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booksbrewsandbarks 's review for:
The Orphan of Cemetery Hill
by Hester Fox
I am a big fan of Hester Fox's as her novels tend to put me in a perfect mood for Fall and her newest keeps with that trend. I actually enjoyed the premise of The Orphan of Cemetery Hill more than her previous novel as it wasn't as heavy handed when it came to the romance portion, making the focus more on the intriguing plot surrounding the clairvoyant main character Tabby as well as the grave robbing mystery she becomes involved in.
This is a book that is hard to pigeon hole into one genre; it could easily fit into mystery, historical fiction, and even women's fiction. I appreciated how intriguing Tabby's background was, especially regarding her absent sister. I also enjoyed the relationship between Tabby and the male protagonist, Caleb, with their mutual respect and adoration for each other but natural progression of their relationship making it more believable all around as a possible romance. My favorite relationship though was the one between Tabby and her "father", Eli, who takes her in as a child and helps provide her structure and safety in a life where those aspects were nonexistent prior. His own history, being a black man in the mid 1800's in Boston, is intriguing enough on its own and I actually wished that I as a reader was able to spend more time with his character.
One of the odd things that stood out to me with this book is the large lapses in time, only explained in quick sentences by the characters. They happen more than once and tended to throw me off when they occurred as it seemed like the world the characters resided in was just put on pause during these periods without enough reason given.
This is a perfect book to launch any Fall reading list as its is just enough spookiness without having much of the "scare" aspect. The fact that grave robbing is a major plot point and was a real historical occurrence made me like this book even more. Add to that the fact the author makes the clarvoyant trend of the 1800s come to life and this book becomes a true gem.
This is a book that is hard to pigeon hole into one genre; it could easily fit into mystery, historical fiction, and even women's fiction. I appreciated how intriguing Tabby's background was, especially regarding her absent sister. I also enjoyed the relationship between Tabby and the male protagonist, Caleb, with their mutual respect and adoration for each other but natural progression of their relationship making it more believable all around as a possible romance. My favorite relationship though was the one between Tabby and her "father", Eli, who takes her in as a child and helps provide her structure and safety in a life where those aspects were nonexistent prior. His own history, being a black man in the mid 1800's in Boston, is intriguing enough on its own and I actually wished that I as a reader was able to spend more time with his character.
One of the odd things that stood out to me with this book is the large lapses in time, only explained in quick sentences by the characters. They happen more than once and tended to throw me off when they occurred as it seemed like the world the characters resided in was just put on pause during these periods without enough reason given.
This is a perfect book to launch any Fall reading list as its is just enough spookiness without having much of the "scare" aspect. The fact that grave robbing is a major plot point and was a real historical occurrence made me like this book even more. Add to that the fact the author makes the clarvoyant trend of the 1800s come to life and this book becomes a true gem.