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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
3.5 Stars.
This book has great atmosphere! The back and forth between time periods is easy to follow and a non issue for me. About 1/3 of the way through I nearly gave it up to listen to something I'd like better but I hung in and it turned out to be a good story. That 1/4-1/2 was kinda boring though to be honest.
This book has great atmosphere! The back and forth between time periods is easy to follow and a non issue for me. About 1/3 of the way through I nearly gave it up to listen to something I'd like better but I hung in and it turned out to be a good story. That 1/4-1/2 was kinda boring though to be honest.
Much like [b:Black Rabbit Hall|23337562|Black Rabbit Hall|Eve Chase|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1412696211s/23337562.jpg|42897071], this has an incredible Gothic feel that permeates the story, except this time it does so in both timelines. This time, I felt more for the modern protagonist than the historical one(s), but overall it was more balanced between timelines than Chase's first work. It's definitely hard to put down, and I will surely pick up her next novel of crumbling families (after the Wildes and the Altons) and crumbling estate houses (after Black Rabbit Hall and Applecote Manor). It's amazing how she can take the same concepts and write such different stories!
The fine print: received ARC from NetGalley.
The fine print: received ARC from NetGalley.
This was a beautiful mood. Haunting, mysterious, scandalous…very cinematic details—review soon!
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I knew I’d read this one before, but it wasn’t showing up anywhere on my GR list, so I decided to read it again, and I’m so glad I did. Eve Chase paints beautiful word pictures. Great plotting. I love her work!
Really incredible
If you only read one book this year, make it this one! It was just surprising, I loved every moment. That's not an exaggeration, this book is one I could talk about for hours.
Audrey Wilde was twelve when she simply vanished. It was days after her cousins left her and her mother, at Applecote Manor. It had been a summer getaway location for the cousins. Audrey was an only child, she looked forward to her cousins' arrival. Her cousins being Margot, Dot, Pam and Flora. Four sisters, beautifully close.
Now, over fifty years later, a new family moves into Applecote Manor. They are caught unaware by the secrets and the history of the Manor; they have their own hurdles to jump. The book follows their journey and the story of the property's past.
I love history, and the history- the late 1950s, as described in this book, was so compelling. The sisters and their bond was so relatable to me. I'm one of five daughters, I'm the middle one. We are not as close in age, as Margot and her sisters, but we have that relationship that comes before all else. Of course, there's the rivalry and the getting on each other's nerves but the relationship wasn't too different from the one Margot had with her sisters.
I'm at such a high right now, after reading this book, that I'm not sure I'll find another one that will touch me so deeply. I fell in love with this book immediately. The writing was so perfectly in sync with the story, if that makes any sense at all
This book would not be as crazily inviting were it not for Eve Chases' ability to use words in such a manner to craft such a fragile but powerful book. I recommend this book so wholeheartedly. A favourite for me.
I received this book through NetGalley.
If you only read one book this year, make it this one! It was just surprising, I loved every moment. That's not an exaggeration, this book is one I could talk about for hours.
Audrey Wilde was twelve when she simply vanished. It was days after her cousins left her and her mother, at Applecote Manor. It had been a summer getaway location for the cousins. Audrey was an only child, she looked forward to her cousins' arrival. Her cousins being Margot, Dot, Pam and Flora. Four sisters, beautifully close.
Now, over fifty years later, a new family moves into Applecote Manor. They are caught unaware by the secrets and the history of the Manor; they have their own hurdles to jump. The book follows their journey and the story of the property's past.
I love history, and the history- the late 1950s, as described in this book, was so compelling. The sisters and their bond was so relatable to me. I'm one of five daughters, I'm the middle one. We are not as close in age, as Margot and her sisters, but we have that relationship that comes before all else. Of course, there's the rivalry and the getting on each other's nerves but the relationship wasn't too different from the one Margot had with her sisters.
I'm at such a high right now, after reading this book, that I'm not sure I'll find another one that will touch me so deeply. I fell in love with this book immediately. The writing was so perfectly in sync with the story, if that makes any sense at all
This book would not be as crazily inviting were it not for Eve Chases' ability to use words in such a manner to craft such a fragile but powerful book. I recommend this book so wholeheartedly. A favourite for me.
I received this book through NetGalley.
This was a great summer vacation read. The story follows two families, the four Wilde sisters visiting their aunt and uncle in 1959 at Applecote Manor five years after the disappearance of their only daughter Audrey, and the present-day tale of a blended family (Jessie and Will and their girls) moving to Applecote. The mystery of Audrey's disappearance is a shadow through the telling of the very human complexities of family relationships and the love of sisters.
It was all right in a light, summer-fiction type read with the story coming out through two time periods. I suppose I'd throw her into the same bag as Lulu Taylor and Lucinda Riley.
In this book, it revolves around Audrey Wilde, a young teenager who lived at a manor house in the Cotsworld and disappeared without a trace in the early 1950s. We have alternating chapters with a story line from the late 50s and one of "modern times", the new owners moving in and gradually finding out about the mystery. I enjoyed the 1950s line, found the modern one grating. I am not a fan of Londoners seeing "the countryside" (anywhere that's not London) as their countryside retreat playground. They are a bit ridiculous, moving out there because nothing bad ever happens in the countryside (ha!), but are pleasantly shocked to discover people outside of London know about things like jazz (for crying out loud) and then realising that it can snow in the Cotswold, order heavy duty snow coats designed for the Highlands of Scotland. To wear in the south of England. For the love of... yes, I know, just a story, but those characters really grated on me.
The 1959 story follows four sisters, and cousins of lost Audrey, coming to stay at Applecote manner with their grieving aunt and uncle - well, I say grieving, but the aunt doesn't leave the house and is convinced Audrey is coming back. The third daughter, Margot, who was 16 I think, is a bit of a lookalike to Audrey. And the girls enjoy a long hot summer out there, doing those coming-of-age things that girls do, whilst gradually the mystery surrounding Audrey and what might have happened comes to light.
It's light fiction, nothing groundbreaking but it passed the time.
In this book, it revolves around Audrey Wilde, a young teenager who lived at a manor house in the Cotsworld and disappeared without a trace in the early 1950s. We have alternating chapters with a story line from the late 50s and one of "modern times", the new owners moving in and gradually finding out about the mystery. I enjoyed the 1950s line, found the modern one grating. I am not a fan of Londoners seeing "the countryside" (anywhere that's not London) as their countryside retreat playground. They are a bit ridiculous, moving out there because nothing bad ever happens in the countryside (ha!), but are pleasantly shocked to discover people outside of London know about things like jazz (for crying out loud) and then realising that it can snow in the Cotswold, order heavy duty snow coats designed for the Highlands of Scotland. To wear in the south of England. For the love of... yes, I know, just a story, but those characters really grated on me.
The 1959 story follows four sisters, and cousins of lost Audrey, coming to stay at Applecote manner with their grieving aunt and uncle - well, I say grieving, but the aunt doesn't leave the house and is convinced Audrey is coming back. The third daughter, Margot, who was 16 I think, is a bit of a lookalike to Audrey. And the girls enjoy a long hot summer out there, doing those coming-of-age things that girls do, whilst gradually the mystery surrounding Audrey and what might have happened comes to light.
It's light fiction, nothing groundbreaking but it passed the time.