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140th out of 395 books
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810 voters
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The Lost Hours
by
Karen White
The award-winning author of The Memory of Water delivers a gripping tale of family, fate, and forgiveness.
When Piper Mills was twelve, she helped her grandfather bury a box that belonged to her grandmother in the backyard. For twelve years, it remained untouched.
Now a near fatal riding accident has shattered Pipers dreams of Olympic glory. After her grandfathers death, ...more
When Piper Mills was twelve, she helped her grandfather bury a box that belonged to her grandmother in the backyard. For twelve years, it remained untouched.
Now a near fatal riding accident has shattered Pipers dreams of Olympic glory. After her grandfathers death, ...more
Paperback, 343 pages
Published
April 7th 2009
by NAL Trade
(first published April 2009)
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I really liked this. As with all duel-timeline stories, there's a long-held secret to be discovered. The secret is tantalisingly just out of reach until the very final part of the reveal. You're almost there on the clues, but you just can't second-guess the full revelation twist. As Lillian herself would say in the book, "stop jumping ahead, be patient!"
What sets this duel-timeline story apart from others, though, is the poignant theme of loss, grief, guilt and regret, befor...more
What sets this duel-timeline story apart from others, though, is the poignant theme of loss, grief, guilt and regret, befor...more
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The Lost Hours by Karen White (Rated: C)
Reviewed by Sandra
This story is set in Savannah, Georgia, so immediately I imagined a story about romance, intrigue, and “the South”. I wasn’t disappointed. Karen White is an excellent storyteller with lots of imagination, weaving in dark secrets with poignant family situations ranging from Alzheimer’s to blindness, life-long friendships and more. Throw in racial issues and the reader is kept fascinated to the end. The timeline flicks back and...more
Reviewed by Sandra
This story is set in Savannah, Georgia, so immediately I imagined a story about romance, intrigue, and “the South”. I wasn’t disappointed. Karen White is an excellent storyteller with lots of imagination, weaving in dark secrets with poignant family situations ranging from Alzheimer’s to blindness, life-long friendships and more. Throw in racial issues and the reader is kept fascinated to the end. The timeline flicks back and...more
I'm going to just give you the Amazon description, because I don't want to risk spoiling anything.
"When Piper Mills was twelve, she helped her grandfather bury a box that belonged to her grandmother in the backyard. For twelve years, it remained untouched.
Now a near fatal riding accident has shattered Piper's dreams of Olympic glory. After her grandfather’s death, she inherits the house and all its secrets, including a key to a room that doesn’t exist—or does it? A...more
"When Piper Mills was twelve, she helped her grandfather bury a box that belonged to her grandmother in the backyard. For twelve years, it remained untouched.
Now a near fatal riding accident has shattered Piper's dreams of Olympic glory. After her grandfather’s death, she inherits the house and all its secrets, including a key to a room that doesn’t exist—or does it? A...more
Dannielle R
rated it
Recommends it for:
Every woman, nomatter her tastes
Recommended to Dannielle by:
My mom bought it for me
This was such a powerful, poignant, beautifully written novel. The story was amazing and so very compelling, every character interesting and well developed, and her writing was fantastic. I enjoyed reading this, and for once I just wanted to soak up the story, enjoy the journey, and didn't want it to end. I loved the plot, and the actual story, but the message behind her words were more powerful in my opinion. It's what makes this such a great read.
Not only is this about discovering ...more
Not only is this about discovering ...more
Piper Mills has lived a life filled with loss. Her parents were killed when she was six years old, so she went to live with her grandparents. She was very close to her Grandfather, with whom she shared her love of horses and her drive to be an Olympic class show jumper.
Her relationship with her Grandmother was not close but Piper never felt the lack of that connection. When she was twelve, her Grandmother developed Alzheimer's disease and was placed in a nursing home. Driven Piper ba...more
Her relationship with her Grandmother was not close but Piper never felt the lack of that connection. When she was twelve, her Grandmother developed Alzheimer's disease and was placed in a nursing home. Driven Piper ba...more
i loved this book! i read it in 2 days ( mostly in the wee hours) and really enjoyed it. this is the first book i have read by this author and lan to check out her others. i wonder if she is the same karen white who writes romance novels - the kind where the cover depicts some nymphette in a see-through nightie wrapped around some long haired studly guy without a shirt. those i won't be reading, but i know she has 4 or 5 others that i will check out. anyway, i love a book that is so steeped in ...more
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I am a huge fan of Kate Morton. When searching for her books, Karen White continually popped up as an author I might like. I did enjoy the book, but it didn't have that same lasting and haunting quality of a Kate Morton novel.
After her grandparents pass away, Piper Mills is given an envelope from her Grandmother containing a key and a charm with no explanation. Apparently her Grandmother meant to tell her the story that goes along with these items herself, but suffered from dime...more
After her grandparents pass away, Piper Mills is given an envelope from her Grandmother containing a key and a charm with no explanation. Apparently her Grandmother meant to tell her the story that goes along with these items herself, but suffered from dime...more
The story opens with the heroine, a young woman by the name of Penny, describing a tragic accident that ended her career as an equestrian rider. After the recent death of her grandfather, she tries in vain to make a connection with her grandmother, a woman whose memory is fading by the day. According to everyone who knew her grandparents, Penny's grandmother, in her younger years, was a fun-loving woman who loved life. Penny just can't seem to reconcile this description with the sad woman she's ...more
This is basically a Harlequin Romance with a slightly more interesting plotline and very little passion. I got impatient with how none of the main characters would just spit it out instead of drawing out the Big Secret until I wanted to chuck the book across the room. I don't enjoy people who seem to want to wallow in their own misery instead of just getting on with their lives. It frustrates me to read over and over again about the "haunted look" or "the pain" in someone's e...more
It took quite some time to get interested in this book. After about 100 pages, nothing really important had happened and I was beginning to wonder if anything was going to happen at all. The biggest problem I had was with the constant delay the characters had in just spitting out whatever it was they needed to say. Then, when they are finally getting somewhere, they are tired or angry and just stop for the time being. Just get it out already!
The book jumps back and forth from first p...more
The book jumps back and forth from first p...more
I had never read Karen White before, but this was a book club read and I was intrigued. However, I found that by the end of the book I had to work too hard to fill in the blanks that the author left. I love horses, so I thought I would really enjoy the equestrian aspect of it, but I found that it took away from the important parts of the story. I felt like too much emphasis was placed on the narrator's past with horses and riding, and it wasn't really necessary. I understand why excerpts fro...more
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The Lost Hours is the story of a woman exploring the past and negotiating the present. Piper, a former high-level equestrian who was sidelined by a very bad fall, realizes she never really knew the grandmother who helped raise her and begins to dig into the past. This leads her to the home of an aging woman, the grandmother's childhood friend, which is also inhabited by the woman's blind granddaughter, widowed grandson, and his two daughters.
I enjoyed the process of Piper investiga...more
I enjoyed the process of Piper investiga...more
Alone and fragile, Piper Mills does not know what to do next in her life. After her parents died when she was six, and her grandparents took her in, she had found something special in riding horses; she even dreamed of becoming an Olympic equestrian. But then another tragic accident shattered those dreams.
So when her grandfather dies, soon followed by her grandmother, she is almost entombed in the Savannah home where she grew up. Then the family lawyer brings some strange legacies—an a...more
So when her grandfather dies, soon followed by her grandmother, she is almost entombed in the Savannah home where she grew up. Then the family lawyer brings some strange legacies—an a...more
This is my first experience with Karen White, and I was quite pleased. I thought this was a touching story about regret, healing, and forgiveness, and a message about it never being too late for any of it. I liked Piper despite her malaise and stubbornness, because you could see the spark that was still hidden beneath it all. I think I felt a connection to her because I was quite close to my own grandmother. The family mystery here is one that keeps you guessing… I wasn’t convinced I had it fi...more
Good beach/snowy day read for people (like me) who like the "young woman discovers lost papers and unravels mystery of her family's past" genre.
The setting for this book was the low country. Folks not too familiar with that phrase, it was based in Savannah Ga.
The main character Piper has had to deal with loss at an early age. She lost her parents tragically. A great equestrian, she had hopes of competing in the Olympics. Any hopes of that happening was quickly lost when she was hurt in a tragic accident that crippled her.
For years this woman has grieved and has given up on life. It wasn't until her grandparents died that s...more
The main character Piper has had to deal with loss at an early age. She lost her parents tragically. A great equestrian, she had hopes of competing in the Olympics. Any hopes of that happening was quickly lost when she was hurt in a tragic accident that crippled her.
For years this woman has grieved and has given up on life. It wasn't until her grandparents died that s...more
Piper Mills really didn't know her grandmother or hand real desire to know her. Years ago, Piper's own dreams of becoming an Olympic equestrian champion rider were crushed...literally. Due to a mis-calculation on Piper's part, her horse didn't quite clear the jump. Piper was thrown from her horse, only to have the horse land on her. Piper was lucky to have survived though she may not think so, since she had ridden a horse again. Who can blame her.
Piper ends up heading back to Savann...more
Piper ends up heading back to Savann...more
A little disappointing. I found the basic premise (you know, the stuff printed on the back cover !) to be kind of promising ... "Piper Mills discovers a secret room and torn pgs. from her grandmother's scrapbook that alludes to a tragedy in her grandmother's past". So, Piper a genealogist, sets out to find the tragedy as she (Piper) is recuperating from a equestrian accident that has left her crippled. From that point on the plot weaves, the plot pivots, the plot is engaging, and I ha...more
White’s The Lost Hours had me engaged right from the beginning. The life and setting she created within The Lost Hours made you feel like you were there and among the others. I doubt there was really a character I did not enjoy reading about.
After reading The Lost Hours I even wanted to start digging more into my own family’s past. It makes one wonder if discovering the family’s skeleton’s in the closet is worth bringing back the pain just to understand. How hard it is to look ba...more
After reading The Lost Hours I even wanted to start digging more into my own family’s past. It makes one wonder if discovering the family’s skeleton’s in the closet is worth bringing back the pain just to understand. How hard it is to look ba...more
This was an interesting book. The plot was relatively well drawn out, though the pacing seemed maddenly slow at times. Most of the characters were likable, and it was certainly a sad story. But it ended well, and the writing kept things relatively fresh. All in all, it was a quick and entertaining read. It has been a while since I have read anything in the women's fiction genre, and while this did not leap out at me as a terrific book, it was a solidly good book. I liked the journal entries in p...more
Piper Mills has been raised by her grandparents since the age of six, when her parents were killed in a car crash. A crash that she walked away from. She goes on with her life, believing that she will be free from tragedy. Living in Savannah, her grandparents encourage her to become an equestrian. On the eve of realizing her dream of going to the Olympics, Piper takes a fall off her horse that almost kills her. Her broken bones heal, leaving her with a limp, but her broken spirit does not.
...more
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Really? Did Karen White lose her writing mojo or has it always been this painful and stumbling to read?
The kids are not written like real kids. What 8 year old talks like Lucy, all "my dreams! I dream to ride horsey so fast!" Well actually, that would be more accurate to what an 8 year old talks like. White's Lucy is more like a teenager.
I was so confused in the beginning with the timeframe of what was going on. Piper's accident took place when she was 6, but...more
The kids are not written like real kids. What 8 year old talks like Lucy, all "my dreams! I dream to ride horsey so fast!" Well actually, that would be more accurate to what an 8 year old talks like. White's Lucy is more like a teenager.
I was so confused in the beginning with the timeframe of what was going on. Piper's accident took place when she was 6, but...more
Piper was raised by her grandparents from the age of 6. At 12 her grandmother was put into a nursing home because of Alzheimer’s. After her grandfather passed an envelope was given to her that contained an angle charm. While looking for the chain she found a blue baby sweater in her grandmother’s trunk. Later another envelope was given to Piper that contained a key and 2 letters written by her grandmother but returned unopened. After trying to talk to her grandmother she went searching for ...more
Engrossing, powerful, and mysterious, "The Lost Hours" by Karen White is sure to win this talented author more awards.
When Piper Mills was only six years old, her parents died and she moved in with her grandparents in Savannah. Years later, her grandmother gave her a mysterious box that Piper and her grandfather buried in the backyard; an event that would soon be forgotten.
After the death of her grandparents, and now a grown woman, Piper seeks the answers to que...more
When Piper Mills was only six years old, her parents died and she moved in with her grandparents in Savannah. Years later, her grandmother gave her a mysterious box that Piper and her grandfather buried in the backyard; an event that would soon be forgotten.
After the death of her grandparents, and now a grown woman, Piper seeks the answers to que...more
I was disappointed by some of the predictability of the story line, but I appreciate the emotion the author was trying to convey that comes with such heavy subject material. However, at times I felt myself skimming over the redundancy of characters' actions when responding to how they were feeling, for example, we all know how hard it is to talk about painful events in our lives, but 4 sentences of inner thoughts battling back and forth for the reader to get the point is a bit much and a little ...more
The premise of the book is a good one and the plot line intriguing; however, the last one third just stretches belief too far. The author asks the reader to accept behavior and attitudes from people that are pretty unbelievable. The "happy" ending is nice in that the right people end up with the right people, but too much is left to the reader to fill in. Consequences of the one horrendous historical happening that is the hinge of the plot too handily explain the characters and thei...more
This novel is engaging but overly simple, and there are far too many coincidences to make it anything but frustrating. (The babysitter happens to be a physical therapist? Really?) And do we really need to revisit the old canard about the blind person who can see more than the sighted? The scrapbook at the center of the mystery was contrived, and it was very hard to believe that the characters would have the scrapbook for months but fail to read it through to the end. This was a breezy beach read...more
Piper Mills was raised by her grandmother after her parents' death -- after finding her grandmother's scrapbooks and a mysterious secret room in her grandmother's home,along with unexplained obituaries and newspaper clippings from long ago, she sets off to get answers from an elderly and estranged friend of her grandmother's who has her own reasons to keep secrets. Karen White knows how to weave a good yarn and does a good job with character development, especially characters that have been woun...more
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“Every woman should have a daughter to tell her stories to. Otherwise, the lessons learned are as useless as spare buttons from a discarded shirt. And all that is left is a fading name and the shape of a nose or the color of hair. The men who write the history books will tell you the stories of battles and conquests. But the women will tell you the stories of people's hearts.”
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