unnecessary detail, especially at the beginning where I felt like I was drowning in an excess of details about Siwar's life. The writing was awkward and often painful to read, especially when Siwar first awoke in Wyatt's body. Many other characters could have benefitted from a lot more development, especially Wyatt's mom.

Her personality completely flipped from the first to the second half of the book. At the beginning, she was my least favorite character, but as the story went on, most of the other main characters took her place. When I finished, Siwar was my least favorite character. I thought she was a terrible person and it seemed like she was toying with Wyatt for her own amusement instead of helping him solve the mystery behind her death.

If I had just picked up this book on my own and hadn't been given an advance copy, I would not have made it very far into the story; it was strange, awkward, and frustrating to read. However, I owed it to the author and publisher to give an honest review based on the entirety of the book I read. With editing and tweaking, I could see this book being much stronger, easier to read, and much better overall.

Thank you to Netgalley, Rare Bird Books, and Natasha Tynes for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

‘They called me Wyatt’ by Natasha Tynes has such an exciting premise. 1 night you are pushed off a rooftop to your death and then you wake up in the body of a young child. Your conscious has lived on, you have the opportunity to investigate your own murder but to do so you will have to wait in limbo for years as this new body doesn’t even know how to speak as you are just a toddler.

I’m going through a phase just now where the description of a book blows me away and unfortunately once I start reading the novel just doesn’t fulfil my expectations. It’s so frustrating and disappointing and also leaves me confused. I’m confused because I find myself thinking about the book and wanting to discuss it because the plot is so exciting but I don’t actually want to recommend people to read it as I feel they will be left unfulfilled.

What didn’t make ‘They called me Wyatt’ a success for me was; the pace, the characterisation, the conclusion - really a little bit of everything but it was an exciting premise and kept me hooked until the end just for the simple reason of wanting to discuss the murderer.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free ARC in return for an honest review.

I had to DNF this book after reading a few chapters. I wasn't really a fan of the style and I didn't think it would be fair to the author to give a full review a book I know I'm not going to enjoy.

They Called Me Wyatt was unlike many books I have read before. First, a thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of your debut novel for an honest review. Coming to you in June 2019.

They Called Me Wyatt is about a young Jordanian woman, Siwar, who was murdered on her 25th birthday. After Siwar’s death, her consciousness survives by being implanted in a speech-delayed 3 year old boy, Wyatt. While Wyatt grows up her voice does not interfere with Wyatt's life. On her 25th birthday everything changes, Wyatt learns about Siwar's death and her conscious awakens as well. .

Once Wyatt learns about Siwar's death it is safe to say he becomes obsessed with finding out what happens to her. The story starts alternating points of view, and it is so interesting to hear the perspectives of Wyatt and Siwar throughout the novel. I also thoroughly enjoyed the different cultural aspects of being able to see what a life of an immigrant from Jordan was like, compared to Wyatt's life.

They Called Me Wyatt was such a unique and captivating read. Thank you Natasha for providing me with an ARC of your debut novel for an honest review. Coming to you in June 2019.

They Called Me Wyatt is about a young Jordanian woman, Siwar, who was murdered on her 25th birthday. After Siwar’s death, her consciousness survives by being implanted in a speech-delayed 3 year old boy, Wyatt. Her conscious goes dormant while Wyatt grows up, but on his 25th birthday, the same day she died, Wyatt learns about Siwar’s death thus awakening her conscious. Wyatt finds himself inexplicably drawn to this case and will stop at nothing to find out who killed Siwar.

This was a story unlike anything I have read before. Natasha seamlessly blends murder mystery and the supernatural together in this story. I loved how the book was told in alternating points of view, between Wyatt and Siwar’s consciousness. The setting takes place back and forth between the United States and Jordan, letting you get a glimpse of life as an immigrant and the hardships endured. What an amazing cross-cultural read with a mystery that kept me guessing until the very end.

They Called Me Wyatt is one of the most unique books I have ever read. The storyline is very original and you should go into reading it with an open mind. It took me awhile to adjust to the story and was unsure for the first few chapters, but once I got the pages turning I was pleasantly surprised at how captivated I became. The book deals with contrasting Jordanian and American cultures, and has a depth I initially wasn’t expecting. It was interesting to read about life growing up as an Arab girl, versus an American boy. I would recommend They Called Me Wyatt to anyone looking to expand his or her perspective. It was a refreshing and intriguing story.

I loved the premise of this story. It was what made me so excited to picked this book up in the first place. I haven't seen a ton of racial diversity in mysteries, so it was nice to see that this was what appears to be an #ownvoices book, as the girl who was murdered is from Jordan and the author is Jordanian-American.

The story itself was interesting. I was engaged from the first page of the story. The main thing that bothered me was that this book definitely needs a good edit. There were multiple mistakes that would be remedied with a good edit, from punctuation to some minor grammatical errors.

I did like that, during the first part of the book, it was all from Siwar's point of view as she tried to navigate things in the body of a three year old boy. You caught the tiniest of glimpses of what went through her mind whenever the diaper had to be changed on Wyatt's body and how she dealt with having a penis all of a sudden when she hadn't had much interaction with one in her own life prior to her murder. You could also see the struggle of having to learn out to navigate this three year old body when her 25 year old self says, "I know how to do this!" Especially since at the age of three, Wyatt is speech delayed and she can't use his voice to explain what had happened to her.

During part two, the voices of Wyatt and Siwar were just different enough to be noticeable. There were parts that felt like that they were on the similar side. But after cohabiting in someone else's mind, I can easily forgive that part. Even with living with someone for that long, you tend to pick up at least one habit of the other person. And since Siwar had nothing but her consciousness, I could easily get past that.

Towards the end, there was a conversation that Wyatt had with his friend Adam over the phone that felt a bit forced. The things that were said didn't quite flow naturally. I cringed a bit reading that specific bit of the story.

When we got to the end of the story where we find out who actually committed the murder, I was hoping that it would be a cop out. The story took a bit of a turn before we found out and, for the most part, I wasn't super surprised at who the murderer was. It did, however, make sense that the murderer was who it was.

Rating: Ignoring the punctuation mistakes: 3.5/5 stars Not ignoring the punctuation mistakes: 2.75/5 stars

The blurb of They Called Me Wyatt was nothing short of intriguing. I was hooked. I wasn't too keen on the cover but the premise definitely got me reading the book. Aside from wanting to know who killed her, this different kind of reincarnation was a fresh take on a fictional work. And I wasn't disappointed.

The book is divided into two parts. Part I is wholly from the point of view of Siwar, the Jordanian girl who was pushed to death on her 25th birthday, and whose consciousness transferred to Wyatt, a three-year old with whom she shares her birth date. The how and the why of her reincarnation, if you can call it that, was not explained. Maybe because it simply is unexplainable.

It’s wonderful to find laughable incidents when Siwar realised she's in a different body. They served as a breather from all the mystery and darkness that surrounded her murder.

In Part II, the point of view switched between Siwar and Wyatt, who is now a fully grown-up man whose extremely interested in Middle Eastern culture, with her niece as his girlfriend. The development of Wyatt's awareness of Siwar's presence in his mind and her hand in almost all aspects of his life was convincing and unnerving. It raises many questions as to his true identity and personality, though. How much of Siwar was Wyatt? Who, really, is Wyatt? Or, worse: Is there really a Wyatt?

For the most part of the book, Siwar's loneliness, regrets and sadness prevailed. Dying young has robbed her of many things in life. She had many dreams and aspirations which were cut short by a murderer. But perhaps, the most glaring of all her misgivings was her disappointment in dying with her virginity intact. Her insecurities and repressed sexuality resonated throughout the book. In relating her life story, the author brings us a vivid glimpse of Arabic, specifically, Jordanian culture, and how girls are treated (or judged?) there, especially when it comes to having relationships with boys. The narratives involving Siwar's involvement with several boys foreshadowed the solution of the crime. The twists and turns are enjoyable and the murderer turned out as someone you'd not imagine it to be.

There are a few typographical and grammatical errors which could have made reading this book more pleasant. But all in all, They Called Me Wyatt is a fine work of fiction that is at once humorous, poignant, and suspenseful.

This was a great story that takes place in both the US and the country of Jordan.
Siwar dies at the same time Wyatt is born. Siwar's consiousness is awakened 3 years later in the body of Wyatt. Years later, when Wyatt is 25, Siwar starts "talking" to Wyatt and we eventually follow his journey to find out what happened to Siwar. I was on edge as we got closer to finding out the truth and it's not what I expected.

Let me just say, They Called Me Wyatt is not something I would have picked up on my own. However, reading the synopsis seriously intrigued me and I found myself sucked into this strange and unique story of Siwar and Wyatt. They Called Me Wyatt was an entertaining read for sure and lovers of supernatural mysteries will love it! However, I felt like I was drowning in the details of Siwar’s life. While I enjoyed getting to know her, and she was a well-developed character, I couldn’t get attached to her or to Wyatt for that matter. The chapters interweave between Siwar stuck in Wyatt and her time in Jordan as well as in the US before her death. That is until halfway through the book when the story is picked up by Wyatt solely.

I’m a stickler for well-edited books and this one definitely needs to be edited as there were many grammatical issues I found that distracted me from the story. Still, Natasha Tynes has created a remarkable and unique mystery that I think many will enjoy! I have never read anything quite like what she has written. The way she manages to fit the pieces of the puzzle together are outstanding and I look forward to reading many more of her works!

**I received a copy of this book from the author for an honest review.**

Wow this book was really good. To be honest I didn't expect it to be that good. I don't read mystery books very often but when I read the blurb on this one I was very intrigued.
I was so engaged with the story. The mystery around the murder kept me reading and reading, I so wanted to find out who killed her. But it wasn't just that. The whole book is written in really unique way. I loved how the author delivered the story to the readers. And I really loved her writing. The pace was good too. I enjoyed it very much. Although is not my go to genre I did enjoyed it and I highly recommend it to people who like mystery suspence books. I think this book will be a total hit. And I give it 5 stars. Amazing read. Well done to the author.

They Called Me Wyatt is broken up into two distinct parts, with a unique twist on the “multiple point of view” idea over the novel’s duration. Part I presents Siwar, a 25 year old Jordanian student studying at the University of Maryland. In her own words, Siwar is murdered at the hands of a mysterious assailant, as she’s pushed off a rooftop bar, falling to her death. Despite the notable handicap of being dead, Siwar still communicates with the reader through the being of another normal three year old child. Wyatt, a child born possibly at the same moment of Siwar’s death, is the vessel to which Siwar’s life force awakens three years later. While having the motor skills and general appearance of the toddler, Siwar controls Wyatt’s body, and tasks herself with trying to communicate with Wyatt’s parents, who can’t seem to figure out what’s so peculiar about their first born child. As Siwar struggles to cope with this cruel interpretation of the afterlife, she kindly supplies the reader with stories of her Jordanian childhood, and what shaped her into the person she was, up to the moments before her premature end. Part I’s structure can be a little confusing at first, as we have to be careful to comprehend whether we’re reading something from the past or present. Once you get the hang of this however, the content is engaging and the anecdotes of Siwar’s Jordanian upbringing helped me personally understand the perspective of the character. As a relatively uncultured American, I found it compelling to grasp the cultural differences and unfortunate prejudices that would challenge a young woman from Jordan transporting her life to the “land of opportunity.” 


Part II flashes forward to Wyatt’s 25 birthday, the same age as Siwar at the time of her death. Wyatt these days has control of his faculties…sort of. Unbeknownst to him, Wyatt’s life has become intertwined with Siwar’s. He has interests in Middle East language and culture, and surrounds himself with people that Siwar would surely approve of…including having a relationship with a member of Siwar’s extended family. For some reason that he couldn’t explain if he tried, Wyatt is compelled to learn more about the death of this young girl, and to solve the case once and for all. Through Part II we still have a back and forth narrative, but Siwar’s energy is more complex now. She’s somehow grown as an entity inside Wyatt’s mind, and both of them are struggling with this arrangement. Siwar appears to being growing insane in her prison, and understandably so. Her attitude to the reader becomes more daft, while still yearning for justice. In my personal read-through, Siwar’s mannerisms in Part II were akin to the 80s character Max Headroom, which probably wasn’t the intent but seemed to mildly amuse my “audience-of-one.”


My favorite concept that was explored throughout the entire novel, but particularly in Part II, is the idea of deja-vu. Our main characters are battling inexplicable familiarities with people, places, and experiences they may never have had themselves. While Wyatt is plagued with this more than the average person, the author’s interpretations make me wonder what else might be living inside my own mind. Do we all have souls pass through our energies as we live our day to day lives? While I’ve thankfully never had recollections of gruesome death, who’s to say that the old ice-cream shop or football field that display in my mind from time to time don’t have a meaning to some other person that’s interacted with my being. While I’m not the most spiritual person in the world, the author’s concept allows me to explore that possibility in my mind, and gives a strange sense of comfort to some inexplicable feelings or memories that may never have been mine in the first place.


Rating: They Called Me Wyatt by Natasha Tynes is a well-developed, complete novel that is best described as a “page turner” that doesn’t need to rely on dramatics to keep the reader interested. Believable characters, interesting settings, and detailed experiences of life both in the Middle East and America aid in keeping us focused despite the novel’s unconventional pace. If you’re able to keep your mind as open as the novel’s concepts suggest, you might even learn something about yourself in the process.

This book had such an interesting premise that I immediately downloaded it and put aside the rest of my current reading list. The main character has such a strong, compelling voice that I was completely drawn in and it ended up exceeding my expectations!

During Part 1, Siwar alternating between flashbacks as herself in Amman, Jordan and current three-year-old Wyatt in Seattle. I loved her instinctual reactions to both Western culture and the idiosyncrasies in the life of a toddler. The second part almost feels like a sequel to the first part, with Siwar's consciousness being the connecting factor. There's a struggle for control during the majority of Part 2 between Siwar and her now much older host, Wyatt.

The second part also focuses more on the mystery of who killed Siwar 25 years prior. You're kept guessing even when you feel like you've figured it out! While we never figure out how or why Siwar woke up in Wyatt's body, the author manages to wrap up the story with a satisfactory bow.