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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
Not much happens but it’s very atmospheric.
I did not think I'd love this book. Luckily some clunky writing early on streamlines into a mystery, a family tragedy, and a happy ending.
Toward the end, my tears interfered with reading. I spent a hot, sunny May Saturday finishing this story instead of working on my garden. Eh, I'd rather read than suffer heat-stroke. It was an extremely hot day.
This proves to be a hot story in that it deliveres on a few different levels. Chase supplies the reader the evil stepmother, the baffled, conflicted children, the forbidden romance, and tragedy in weepy heaps.
This tale reminds me of hot summer days reading Daphne du Maurier in my teenage days. That is never a bad sensation.
Toward the end, my tears interfered with reading. I spent a hot, sunny May Saturday finishing this story instead of working on my garden. Eh, I'd rather read than suffer heat-stroke. It was an extremely hot day.
This proves to be a hot story in that it deliveres on a few different levels. Chase supplies the reader the evil stepmother, the baffled, conflicted children, the forbidden romance, and tragedy in weepy heaps.
This tale reminds me of hot summer days reading Daphne du Maurier in my teenage days. That is never a bad sensation.
Lorna and Jon are looking for their wedding location when they come across Black Rabbit Hall. Their story alternates with that of siblings Amber and Toby and their family who lived at Black Rabbit Hall in 1968. Lorna's bizarre compulsion to hold her wedding there hints at some greater force at work, but the plot is forced and unsupported. The story is also pretty slow-moving at points, but the setting of a Cornwall country estate is strong and evokes dark and ominous images that are foundational and make this book readable.
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a dark journey into the past lives of the Alton family with an interesting current day overlay of a troubled woman named Lorna. The death of Mrs. Alton causes the carefree Alton family to fray significantly at the seams and despair permeates their home at Pencraw Hall. This is a gothic tale that surrounds the wild area that was so lovingly called Black Rabbit Hall.
One of the first things to understand about Black Rabbit Hall is that it's best to go into the book with only the barest understanding of the story. I think the book blurb covers this just fine. I really loved seeing how the secrets of the past finally caught up with the present in the way Lorna is drawn to Black Rabbit Hall. I loved the way the two timelines intersected. We'd see Black Rabbit Hall from the eyes of Lorna in the present day slightly more run down and dusty, then we'd see the same object described from that of Amber in the late 1960's and I'd feel such familiarity with the setting, it was somewhat like picking out treasures. The setting itself is so vivid. The grand house with all it's twists and turns and the vast landscape it inhabits.
I typically feel like books that resurrect past secrets tend to have a more gloomy feel to them. Most oftentimes things are kept secret for a reason and bringing them to light can cause heartbreak. I'm a reader where the more I'm engrossed within the pages of a book the more I feel those emotions myself. I sometimes find it a bit taxing. What Eve Chase did with Black Rabbit Hall though was successfully wove a sub-layer of hopefulness to the story which really uplifted it, in my eyes anyway. It's true that the characters are put through their own trials and tribulations throughout, but I loved ending things on a high note. Not dismissing the grief of the past, but being able to see the happiness in the future.
If there is one thing I am a bit iffy on it's the "villain" of the piece who, I felt, kind of comes across as very one dimensional. We're not given much in the way of motivations and what we are given felt a little weak to me. I don't really mind this, however, because I was so caught up in putting pieces together and following the sequence of events that leads us to where we are when the storyline starts at the present day.
Overall, this was such a surprising read for me, and such a lovely debut. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good family saga with mysteries and secrets.
*Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I typically feel like books that resurrect past secrets tend to have a more gloomy feel to them. Most oftentimes things are kept secret for a reason and bringing them to light can cause heartbreak. I'm a reader where the more I'm engrossed within the pages of a book the more I feel those emotions myself. I sometimes find it a bit taxing. What Eve Chase did with Black Rabbit Hall though was successfully wove a sub-layer of hopefulness to the story which really uplifted it, in my eyes anyway. It's true that the characters are put through their own trials and tribulations throughout, but I loved ending things on a high note. Not dismissing the grief of the past, but being able to see the happiness in the future.
If there is one thing I am a bit iffy on it's the "villain" of the piece who, I felt, kind of comes across as very one dimensional. We're not given much in the way of motivations and what we are given felt a little weak to me. I don't really mind this, however, because I was so caught up in putting pieces together and following the sequence of events that leads us to where we are when the storyline starts at the present day.
Overall, this was such a surprising read for me, and such a lovely debut. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good family saga with mysteries and secrets.
*Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
2.5 Not for me. I got bored with the characters who were either too good or bad (saintly mother /evil stepmother) to be realistic and others who were portrayed as victims with little agency. The section of the story set on the 1960s would have made more sense 50 years earlier.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes