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reikista's review against another edition
3.0
Alice Lind is a psychologist at the beginning of the 1900s, in a man’s world, trying to gain legitimacy and traveling the country as a school psychologist test instructor, identifying and helping special needs children. She finds Janie O’Daire, who has a compelling case of having lived a past life, and who reveals things about Alice’s own past. A compelling mystery with some racy parts.
alliehwilliams's review against another edition
3.0
I am still coming to terms with this one...
The last 1/4 of this book was so, so, soooooo not what I was expecting. I am still in shock.
The last 1/4 of this book was so, so, soooooo not what I was expecting. I am still in shock.
livres_de_bloss's review against another edition
3.0
This was a 4.5 until the last third of the book.
I found that part unnecessary and made Alice almost unlikeable and rather lame. It's too bad, it was a really enjoyable book until that last part.
I found that part unnecessary and made Alice almost unlikeable and rather lame. It's too bad, it was a really enjoyable book until that last part.
kphelps's review against another edition
3.0
I'm a bit disappointed with the ending of this book. I've loved the previous titles I've read by Cat Winters. This one, however, was lacking. It still featured a strong female character, with many strong supporting characters. BUT. The ending seemed forced, rushed, and sloppy.
jamelchior's review against another edition
I received an advance copy of this book from a Goodreads giveaway. The story might be about ghosts, reincarnation or possession. It's authentically creepy in the way a Sherlock Holmes story is creepy, with the important difference that Holmes always succeeds in explaining apparently supernatural happenings in scientific terms, and in Yesternight a narrator who's trying hard to be scientific in the end has to accept spiritual realities and a certain level of continued mystery.
I was delighted by the post-WWI setting, and especially the difficulty, slowness and difference in quality of communication by letter, telegram and very occasionally telephone. The picture of the state of the art in school psychology and intelligence testing, is fascinating. These details hold our attention while an elegantly spare plot line slowly unfolds. And I loved having a young female mathematical genius in the story - or are there two of them?
I was delighted by the post-WWI setting, and especially the difficulty, slowness and difference in quality of communication by letter, telegram and very occasionally telephone. The picture of the state of the art in school psychology and intelligence testing, is fascinating. These details hold our attention while an elegantly spare plot line slowly unfolds. And I loved having a young female mathematical genius in the story - or are there two of them?
amn028's review against another edition
2.0
This was one of those books that I would get hooked then get bored. When the story is interesting, it's really good. Unfortunately it spends a lot of time dragging and being melodramatic. It was shelved as a horror in my library but I would say it's more between a romance and mystery novel.
waclements7's review against another edition
4.0
It has taken me awhile thinking about this before writing a review. Usually I can just write one when I finish. There's a lot to think about. It's 1925. Alice Lind is a school psychologist who goes from school to school testing students. In Gordon Bay, Oregon, she meets Janie, a seven-year-old girl who has been claiming since she was two that she is Violet Sunday, from Friendly, Kansas, and she died at the age of nineteen by drowning. She is also a math prodigy. Janie's father Michael says he believes that Janie has been reincarnated.
This flies in the face of everything that Alice has been taught as a psychologist--trauma or abuse causes flights of fantasy like this; there is no such thing as reincarnation. Janie's parents are divorced, and that complicated situation leads to Alice getting stuck in the middle of what each parent thinks is best for Janie as Alice begins to believe, eventually, that maybe Janie really is the reincarnation of Violet Sunday.
Alice identifies and can work with the "difficult" children because she was a "difficult" child herself. There was an incident in her childhood when she suddenly attacked a group of children with a branch, violently beating them, something she can't explain. With Janie's story of reincarnation, Alice begins to wonder if maybe she herself was reincarnated from someone who was a murderer. When she presents Janie with a list of towns from around Kansas, including one she made up, 'Yesternight," Janie identifies Kansas City and Yesternight.
Alice writes to the postmaster of Friendly, and receives a letter back from Eleanor Sunday Rook, confirming that she had a sister Violet Sunday who drowned. In a rare situation of camaraderie, Rebecca, Janie's mother, Janie's Aunt, Michael, and Alice go to Friendly and meet Eleanor and her husband, and it's confirmed that Janie really is Violet Sunday reincarnated. All the dots are connected.
Alice also learns of the Hotel Yesternight, where the owner was a woman who murdered numerous guests, and is convinced that she is the reincarnation of the owner. Rebecca tells Michael she is divorcing him and leaving him to take Janie where she can receive a real education for her mathematical abilities.
This is the one part of the story that started to break down a little for me. Michael goes with Alice to the Hotel Yesternight. The husband and wife caretakers of the Hotel Yesternight are very accommodating; the husband is truly into his role of "spooky hotel man." Alice doesn't recognize the hotel. But she does recognize the picture of Cornelia, the woman who murdered hotel guests. I'm not sure why she decides to tell them that she thinks she is the reincarnation of Cornelia. They show her a trunk of Cornelia's belongings, and she thinks she recognizes them.
A quick backtrack here. It is 1925, and there are no real methods of birth control available to women. Alice had a terrible experience with the last man she went to bed with--he said he would pull out and didn't, and she got pregnant. That's a very big deal in the story, but I won't go into it in detail, it's important, though, because that's what has kept her, from sleeping with anyone else--that betrayal. Michael convinces her to sleep with him, and promises her the same thing. The same thing happens. This puzzled me a little. It didn't seem in character for Michael, because he is generally a caring character, BUT his wife has just left him and taken their daughter away. I don't know if it's a subconscious way of getting back at Rebecca by failing on his promise, if he genuinely forgot, or what happened, but it just seemed like an odd thing for him to do after Alice has really gone over it with him, and it's basically the only reason while she'll go to bed with him. I don't want to say he's just a guy and doesn't care, but that's almost what it seemed like. Alice, understandably, is very angry and attacks him with her shoe (this is 1925, when shoes were actually solid and well made). He throws a glass vase at her, hits her, and then breaks a window and disappears into the blizzard outside. They find him frozen to death later.
The wife of the couple running the hotel remembers to give Alice a telegram that had arrived for her before she had even decided to go to the hotel. It's from her sister Bea, telling her that the reason she remembers the Yesternight is because Bea read to her from a book about the hotel when Alice was little--too young for her to have been read such things. It's not a case of reincarnation for her, just memories from when she was little.
Flash forward five years. Alice is living with her sister Bea and her lover Pearl in Portland with Alice's five year-old son John. John is eating breakfast and tells Alice that he froze to death...and that his name is Michael...
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher.
This flies in the face of everything that Alice has been taught as a psychologist--trauma or abuse causes flights of fantasy like this; there is no such thing as reincarnation. Janie's parents are divorced, and that complicated situation leads to Alice getting stuck in the middle of what each parent thinks is best for Janie as Alice begins to believe, eventually, that maybe Janie really is the reincarnation of Violet Sunday.
Alice identifies and can work with the "difficult" children because she was a "difficult" child herself. There was an incident in her childhood when she suddenly attacked a group of children with a branch, violently beating them, something she can't explain. With Janie's story of reincarnation, Alice begins to wonder if maybe she herself was reincarnated from someone who was a murderer. When she presents Janie with a list of towns from around Kansas, including one she made up, 'Yesternight," Janie identifies Kansas City and Yesternight.
Alice writes to the postmaster of Friendly, and receives a letter back from Eleanor Sunday Rook, confirming that she had a sister Violet Sunday who drowned. In a rare situation of camaraderie, Rebecca, Janie's mother, Janie's Aunt, Michael, and Alice go to Friendly and meet Eleanor and her husband, and it's confirmed that Janie really is Violet Sunday reincarnated. All the dots are connected.
Alice also learns of the Hotel Yesternight, where the owner was a woman who murdered numerous guests, and is convinced that she is the reincarnation of the owner. Rebecca tells Michael she is divorcing him and leaving him to take Janie where she can receive a real education for her mathematical abilities.
This is the one part of the story that started to break down a little for me. Michael goes with Alice to the Hotel Yesternight. The husband and wife caretakers of the Hotel Yesternight are very accommodating; the husband is truly into his role of "spooky hotel man." Alice doesn't recognize the hotel. But she does recognize the picture of Cornelia, the woman who murdered hotel guests. I'm not sure why she decides to tell them that she thinks she is the reincarnation of Cornelia. They show her a trunk of Cornelia's belongings, and she thinks she recognizes them.
A quick backtrack here. It is 1925, and there are no real methods of birth control available to women. Alice had a terrible experience with the last man she went to bed with--he said he would pull out and didn't, and she got pregnant. That's a very big deal in the story, but I won't go into it in detail, it's important, though, because that's what has kept her, from sleeping with anyone else--that betrayal. Michael convinces her to sleep with him, and promises her the same thing. The same thing happens. This puzzled me a little. It didn't seem in character for Michael, because he is generally a caring character, BUT his wife has just left him and taken their daughter away. I don't know if it's a subconscious way of getting back at Rebecca by failing on his promise, if he genuinely forgot, or what happened, but it just seemed like an odd thing for him to do after Alice has really gone over it with him, and it's basically the only reason while she'll go to bed with him. I don't want to say he's just a guy and doesn't care, but that's almost what it seemed like. Alice, understandably, is very angry and attacks him with her shoe (this is 1925, when shoes were actually solid and well made). He throws a glass vase at her, hits her, and then breaks a window and disappears into the blizzard outside. They find him frozen to death later.
The wife of the couple running the hotel remembers to give Alice a telegram that had arrived for her before she had even decided to go to the hotel. It's from her sister Bea, telling her that the reason she remembers the Yesternight is because Bea read to her from a book about the hotel when Alice was little--too young for her to have been read such things. It's not a case of reincarnation for her, just memories from when she was little.
Flash forward five years. Alice is living with her sister Bea and her lover Pearl in Portland with Alice's five year-old son John. John is eating breakfast and tells Alice that he froze to death...and that his name is Michael...
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher.
withthebanned's review against another edition
4.0
I found the premise of this novel extremely interesting. The idea of past lives and traveling souls is something I have always found enthralling and this novel is no exception. I enjoyed the way in which Cat Winters merged different plots and backgrounds and I was especially interested in the storyline of little Janie O'Dare. It was riveting and almost eerie in the way that Janie remembered her past life, and I enjoyed learning the truth behind her story. Alice also has a bit of a background that I would have like to hear more about. Things are explained, but I think that there perhaps could have been much more about her background as it seems that she is connected to a very interesting past.
As for the characters, I liked Alice for the most part, but I didn't love her as I could have. She seemed strong in some instances but then seemed to buckle under certain pressures. Though this made her seem a bit more "real" for me, I had a hard time relating to her as I felt she lacked a bit of depth. Michael was not really a lovable male lead, though I wanted to love him so much. He was selfish and hot headed. Like Alice, he was a realistic portrayal of a certain type of man, but he wasn't anyone that I think a reader would swoon over.
While most of Cat Winters novels lack romance all together, Yesternight had a very different kind of relationship. The romance in this novel was unique as it served a purpose in that in made me happy to see our narrator able to live her life in her own way and make her own decisions regarding her life and sexuality that were unique to this time period. It was extremely steamy at times, but not very romantic. In fact, I can see why some people were very turned off by this relationship as the two were not very compatible in any way besides sexually. Personally, I enjoyed this dynamic in a way as it was unexpected and felt less forced than it would have had Alice and Michael actually fallen in love.
I suppose my only complaint about this novel is that I wanted a bit more from it. I wanted more backgrounds and more depth to relationships. I will say that the ending of Yesternight was fantastic. I was absolutely stunned and it was eerie, sad and rather fantastic all at once. Overall, I enjoyed Yesternight and the novel definitely kept me guessing which made it hard to put down. However I can see the issues that some readers are having while reading. When recommending this author – and believe me, I do - I may hold back from mentioning Yesternight for fear it would turn off a certain type of reader. For myself, I will display this novel proudly next to the author’s other gems and maintain the standing pre-ordering status as I have done.
Shelf Talker: Though The Uninvited still remains my favorite Cat Winters novel, Yesternight was a very interesting read. The premise and execution of the plot regarding traveling souls was very well done and left me wanting more on the whole subject. Though I can see why the romantic aspects of the novel may turn off some, Yesternight is a fantastic eerie and intriguing novel that ensured Cat Winters remains on my must read and auto buy list.
As for the characters, I liked Alice for the most part, but I didn't love her as I could have. She seemed strong in some instances but then seemed to buckle under certain pressures. Though this made her seem a bit more "real" for me, I had a hard time relating to her as I felt she lacked a bit of depth. Michael was not really a lovable male lead, though I wanted to love him so much. He was selfish and hot headed. Like Alice, he was a realistic portrayal of a certain type of man, but he wasn't anyone that I think a reader would swoon over.
While most of Cat Winters novels lack romance all together, Yesternight had a very different kind of relationship. The romance in this novel was unique as it served a purpose in that in made me happy to see our narrator able to live her life in her own way and make her own decisions regarding her life and sexuality that were unique to this time period. It was extremely steamy at times, but not very romantic. In fact, I can see why some people were very turned off by this relationship as the two were not very compatible in any way besides sexually. Personally, I enjoyed this dynamic in a way as it was unexpected and felt less forced than it would have had Alice and Michael actually fallen in love.
I suppose my only complaint about this novel is that I wanted a bit more from it. I wanted more backgrounds and more depth to relationships. I will say that the ending of Yesternight was fantastic. I was absolutely stunned and it was eerie, sad and rather fantastic all at once. Overall, I enjoyed Yesternight and the novel definitely kept me guessing which made it hard to put down. However I can see the issues that some readers are having while reading. When recommending this author – and believe me, I do - I may hold back from mentioning Yesternight for fear it would turn off a certain type of reader. For myself, I will display this novel proudly next to the author’s other gems and maintain the standing pre-ordering status as I have done.
Shelf Talker: Though The Uninvited still remains my favorite Cat Winters novel, Yesternight was a very interesting read. The premise and execution of the plot regarding traveling souls was very well done and left me wanting more on the whole subject. Though I can see why the romantic aspects of the novel may turn off some, Yesternight is a fantastic eerie and intriguing novel that ensured Cat Winters remains on my must read and auto buy list.