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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
A foreboding manor house is the centerpiece of Eve Chase’s new novel, Black Rabbit Hall. Readers will instantly be sucked into the dual narratives of two women living decades apart whose fates are tied to this hall.
Lorna, a modern bride-to-be, is searching for the perfect wedding venue. While a crumbling estate buried in the Cornish country side seems like an odd choice, something about the house captivates her in a way she cannot explain.
Thirty years before, Amber Alton and her family retreat to the house as a respite from the world. The Alton children run wild in the woods and play on their little, private beach without a care. Despite the lack of modern conveniences, their parents always seem happiest here as well. One stormy afternoon a tragic accident irrevocably changes the Alton family, and the house seems to change as well. It is less like an idyll sanctuary and more like a menacing prison.
The eerie gravity of the house draws Lorna in thirty years after the Alton’s tragedy. She can feel some inexplicable connection to the place and the buried secrets and betrayals. Unraveling the mysteries of the house and the family who once lived there quickly devolve into her primary obsession.
It is rare to find a book with dual plots featuring equally gripping storylines. There is this delicious sense of impending doom throughout the book that makes it impossible to put down. As soon as readers think they know what will happen next, the story turns sharply in another direction. While Chase has woven some complex affairs spanning a great deal of time, she never loses us for a moment. Her attention to details makes Black Rabbit Hall a tangible place as we lose ourselves in the plot.
Lorna, a modern bride-to-be, is searching for the perfect wedding venue. While a crumbling estate buried in the Cornish country side seems like an odd choice, something about the house captivates her in a way she cannot explain.
Thirty years before, Amber Alton and her family retreat to the house as a respite from the world. The Alton children run wild in the woods and play on their little, private beach without a care. Despite the lack of modern conveniences, their parents always seem happiest here as well. One stormy afternoon a tragic accident irrevocably changes the Alton family, and the house seems to change as well. It is less like an idyll sanctuary and more like a menacing prison.
The eerie gravity of the house draws Lorna in thirty years after the Alton’s tragedy. She can feel some inexplicable connection to the place and the buried secrets and betrayals. Unraveling the mysteries of the house and the family who once lived there quickly devolve into her primary obsession.
It is rare to find a book with dual plots featuring equally gripping storylines. There is this delicious sense of impending doom throughout the book that makes it impossible to put down. As soon as readers think they know what will happen next, the story turns sharply in another direction. While Chase has woven some complex affairs spanning a great deal of time, she never loses us for a moment. Her attention to details makes Black Rabbit Hall a tangible place as we lose ourselves in the plot.
Demasiadas páginas para llegar a un final que no sorprende porque lo cantó desde el inicio, incluyendo un plot twist carente de lógica. Pudo haber sido mejor.
slow-paced
J'ai passé un super moment. Très bon e lecture
Beaucoup trop de longueurs et de détails inutiles à mon goût pour un dénouement beaucoup trop rapide.
I wanted to like this book more than I did, but a few things bothered me. The writing was a little heavy-handed with awkward descriptions that felt like they were trying too hard to be literary, and kept jarring me out of the story. At times the characters didn't make a lot of sense to me, especially in the modern story - a lot of it just seemed a bit too improbable (but not in a whimsical intentional way...), but at the same time it was fairly predictable.
Spoiler
like Caroline repeatedly openly insisting that they needed money
So so good!!!!! Loved it from beginning to end - couldn't put it down
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Genre piece...for someone else
If I were a fan of mopey chick books, maybe I'd have liked this one more, but the main character is irritating and the mystery not very mysterious, and in general far too predictable to be compelling. There are some incredibly forced "first book" descriptions that also made me want to gag. But really the problem is that I didn't care a whit about any of the characters.
There are positives here...some good creepy language, some interesting elements of the story from the past...but it is dwarfed by the flawed chick lit components for me and the ways in which the dual storylines actually take away from the interesting half of the story. I guess for some this would be a fun beach book, but that's just not my jam. At least it was a quick read.
If I were a fan of mopey chick books, maybe I'd have liked this one more, but the main character is irritating and the mystery not very mysterious, and in general far too predictable to be compelling. There are some incredibly forced "first book" descriptions that also made me want to gag. But really the problem is that I didn't care a whit about any of the characters.
There are positives here...some good creepy language, some interesting elements of the story from the past...but it is dwarfed by the flawed chick lit components for me and the ways in which the dual storylines actually take away from the interesting half of the story. I guess for some this would be a fun beach book, but that's just not my jam. At least it was a quick read.
Didn't feel like the late 1960's at all, which was disappointing. And Lorna was kind of annoying. Good story, tho, if not a bit predictable - had a nice modern flare with that gothic twist.