Reviews

I enjoyed this! It was kind of an in between book while I was waiting for some new ones to come in, so I was pleasantly surprised! I thought the sibling dynamics were very interesting, as well as the familial themes as a whole. The two timelines intersected in an interesting way at the end, even if it happened all at once. The magical realism element of the house was a little half baked in my opinion, but other than that I liked this book!

nightcourt4eva's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

readingonmountains's review against another edition

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4.0

This is one of those books that has been patiently sitting on my bookshelves for a year waiting to be picked up. I wanted to read this in the summer as it takes place in a grand old Cornish country house in a long ago summer.

What I loved: Dual timelines, delving into family secrets & long hidden family mysteries & forbidden romance. I loved the gothic setting in a beautiful, out of the way manor house. I loved the ending!

The book is definitely reminiscent of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and Kate Morton novels, which I love!

bellsdixon's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

Content Warnings

theavidreaderandbibliophile's review against another edition

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1.0

Black Rabbit Hall by Eve Chase is a very slow book. The story tells of Lorna and Jon looking for a place to get married. They find Black Rabbit Hall (aka Pencraw Hall). Lorna visited the hall with her mother when she was a child (her mother recently passed away). Then the story goes back to the late 1960s with the Alton children. Amber, Toby, Barney, and Kitty spent their school vacations at the hall. Their mother, Nancy called it Black Rabbit Hall because of the rabbits that came out at sunset and you saw their black shadows across the lawn. Their mother died at Easter when she was out looking for her youngest son (off playing and then it started storming) on horseback (got thrown and broke her neck). The father, Hugo quickly rebounds and married Caroline Shawcross (she pursued him). Caroline brings her son, Lucian with her into the marriage. Lucian and Amber are attracted to each other, but it is forbidden (like that will stop them). Caroline is not fond of the children and there will be many changes to the family (Toby does not handle the changes). When Lorna visits Black Rabbit Hall, she encounters Dill (the housekeeper/cook) and Caroline. Caroline has opened the hall for events (needs the money). What happened to Hugo Alton and his children? Why is Lorna drawn to Black Rabbit Hall (she becomes obsessed)? Lorna gets a chance to stay at the hall and find some answers.

I found Black Rabbit Hall to be an extremely boring book. It tried to be a mystery, but it did not succeed. I just found Black Rabbit Hall to be odd. We get the story from two different perspectives: Lorna’s and Amber’s (the majority of the book is from Amber’s point-of-view). The Amber section reads more like a young adult novel (she finds love at fifteen). The two stories go back and forth until we see how they are connected. I just found it dull and uninteresting (reading this book was like trekking through the desert). There is some very graphic violence (it is awful) in the book as well as sex and foul language. I did not enjoy Black Rabbit Hall (as you can tell). It sounded like such an intriguing and mysterious book (from the synopsis). I think the book (the idea) had potential, but the writer was not able to pull it off. I give Black Rabbit Hall 1 out of 5 stars. This book was just not for me. If you are looking for a book to help you sleep, then read Black Rabbit Hall.

I received a complimentary copy of Black Rabbit Hall from NetGalley and First to Read in exchange for an honest review.

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