Reviews

The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare by Kimberly Brock

amymarchlawrence's review

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

macsuga's review

Go to review page

5.0

Such a good story of Mother's love and the legacy of strong women! So good

tjoslyn's review

Go to review page

The story moved too slowly and seemed disjointed. I found my attention and interest drifting and was just never really engaged by the story or the characters.

duchessofreadin's review

Go to review page

4.0

This was a real interesting book. Roanoke has fascinated people from the beginning, everyone wondering what happened to those who were left behind. Told from the perspective of Eleanor Dare, the expedition leaders daughter, this is a book that will captivate and keep you interested the entire way through.

Great book, easy weekend read.

candacesiegle_greedyreader's review

Go to review page

2.0

"The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare" is much more of a romance than I expected from the description and was simply not my cup o' tea. I would perhaps recommend it to readers who love this kind of book.

What kind of book is this? It sounds as though it's going to be about the lost colony of Roanoke but it isn't. It's about a young widow and her daughter who return to her decaying home of Evertell. at the end of World War Two. The "Lost Book" is found pretty early on, and from there the story spins its wheels.

I confess,I did not make it through. I wish someone had wrangled this story into shape because there are some possibilities there.

The digital ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

nerdyperfect's review

Go to review page

informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

3.0

blessedjess's review

Go to review page

4.0

Wow, this book had me glued with the mystery and also feeling all the feels because of the generational relationships that can so easily define us for better or worse. Set in two historical times, the late 1500s and the late 1940s this book dives into the mystery of the lost colony through one of the women, Eleanor Dare. This book hypothesizes that Eleanor survived and that the women descended from her have a slight mystic power that helps them see a glimpse of their future. Two of these ancestors are Alice and her daughter Pen, who have recently lost the husband and father who completed their family in WWII. Returning to her childhood home, Evertell, Alice is confronted with past hurts and mysteries. Pen, determined to learn more about her mysterious ancestor, Eleanor Dare, starts to unravel the mysterious past while also helping her mother to confront her pain that has divided her from her ancestors. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves both mysteries and history that touch the core of the mysterious motivations that create both division and unity in families. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced ecopy of this book.

skyblue212's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious medium-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

4.25

cassieloo2's review

Go to review page

It wasn’t what I thought it was. I thought it would be a dual timeline with Eleanor dare. It was more focused on the mom and daughter. 

aussiebookwitch's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional 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? Yes

2.0

This was  DNF for me. I tried, I really did, but it took me three days to get halfway because i just found it so meandering and tedious. I don't know what the point of the book is. I don't know what it is about Eleanor's Tale that has the main protagonist so upset. And, honestly, I could not relate to, or warm to, her at all.

I far more enjoyed the passages written from her daughter's point of view and would have preferred the entire book written that way.

I gave it a good shot but, at 50%, I still wasn't caring.

Obviously the main character thinks she's done something wrong, and it seems safe to say she'll have some kind of forgiveness/awakening moment, but it feels like a poor pay-off for the long road to get there that is this book.