Book Review: The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare (arc)

The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare (arc) (2022) by Kimberley Brock

Fiction | Historical Fiction

Disclaimer: In every review that I complete, I try my best to avoid spoilers of any kind and include spoiler warnings when necessary.

About the book (from Goodreads)

The fate of the world is often driven by the curiosity of a girl.

What happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke remains a mystery, but the women who descended from Eleanor Dare have long known the truth lies in what she left behind: a message carved onto a large stone and the contents of her treasured Commonplace Book. Brought from England on Eleanor’s fateful voyage to the New World, her book was passed down through the fifteen generations of daughters who followed as they came of age. Thirteen-year-old Alice had been next in line to receive it, but her mother’s tragic death fractured the unbroken legacy and the Dare Stone and the shadowy history recorded in the book faded into memory. Or so Alice hoped.

In the waning days of World War Two, Alice is a young widow and a mother herself when she is unexpectedly presented with her birthright: the deed to Evertell, her abandoned family home and the history she thought forgotten. Determined to sell the property and step into a future free of the past, Alice returns to Savannah with her own thirteen-year-old daughter, Penn, in tow. But when Penn’s curiosity over the lineage she never knew begins to unveil secrets from beneath every stone and bone and shell of the old house and Eleanor’s book is finally found, Alice is forced to reckon with the sacrifices made for love and the realities of their true inheritance as daughters of Eleanor Dare.

In this sweeping tale from award-winning author Kimberly Brock, the answers to a real-life mystery may be found in the pages of a story that was always waiting to be written.

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Note: Thank you to Netgalley & the publishers for allowing me access to this arc! Please note that all opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

My Review

The synopsis for this book is fascinating, and as a lover of historical fiction, I was pretty excited to read it. Especially since the Lost Colony of Roanoke is a fascinating mystery that I examined during my History degree. For the most part, it was a good read. I found myself entranced by the beautiful mystery of Evertell that Brock paints a picture of.

The unknown was powerful. It was the monster in the dark, the secret in the box, the poison in the wine.

The Good Things

1. The story, overall, is a fantastic concept. It is fitting for historical fiction (at least the second half) and is a fast read, despite the merging storylines and multi-generational aspects.

2. The main character's sense of loss is profound, and reflective of

3. The dual timelines were written really well! I've read books where it takes away from the overall story, and that was definitely not the case with The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare.

4. The family's homestead is described exceptionally well. I find myself wanting to go there and see it for myself.

5. The writing is beautiful and seems heartfelt. It is clear that the author was passionate about the story and (most of) her characters.

The Bad Things

1. The history aspects that I was looking forward to (Roanoke history) took way too long to get around to, and I'm still a tiny bit disappointed.

2. This is the first time in a while that I've read a book where one of the main characters is not exceptionally likable, despite the fact that she is clearly supposed to be.

My Final Rating: ☆☆☆☆/5

Release Date: April 12, 2022. Pre-order this from Amazon by clicking here!

If you have access to this ARC, please feel free to leave comments concerning how you liked -or didn't like, no judgment here- it! If you don't have access, let me know if this is on your tbr! I would love to hear your thoughts!

Book Review: Where the Crawdads Sing

Where the Crawdads Sing (2018) by Delia Owens

Fiction | Historical Fiction | Mystery

Disclaimer: In every review that I complete, I try my best to avoid spoilers of any kind and include spoiler warnings when necessary.

About the book (from Goodreads)

For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet fishing village. Kya Clark is barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when the popular Chase Andrews is found dead, locals immediately suspect her.

But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life's lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world—until the unthinkable happens.

In Where the Crawdads Sing, Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a profound coming-of-age story and haunting mystery. Thought-provoking, wise, and deeply moving, Owens’s debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the child within us, while also subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

The story asks how isolation influences the behavior of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures.

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My Review

For the past few years, I've heard great things about this book. I've had it on my tbr list and kept putting off reading it, and now that I finally have: wow. Just, wow. Where the Crawdads Sing is yet another book I read slowly so that I could savor it. The story in its entirety is touching and heart-warming, and I absolutely loved it.

The Good Things

1. The language in this novel is absolutely fantastic, especially the dialogue. It makes the story more immersive.

2. The author's description of the march is fantastic, despite not being entirely accurate for the location. I found myself imagining its beauty and was inspired by the main character's love for the lands that raised her.

3. The main character is extraordinarily well written. As readers, were are able to follow her throughout her lifetime and understand her on an extremely personal level.

4. The ending was absolutely wonderful and tied up the book nicely. I think that had the novel ended any other way, I would have been left wanting more.

The Bad Things

1. The mystery aspect of this is very subtle. I personally enjoyed that touch, but if you want a thriller or a quick-paced mystery, don't choose this book.

2. There were a few chapters toward the end that I didn't love, but I know they were important to the story so I'm willing to overlook them. However, I can completely understand how others may not be able to look past this and there is a slight possibility that it will affect their overall view of the story.

My Final Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆/5

If you are interested in purchasing this book, click here.

Please feel free to leave comments concerning how you liked -or didn't like, no judgment here- The House in the Cerulean Sea. I would love to hear your thoughts!

Book Review: The Christie Affair (arc)

The Christie Affair (arc) (2022) by

Fiction | Historical Fiction | Mystery

Disclaimer: In every review that I complete, I try my best to avoid spoilers of any kind and include spoiler warnings when necessary.

About the book (from Goodreads)

Nina de Gramont's The Christie Affair is a beguiling novel of star-crossed lovers, heartbreak, revenge, and murder—and a brilliant re-imagination of one of the most talked-about unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century.

Every story has its secrets.

Every mystery has its motives.

“A long time ago, in another country, I nearly killed a woman. It’s a particular feeling, the urge to murder. It takes over your body so completely, it’s like a divine force, grabbing hold of your will, your limbs, your psyche. There’s a joy to it. In retrospect, it’s frightening, but I daresay in the moment it feels sweet. The way justice feels sweet.”

The greatest mystery wasn’t Agatha Christie’s disappearance in those eleven infamous days, it’s what she discovered.

London, 1925: In a world of townhomes and tennis matches, socialites and shooting parties, Miss Nan O’Dea became Archie Christie’s mistress, luring him away from his devoted and well-known wife, Agatha Christie.

The question is, why? Why destroy another woman’s marriage, why hatch a plot years in the making, and why murder? How was Nan O’Dea so intricately tied to those eleven mysterious days that Agatha Christie went missing?

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Note: Thank you to Netgalley & the publishers for allowing me access to this arc! Please note that all opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

My Review

As soon as I received my copy of The Christie Affair, I pushed it to the very top of my list so that I could have a review completed before its release date next week.

And let me tell you, I am beyond disappointed.

The Christie Affair -primarily the story based on the events of Agatha Christie's mysterious disappearance for eleven days in 1926- had the potential to be great, but unfortunately, fell flat.

"It's a particular feeling, the urge to murder."

The Good Things

Told from the perspective of Nan Christie -Archie Christie's second wife- each of the characters she encounters is intriguing and well-written. The author does a fantastic job allowing for Nan to offer a character in a way that she sees them, alongside how others portray them.

1. The cover is absolutely gorgeous. It is eye-catching and fitting for the story.

2. There are a lot of quotable lines, which I suppose is a reflection of the author's writing skills.

3. The last 30% of the book is a much better story than the first 70%.

"Anyone who says I have no regrets is either a psychopath or a liar."

The Bad Things

1. This is a big one. Because the story is told from Nan's point of view, there are parts of the story that seem extremely far-fetched. Yes, she admits on several occasions that she wasn't actually there for some of the events that took place and that her account is merely guesswork, but doing so takes away from the story significantly. Also, how are we supposed to believe that what happened to Agatha is entirely true. It is told from the perspective of her husband's mistress. Plus, from what we are led to understand right off the bat, Nan didn't actually know Agatha that well. (I'm aware this is fiction, but it still needs to be believable).

2. There are a lot of plot-holes and certain events that don't entirely make sense. I don't want to delve too far into those out of fear of spoiling things.

3. About 70% of the entire story was either boring, or full of useless information, including a lot of Nan's background that had little to do with the main story. In my opinion, took away from the point of the story: to tell where Agatha really was when she disappeared.

The main reason I am giving this two stars is that I honestly just did not enjoy reading this book. Maybe I had too high of hopes for it, or perhaps I just expected a different kind of story, or maybe, just maybe, the book is unnecessarily overhyped.

My Final Rating:

☆☆ (Goodreads)

☆☆ (Blog)

☆☆ (Amazon - will post as soon as the book is released)

Release Date: February 1, 2022. Pre-order this from Amazon by clicking here!

If you have access to this ARC, please feel free to leave comments concerning how you liked -or didn't like, no judgment here- it! If you don't have access, let me know if this is on your tbr! I would love to hear your thoughts!