Short & Sweet: Big Lies in a Small Town (Adult)

Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain

I found the first two-thirds of this book quite slow -- it's a dual timeline story, and I was enjoying Morgan's voice from the contemporary timeline, but nothing much was happening in either era. Then there's a big event that occurs in the historical timeline about two-thirds of the way through, and after that the historical timeline held more interest for me. The premise stands out as being a bit different from your average mystery -- the art restoration was a neat element -- but it is definitely not a suspense/thriller type read. It's a much quieter, secrets-hidden-are-slowly-revealed sort of story. Also, some of the reveals are pretty guessable. I was motivated to keep reading once I got to the last third of the book, as I wanted to see how everything played out, but in a sea of dual timeline mysteries, this would not be one of my top recommendations. The best part about it was really the focus on art, and art restoration, which made it more memorable than it would have been otherwise.

3 shooting stars.

Short & Sweet: The Alice Network (Adult)

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

A very solid read. Excellent writing that was both accessible and yet still evoked the historical time period, fully fleshed-out main characters who stirred reader sympathy without being unrealistically perfect, and dual storylines that both held my interest (although the Eve storyline was arguably more gripping). The one niggling complaint I have is that stereotypes of groups as either "good" or "evil" were employed in a rather black-and-white way (without discussion). It would have been more realistic to have some examples of exceptions to the stereotypes introduced -- not all Germans were "evil," just as not all British or Americans were "good" during the wars. Human behaviour is far more complicated than a simple label like that, in any case. 


4 stars. 

Ember Island: A Rambling Review (Adult)

Ember Island by Kimberley Freeman

Really enjoyed this one. The characters felt true to life, the description of the setting vibrant, and the story unpredictable and compelling. The way the author leads the reader to care about the characters and their struggles reminded me of Kate Morton's writing. Indeed, this is definitely one I'd recommend if you're looking for a Kate Morton read-alike!

I did find the contemporary storyline a lot weaker and less compelling than the historical one, although it too involved a twist that I didn't see coming. As well, the ending didn't quite hold up for me compared to what had come before it -- it seemed like it wrapped up too quickly and easily, and without the sorts of consequences I would expect there to have been had the story happened in real life.

Overall, though, a very enjoyable read -- quite possibly the best so far of my 2018 reading year!

ETA: Some of the themes and elements in this book reminded me of Jane Eyre, in particular, the struggle between passion and rationality. In fact, there is even a mention of Jane Eyre at one point -- perhaps a shout-out by the author to one of her sources of inspiration?