Kimberly Brock

This book had SUCH potential, but it fell completely and utterly flat. It was one of those that's just intriguing enough to make you want to read more, whilst you keep re-assuring yourself that it will get better. Unfortunately, it never got better. The characters were fairly interesting, and the time period and backstory quite appealing, but the plot just plodded along. And once it finally wrapped up, the end was trite and cliched. No real secrets or mysteries were revealed, and several questions were left unanswered. *Sigh* Kimberly Brock made her novel too broad (historical fiction, romance, coming-of-age, grief, war, mystery), but failed to make it cohesive and interesting. I recommend Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series if you are interested in an author who masterfully combines several genres to produce a fantastic saga well worth your time.… (meer)

If this book had just stuck to the story of Alice, and her daughter, Penn, it would have been much stronger. Instead, Brock chose to make it more convoluted by throwing in their family history: they are descended from Eleanor Dare, the only survivor of the lost colony of Roanoake. And supposedly, Eleanor left behind a book that has been passed down through all the generations of female Dare descendents since 1585 through to 1945, when the book takes place. Or maybe the book was just the invention of Eleanor's mother? And there's a stone that she carved soemthing on, that was lost, but then found, but then lost again? This is where a started to get bogged down, and ultimately, I found that I just didn't care enough about this part of the story.

I liked Penn and Alice as characters, though, and was interested enough to want to know what happened to them. Did Alice ever come to terms with her mother's mental illness and death? Was Penn able to get a fresh start and make friends? Were they able to come to terms with each other in the wake of Penn's father's death? There's more than enough there for a good story without the intrigue.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.… (meer)