Barbara Forte Abate

Painted From Memories is a very melancholy read. The main protagonist has had something very traumatic happen in her childhood and she has secreted it away from everyone. She hides it even from the man she desperately loves fearing it will turn him away from her.

Much of the story is written as her reflections and thoughts on things and her musings on the past. This is how we discover what terrible things happened to create the fractured person she is today. Every day she lives she seems to be waiting for something awful to happen.

The house that Cat and her husband Gray live in seem to be a reflection of her emotional state. It is in poor condition and barely holding together. There are secrets in the house that have been left there. You can feel them in the rooms and in the junk that has been left behind by the previous owners.

The author has a way of making you feel what Cat and Gray are feeling. I wanted to keep reading the book just to find out what the secret was that she was keeping from Gray even though I didn’t really like the melancholy feel to the story.

What I didn’t expect were the other secrets that were being kept. It makes a person wonder how a relationship can survive with so many lies, even if they are lies of omission. I wonder what would have happened if the truth had been discovered earlier.

I found the book to be rather long and wordy at times and wanted to skim parts to hurry up and get on with the story. It took me longer than usual to finish Painted From Memories than it normally takes to finish a book of this length as it was not a book I felt compelled to pick up and read.

I gave this book 3 stars out of 5 because of the author’s ability to reach the reader emotionally. Though I did not find this book compelling, I know that there are other readers out there who will.

Thank you to the author for providing a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion is not required. All thoughts are my own.

To read my complete review, visit Shelf Full of Books http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/05/book-review-painted-from-me...… (mehr)

As I started this book I wasn’t really sure what to expect. The book is written in such a way you must continue to read. You have multiple story lines throughout that are all intwined. We find Cat, a young scarred woman who has recently married. She has never told her husband of her past for fear he will find her hideous. As a child she watched her parents constantly fight. It culminated in her father killing her mother and then taking his own life. Her younger sister who was only two at the time never spoke again.

Then we have the glimpses into her life after her parent’s death. She and her sister are taken from the orphanage to live with a couple. You get from the short clips of memory that they were treated no better than slaves. All these things she’s kept hidden from her husband Gray. But hers are not the only secrets. Things take a drastic turn when a man named Rance steps up on her porch.

There is so much I could tell you but don’t won’t to. I’ve left out so many things so that you the reader will need to read the book. The book is written with such great emotion that you are Cat as that young child, hiding while her parents fight. I felt Cat’s pain, fear, isolation, and lonliness. This is one of those books where you feel such emotion and want things to turn out well for her. Barbara has once again taken the reader, thrown them into the middle of a situation letting them fend for themselves for a while before throwing them life saver. Well done.… (mehr)

If you are looking for a feel good book to read then put this down and find something else. This is one of the most depressing, dark books I have read in a long time. I loved it. I have never cared for the syrupy, sweet romances out in the world. Give me a story full of emotion, no matter how dark and I love it. I want to feel something when I read a story. I want to be able to relate. I want to think I know where the story is going and then have the author surprise me with the ending. This book is all that and more.
Willa has the most dysfunctional, selfish parents. Her father won a lot of money and left Willa and her mother with only a thousand dollars. Her mom Stella is so selfish and disgusting. She is one of those parents you would like to see locked up. She wakes Willa up in the middle of the night to leave. Their car breaks down and they are taken in by the owner of the Moonglow Motel. Stella is given a job cleaning cottages for a small salary and their room and board. Willa does the cleaning. Add to this a escaped convict seeking revenge on the town. Fires popping up everywhere and you have the most depressing town around. Willa falls hard for the teenage handyman Jesse. But even that doesn’t go the way the reader thinks it should. I won’t give away any spoilers. If you are like me and like those dark novels then this is a must read. It will keep you turning pages. This is the second book I’ve read by this author and I am so thrilled to do it. I love her writing style.… (mehr)

Originally reviewed on These Pretty Words.

This review is a really tough one for me. I should warn you readers in advance – my feelings about this book run the gamut, so you'll need to grant me a bit of leeway here.

The Secret of Lies starts out with the main character, Stevie, leaving her husband in an emotional mess. The summary is clear on this; she leaves and ends up in a hotel remembering a summer from her youth. That much I got through and enjoyed.

As soon as we readers were brought back in time to the years leading up to the horrific event that forever changed our main character I started noticing problems. The characters were sometimes almost intentionally clueless, the time jumping was unclear and confusing, and the overall arc of the story was slow to build. Some chapters completely sucked me in and made me want to try and finish the book in one sitting while others left me scratching my head and almost skimming bits.

That being said, I really enjoyed Barbara's writing style. Her words flowed well and her descriptions were bright and clear without bogging down the reader. This isn't a book whose summary or cover art grabs my attention and begs me to read it, yet I'm so glad I picked it up and made it through the (too long) novel. True, there were some insanely long sentences in the book, the pacing was very stop and go, and a couple time-flow issues forced me to go back and reread parts, but overall the writing was engaging and something about the main character made me want to see how her life played out.

I don't see this being an extremely popular book (though I have a few friends I think would really enjoy it) but I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more of Barbara's work. Something about her writing style spoke to me and, with the help of a better editor, I think she has real potential to write something absolutely fantastic.
… (mehr)