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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
The house that Hetty Deveraux has just inherited is no prize. Originally, Muirlan House was a Victorian manor, the home of up-and-coming painter Theo Blake. Now the house is falling to pieces. It will cost millions to restore, as Hetty planned. It’s a daunting project even before a local contractor discovers a decades’ old body buried in the foundations. Sarah Maine’s The House Between Tides is a slow unfolding of the house’s secrets and the secrets of the families who live on the island off the coast of Skye...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Do you ever pick up a book and you aren’t sure exactly what drew you to it, why it called to you, but you find your brain won’t focus on any other story until you read that particular one? That is what happened to me with The House Between Tides and, honestly, I am still unsure why precisely this book called to me so loudly. I’m a self professed reader of mainly fantasy and sci-fi. Sure, I dip my toes into other genres and typically enjoy them but I usually have a reason for reading them.
This one? Well, this one I just had to. It wouldn’t let me rest until I did.
This book is written in both a contemporary setting in the year 2010 and historically in 1910. Multiple timeline stories don’t always work but in this story it was well executed. It was easy to tell when you were and who you were with from the tone of the chapter even if you hadn’t glanced at the chapter heading that told you what character you were with and what year they were in.
That aside, The House Between Tides absolutely swept me away. From page one I was invested in this story with it’s fascinating location and varied cast of characters. In 2010 we spend our time with Hetty, the unexpected inheritor of Muirlan House. Muirlan is a wreck. The floors are rotted away, the roof leaks and is missing in places, the walls are cracked, and overall it is more a ruin now than an actual house. Then in 1910 we find ourselves in the same house, in pristine condition, with the outwardly reserved yet inwardly passionate Beatrice who has a strained relationship with her new husband but wants nothing more than to find joy in her life.
Oddly, the house was something I really loved about the story. It had its own story and it felt almost like an active spectator to the drama and household tension. The house saw all and knew all and it had moods from dark and drab to sunny and airy. Muirlan may had been the setting of this story, but she felt real and alive and very much like an unwilling observer of the lives that teemed within her walls across the years.
The story itself was also very well thought out. No matter which time frame you were in, the stories and the character’s actions wound together seamlessly. You could watch a scene happen in 1910 and feel all of the emotion and tension that came with it and then see how it affected something in 2010 or watch as Hetty discovered an incident, action, or how it somehow affected her in 2010. I felt that the writer’s planning and execution of those transposing scenes were very well done.
This book had tension, feeling, and heart and overall I absolutely loved it. Even being able to take a fairly reasonable guess at the mystery did not detract from my enjoyment. Overall this was a very enjoyable read and I’m grateful to whatever force was at play trying to get me to read this.
emotional
mysterious
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
I so wanted this is be better than it was. It took reading over half the book before I became invested in the characters and the storyline. Once that happened, I couldn't put the book down. If only the whole book could have been as good as the last half.
I know I've been busy lately, but this book took FOREVER to finish. I enjoyed it for the most part, but it was not an escape for me. It had me hooked at the beginning, but then I felt like it dragged a bit through the middle, and the end snagged me back in. I enjoyed the historical narration better than the present storyline. It was a good book, but perhaps not "fantastic". I'm not sure what would have improved my rating, but there was either too much included... or something was missing. Not a quick, light read.
I keep hoping stories like this will be something that they never quite are. (Not that I'm sure what that is.)
I kind of go a bit crazy when someone mentions a book with a crumbling old house, a desolate setting, secrets and a dual timeline. I love those kind of Gothic undertones through a book and as we’re in the middle of winter, it’s the perfect time to sit down under a blanket and devour it. I was really happy when I received this surprise book (yes, it doesn’t take a lot to excite me) but external forces conspired against me to read this at the speed I wanted. The House Between Tides is a solid read and those who are fans of Kate Morton will particularly enjoy this tale set in the wilds of Scotland.
The story is told between two major timelines, that of Theo and Beatrice in the late 1880s and 1900s before shifting to Hetty in the present day. Theo marries Beatrice and they move to the rugged wilds of the Outer Hebrides for Theo to paint. It all sounds incredibly romantic until Beatrice starts to realise that Theo has some ideas that are rather…odd. Her new friendship with the Cameron family isn’t that welcome. When Hetty arrives in the present day to the now overgrown, crumbling estate (can’t you just picture it, all grey and spooky with a lone raven calling overhead?) she’s introduced to the descendants of the family after being caught trying to break into her own inheritance. Very shortly after, she discovers there’s a skeleton in one of the rooms, which kind of wrecks her plans to build a hotel on the island. But what’s the mystery? Who is this mysterious person and what secrets of the past does it hide?
I must admit that I guessed the mystery fairly early on and did something I don’t usually do – read the last chapter to confirm my suspicions. I probably shouldn’t have though, because knowing that I was right took away a lot of the mystery. On reflection, I think I did it because the character of Hetty is rather dull. She lacks spark and is happy to be passive nearly all the time. I like my investigating heroines to be stronger, willing to buck a trend and ruffle a few feathers. I felt that Hetty just sailed through the whole thing without causing a ripple. I tended to skim few chapters a little bit more as I found the historical timeline of Beatrice and Theo much more engaging.
I always slowed down for the beautiful descriptions of the Hebrides – this is where Sarah Maine’s writing truly excels, in the sense of atmosphere and putting the reader in no doubt about how moody and a little bit creepy the whole place is. The descriptions of Muirlan House were incredibly evocative, and I had shivers down my spine as Hetty entered the shell of the decrepit house for the first time.
While I liked this book, I felt that the parts involving Hetty were slow at times. However, it’s a sound debut book and I’d be interested to see what Sarah Maine writes in the future.
Thank you to Allen & Unwin for the copy. My review is honest.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
The story is told between two major timelines, that of Theo and Beatrice in the late 1880s and 1900s before shifting to Hetty in the present day. Theo marries Beatrice and they move to the rugged wilds of the Outer Hebrides for Theo to paint. It all sounds incredibly romantic until Beatrice starts to realise that Theo has some ideas that are rather…odd. Her new friendship with the Cameron family isn’t that welcome. When Hetty arrives in the present day to the now overgrown, crumbling estate (can’t you just picture it, all grey and spooky with a lone raven calling overhead?) she’s introduced to the descendants of the family after being caught trying to break into her own inheritance. Very shortly after, she discovers there’s a skeleton in one of the rooms, which kind of wrecks her plans to build a hotel on the island. But what’s the mystery? Who is this mysterious person and what secrets of the past does it hide?
I must admit that I guessed the mystery fairly early on and did something I don’t usually do – read the last chapter to confirm my suspicions. I probably shouldn’t have though, because knowing that I was right took away a lot of the mystery. On reflection, I think I did it because the character of Hetty is rather dull. She lacks spark and is happy to be passive nearly all the time. I like my investigating heroines to be stronger, willing to buck a trend and ruffle a few feathers. I felt that Hetty just sailed through the whole thing without causing a ripple. I tended to skim few chapters a little bit more as I found the historical timeline of Beatrice and Theo much more engaging.
I always slowed down for the beautiful descriptions of the Hebrides – this is where Sarah Maine’s writing truly excels, in the sense of atmosphere and putting the reader in no doubt about how moody and a little bit creepy the whole place is. The descriptions of Muirlan House were incredibly evocative, and I had shivers down my spine as Hetty entered the shell of the decrepit house for the first time.
While I liked this book, I felt that the parts involving Hetty were slow at times. However, it’s a sound debut book and I’d be interested to see what Sarah Maine writes in the future.
Thank you to Allen & Unwin for the copy. My review is honest.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Reread for review purposes.
Thank you, Netgalley and Atria Books, for this now-released ARC!
Maine‘s House Between Tides begins when Londoner Hetty Devereaux discovers she has inherited a mansion estate in the Scottish Outer Hebrides (yeah, I had to look them up too!) from her last living relative, and abandons her strained relationship to find out more about it. However, not all is what it seems: The estate is crumbling away on an inaccessible part of the land, and inside is a the body of someone murdered long ago.
More curious than ever, and desperate to do something to her family home, Hetty dives into history for answers, which leads to her distant relative Theo Blake, reclusive painter, and his beautiful wife Beatrice. Who is the body beneath the foundation? Will Hetty find the answers that she seeks, and in turn, find herself?
I loved a lot about this book, and disliked a few things that were not deal breakers. For full review, see https://samsbeachreads.wordpress.com/2017/02/13/sarah-maines-the-house-between-tides-scottish-tour-de-force/.
Thank you, Netgalley and Atria Books, for this now-released ARC!
Maine‘s House Between Tides begins when Londoner Hetty Devereaux discovers she has inherited a mansion estate in the Scottish Outer Hebrides (yeah, I had to look them up too!) from her last living relative, and abandons her strained relationship to find out more about it. However, not all is what it seems: The estate is crumbling away on an inaccessible part of the land, and inside is a the body of someone murdered long ago.
More curious than ever, and desperate to do something to her family home, Hetty dives into history for answers, which leads to her distant relative Theo Blake, reclusive painter, and his beautiful wife Beatrice. Who is the body beneath the foundation? Will Hetty find the answers that she seeks, and in turn, find herself?
I loved a lot about this book, and disliked a few things that were not deal breakers. For full review, see https://samsbeachreads.wordpress.com/2017/02/13/sarah-maines-the-house-between-tides-scottish-tour-de-force/.