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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
A typical Kate Morton book, where she slides between the perspective of a historical story and a modern and weaves them together. I haven't read anything of hers in a while and found this very enjoyable. I guessed part of the "twist", but not all of it. The main character in the modern times was pretty annoying...if your grandma is in the hospital, ANSWER THE PHONE and don't assume it's just one of her friends calling. Urgh. But I liked the twists and turns and the historical story was very descriptive and layered.
Trigger warning: children die in this story (filicide) and suicide is also referenced.
Trigger warning: children die in this story (filicide) and suicide is also referenced.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
the last few chapters pushed this to a 5 star read for me; the plot twists and developments were incredibly well done
I'm not sure what I think. I know so many loved it, and well that's not me. I didn't hate it though. It just never fully drew me in.
You have a murder mystery, difficult mother daughter relations, cross world travel, and finding oneself in the midst of trauma, which should all make for great drama. But I think the jumping between stories and length kept me at arm's length. So I picked it up long ago, then a bit more a couple months ago, and then basically only due to being stuck on a plane but delayed taking off in a bulkhead seat, so not being able to watch movies with the screen stowed, I had time to finally finish it off. And after I did, was just like, ok that was that.
I think a lot of the back story was just too much, and then didn't go anywhere. I guessed one of the reveals by halfway probably, and think it could have been more intriguing to reveal that one sooner, so you weren't doing what I was doing and just reading waiting for the reveal. Then other parts of the story would have been more interesting, since you would have known that wasn't the be all, end all.
Also not sure if my prolonged reading caused part of the problem, but I felt invested in Jess at the start, and really felt it was her story at the start, but then the last third it flipped more to the Isabel story, and felt that got concluded, but the wrap up for Jess wasn't really satisfying.
So perhaps unpopular opinion, but was a nice read, but not a great one for me.
You have a murder mystery, difficult mother daughter relations, cross world travel, and finding oneself in the midst of trauma, which should all make for great drama. But I think the jumping between stories and length kept me at arm's length. So I picked it up long ago, then a bit more a couple months ago, and then basically only due to being stuck on a plane but delayed taking off in a bulkhead seat, so not being able to watch movies with the screen stowed, I had time to finally finish it off. And after I did, was just like, ok that was that.
I think a lot of the back story was just too much, and then didn't go anywhere. I guessed one of the reveals by halfway probably, and think it could have been more intriguing to reveal that one sooner, so you weren't doing what I was doing and just reading waiting for the reveal. Then other parts of the story would have been more interesting, since you would have known that wasn't the be all, end all.
Also not sure if my prolonged reading caused part of the problem, but I felt invested in Jess at the start, and really felt it was her story at the start, but then the last third it flipped more to the Isabel story, and felt that got concluded, but the wrap up for Jess wasn't really satisfying.
So perhaps unpopular opinion, but was a nice read, but not a great one for me.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
The book was good. Kate Morton is a favourite of mine. She’s very descriptive and I find some parts drag because of this. It started slow and I honestly stopped reading months ago and re-started again a week ago. I pushed through and was pleasantly surprised with how the story unfolded. It is a murder mystery from the past and for once I didn’t guess the end until the end!
I didn’t finish this book, 250 pages in with 300 left I was wondering when it would pick up the pace. The book was due at the library so I skimmed through a lot and read the ending, because I don’t see myself checking it out again