Reviews for The Ocean in Our Blood

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Tara’s honest account will pull on your heartstrings and make you want to keep your loved ones close. The absorbing story is sectioned into three parts—before Dorian, during, and after.  As someone with little or no knowledge about hurricanes, the author has done an excellent job of enlightening me. She went into great detail about preparing for a storm and learning to decipher weather patterns. Tara eloquently described what she was thinking while the storm was at its worst and provided images her partner had captured throughout. Floating debris, sewage, and chest-deep water—truly heartbreaking visions of destruction. Survival is only one part of an arduous journey. Rescue and the full hurricane aftermath bring on a slew of new problems—homelessness trauma, which the author addresses. The horror, joy, and sadness—”The Ocean in Our Blood” explores the far-reaching effects of a hurricane.

This immersive story will appeal to readers who enjoy nonfiction books about family and survival. Tara’s raw narrative is both heartbreaking and inspirational—it was certainly an eye-opening testament to the fragility of life and how we should never take things like shelter and safety for granted.

What a remarkable story of courage, endurance, strength and survival. This book was so good and through my tears, I continued reading because I couldn’t wait to see what happened. It was very gripping and real and also encouraging to me as a Dorian survivor too. I was able to identify with so many of the feelings and experiences!

Dorian was a monster, one none of us will ever forget. We are all here, we survived and came out on the other side, hopefully better, stronger and more resilient!

Thank you for sharing your story!

Tara Pyfrom’s debut story of hurricane survival plunges the reader into a Category 5 nightmare and dares them to come up for air. Pyfrom’s attention to detail paints her idyllic island life with the richness of a Caribbean watercolor. From finding her true love, to expanding into a family of three (plus a small kennel of rescued and well-loved dogs), and building her dream home, native Bahamian Pyfrom immerses the reader in a screensaver-worthy life while revealing the tactics and reasoning she and fellow islanders have always employed when preparing for inevitable tropical storms. But belching 185-225mph winds which pushed the ocean over 25 feet above its normal depth, Hurricane Dorian was no standard storm. Part how-to (or how-not-to) weather catastrophic cyclones in the age of climate change, part terrifying treatise on how panic-driven decisions have haunting repercussions, Pyfrom’s harrowing personal narrative is a gripping lesson in finding inner strength to fight for survival, for family, for mental health, and to build a new future after losing everything you own.  The Ocean In Our Blood illustrates just what’s at stake when facing nature’s fury, and just how hard it can be to keep one’s head above water. 

Tara Pyfrom’s THE OCEAN IN OUR BLOOD is a moving story of resiliency, identity, and the unbreakable bond with the sea that deftly blends the beauty and danger of Bahamas life. The islands’ rich culture, inner conflicts, and environmental difficulties are vividly depicted in Pyfrom’s expressive prose.  An uplifting read and poignant tale of bravery, camaraderie, survival and family. 

Really. Really. Really. Really good book. Just sayin'.

I read your book in two days! After starting it, I just couldn't put it down! It's filled with edge-of-the-seat-moments, raw emotion, and beautiful language.

The sheer magnificence of the ocean’s natural beauty and power; the blues and turquoises woven deep into (the author's) soul. The sense of loss is poignant. 

In vivid detail, she shares (her) experience and the ensuing quest for permanent safe refuge with the reader. It unsparingly brings the realities of the world climate crisis to the reader’s doorstep. 

A gripping story of survival. You witness the anxiety, fear, strength, endurance and love of this family when their Paradise turns into a living Hell. 

A compelling and heart wrenching story about Love. Love of Nature. Love of Family. Love of Country. Love of Self. Experience the ebbs and flows in this journey of life. 

The way you captured your authentic self and made me, as a reader, feel like I lived it is wild to me. I'll never look at peanut butter and Ritz crackers the same way again.