Review: The Broken Girls (by Simone St. James)

My Rating:  4 stars

When I first picked up this book after reading the summary, I wasn’t sure what to expect going into it, as I saw that it would be yet another dual timeline narrative, plus not being familiar with this author, I thought it would follow the typical mystery / suspense / thriller pattern similar to all the other books in this genre that I had read over the years.   Well, after having finished this book now, I would say that the experience reading this was nothing like what I expected.  For me, what set this book apart from others in the same genre was the fact that there was actually a legitimate ghost story woven seamlessly into both the past and present narrative, as well as a few elements of historical fiction included as part of one of the back stories – taken together, all of these elements combined made this a fascinating read.  I don’t typically read ghost stories or books with paranormal / supernatural element to them, but this one was done in a light-handed enough manner that I found it within the bounds of what I was able to accept. With that said, the author did such a good job establishing a mysterious, creepy atmosphere with the backstory of Mary Hand and her connection to both narratives that there were moments when I was reading where I actually did feel a little spooked out, though not to the extent where I had to stop reading or set the book aside.  

The narrative in the past (1950s) was told from the alternating perspectives of Katie, Roberta, Cece, and Sonia – 4 teenagers who roomed together at Idlewild Hall, which was a boarding school for “wayward” girls.  With each chapter, each of the girl’s stories slowly unfolded and we would learn their backgrounds, how they ended up at Idlewild, and most of all, the secrets that each girl wanted to keep hidden – secrets that, when dredged up, drove overwhelming fear into their hearts.  The present narrative, set in 2014, revolved around journalist Fiona Sheridan, whose beloved sister Deb was murdered 20 years prior, her body dumped in the fields near the ruins of Idlewild, which had closed down in 1979.  Even though Deb’s murderer was already in jail, Fiona could not stop the relentless urge she felt to revisit the case, which she finds the perfect opportunity to do so when she discovers that the abandoned boarding school was bought and being restored by a rich benefactor.  The two narratives intertwine when a discovery is made during the renovations that links Deb’s death with long-buried secrets about Idlewild and the girls who once attended school there.

One of the things that really drew me into this book was the writing, which was exceptionally good.  The way the story was told – the prose descriptive without going overboard, the writing smooth and seemingly effortless – it was difficult not to feel fully immersed in the narrative from the getgo.  In fact, once I started reading, I was so engrossed in the story that I just wanted to keep going.  This is one of those books where the writing pulled me in and set the tone, the story captivated me enough to hold my attention for an extended period of time, and the characters were endearing to the point that I enjoyed spending time with them.  The dual timeline actually worked extremely well with this particular story, though I do have to say that I enjoyed the 1950s narrative more, as I really liked the 4 girls and the special sisterhood that they shared and also found their backstories much more interesting than Fiona’s story in the present time.  With Fiona’s narrative, I felt that the author tried to cram way too much “drama” into her story, especially in the second half of the book – I would’ve preferred for some of the unnecessary elements to Fiona’s story be taken out and instead, more time be given to the Idlewild girls’ stories.  Also, there were a few parts of the book that did drag a little and caused the momentum to slow at times, however in the overall scheme of things, this was a relatively minor issue.

This was a book that I enjoyed immensely, even with the ghost story aspect that usually would make me hesitant to read.  The story is definitely intriguing and the overall setup is unique enough where I didn’t feel like I was reading “yet another thriller.”  I would definitely recommend this one, though with the warning about the ghost story element in case that may be an issue for anyone deciding whether to read this or not.

Received ARC from Berkley via Edelweiss

Review: Gods of Howl Mountain (by Taylor Brown)

My Rating: 3 stars

This book is a hard one to rate.  Based on literary merit alone, I would say this one deserves at least 4 stars for its incredibly atmospheric, descriptive writing that made me feel like, from the very first paragraph, I was being transported deep into the mountains of 1950s North Carolina, into the world inhabited by a one-legged whiskey runner named Rory and his feisty folk-healer grandmother Maybelline (Granny May).   Throughout the story, there was a generous amount of vivid description that often spanned several paragraphs, at times even several pages, of everything from the smallest minutiae to major plot points and character developments.   I always appreciate descriptive writing, especially the kind that is immersive and makes the reader feel as though we are right there beside the characters, feeling what they are feeling, experiencing what they are experiencing – indeed, the writing here was gorgeous, even lyrical in places, and as I don’t read Southern fiction very often, plus I grew up on the West Coast in a big city, the many lush descriptions of the countryside and mountain region really helped establish time and place and put the entire story into perspective for me.

With that said however, this was not an easy read by any means -- even though I loved the writing, I found myself struggling through much of the story.  The lyrical nature of the prose coupled with the descriptiveness already made this a challenging read in that there were parts where it was nearly impossible to understand what was going on without re-reading passages and then taking the time to absorb what I had just read.  I’ve never been a fast reader, but for this one, I felt like I had to slow down my reading by several notches, which wouldn’t normally be too big of an issue except that in this case, I wasn’t particularly keen on the subject matter of the book.  This was a dark, gritty, violent story that revolved around whiskey, bootlegging, and auto-racing (though on a deeper level it was also about love, revenge, buried secrets, loyalty, family, the long term effects of war, etc.) – this type of subject matter I’m not generally interested in, so at some point, especially in the second half of the book, I started to lose patience with the overly descriptive style (or perhaps it was exhaustion from how laborious this felt to read) and so I found myself skimming quite a bit near the end.

In terms of the characters – I actually did like most of the characters in this and for me, Rory and Granny May were two of the most complex and well-developed characters I’ve encountered in a while in a work of fiction.  However, I still found it difficult to connect with these characters as well as everyone else in the story – the emotional element was mostly lacking for me.

Overall, I would say that I did like parts of this one, but as a whole, this book probably wasn’t for me.  I’m still willing to give this author’s other books a try though, as I truly do like his writing style – perhaps with different subject matter, I may be able to connect with the story more next time.

Received ARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley

Review: How to Walk Away (by Katherine Center)

 My Rating:  3.5 stars

I have mixed feelings about this book.  While I can’t say I didn’t enjoy reading this (I actually enjoyed alot of it, very much so in fact!), there was something about the way the story was written that made it difficult for me to connect with the story and its characters as much as I think I was supposed to.  Don’t get me wrong – I did like majority of the characters, of course some more than others.  Margaret’s sister Kitty, for example, was one of my favorite characters – I loved her personality and how unconventional she was, yet she was there for her sister when she needed her the most.  Unlike most of the readers out there who were probably more touched by the special relationship that Margaret and Ian shared, I actually found the sisterly bond between Margaret and Kitty to be the most moving and also the part of the story that I enjoyed most.  Perhaps it is because I am a generally cynical person and so a “fairytale romance” like the one Margaret and Ian had in the story just didn’t feel realistic to me (the ending didn’t help either with the way it was so neatly packaged in shiny wrapping paper with the most beautiful bow on top).  The relationship that Margaret had with her sister Kitty on the other hand, did feel realistic and the way they interacted – constantly bickering on the outside yet showing through their actions how much they actually loved and cared about each other on the inside – felt more genuine than all of the romantic relationships within the story.  Aside from Kitty, I felt that most of the other characters were a bit stereotypical (yes, including Margaret, who was at the center of the story), yet despite that, at the end of the day, I couldn’t help liking these characters even though I didn’t connect as much with them on an emotional level as I typically would have.

In terms of the story itself, I actually found the plot a bit too contrived and predictable, with too many coincidences and in some sections, it felt like too much drama was created unnecessarily – by the end especially, it felt like the author was trying to pile as much drama on as possible, which, to me at least, had the unintended effect of causing confusion and contradiction with some of the plot points.  There are some books out there that are written expressly to convey a particular message and to me, this book felt like it fell into that category, as the message that was being conveyed through the story – a message about hope, resilience, love, courage, etc. -- seemed to matter way more than the actual plot and maybe even the story itself.  Perhaps this is why, despite the fact that I felt the story was a bit cliched, the plot a bit too predictable, and some (not all) of the characters were somewhat stereotypical, I still found myself drawn to the story and not wanting to pull myself away.  Indeed, this was a quick read, one that I was able to plow right through in more or less two days.

Basically, I would say that I liked the story overall as well as the characters (most of them at least), but unfortunately was not keen on the execution.  While it’s true that from the getgo, I had some understanding that this book would be a relatively lighthearted, “feel good,” uplifting read and I guess from that perspective, this book did its job and then some – though to be honest, I felt the author went a little “too light” in some places that perhaps should have been more serious.   Also, there were some consistency issues where it felt like some things were overexplained while others that should have been explained more were glossed over.  I think if this book had been more tightly written, less cliched, less predictable, it would have been a more emotional read for me, and a more memorable one as well.

Overall, I did enjoy this one – parts of it at least – but felt like it could have been so much more.  I would still recommend this book, though more for the “feels” rather than the plot or the writing, as I felt that both these areas were definitely lacking.  With that said though, this is one of those books where it’s best to set aside judgement and just go into without overly high expectations and see where the story leads you.   

Received ARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley