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2023 Bookish Books Reading Challenge

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30 / 30 books. 100% done!

20 Books of Summer 2023

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17 / 20 books. 85% done!

2023 Literary Escapes Challenge

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51 / 51 states. 100% done!

2023 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

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25 / 25 books. 100% done!

2023 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge


50 / 50 books. 100% done!

Booklist Queen's 2023 Reading Challenge

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52 / 52 books. 100% done!

2023 52 Club Reading Challenge

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52 / 52 books. 100% done!

2023 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

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40 / 40 books. 100% done!

2023 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge


29 / 40 books. 73% done!

2023 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

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16 / 25 books. 64% done!

2023 Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge

Book Bingo Reading Challenge


20 / 25 books. 80% done!

2023 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge

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109 / 109 books. 100% done!

Children's Book Reading Challenge...For Adults!

Thursday, May 13, 2021

Promising Premise Doesn't Pan Out in Historical Mystery

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

I usually write my own plot summaries, but this one captures the essence of After Alice Fell by Kim Taylor Blakemore so well, I decided to use it instead...

Until she discovers the truth of her sister’s death, no one will rest in peace.

New Hampshire, 1865. Marion Abbott is summoned to Brawders House asylum to collect the body of her sister, Alice. She’d been found dead after falling four stories from a steep-pitched roof. Officially: an accident. Confidentially: suicide. But Marion believes a third option: murder.

Returning to her family home to stay with her brother and his second wife, the recently widowed Marion is expected to quiet her feelings of guilt and grief—to let go of the dead and embrace the living. But that’s not easy in this house full of haunting memories.

Just when the search for the truth seems hopeless, a stranger approaches Marion with chilling words: I saw her fall.

Now Marion is more determined than ever to find out what happened that night at Brawders, and why. With no one she can trust, Marion may risk her own life to uncover the secrets buried with Alice in the family plot.

The premise of After Alice Fell is simple, but oh so intriguing!  I love a mystery, especially one with a Gothic feel that centers on a creepy old asylum.  Considering all this, I expected to like the book more.  Problem is, the story moves along at a glacial pace, so slowly that I almost put it down several times.  The pace picks up in the second half of the novel, but it's still a bit of a slog.  In addition, the characters are off-putting and unlikable.  Add in a predictable plot that isn't nearly as twisty as I wanted it to be and you've got a tale that I wanted to love and just...didn't.  Although I had high expectations for this one, in the end it turned out to be an average read for me.  Bummer.

(Readalikes:  A little like Woman 99 by Greer McAllister)

Grade:


If this were a movie, it would be rated:


for brief, mild language (no F-bombs), violence, blood/gore, and disturbing subject matter

To the FTC, with love:  I received an e-ARC of After Alice Fell from the generous folks at Lake Union Publishing via those at NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you!

3 comments:

  1. That's too bad. I hate when what could have been a really good book ends up being a slog.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's so disappointing as the description definitely grabbed me. I don't have the patience for slow moving books right now so I'll definitely pass.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Based on that set up, I can see why you were disappointed with this one. It sounded so promising!

    ReplyDelete

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Reading

<i>Reading</i>
Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center

Listening

<i>Listening</i>
Empty Mansions by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell, Jr.



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