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2024 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (Hosted by Yours Truly)

My Progress:


33 / 30 bookish books. 110% done!

2024 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama (1)
- Alaska (1)
- Arizona (1)
- Arkansas (1)
- California (9)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut (2)
- Delaware (1)
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International:
- Argentina (1)
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My Progress:


51 / 51 states. 100% done!

2024 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

My Progress:


50 / 50 books. 100% done!

2024 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge


36 / 50 books. 72% done!

Booklist Queen's 2024 Reading Challenge

My Progress:


52 / 52 books. 100% done!

2024 52 Club Reading Challenge

My Progress:


50 / 52 books. 96% done!

2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

My Progress:


36 / 40 books. 90% done!

2024 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge


18 / 40 books. 45% done!

2024 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

My Progress:


26 / 25 cozies. 104% done!

2024 Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge

2024 Mystery Marathon Reading Challenge

My Progress


23 / 26.2 miles (3rd lap). 88% done!

Mount TBR Reading Challenge

My Progress


42 / 100 books. 42% done!

2024 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge

My Progress:


97 / 109 books. 89% done!

Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge

My Progress


52 / 52 books. 100% done!

Disney Animated Movies Reading Challenge

My Progress


132 / 165 books. 80% done!

The 100 Most Common Last Names in the U.S. Reading Challenge

My Progress:


83 / 100 names. 83% done!

The Life Skills Reading Challenge

My Progress:


14 / 80 skills. 18% done!
Saturday, February 13, 2016

Despite Compelling Set-Up, The Gates of Evangeline Leaves Something to Be Desired

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Still grieving the sudden loss of her young son, journalist Charlotte "Charlie" Cates begins dreaming of children in danger.  Haunted by the vivid images, the 38-year-old realizes they're not caused by the desperate longings of her broken heart—the kids she's seeing are real.  And they need her help.  Of course, it's not that easy to figure out the confusing dreams, nor to convince others she's not completely insane.

When Charlie sees visions of a young boy in a boat on the bayou, she knows he's reaching out to her from the past.  A little research leads her to Evangeline, a Louisiana plantation owned by the illustrious Deveau family.  On the pretense of writing an article about their historic home, Charlie stays on-site, interviewing family members but secretly looking into the case of Gabriel Deveau.  The 2-year-old disappeared from his locked-from-the-outside bedroom almost 30 years ago.  Charlie's dreams indicate that someone in the present knows what happened to the toddler.  The more she gets to know the Deveaus, the more she sees the cracks and fissures that mar their relationships with each other.  She doesn't want any of them to be involved in whatever happened to Gabriel, but one of them knows exactly what happened.  It's just a matter of getting them to talk ...

While she's sifting through the skeletons in Evangeline's closets, Charlie's growing closer to Noah Palmer, a divorced landscaper who's working on the plantation's grounds.  Although she still aches for the child she lost, she realizes that maybe it's finally possible for her to start rebuilding her life.  But the closer she gets to the truth about Gabriel, the more danger stalks her every move.  Will she live long enough to find happiness again?  Or will she, too, disappear behind the gates of Evangeline?

You've probably noticed that I'm a sucker for a premise which involves a Southern town, an old house, and some juicy family secrets.  A set-up like that is always going to draw me in.  The Gates of Evangeline, the first book in a planned trilogy by Hester Young, did just that.  While I found the mystery at its center compelling enough, the characters (who seemed mostly flat and cliché) left something to be desired as did the plot (which felt a bit too obvious).  I guessed some of the story's "twists" (though not all) too early, which left me wanting a storyline with more depth and nuance.  Overall, though, I enjoyed the book.  It didn't blow me away or anything, but I'm definitely up for reading the next installment in the series.  

(Readalikes:  I feel like I've read a million books like this one, but nothing's coming to my sleepy mind.  Suggestions?)

Grade:


If this were a movie, it would be rated:


for language (two F-bombs plus milder expletives), violence, and sexual content

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find

4 comments:

  1. Ah, well, maybe the next one set in AZ will suit you more. Since she see children in peril and ghostly things, who do you suppose she'll see? I'm very curious. And wonder where she'll go for #3 - maybe to the mountains?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I definitely am curious to see what she comes up with in Arizona. An old plantation home seems like a perfect setting for a ghostly story, but bright, sunny Arizona? It will be interesting to see what the author has up her sleeve ...

      Delete
  2. Do you think someone who didn't read this type of book all the time would enjoy it more? I find that I've read so many mysteries that I can see the twist coming from a mile away. Either way it sounds intriguing. Too bad the characters are flat and cliched.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good point. I don't know. I read a lot of these kinds of books and I see lots of common "twists." I'm also really gullible, though, so if I see things coming, it probably means the "surprises" are too obvious.

      Delete

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Reading

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Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie

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The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth



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