Sarah Maine

Another LT recommendation, and to use my father’s phrase, it was fair to middlin’.

The book is well written and the plots (dual time lines) were well constructed. The story just didn’t do it for me. My cockles weren’t warmed and my attention wasn’t hooked. The present day POV kept me reading far longer than I should have, while the past POV had me bored and the trope had me rolling my eyes.

Just really not my jam.

I would, however, totally live somewhere that’s only accessible during low tides.… (mehr)

This book is set in two timelines, 1910 and 2010, tied together by a hundred year old mystery of human bones discovered on an inherited property. It contains atmospheric descriptions of the Scottish countryside. Themes include art, love, relationships, history, architecture, and environmental/political viewpoints. The tensions among characters are well-depicted and believable. The solution to the mystery was satisfying and not completely obvious. Recommended to readers of historical fiction or those who enjoy novels about relationships.… (mehr)

DNF about 60%

I enjoyed the historical mystery aspect of this book, but I didn't realize how prominent the modern-day romance plot (I'm not sure I can even call it a subplot) was going to be. This would probably have annoyed me a bit but not stopped me from finishing it, except that I really disliked the love interest, Rodri. At this point in my life, when I see a male character who's an asshole (and a little bit sexist), I just cannot care about his hidden soft side, his dead wife, or the reasons why he's secretly sad and it's actually completely understandable that he's kind of an asshole (and sexist).… (mehr)

There is a plot convention that you will all be familiar with, the dual timeline, past and present, the present characters having some reason to be attempting to unfold the story of those in the past. I confess, when it is done well, it is a device I obviously enjoy. I usually find myself wrapped up in the characters of the past, however, with little interest in those of the present. Sarah Maine was able to keep me involved in both time frames with almost equal interest, so that I did not feel resentment when the story set in 1910 segued to the story in 2014.

Again, in hardly a new plot line, Hetty Deveraux, a Londoner, has lost her parents and thus inherited a crumbling estate in Scotland, which once belonged to a distant relative, renowned painter, Theo Blake. In the process of surveying to see what can be done with rebuilding the house, bones are found on the premises-- old bones buried under flooring, an obvious indication of murder. That Sarah Maine makes this feel like a fresh storyline is another almost miraculous achievement.

There are handsome, brooding men and women who are trying to establish their independence; and there is a very nice subplot regarding the responsibilities of people to the land and natural preservation. This is done without being heavy-handed and fits itself with perfection into both time frames. The atmosphere is haunting, as the house is set on an island that can be accessed across the strand only at low tides, and Maine is skilled in her descriptions and mood creation. She is able to make the setting both an ideal and gloomily isolated, so that the house and its surroundings seem to take on and reflect the characters moods and feelings.

It was serendipity that I happened to be reading this book right now. It wasn’t what I intended, but the electricity failed, making the ebooks I had planned inaccessible, and this was the top book on a stack of “real” books I hadn’t gotten to yet. I am happy the power had its glitch. I enjoyed this break and having the freedom to just sink into a story and get lost for a few hours of pure enjoyment.
… (mehr)