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A house, not a person, is the star of Chase’s debut novel—an ivy-covered country estate in Cornwall. I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through Edelweiss for an honest review! Forgotten the title or the author of a book? Our BookSleuth is specially designed for you. Visit BookSleuth Like the setting of Robert Frost’s Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Chase’s novel is lovely, dark and deep..”— Richmond Times-Dispatch
The food was superbly cooked and it was a good portion without it being too... much. The service from the staff was also excellent and came with a friendly welcoming smile. The smiles lasted for the duration of our dinner. All in all an excellent dinner and service! stars (REALLY close to 5 stars)! I loved this book! It was published in early 2016, yet I hadn't heard of it until very recently - special thanks to my GR friend Frances. The blurb mentions a Kate Morton comparison which is what made me decide to read it (I love Kate Morton!). I am so glad I read it. And isn't this cover gorgeous?!?Chase deserves high marks for her atmospheric setting and vivid prose, and fans of old-fashioned gothic stories will find this a winner.
I have a few questions in with the author and will write up a full review along with the answers to those questions as a feature on the blog soon. I love books with parallel storylines, especially those that involve grand houses, a mystery that has to be solved and skeleton in the closet. So, when I saw this book I just knew I had to read it. And, I wasn't disappointed. I was instantly hooked and couldn't wait out to find out more about what really happened in the 60s that could destroy a family so.
Clues are dropped throughout the novel so you know something terrible has happened, but you don’t know the details. At several points I believed I had figured out the mystery, only to be proven wrong. There are moments where some of the events are just too much of a coincidence, but I’m happy to overlook that when I love the story. Ghosts are everywhere, not just the ghost of Momma in the woods, but ghosts of us too, what we used to be like in those long summers ... Eve Chase’s novels are about glamorous families with tragic pasts, set in wonderful locations...one of my favourite reads so far this year.’ Daily Mail Eve Chase has something of the poet in her: herdescriptions of a manor in an ancient forest are worth reading forthemselves. Weloved it,' Richard Madeley,Richard and Judy Book Club
How gloriously gothic! There are hundreds more beguiling passages like these, but I don’t want to give anything away! You’ll have to read it for yourself. Starred Review. Chase's heart-wrenching first novel is equal parts romance, mystery, and historical fiction. For readers who are interested in complex period drama such as Daisy Goodwin's The American Heiress, or who enjoy a touch of the gothic such as in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca or Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale Chase deserves high marks for her atmospheric setting and vivid prose, and fans of old-fashioned gothic stories will find this a winner.” –-Publishers Weekly Lots to love here, though. Gorgeous descriptions of Cornwall. Complicated characters—even the ones taking antagonistic roles, felt if not sympathetic at least consistently understandable. And, of course, lashings of sex, violence, melodrama and tragedy. I had two problems with this book: 1. The writer's weird use of strange metaphors (which, thankfully, she used less and less as the book went on. And 2. I disliked Lorna, the "modern story" narrator. She seemed overdramatic to me, and some of her decisions illogical. Her story wasn't very interesting to me.Amid the sun-soaked hills of southern Italy lies the Romano family olive grove, where Lara lives with her daughter Rose and her granddaughter Bea. As children, Amber and Toby are almost inseparable, but after their mother's death they both change dramatically—Amber reflects that she "no longer feel[s] like a girl inside" (p. 93), and Toby becomes increasingly angry and wild. Why do you think the twins grow apart, instead of together? Do you think they would have stayed close if Momma had lived? Why or why not? This is the title I was most looking forward to in my “Most anticipated titles of 2016” blog post and I was not disappointed! A wonderful saga of family secrets, tragic loss, and enduring love with a dual storyline, it will appeal to fans of Kate Morton, Rosamund Pilcher, Maeve Binchy and Sarah Waters.
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