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In Search of the Rose Notes

by Emily Arsenault (Goodreads Author)

3.29 of 5 stars 3.29 · rating details · 637 ratings · 180 reviews

Eleven-year-olds Nora and Charlotte were best friends. When their teenage babysitter, Rose, disappeared under mysterious circumstances, the girls decided to "investigate." But their search--aided by paranormal theories and techniques gleaned from old Time-Life books--went nowhere.

Years later, Nora, now in her late twenties, is drawn back to her old neighborhood--and to her...more

Paperback, 369 pages

Published July 26th 2011 by William Morrow Paperbacks (first published January 1st 2011)

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Apr 14, 2013 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Summary:

27 year old protagonist Nora returns to her hometown and reconnects with her former best friend Charlotte after the remains of their babysitter are found. When the two were girls, babysitter Rose disappeared mysteriously and neither Nora nor Charlotte have truly moved on with their lives. Nora feels extreme guilt that she was the last person to see Rose alive, whereas Charlotte is still hunting for clues surrounding the disappearance.

The novel alternates between taking place in the pres...more

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Feb 15, 2013 Alexandra rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is exactly what I needed to break my reading slump. Kept me up most of the night last night because I was desperate to find out what happened to Rose. I was sucked in right away to this book because the kids were growing up in the early 90's and I did too:) So I could definitely relate. Within the first couple of pages there was a Spirograph mentioned and I flipped out because it occurred to me that I NEVER read books from a child's pov in the early 90's. This is honestly my first. Well oka...more

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Oct 28, 2012 Lisa rated it 5 of 5 stars

There are a number of things about In Search of the Rose Notes that I really liked. For one, I love the way that author Emily Arsenault portrays the friendship between Nora and Charlotte, both as children and later as adults. I love the mystery storyline, the way the children pursue their “investigation,” the difficulty that Nora has dealing with it as an adult. I thought the portrayal of Nora was especially good, the way she has grown away from her childhood home and the difficulties she has go...more There are a number of things about In Search of the Rose Notes that I really liked. For one, I love the way that author Emily Arsenault portrays the friendship between Nora and Charlotte, both as children and later as adults. I love the mystery storyline, the way the children pursue their “investigation,” the difficulty that Nora has dealing with it as an adult. I thought the portrayal of Nora was especially good, the way she has grown away from her childhood home and the difficulties she has going back to it and seeing her classmates as adults. And most of all, I enjoyed the skillful way that Arsenault leads you from one suspect to another, the way that she subtly points the finger at different players in this game, so that it is easy to believe any one of them could have murdered Rose.

When Nora and Charlotte were eleven years old, they were best friends. They made plans for their around-the-world trip when they got out of high school. They did their schoolwork together. They played the elaborate games that kids dream up together. And they spent their afternoons with Rose, Charlotte’s babysitter, until one day, Rose walked out of their lives and out of the world.

Rose’s remains have been discovered, buried in a shallow grave near one of their old childhood haunts. Nora feels compelled to return to her hometown and reconnect with her old friend, Charlotte, and revisit the long-ago days when Nora and Charlotte tried to investigate Rose’s disappearance. They might have pulled their methods from crazy science fiction stories, but they were earnest in their desire to find her, to solve a mystery that left a gaping hole in their lives.

I have to admit that I probably suspected everyone in this novel, including Charlotte and Nora, at one time or another. It’s an excellent look at the way that time changes our perception of events, the way that we never really know our close friends, and the ways that people grow up and grow apart. Charlotte was a bit of a bully, always pushing Nora around, assuming that Nora would give her her way. Nora was a girl with secrets, including one desperate act that got everyone’s attention — something she has never told her husband about. She has trouble seeing her old classmates as anything other than the kids they were, tied up in prom night revelations and childhood grudges. I loved the way these storylines played out.(less)

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Feb 22, 2012 Katie rated it 3 of 5 stars

I read it in one day, so I guess I thought it was pretty good. It's interesting to me how similar "The Sense of an Ending" and "In Search of the Rose Notes" are, plot-wise. A disappearance/death, childhood friends, and the subject of memory. But one is what you would call more "literary" than the other. This book has that particular easy American unselfconsciousness that I associate with something that borders "chick lit" --not meant as a slur. I like chick lit because of its easiness. Because i...more

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Dec 28, 2011 Marlyn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, women-s-stories

When best friends Nora and Charotte were eleven, they shared a sixteen-year-old babysitter by the name of Rose. The small, idyllic town of Waverly, Connecticut was considered fairly safe even in 1990, and Rose often walked home alone at dusk. One day, she walked Nora to her house, then continued to her own home. She never arrived, though, and most people assumed that Rose had run away.

Nora never believed that, however. She always knew, somehow, that Rose was dead. Her feeling was proven true six...more

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Nov 28, 2011 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Here is a simple, dare I say common, plot revolving around the disappearance of a teenage babysitter named Rose. Told from the perspective of Nora, a friend of a girl under Rose's care, the chapters alternate between times prior to the disappearance to immediately after it to about 10 years beyond the event. Despite the back and forth plot jumps, the chapters are headed by dates which keep the reader from becoming confused.

The disappearance is certainly what drives the plot along as the charact...more

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Aug 17, 2011 Linda rated it 5 of 5 stars

Book Review by Linda S. Brown

IN SEARCH OF THE ROSE NOTES by Emily Arsenault
William Morrow
July 2011

This is not really a coming-of-age novel, although the two young characters, Nora and Charlotte, do a lot of growing up when their teenage babysitter, Rose, disappears.

It’s not a ghost story – not really – but it is haunting, as Nora and Charlotte first try to discover what happened to Rose when they were kids; and then again when Nora returns home years later and they, again, try to solve the puzzl...more Book Review by Linda S. Brown

IN SEARCH OF THE ROSE NOTES by Emily Arsenault
William Morrow
July 2011

This is not really a coming-of-age novel, although the two young characters, Nora and Charlotte, do a lot of growing up when their teenage babysitter, Rose, disappears.

It’s not a ghost story – not really – but it is haunting, as Nora and Charlotte first try to discover what happened to Rose when they were kids; and then again when Nora returns home years later and they, again, try to solve the puzzle of where Rose disappeared to. Rose’s presence is felt everywhere, particularly by the two young girls who admired her, and most especially by Nora.

And this isn’t a typical mystery novel. Initially, no one is sure a crime has really been committed when Rose goes missing.

But it is a darned good read, absorbing and disturbing, with complicated characters left half-shaded, like an unfinished charcoal drawing that draws you in…

In a small town that could be anywhere in the early 1990s, two eleven year old girls are best friends who idolize their sophisticated teenage baby sitter. She is popular at school, has a boyfriend, walks with attitude and talks knowingly of grown-up things. But Rose is also kind to the girls, and even indulges in their fascination with the Time-Life series of books that deals with mysteries of nature and the supernatural.

Charlotte, the owner of the books, is the more intellectual of the two girls; she lives with her parents and older brother, and likes to feel superior to Nora. Nora is the more sensitive, reserved of the two; she’s never known her father, and lives with her mother in a shabby apartment up the road from Charlotte’s house. Nora’s never quite felt like she fits in – anywhere. And she’s not even sure she always likes Charlotte, who can be bossy and mean. When the parents are at work, Rose comes to babysit, after school and evenings. Rose tends to serve as a buffer for the two girls, occasionally letting Nora know she, too, thinks Charlotte is a bit obnoxious – but friends are friends.

One day, Rose is walking Nora home from Charlotte’s house. Nora stays out in her yard because she hates going into the apartment, and she watches Rose walk up the hill and out of sight. For years, she is known as “the last person to see Rose.” And it is a heavy burden for her. She feels she should know what happened to Rose – but she doesn’t. And despite all the tricks and tips they try to employ from the Time-Life books – using runes and spells and out-of-body attempts – Nora and Charlotte can’t solve the mystery of Rose’s disappearance. It takes a long time for Nora to believe that Rose is dead. Rose was strong and confident – not frightened of life, like Nora. “I remember Rose reminding me that my not watching a documentary about aliens wouldn’t make aliens any less real. Dark was the same way – it would be there whether I chose to face it or not.”

Told in alternating flashback and present day, IN SEARCH OF THE ROSE NOTES, explores the painful, confusing territory of pre-teen girls trying to understand life, boys, themselves, each other and to get ready for the excitement and chaos of adolescence. The story takes us through a few years’ of the girls’ lives. When Nora comes back to town as an adult to visit Charlotte, we get glimpses of them as grownups, but they don’t seem quite in focus. Perhaps more in focus is the now-grown Toby, the town’s star auto-mechanic who, as a boy, was a misfit with a wall-eye and lived in a strange old house with his dad, grandmother and brother.
(less)

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Aug 10, 2011 Luanne Ollivier added it

Chicago.
A man is about to get on a routine flight.
Suddenly, he pauses. He doesn't know why - but he's got to walk away.
An hour later the plane goes down in flames.
It's dismissed as chance...
----Time-Life books commercial, circa 1967"

Readers of a certain age are going to remember these books - I did.

Nora and Charlotte are eleven year old best friends in 1990. One summer they come across a 15 volume set of the Time Life books in Charlotte's house. They spend the summer with their 16 year old babys...more Chicago.
A man is about to get on a routine flight.
Suddenly, he pauses. He doesn't know why - but he's got to walk away.
An hour later the plane goes down in flames.
It's dismissed as chance...
----Time-Life books commercial, circa 1967"

Readers of a certain age are going to remember these books - I did.

Nora and Charlotte are eleven year old best friends in 1990. One summer they come across a 15 volume set of the Time Life books in Charlotte's house. They spend the summer with their 16 year old babysitter Rose reading the books.

"But then Rose disappeared in November of our sixth grade year, making the books even more vital to us - no longer a source of entertainment but an investigative guide. By then we knew better than the neighbors who whispered 'runaway' and the police who let her trail go cold. We knew better than to stop at what people aren't willing to talk about. The commercials had explained that there is much that is unknown but promised that the books would tell us at least "what could be known" And Charlotte and I took them at their word."

The girls utilize various books - Vision and Prophecies, Transformations, Psychic Voyages, Mystic Places and more in their attempts to solve the mystery of Rose. But to no avail.

Until sixteen years later when Rose's body is found - in town. Nora has left town and moved on with her life, but Charlotte lives in her childhood home. When Charlotte calls Nora with the news, Nora decides to return for a visit.

The past and the present are explored in alternating chapters - until they collide....

In Search of the Rose Notes is a mystery - indeed it kept my attention the entire time until I turned the last. Arsenault sprinkles lot of red herrings along the way. I loved the use of the Time Life books to try and solve the disappearance.

But this book was also a fascinating character study. The two girls are poles apart. Charlotte was the 'have' and Nora the 'have not'. Charlotte was the outgoing, outspoken of the two - for me she was annoying beyond belief. Nora was more reticent and shy, but it was her I was drawn to - she's thoughtful and introspective. Returning to Waverly, Nora is forced to confront her past and the demons she has lived with since 'escaping' the town. The past and present format was very effective in reconciling both relationships and the case of Rose.

Emily Arsenault has crafted an intriguing blend of mystery and personal redemption.(less)

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Jul 29, 2011 Alexis Villery rated it 4 of 5 stars

In Search of Rose Notes is a story that alternates between the past and the present of two girls Nora and Charlotte whose lives are changed forever when their babysitter, Rose, disappears. This isn't your typical mystery that charges from the beginning to the end in search of an answer to the big question, but rather, this literature intertwines the mystery with a coming of age story and self reflection. Extremely well-written and touching, it unfolds answers while telling a story about life.

I t...more

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Jul 28, 2011 Kathleen (Kat) Smith rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, supense-thriller-fiction

Eleven-year olds Nora and Charlotte were best friends. When their teenage babysitter, Rose, disappeared under mysterious circumstances, the girls decided to "investigate." But their search - aided by paranormal theories and techniques gleaned from old Time-Life books - went nowhere.

Years later, Nora, now in her late twenties, is drawn back to her old neighborhood - and to her estranged friend - when Rose's remains are finally discovered. Upset over their earlier failure to solve the possible mur...more Eleven-year olds Nora and Charlotte were best friends. When their teenage babysitter, Rose, disappeared under mysterious circumstances, the girls decided to "investigate." But their search - aided by paranormal theories and techniques gleaned from old Time-Life books - went nowhere.

Years later, Nora, now in her late twenties, is drawn back to her old neighborhood - and to her estranged friend - when Rose's remains are finally discovered. Upset over their earlier failure to solve the possible murder, Charlotte is adamant that they join forces and try again. But Nora was the last known person to see Rose alive, and she's not ready to revisit her troubled adolescence and the events surrounding the disappearance - or face the disturbing secrets that are already beginning to reemerge.

In Search of the Rose Notes by Emily Arsenault is a compelling novel about the secrets people keep when they don't know which way to turn. Sometimes dead bed confessions can be good for the soul, and other times it will unlock a unsolved mystery for good. This novel also shares what happens to people who know what happened but can't find a way to let the truth out.

When Charlotte and Nora gain the childlike curiosity to wonder why things happen that are unexplained through a collection of Time-Life books that Charlotte's brother has had, they begin to use the secrets in them to unlock the mystery of what happened one fateful night when she walked home and never made it.

Sixteen years later, Rose's body is discovered in the pond just as Nora makes a visit to Charlotte after hearing the news. Convinced the secret lies in notes about their dreams when they were children, the women once more turn to their books to see if a pattern exists that will point to what really happened to Rose.

I received this book compliments of TLC Book Tours for my honest review and could relate to this book in so many ways. Being a child myself, I remember the curiosity I had in thinking about the possibilities of powers of the mind, things that go bump in the night, and wondering if some of those things are real or just a way to sell books. This one is like a mystery you are trying to solve along with Charlotte and Nora many years later as the author takes you back to their childhood before Rose went missing to see if somehow something was overlooked in what they remembered about that time. This book is great for mystery, suspense lovers and rates a 4.5 out of 5 stars.(less)

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Jun 29, 2011 Lexie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-type-arc, genre-mystery, review-blog

Prelim Review: I accepted this for review on a whim. It sounded interesting and I was looking for a new type of book to explore so why not this? I'm still uncertain as to whether this would have appealed to me on at any other time, but I did enjoy it for what it is.

In Search of the Rose Notes is as much about learning from the past as it was about the mystery of who killed Rose. Everybody had something to hide, or find the truth about or discover the meaning behind thanks to this one girl's deat...more

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Apr 15, 2011 Yvann S rated it 4 of 5 stars

"When we were kids, she was always saving me from nothing"

When Nora and Charlotte's babysitter goes missing, the two girls turn to psychic interventions to find out what happened to her, but fail. Rose's bones turn up fifteen years later, and Nora feels compelled to return to her hometown and try once more to solve the mystery.

The mystery is skilfully managed, with a few hints along the way, but a full analysis is only possible when the final reveal is made. In a sense, all of the girls' superna...more

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Oct 15, 2011 Alex Templeton rated it 3 of 5 stars

While not as good (to me at least) as Arsenault's first novel, "The Broken Teaglass" (which, come on, was about a mystery that took place in CARD CATALOGS!!), this novel did have its high points. In it, twenty-something Nora returns to her hometown, where the body of her teenage babysitter, Rose, who had mysteriously disappeared years earlier, has just been found. When they were eleven, Nora and her best friend Charlotte (Rose's babysitting charge) became obsessed with figuring out what had happ...more

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Mar 08, 2012 Agatha rated it 2 of 5 stars

I thought this one had a lot of build-up for a rather pedestrian outcome. I like her and her writing; I just wish the endings had a little more “oomph.” I kind of think that her books are a lot of “to-do” about. . .well, not much. Like there’s a big mystery, and lots of speculation, and then it turns out to be: the dog ate someone’s homework, or something like that. Shoot. Oh well, that’s just my personal take-away; others’ mileage may vary.

Brief summary: main character Nora (age 27) goes back...more

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Jul 20, 2011 Susan rated it 5 of 5 stars

IN SEARCH OF THE ROSE NOTES is a wonderfully plotted mystery, alternating between the past and the present. In it, we meet Charlotte and Nora, two grade school chums who are watched after school by sixteen-year-old Rose. The girls love the Time-Life book series dealing with the paranormal, and they spend plenty of time with Rose, trying to interpret their dreams or make their own runes to tell their fortunes. When Rose walks home with Nora one evening, dropping the girl at her house and then con...more

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Sep 06, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4zBY...

Ah, Emily Arsenault, you had me at "Time-Life Books." I have to confess, I wanted these books. I wanted them BAD! But somehow I thought only rich people have Time Life Books. Sigh....we didn't get them.

And I guess that is okay because I never had a babysitter disappear under mysterious circumstances.

Nora and Charlotte have a high school girl babysit for them--well for Charlotte by Nora is always at Charlotte's house--for the couple hours each day between...more

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Aug 19, 2011 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Two young girls, and a summer spent together with their babysitter and an event that affects them all.
It's told mostly through flashbacks that are woven nicely into the story. These flashbacks are seen through the memories of Nora. Nora, her dominant friend Charlotte, and Charlotte's babysitter Rose, discover a series of books by Time Life, (hidden in Charlotte's brother Paul's room) about the mysteries of the universe. These mysteries that they learn of play a roll in their summer.
That roll inc...more

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Mar 15, 2012 Karen rated it 5 of 5 stars

In Search of the Rose Notes: A Novel by Emily Arsenault is definitely my #FridayReads pick this week! This is the second book by Arsenault that I've read. I liked the first one so much that I've been keeping an eye out for anything else by her. This book lived up to its predecessor's status – it kept me engaged and guessing the whole time.

The use of alternating timelines, also used to a lesser extent in The Broken Teaglass, seems to be characteristic of Arsenault's style. (I can't wait to read...more

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Aug 16, 2011 Karen rated it 2 of 5 stars

I couldn't shake the feeling of Déjà vu that overtook me partway through this book. At first I was sure that I had already read it and had just forgotten but since it was a new release I knew that wasn't possible. I don't know if that was the intent, to create recognizable characters to lull the reader into a state of comfort? To make them feel that this was "Anytown USA" and could have been them had they lived that era, been that age at that time? Maybe that was just my experience, but that, an...more

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Jul 25, 2012 Victoria rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: lit-fic, mystery-thriller, relationships

This literary mystery interested me from start to finish! The way that Arsenault wove the Time-Life books into her own really worked well and added a familiar sort of element to anyone who found such inspiration in books as a child. The relationships - particularly in the younger half of the book - felt very genuine - especially in the interactions between Nora, Charlotte and their babysitter, Rose. Female readers may feel more reminiscent reading about these friendships than men, as the woman a...more

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Sep 13, 2011 McGuffy Morris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Charlotte and Nora have not seen each other in many years. They grew up together, and were best friends as girls. After their babysitter disappeared when they were in grade school, they grew apart. Nora eventually left the area, while Charlotte remained behind. Rose’s disappearance remained unsolved.

Now, fifteen years later, bones have been found in a place previously searched. Nora is drawn back home, as she and Charlotte revisit the past in hopes of solving the mystery of Rose’s disappearance....more

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Aug 08, 2011 Caitlin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

Relationships between girls as they grow up are complicated. Often the girls who were your friends in elementary school become more like enemies as you reach middle school and high school. There is often a line that is crossed where one friend becomes suddenly popular and the other just isn't. Typically, the friend who becomes popular runs fast and furious from the one who isn't leaving hurt feelings and unresolved issues on both sides. Girls can be very cruel to each other - in ways that I thin...more

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Oct 20, 2012 Bonnie rated it 3 of 5 stars

In Search of the Rose Notes by Emily Arsenault relates the story of two eleven-year-old girls in 1990 who are neighbors and best friends. Charlotte is the dominant of the two and in the gifted and talented class at school while Nora is willing to let her lead their activities into the paranormal using old Time-Life books. When their babysitter, Rose, disappears, they investigate using zenner cards and ESP experiments. Seventeen years later, Rose's bones are found in their old hometown and the gi...more

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Sep 13, 2011 Nicole Grace rated it 3 of 5 stars

In Search of the Rose Notes follows the main character Nora as she heads back to her hometown after the recent discovery of the body of a girl who disappeared when Nora was 11. The book flashes back to the time before the girl, Rose, disappeared and when she was Nora and Nora's friend, Charlotte's babysitter. It's a classic whodunit, because the entire time you're wondering who killed Rose, and how it all went down. How did she die?
This is the first book I have read by Emily Arsenault, having j...more

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Aug 09, 2011 Michelle added it

All good things must come to an end sometime, and my streak of excellent books read is no different. In Search of the Rose Notes is the novel that killed my streak, which is unfortunate because I really wanted to like it. Unfortunately, this mediocre whodunit leaves much to be desired. Told through alternating flashbacks and present-day discoveries, the fundamental flaw in the novel is that Ms. Arsenault tries to combine a multitude of genres. Instead of a seamless combination of elements, In Se...more All good things must come to an end sometime, and my streak of excellent books read is no different. In Search of the Rose Notes is the novel that killed my streak, which is unfortunate because I really wanted to like it. Unfortunately, this mediocre whodunit leaves much to be desired. Told through alternating flashbacks and present-day discoveries, the fundamental flaw in the novel is that Ms. Arsenault tries to combine a multitude of genres. Instead of a seamless combination of elements, In Search of the Rose Notes is a jumbled mess.

The entire story would have been better had the reader been more vested in Rose, since the entire story revolves around her disappearance. Any suspense build-up is lost because the reader does not know enough about Rose to care what happened to her in a way that warrants the attempted tension. The two characters into whom the reader gets the most insight, Charlotte and Nora, are fairly generic and simplistic. Charlotte is the queen bee, the one who only uses others for a necessary sidekick; Nora is that sidekick. Even as an adult, Nora could stand to gain a little more spine and finally stand up to Charlotte. Much of the necessary tension in a missing person's mystery is lost because of these poorly-described, superficial characters.

Ms. Arsenault also tries to add a Gothic element to In Search of the Rose Notes. Unfortunately, her Gothic elements are circumstantial at best, and the reader is left wondering just what Ms. Arsenault was trying to tell the reader. If anything, the fascination with the Time Life series on the occult and other mystical elements is more humorous than spooky or creepy.

Other more jarring elements of the story involve the title and the era. The title is a huge hint to the mystery, and the bluntness of this is disconcerting. No one wants to the mystery to be quite as obvious as it is. Also, the girls come of age during the 1990s. This is my era; I was the same age they were in the 1990s. Either my memory is faulty or else Ms. Arsenault got some of the details of the era incorrect. The music and fashion mentioned are all wrong. I found myself spending way too much time obsessing about these details and whether they were accurate versus worrying about the mystery itself.

I did not want to dislike In Search of the Rose Notes. I was really looking forward to reading it; in fact, I accidentally ended up with two review copies. There were just too many little issues that I found with the novel that ultimately ruined the overarching story for me. The confusing mentions of the occult, Nora's meekness and Charlotte's bossiness, the setting - these all prevented me from becoming immersed in the story. I want to lose myself in a good mystery, not be constantly jarred back into the real world because of various details. Unfortunately, In Search of the Rose Notes was one of those novels that did not live up to my expectations or hopes.

Thank you to Megan Traynor from William Morrow and to LibraryThing's Early Reader program for my review copies.(less)

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Jul 29, 2011 Ariel rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

Thank you to Harper Collins for providing me with an advanced readers copy of this book.

I am starting my review before finishing this book because I really want to say how much I am not enjoying it. I am on page 178 and I would rather clean my house than read this book. If you knew me, you would know I can't stand to clean and I love to read. If I purchased this I would have tossed it in the trash after stomping on it by now and if I had borrowed it, it would have been returned. I don't like the...more Thank you to Harper Collins for providing me with an advanced readers copy of this book.

I am starting my review before finishing this book because I really want to say how much I am not enjoying it. I am on page 178 and I would rather clean my house than read this book. If you knew me, you would know I can't stand to clean and I love to read. If I purchased this I would have tossed it in the trash after stomping on it by now and if I had borrowed it, it would have been returned. I don't like the self absorbed one dimensional characters and the mystery is boring.

I really had high hopes for this book. Here is the blurb from the back cover "Eleven-year-olds Nora and Charlotte were best friends. When their teenage baby sitter, Rose, disappeared under mysterious circumstances, the girls decided to "investigate." But their search-aided by paranormal theories and techniques gleaned from old Time-Life books- went nowhere". They went nowhere just like the plot of this book!

In the prologue, Nora one of the two main characters, talks about playing with her Spirograph. I loved my Spirograph and hadn't thought about it in years so right off the bat I was feeling a lot of nostalgia. I also loved the commercials for the time life paranormal books that were referenced repeatedly throughout the book. The problem is the mystery is not going anywhere. Each chapter is divided into a scene in the present and then is titled with one of the paranormal books and a scene from the past is described. I am going to power through this because the book was given to me in exchange for a full and honest review and I feel that I at least owe it a full read through but I still have a full 200 pages to go and am not looking forward to it. I will update when I finish.

So I finally finished all of it. Page 300 or so on finally picked up steam as the mystery part of the novel was finally addressed. The rest of the book was okay. I could have done without 200 pages of this novel. The coming of age storyline did not resonate with me at all. I didn't like the girls and couldn't identify with their lives. I have an eleven year old daughter and the actions of Charlotte and Nora did not ring true for me. I especially did not like Charlotte, either as a child or an adult. The final resolution of the mystery of Rose is no great shocker. I did not stay up all night wondering what happened to Rose and could have easily lived a very happy life not knowing. Bottom line: not recommended.(less)

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Jul 18, 2011 Cathy Cole rated it 4 of 5 stars

First Line: When I was a kid, I used to stop cold whenever one of those commercials came on.

Eleven-year-old best friends Nora and Charlotte used to go to Charlotte's house after school and spend the afternoon with their babysitter, teenager Rose Banks. When Rose disappeared without a trace, the girls knew they had to do something, so using old Time-Life books as their guide, they conducted their own investigation-- which led nowhere.

Now Nora is in her late twenties, married and teaching in Virgi...more First Line: When I was a kid, I used to stop cold whenever one of those commercials came on.

Eleven-year-old best friends Nora and Charlotte used to go to Charlotte's house after school and spend the afternoon with their babysitter, teenager Rose Banks. When Rose disappeared without a trace, the girls knew they had to do something, so using old Time-Life books as their guide, they conducted their own investigation-- which led nowhere.

Now Nora is in her late twenties, married and teaching in Virginia. When she gets a phone call from Charlotte telling her that Rose's remains have been found, Nora doesn't really want to return to Connecticut where she and Charlotte became estranged and her teenage years were so troubled. But Charlotte can be a force to be reckoned with when she wants to be. Charlotte wants to join forces once again to find out what happened to Rose, and Nora reluctantly agrees to return. Nora was the last known person to see Rose alive, and she just doesn't feel ready to revisit her adolescence or the events surrounding Rose's disappearance. She's not back very long before long-buried secrets begin to emerge.

Almost from the beginning, I began to identify with Nora. Nora is a quiet observer, and it was obvious to me that she had suffered from depression. Charlotte is more in-your-face-- with an innate desire to be the winner, to be special. Charlotte is always probing for the facts, even though she doesn't really want to know what they're telling her. She likes to put her own spin on things.

Being no stranger to Time-Life books myself, the two young girls using them as a basis to conduct their investigation was amusing. They did indeed pick up clues along the way, but they were too young to interpret them. (And even though Rose isn't a part of the action very long, she's so well-drawn that you want to know what happened to her.) As adults, Charlotte is still digging for facts, but it's the more intuitive, more emotional Nora who very slowly begins to put things together.

In Search of the Rose Notes builds tension and suspense gradually and held my interest throughout. Nora and Charlotte were fully fleshed characters that I strongly reacted to-- Charlotte irked me to no end most of the time, and quiet Nora was really the winner, the special one. She found out what really happened to Rose all those years ago, and she found the strength to kick the toxic bits of her life to the curb and find happiness. As a mystery and as a character study, this book is a winner.(less)

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Feb 22, 2012 Kellie rated it 4 of 5 stars

In Search of the Rose Notes by Emily Arsenault, is perhaps one of the most well written books I’ve read this year. The book is about a young woman, named Nora, who receives a startling phone call from her childhood best friend, Charlotte, informing her that the body of their old babysitter, Rose, was found. The news of the discovery, results in Nora returning to Waverly, Connecticut, a place which she never wished to return to. For Nora had buried the memories of Waverly long ago. Eleven year ol...more

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May 03, 2011 Sarah (Workaday Reads) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2011, netgalley

Nora and Charlotte were best friends until their babysitter Rose disappears when they are eleven. Failing to find any clues using psychic means, the girls drift apart. When Rose's body is discovered 15 years later, Nora and Charlotte meet up again to go over the case. Nora is a reluctant participant as doing this involves facing the troubles she went through as a teenager.

As the main character, Nora is difficult to understand at times. She seems to really struggle with her emotions, and her acti...more

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Jan 07, 2012 Erin rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone who liked Lovely Bones.

Shelves: library, read-2012, mystery, young-adult

This was a fast and fun read for me. It read similarly to The Lovely Bones, except you don't really get the insight into Rose and her life/death (view spoiler) that you get throughout Lovely Bones. I shelved it as mystery, but it is definitely a subdued mystery, not a high tension everything-at-stake mystery.

I read this fairly fast, and I found myself really wanting to know what happened to Rose. I formed theories and most of them were wrong.

The characters of Char...more

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About Emily Arsenault

I haven’t had a terribly interesting life, so I won’t share too many details. But the highlights include:

• When I was a preschooler and a kindergartner, I had a lazy eye and I was Connecticut’s “Miss Prevent Blindness,” appearing on pamphlets and television urging parents to get their kids’ eyes checked. I wore an eye patch and clutched a blonde doll wearing a similar patch. I imagine it was all r...more

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