Search This Blog








2023 Literary Escapes Challenge
- Alabama (1)
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California (2)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia (1)
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (1)
- Maryland (1)
- Massachusetts (1)
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York (2)
- North Carolina (1)
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina (1)
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont (2)
- Virginia
- Washington (1)
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.*
International:
- Australia (1)
- Ireland (1)
- Scotland (1)





2023 Build Your Library Reading Challenge







Thursday, April 16, 2015
Haven Lake Compelling, Though Not Completely Satisfying
1:00 AM
(Image from Barnes & Noble)
Haven Lake has always been a place of refuge for drifters, draft dodgers and down-on-their-luckers. In the '60s, its idyllic Berkshire setting provided the perfect backdrop for a peace-touting, free-lovin' hippie commune. Like all the children who lived there, Sydney Bishop pranced naked through its fields and forests, wild and free as a wood sprite. It was only as a teenager, after twin tragedies shattered not just her community, but also her family, that Sydney ran away from Haven Lake, vowing never to return. Desperate to leave her past, with all its dark memories, far behind her, Sydney's kept her promise for two decades.
Now 36, Sydney finds fulfillment in her job as an educational psychologist, her quaint cottage on the shore, and her upcoming marriage to Gary Katz, a handsome surgeon. Soon to be a stepmother, she's worked hard to get to know Dylan, her fiancé's 16-year-old son. When the troubled boy runs away from home, Sydney's sympathetic, but shocked when she learns he's holing up at Haven Lake with Sydney's mother, Hannah. Her astonishment turns to anger when Hannah offers to let Dylan stay and help her with the sheep farm.
Dylan's problems, mixed with Hannah's interference, and Gary's increasingly alarming mood swings, create a toxic cocktail that has Sydney questioning everything about her life. The raging turmoil inside her can't be assuaged, she realizes, until she finds out the truth about what happened on the night her childhood best friend drowned in Haven Lake. Facing the hurt that defines her past may be the only way for Sydney to find future happiness. But, what happens when everything you remember is wrong? And the future you've always dreamed of no longer feels right? As Sydney confronts her haunting past, she'll have to decide whom to believe, whom to trust, and ultimately, whom to blame for the terrible events that turned Haven Lake into a hell of sorrow, guilt, and pain.
It's no secret that I'm a complete sucker for a good damaged-woman-returns-to-her-hometown-to-confront-her-past novel. With a premise like the one I summarized above, it's no surprise that I wanted to read Haven Lake by Holly Robinson. The question is, did it deliver the kind of rich, redemptive story for which I generally go ga-ga? Answer: yes and no. Although the characters are a sad, depressing lot, Robinson takes time to build them into complex, knowable beings. Thus, I felt for them and cared about what happened to them. Plot-wise, the novel roams here and there, with plenty of superfluous subplots that distract from the mystery at the heart of the book. A tighter, more focused story would have made the novel feel more suspenseful and polished. Likewise, I could have done without the graphic language and sex scenes, which, for me, detracted from the overall appeal of the book. In the end, I found Haven Lake compelling, though not completely satisfying.
(Readalikes: Reminds me of other novels with similar premises, although no specific title is coming to mind. Help?)
Grade:
If this were a movie, it would be rated:
for strong language, sexual content, violence, and depictions of illegal drug use
Subscribe to:
Posts
(Atom)




Reading
All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham

Listening
The War Librarian by Addison Armstrong



Followin' with Bloglovin'



-
-
Pieces Of Me2 hours ago
-
-
-
Sunday Salon: February 5, 20233 hours ago
-
-
-
-
22. Baking Powder Wars10 hours ago
-
-
-
"The Prisoner" by B. A. Paris15 hours ago
-
-
Spell the Month in Books ~ February 202320 hours ago
-
A couple of library books20 hours ago
-
-
Sloth Goes Places – Scotland23 hours ago
-
-
Sunday Post #4901 day ago
-
The Vaccine (by Joe Miller)1 day ago
-
FO Friday: Evermore Sweater1 day ago
-
-
-
-
Audiobook: Blood Debts1 day ago
-
Books I Read in January 20232 days ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Review of Matilda1 week ago
-
-
Top Ten Books of 20223 weeks ago
-
Books Read in 20234 weeks ago
-
December Monthly Wrap-up4 weeks ago
-
-
Nonfiction November 2022: New to My TBR2 months ago
-
Thinking Out Loud: Our Wives Under the Sea2 months ago
-
Are you looking for Pretty Books?3 months ago
-
-
HEARTS OF BRIARWALL by Krista Jensen6 months ago
-
-
-
-

Grab my Button!



Blog Archive
- ► 2021 (159)
- ► 2020 (205)
- ► 2019 (197)
- ► 2018 (223)
- ► 2017 (157)
- ► 2016 (157)
- ▼ 2015 (188)
- ► 2014 (133)