Reviews - The Animals at Lockwood Manor

608 reviews for:

The Animals at Lockwood Manor

Jane Healey

3.41 AVERAGE

definitelyforsurenotbees's review against another edition

3.75

mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Lesbian love story set in WW2. Main character is the curator of a museum that's moved to an hold mansion for safekeeping during the Blitz.

bethsbooketlist's review against another edition

3.0

dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: N/A

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

catmomchantel's review against another edition

3.0

I enjoyed this novel. I was slightly confused at the very beginning because I didn't know that there were 2 narrators but once I figured that out (by chapter 2) I really liked the 2 POVs (something that I love in novels, multiple POVs). I like Lucy's POV is more internal, with her thoughts and emotions being the main focus, with some bits of her actions, and Hetty's POV being more external, focusing on her actions (with her thoughts an emotions added in of course). Although I knew it was coming, and it was part of the reason why I picked up this book in the first place, the romance feels very sudden. I feel that, although the 2 lead characters feel pretty fleshed out as characters, the romance arc almost feels shoehorned in, as if the author changed her mind last minute. Despite the POV chapters being synced up, timeline-wise, Lucy's POV shows almost no romantic thoughts/feelings towards Hetty before they confess to each other, and Hetty seems to have about a paragraph or 2 of gay panic before confessing, with her romantic longing for Lucy before this read more as her really wanting to befriend Lucy rather than wanting to bed her. Even as a queer woman myself, Hetty's longing is written so subtly you could easily overlook it until she confesses to Lucy and it's honestly kind of disappointing. I think this book suffers a bit from bad pacing. Things seem to happen slowly and then all at once and it feels a little jarring. Once these events happen, they seem to be written well enough but the latter half of the book feels rushed compared to the first half, and I don't really have much complaining about the pacing in the first half. Instead of the crescendo feeling like a crescendo, it feels like a load of info is being shoved at you haphazardly, in a way that might have worked in a visual medium, like a movie, but leaves you feeling lacking in a book.

ravenclaw_28's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

Content Warnings

moriarty94's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I loved this book. I saw a physical copy at the Dollar Tree but didn't buy it because I'm notoriously slow at reading physical books. Instead, I borrowed the audiobook from my library -- and now I kind of regret not buying the physical copy as a 'book trophy' since I enjoyed it so much.

I was rooting so hard for Hetty the whole time. She loved her museum job and just wanted to do her best and be taken seriously. Lucy was trying to survive under a horror of a father and a mother with untreated mental health issues, and may or may not have been aware that her father is the one who [spoiler] murdered her mother and grandmother. [End spoiler]

Both protagonists were interesting, and I appreciate that theirs was more of a slow burn romance. I also loved that the Lockwood Manor itself was a character. It is old and haunted and holds so many stories that the ending seemed to be the only way to release both Hetty and Lucy.

I did like the dream/nightmare/flashback scenes but they could be hard to keep track of, especially over audiobook. The only other negative for me was that the story felt slow it repetitive in places. But overall, absolutely loved this book and will be recommending it -- especially to everyone who likes a period piece mystery.