Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
I don't know why it took me so long to pick this book up, but I'm glad I finally did. It's a clever, engaging story about a family, a house and the secrets it holds. The writing is wonderfully evocative and the characters well-developed and intriguing. The multiple POVs and jump back and forth in time are done so well, and add great intricacy and depth to the story. I am already looking forward to reading Eve Chase's new book, The Wildling Sisters. Recommended!
Find more reviews and bookish fun at http://www.princessandpen.com
Find more reviews and bookish fun at http://www.princessandpen.com
2.5 stars. Long, long, long and pretty predictable. Evil stepmother, absent father, adolescence, young love, secrets, grief, unsympathetic attitude to therapy, mistakes aplenty, blah, blah, blah.
Good story where a house in Cornwall is the setting. Not quite as good as Rebecca but fans of Rebecca will enjoy this book.
"A" for atmosphere. Loved loved Black Rabbit Hall's Gothic ambiance. "B" for story. The story didn't keep by as riveted as I expected.
It wasn’t what I expected. I guess I was hoping for something a little spookier but it’s really more a gothic romance.
I'm glad I finished this book. Yes, it has bad writing, but the plot isn't bad, inbetween the totally pointless prologue and epilogue. Honestly. I have never in my life seen a prologue or epilogue like the ones in this book. The book is fine without them. I have never felt so cheated. Luckily only about 5 minutes of my life have been lost. The prologue & epilogue are short.
Overdone themes: perfect mother, the "twin" thing, "evil" step-mother . . .
Bad writing: I read a previous review of this book that absolutely skewers the bad writing. For instance, the protagonist's boyfriend is supposed to be irresistible, but on what planet? He smells like "sex and digestive biscuits" and is "built like a hammer"? What does this even mean, right? But I powered through anyway.
I got to enjoy some other weird phrases, like how sunlight "waffles the floor beneath the folds in the curtain." Um, I did not know that "waffle" was a verb in that manner, i.e. "to make something look like a waffle," I guess?
But on the other hand, some nice turns of phrase also appeared. We see a tall, dark love interest, and "the air around him is not still."
Or, on another day, "Tomorrow arrives, flat as a cancelled party." Kinda twee, but not bad.
A little girl describes her step-mother: "She's like a seagull that wants your chips."
And yes, I admit it, this book gets my chips. I was satisfied by the ending. I was SO glad it didn't fully turn into a horror tale. Just enough dark, gory elements to make it realistic, actually. It's possible this book could happen in real life. Impressive.
Overdone themes: perfect mother, the "twin" thing, "evil" step-mother . . .
Bad writing: I read a previous review of this book that absolutely skewers the bad writing. For instance, the protagonist's boyfriend is supposed to be irresistible, but on what planet? He smells like "sex and digestive biscuits" and is "built like a hammer"? What does this even mean, right? But I powered through anyway.
I got to enjoy some other weird phrases, like how sunlight "waffles the floor beneath the folds in the curtain." Um, I did not know that "waffle" was a verb in that manner, i.e. "to make something look like a waffle," I guess?
But on the other hand, some nice turns of phrase also appeared. We see a tall, dark love interest, and "the air around him is not still."
Or, on another day, "Tomorrow arrives, flat as a cancelled party." Kinda twee, but not bad.
A little girl describes her step-mother: "She's like a seagull that wants your chips."
And yes, I admit it, this book gets my chips. I was satisfied by the ending. I was SO glad it didn't fully turn into a horror tale. Just enough dark, gory elements to make it realistic, actually. It's possible this book could happen in real life. Impressive.
I figured out all the twists by about third of the way through. Pretty much kept reading just to make sure there was nothing I was missing. I heard this was a popular book club book, but if you are in a serious literary group this would disappoint. More like beach reading. I listened to this partly on an audiobook but had to stop because one of the narrators had such a dramatic way of speaking that it was intolerable after a couple disks.
One note on a thing that bothered me, a lot of attention was paid to the wicked stepmother which is a classic trope. But not much energy was devoted to the utter waste of space the father became and how he could fail his family so very much. I feel like a modern gothic novel could have evened that score a little bit or at least given the father a scene where he has to face his daughter after the traumatic events, but it's only mentioned in a passing line. I felt let down on that aspect.
One note on a thing that bothered me, a lot of attention was paid to the wicked stepmother which is a classic trope. But not much energy was devoted to the utter waste of space the father became and how he could fail his family so very much. I feel like a modern gothic novel could have evened that score a little bit or at least given the father a scene where he has to face his daughter after the traumatic events, but it's only mentioned in a passing line. I felt let down on that aspect.
I could not get into this book. I even read the last 60 pages to see if it made me curious as to what happened after the first 90 pages I read. It didn't.