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Time Travel Mystery #1
Dreadful Sorry
Seventeen-year-old Molly's recurrent nightmares become waking visions after she nearly drowns at a party. Soon she's witnessing events through the eyes of a girl who lived in her father's house nearly a century before.
352 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1993
53 people are currently reading
2363 people want to read
About the author
Kathryn Reiss
25 books190 followersKathryn Reiss was born in Massachusetts, grew up in Ohio, and received B.A. degrees in English and German from Duke University, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan. After college, she lived in Bonn, Germany as a Fulbright Scholar, and during this time wrote the first draft of her first novel, Time Windows.
Ms. Reiss is an award -winning author of 20 novels for kids and teens. She has been a Writer in Residence for the Princeton Arts Council, a recipient of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts Grant for Writers, and has been a featured speaker with (among others) Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, The Northern California Library Association, The International Reading Association, Fresno County Office of Education, California Reading Association, The American Library Association, and the National Council of Teachers of English. She lives in Northern California with her husband and the last of her seven children still in the nest. She is a Full Professor of English at Mills College at Northeastern University, and also teaches in the low -residency MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Ms. Reiss is an award -winning author of 20 novels for kids and teens. She has been a Writer in Residence for the Princeton Arts Council, a recipient of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts Grant for Writers, and has been a featured speaker with (among others) Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, The Northern California Library Association, The International Reading Association, Fresno County Office of Education, California Reading Association, The American Library Association, and the National Council of Teachers of English. She lives in Northern California with her husband and the last of her seven children still in the nest. She is a Full Professor of English at Mills College at Northeastern University, and also teaches in the low -residency MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at the University of Nevada, Reno.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 174 reviews
May 10, 2011
As a young child, I was always at the library... always reading. This is one of my favorite novels from my childhood. A decade or two later, I still remember this novel in vivid detail for some odd reason (even though I can't remember anything useful from yesterday). Suffice it to say, this is a great novel for a young child/teenager, highly recommended!
November 12, 2007
I love the suspense and twistd in this book. It was hard for me to put this one down. Now this is a book that'd i like to see get turned into a movie!
December 9, 2024
Oh my darlin’, oh my darlin’, oh my darlin’ Clementine, you are lost and gone forever, dreadful sorry Clementine.
Seventeen-year-old Molly has had a recurring nightmare her entire life— she is walking down a long hallway to the end room, where she knows something horrible is happening. She also has an incurable fear of water, and continues to hear that old Clementine song in her head. After a near-drowning experience at a pool party, she leaves to spend the summer with her father in his new house in Maine. But the carefree summer she was hoping for disappears when she goes upstairs in the house and sees the same hallway that has been plaguing her dreams for years. Then Jared, the boy who threw her into the pool, comes to Maine demanding Molly talk to him. Now Molly is experiencing visions of a girl named Clementine who lived in her father’s house a century earlier. As the summer continues Molly stumbles across a series of connections between her and Clementine that begin to form an eerie pattern. Molly’s “visions” begin to feel more like memories— memories that appear to be reliving themselves in her life and Jared’s. Can Molly prevent the past from repeating itself?
This book moves slowly at times, so those who need a very fast-paced novel would have a difficult time getting through the slow parts. There are also many predictable aspects about the book, however, overall it is a great read and would appeal to many teenagers and adults alike. I enjoyed the unique plot of the story and liked how it introduces the possibility of both ghosts and reincarnation as an answer to Molly’s nightmares and visions. As is the case in most YA novels, many relationships are examined in “Dreadful Sorry”: Molly deals with her father and his young, pregnant wife; Molly’s relationship with Jared turns from one-sided hatred to friendship to something more; and Molly attempts to mend the multiple broken relationships from Clementine’s life. This supernatural mystery mixed with romantic intrigue demonstrates the power of second chances and was one of my favourites as a teenager. I highly recommend “Dreadful Sorry”. Those with an interest in reincarnation will especially enjoy this book.
Seventeen-year-old Molly has had a recurring nightmare her entire life— she is walking down a long hallway to the end room, where she knows something horrible is happening. She also has an incurable fear of water, and continues to hear that old Clementine song in her head. After a near-drowning experience at a pool party, she leaves to spend the summer with her father in his new house in Maine. But the carefree summer she was hoping for disappears when she goes upstairs in the house and sees the same hallway that has been plaguing her dreams for years. Then Jared, the boy who threw her into the pool, comes to Maine demanding Molly talk to him. Now Molly is experiencing visions of a girl named Clementine who lived in her father’s house a century earlier. As the summer continues Molly stumbles across a series of connections between her and Clementine that begin to form an eerie pattern. Molly’s “visions” begin to feel more like memories— memories that appear to be reliving themselves in her life and Jared’s. Can Molly prevent the past from repeating itself?
This book moves slowly at times, so those who need a very fast-paced novel would have a difficult time getting through the slow parts. There are also many predictable aspects about the book, however, overall it is a great read and would appeal to many teenagers and adults alike. I enjoyed the unique plot of the story and liked how it introduces the possibility of both ghosts and reincarnation as an answer to Molly’s nightmares and visions. As is the case in most YA novels, many relationships are examined in “Dreadful Sorry”: Molly deals with her father and his young, pregnant wife; Molly’s relationship with Jared turns from one-sided hatred to friendship to something more; and Molly attempts to mend the multiple broken relationships from Clementine’s life. This supernatural mystery mixed with romantic intrigue demonstrates the power of second chances and was one of my favourites as a teenager. I highly recommend “Dreadful Sorry”. Those with an interest in reincarnation will especially enjoy this book.
February 13, 2012
This was one of the books I got when I was younger at a book fair. It's the most tattered book on my bookshelf simply because I keep going back to it whenever I have a chance. It's a simple read, I finish it within the day. But it's a good book to read whenever I want to re-visit my childhood favorites.
January 28, 2016
Okay, so I actually enjoyed this book despite the rating I gave it. The story was interesting and definitely drew me in. But the beginning of the book was slow. I also feel like the writing wasn't that good. I did like Molly and her dad. Paulette was annoying, but also adorable and waaaay more tolerable than Molly's mother. Overall, not a bad book at all.
June 26, 2008
Here is another annoyance. In pretty much all the YA mystery/thriller books I've read lately, there is a super annoying mother. And for some reason it's always the mother. The father either completely backs up the mother or else the father is the "understanding" parent but for some reason can't overthrow the mother's wishes.
In every one of these books, the mother is a cold, SUPER practical person who reacts violently to their child's experiences, saying that their child is either lying or imagining things, and REFUSES to even listen further, even going so far as to yelling at the child and/or punishing them.
In this book the main character is deathly afraid of water, and rather than being understanding, the mother is dismissive and cruel. When the main character almost drowns, the mother is even more heartless, saying that she needs to face her fear and tells her she can't do anything else until she learns to swim. WTF? The mothers in these books are so completely unrealistic. They are only in the story to move the plot along, to set up roadblocks for the main character from investigating whatever it is they are trying to find out. It's really really annoying, and it's gotten old. I don't know any real life mother who is like this.
This book was pretty bad. I figured out what happened halfway through the book and then basically skimmed through the rest to confirm my guess. Other than the horrible mother, there is once again the unrealistically sensitive yet hunky high school boy who helps the main character solve her mystery. Actually every character was totally stereotypical. This is a must-skip book.
In every one of these books, the mother is a cold, SUPER practical person who reacts violently to their child's experiences, saying that their child is either lying or imagining things, and REFUSES to even listen further, even going so far as to yelling at the child and/or punishing them.
In this book the main character is deathly afraid of water, and rather than being understanding, the mother is dismissive and cruel. When the main character almost drowns, the mother is even more heartless, saying that she needs to face her fear and tells her she can't do anything else until she learns to swim. WTF? The mothers in these books are so completely unrealistic. They are only in the story to move the plot along, to set up roadblocks for the main character from investigating whatever it is they are trying to find out. It's really really annoying, and it's gotten old. I don't know any real life mother who is like this.
This book was pretty bad. I figured out what happened halfway through the book and then basically skimmed through the rest to confirm my guess. Other than the horrible mother, there is once again the unrealistically sensitive yet hunky high school boy who helps the main character solve her mystery. Actually every character was totally stereotypical. This is a must-skip book.
June 26, 2018
This book kept me hooked from start to finish. I loved the mystery of it, and Molly's fears were so irrational but felt so real. Even though I was sure no harm would come to her in the water in the beginning bits, each encounter with it made me scared for her.
The mystery of things moved along at the right pace--enough to keep me wanting more, but not slow enough to bore me. My one complaint with it has to do with the label on the book itself, saying this is part of a Time Travel mystery series. I can kind of see why it falls under that series name, but it was also misleading, as I could kind of see where the book was going with Molly, but then I thought I was missing a piece because the time travel had yet to come into it. I mean, there are a few bits you can claim are time travel-esque, but it had more to do with mental things rather than time travel.
Aside from that one problem, I loved this book. It's one that has been sitting on my shelf to read for years, and I wish I had picked it up sooner. The characters were great, the mystery and reveal of it all was great, and I loved how everything tied together.
SPOILERS BELOW!!!
I just had to mention Clementine. I feel so bad for her, how she was a slave in all but name, but then I feel bad for the people she used. Hob and Abner didn't deserve the way she lied to them and manipulated them. Yet, I can't blame Clementine for her doing all she could to be free. It wasn't too hard to guess her fate, but a part of me wanted her to survive and live out her dreams. I almost want a sequel book, about the adventures she goes on--and her learning to care about others. Maybe she could have ended up finding a guy and having a kid of her own--and then she could have gone back to the village, and apologized to those she had hurt. But this is no longer a review. This is just a story that can't happen, no matter how much I would like to read it.
So, overall, I loved the book, and I think it will stick in my head for awhile.
The mystery of things moved along at the right pace--enough to keep me wanting more, but not slow enough to bore me. My one complaint with it has to do with the label on the book itself, saying this is part of a Time Travel mystery series. I can kind of see why it falls under that series name, but it was also misleading, as I could kind of see where the book was going with Molly, but then I thought I was missing a piece because the time travel had yet to come into it. I mean, there are a few bits you can claim are time travel-esque, but it had more to do with mental things rather than time travel.
Aside from that one problem, I loved this book. It's one that has been sitting on my shelf to read for years, and I wish I had picked it up sooner. The characters were great, the mystery and reveal of it all was great, and I loved how everything tied together.
SPOILERS BELOW!!!
I just had to mention Clementine. I feel so bad for her, how she was a slave in all but name, but then I feel bad for the people she used. Hob and Abner didn't deserve the way she lied to them and manipulated them. Yet, I can't blame Clementine for her doing all she could to be free. It wasn't too hard to guess her fate, but a part of me wanted her to survive and live out her dreams. I almost want a sequel book, about the adventures she goes on--and her learning to care about others. Maybe she could have ended up finding a guy and having a kid of her own--and then she could have gone back to the village, and apologized to those she had hurt. But this is no longer a review. This is just a story that can't happen, no matter how much I would like to read it.
So, overall, I loved the book, and I think it will stick in my head for awhile.
December 11, 2012
This is literally the 6th time I have read this book!!!!
It's a great book about a girl who starts remembering her past live and you start to see the links between both her lives. As the book pulls you in you start to connect all these pieces together and realize that there is a reason she has started to remember and it is not just for love.
This book takes place in a quaint little town on the water in main and you fall in love with it wishing you could visit and meet the other characters for real. It is a good love story not only between soul mates but between family.It shows how ties and bonds that are formed can last through a person's life. It also shows how strongly family can influence you life in good and bad ways.
Please if you pick up any of Kathryn Reiss' books please read this one. It is one of my favorites from her. I have also read her book "Time windows" just as many times as I have read this one and highly recommend it as well. Also "Paperquake" I have read at least twice now as well which is another fabulous book by her.
It's a great book about a girl who starts remembering her past live and you start to see the links between both her lives. As the book pulls you in you start to connect all these pieces together and realize that there is a reason she has started to remember and it is not just for love.
This book takes place in a quaint little town on the water in main and you fall in love with it wishing you could visit and meet the other characters for real. It is a good love story not only between soul mates but between family.It shows how ties and bonds that are formed can last through a person's life. It also shows how strongly family can influence you life in good and bad ways.
Please if you pick up any of Kathryn Reiss' books please read this one. It is one of my favorites from her. I have also read her book "Time windows" just as many times as I have read this one and highly recommend it as well. Also "Paperquake" I have read at least twice now as well which is another fabulous book by her.
March 6, 2013
The first time I read this book, I was completely captivated by Dreadful Sorry and the story of Clementine Horn. This time around, I found the beginning of the book hard to get through. It's pretty much just Molly, the main character, having vague nightmares and whining about swimming lessons. I was thoroughly annoyed with her and her controlling mother throughout the first several chapters.
The story really picks up when Molly goes to visit her father and stepmother in Maine and discovers the home they bought is the same one from her nightmares. From there, she starts to have descriptive visions of a time a century before of the life of Clementine Horn. Her stepmother proposes this is a form of reincarnation and her father is hoping it's a ghost so they can attract more tourists to their soon to be bed and breakfast. My problem with this is they were both way too accepting of this situation. Why was no one a bit more concerned about Molly's mental condition? Molly's dad suggests in the beginning that she should see a psychologist about her fear of water but later on when she's having visions, random breakdowns, and knowledge of things she shouldn't, he suddenly thinks it's a silly idea? This just did not make sense to me.
As the story goes on, you start to see many of the things from the Clementine visions start to happen in Molly's life along with clues of why this is all happening in the first place. The whole thing is quite mysterious but I think the author did a great job of leaving no questions unanswered. This is a fascinating account of what someone will go through to right the wrongs of their past.
The story really picks up when Molly goes to visit her father and stepmother in Maine and discovers the home they bought is the same one from her nightmares. From there, she starts to have descriptive visions of a time a century before of the life of Clementine Horn. Her stepmother proposes this is a form of reincarnation and her father is hoping it's a ghost so they can attract more tourists to their soon to be bed and breakfast. My problem with this is they were both way too accepting of this situation. Why was no one a bit more concerned about Molly's mental condition? Molly's dad suggests in the beginning that she should see a psychologist about her fear of water but later on when she's having visions, random breakdowns, and knowledge of things she shouldn't, he suddenly thinks it's a silly idea? This just did not make sense to me.
As the story goes on, you start to see many of the things from the Clementine visions start to happen in Molly's life along with clues of why this is all happening in the first place. The whole thing is quite mysterious but I think the author did a great job of leaving no questions unanswered. This is a fascinating account of what someone will go through to right the wrongs of their past.
July 30, 2019
This is the first book I have read in a while that I actually can say I really enjoyed.
In the beginning, I wasn’t too sold on it - but just like any book based in Maine, it pulled me in and made it difficult for me to put down.
I was even satisfied with the ending, which is rare for me. I always like to ridicule the thought process behind a good books bad ending. But this book was great.
In the beginning, I wasn’t too sold on it - but just like any book based in Maine, it pulled me in and made it difficult for me to put down.
I was even satisfied with the ending, which is rare for me. I always like to ridicule the thought process behind a good books bad ending. But this book was great.
January 24, 2020
I read this book for school, so I had to read it in a 6-week time period instead of like 2 weeks or something. It's a really good book! Even though it is gothic, it still also doesn't feel too gothic and towards the end of the book, there were so many connections! Some parts were kind of creepy, but for the most part I love this book!!
March 12, 2015
A good creepy ghost story.
October 2, 2017
This book is just the right combination of creepy, romantic, and sad. I have heard of fear of water but i never imagined that her fear would turn into such an amazing story.
May 28, 2022
Definitely a favorite that I come back to time and again. This time, it felt even cozier with all the pre-9/11 references in it, it brought me back to a simpler time of VCRs and answering machines.
October 30, 2020
The last third of the book is easily the best---but the story leading up to that feels clunky and awkward. Unfortunately there are quite a few cliches that feel like you've been clobbered over the head, which made it difficult for me to be immersed in the story.
April 13, 2023
This book was one of my favorites when I was growing up. I remember some parts of it so well—I read it again and again. Just ordered a copy for my daughter. I think it’s a classic.
August 16, 2023
Again being on bedrest is a good time to read books and once you heal up from all that rest you can finally talk about just how good those books are to other people who might actually be interested.
Long enough read but not at all disappointing.
Molly Teague has had bad dreams before about water in the past. Nothing big and few and far between times...until recently.
In order to graduate, students have to pass a swim test at the academy where Molly goes. I don't know why but okay...
Molly is terrified to get in the water, she's afraid she is going to drown and die. In a very horrific manner too that it involves blood in the water. I don't think I could blame her in not even wanting to sit in a bathtub.
She lied to her mother saying she passed the swim test and she lied to the principal about a reason not to and Molly is literally in hot water when they both find out. Now Molly has to have the coach give her private lessons after school but Molly can't even stand to get her feet wet.
She leaves twenty minutes early one day after refusing to even have the water go up to her thighs and Molly literally runs smack into a young man as she is trying to bolt out of there. He's tall, dark and handsome and there is just something familiar about him...
His name is Jared Bernstein and he is the cousin of Molly's best friend Kathi, whom the other was coming to introduce said cousin to said best friend. Even after knowing his name, Molly can't help but have this strange sensation of calling Jared "Hob"
Ironically, both Kathi and Jared are excellent swimmers and Jared is here to start teaching swim classes this summer at the pool. Molly keeps having her terrifying drowning dreams and fighting with her mom about the swimming and again getting caught lying about it.
Molly's mother Jen is harder on Molly than her dad but that's because they are divorced and he is now remarried and living out in California with a young wife named Paulette.
Molly is able to go to a party at her friend Michael's house to celebrate their senior friends graduating and hang out with her other fellow juniors of whom most are in drama getting ready for the spring play. It just so happens that Michael has a pool...
Molly doesn't give that any thought or attention when it seems that Kathi and Jared are able to come when some family plans for the weekend get cancelled. Jared and Molly dance together but then he starts humming and then softly singing:
"Oh my darlin'...oh my darlin'...oh my darlin' Clementine..."
Molly pulls away because now it is part of another nightmare in connect with the first. No drowning but hearing that same song in the hallway of a large dark house.
What becomes flirting and Jared trying to help Molly get into the pool then turns into a horrible reality for Molly. It seems like harmless fun, Jared picking her up to throw her in the pool while all of Molly's friends are laughing but once Molly goes under...its visions of frothing, bloody water and seaweed and broken bits of wood tangled in...nets?
Molly wakes up in the hospital and finds that she almost did drown. Kathi and Jared were able to save her and do CPR to resuscitate Molly. Molly's dad Bill came at the news of Molly's incident, he and his wife recently now settling in Maine since their honeymoon, and reports to her that she is now medically exempt from swimming because it seems her phobia of water is very dangerous, paralyzing even.
Molly's mom Jen isn't too happy about that "diagnosis" and wants her daughter to be taking lessons as soon as she is able during the summer. While Molly was unconscious in the hospital, she had another dream about a girl her own age but with dark hair compared to Molly's fairness walking beside her down that hallway with the ominous singing.
Dressed in gray skirts from the start of the 1900s, sobbing, with blood on her hands and a questioning look in her eyes as if begging for help...
This incident causes Molly to withdraw from her friends for their cruel laughing and taunting and want to stay away from Jared Bernstein as possibly because he wasn't laughing when he threw her in like the others. No Molly remembers his voice and his eyes being angry as if he intended to kill her...
Molly's dad stays for awhile and then goes back home which has her mom inviting Jared in to talk because she believes that is the sensible thing to do. Molly freaks out about that but mostly because Jared wasn't really coming to apologize but to ask her why there was blood in the pool once he threw her in...
It all comes to Molly having a full blown panic attack when she has another dream about the girl leading her to a room in which everything is covered in blood, a woman dead upon the stained sheets and a man with a dark beard turning toward her in menace. She awakens from it to have Kathi and Jared banging on her door while her mother is out on a "business" dinner.
Molly calls her father once they leave and behind her mother's back, they make arrangements to fly Molly up to Hibben, Maine to stay with Bill and Molly's stepmother, Paulette. Jen says her daughter is taking the coward's way out by running away from her problems (perhaps a slight dig at her ex-husband thrown in?) but I don't think I could blame Molly wanting to get away.
Molly arrives to have Paulette picking her up from the airport because her dad fell off a ladder and broke his ankle. They are fixing up the home they are living in to be a bed and breakfast for tourists and Paulette had to go answer the phone while her husband was stripping the walls so luckily it wasn't a fatal slip.
That is just the first thing to happen, nothing much.. once Molly reaches Hibben, Maine it all changes.
Molly recognizes the house and finds that inside are the familiar places from her latest dreams and she knows things about the house to as if she were someone else. Places in town seem to be familiar too and the song keeps haunting Molly's head.
Suddenly, Jared Bernstein shows up and Molly thinks she has gone completely crazy but he's real. Molly's mother told him exactly where she was, he was the one who called the day her dad had the accident and ever since that night he threw Molly in the pool...he's been having the exact same dreams.
Dreams of the bloody water and visions of the dark-haired girl in the old-fashioned clothes. Jared swears that girl is Molly but she knows it isn't because her newest vision has happened while she's awake and the name of the girl was Clementine Horn...
Very, very hard not to give away any more of the plot but you can already guess that we are dealing with some past-life plot points and making things right in the present...and so on.
It is still a very captivating book where we meet some more characters in both the book's present and the past of 1912 and everything is woven into a grand tapestry of romance, drama, character growth, a few chuckles here and there. Molly and Jared trying to find answers is where we get to be grounded despite the supernatural elements we've got going on.
Clementine's story is a great period setting and you have to decide whether or not you can feel sorry for her or bored to death her being a typical heroine who seems as if she is too whiny.
There are moments to tug on heartstrings and moments to shudder in dread but overall, Dreadful Sorry has a lot more going for it than you would believe based on the title. Come for horror and stay around for something that is less typical teen slasher pulp and more young adult modern day tragedies akin to Wuthering Heights.
I promise you will be anything but sorry...*wink*
Long enough read but not at all disappointing.
Molly Teague has had bad dreams before about water in the past. Nothing big and few and far between times...until recently.
In order to graduate, students have to pass a swim test at the academy where Molly goes. I don't know why but okay...
Molly is terrified to get in the water, she's afraid she is going to drown and die. In a very horrific manner too that it involves blood in the water. I don't think I could blame her in not even wanting to sit in a bathtub.
She lied to her mother saying she passed the swim test and she lied to the principal about a reason not to and Molly is literally in hot water when they both find out. Now Molly has to have the coach give her private lessons after school but Molly can't even stand to get her feet wet.
She leaves twenty minutes early one day after refusing to even have the water go up to her thighs and Molly literally runs smack into a young man as she is trying to bolt out of there. He's tall, dark and handsome and there is just something familiar about him...
His name is Jared Bernstein and he is the cousin of Molly's best friend Kathi, whom the other was coming to introduce said cousin to said best friend. Even after knowing his name, Molly can't help but have this strange sensation of calling Jared "Hob"
Ironically, both Kathi and Jared are excellent swimmers and Jared is here to start teaching swim classes this summer at the pool. Molly keeps having her terrifying drowning dreams and fighting with her mom about the swimming and again getting caught lying about it.
Molly's mother Jen is harder on Molly than her dad but that's because they are divorced and he is now remarried and living out in California with a young wife named Paulette.
Molly is able to go to a party at her friend Michael's house to celebrate their senior friends graduating and hang out with her other fellow juniors of whom most are in drama getting ready for the spring play. It just so happens that Michael has a pool...
Molly doesn't give that any thought or attention when it seems that Kathi and Jared are able to come when some family plans for the weekend get cancelled. Jared and Molly dance together but then he starts humming and then softly singing:
"Oh my darlin'...oh my darlin'...oh my darlin' Clementine..."
Molly pulls away because now it is part of another nightmare in connect with the first. No drowning but hearing that same song in the hallway of a large dark house.
What becomes flirting and Jared trying to help Molly get into the pool then turns into a horrible reality for Molly. It seems like harmless fun, Jared picking her up to throw her in the pool while all of Molly's friends are laughing but once Molly goes under...its visions of frothing, bloody water and seaweed and broken bits of wood tangled in...nets?
Molly wakes up in the hospital and finds that she almost did drown. Kathi and Jared were able to save her and do CPR to resuscitate Molly. Molly's dad Bill came at the news of Molly's incident, he and his wife recently now settling in Maine since their honeymoon, and reports to her that she is now medically exempt from swimming because it seems her phobia of water is very dangerous, paralyzing even.
Molly's mom Jen isn't too happy about that "diagnosis" and wants her daughter to be taking lessons as soon as she is able during the summer. While Molly was unconscious in the hospital, she had another dream about a girl her own age but with dark hair compared to Molly's fairness walking beside her down that hallway with the ominous singing.
Dressed in gray skirts from the start of the 1900s, sobbing, with blood on her hands and a questioning look in her eyes as if begging for help...
This incident causes Molly to withdraw from her friends for their cruel laughing and taunting and want to stay away from Jared Bernstein as possibly because he wasn't laughing when he threw her in like the others. No Molly remembers his voice and his eyes being angry as if he intended to kill her...
Molly's dad stays for awhile and then goes back home which has her mom inviting Jared in to talk because she believes that is the sensible thing to do. Molly freaks out about that but mostly because Jared wasn't really coming to apologize but to ask her why there was blood in the pool once he threw her in...
It all comes to Molly having a full blown panic attack when she has another dream about the girl leading her to a room in which everything is covered in blood, a woman dead upon the stained sheets and a man with a dark beard turning toward her in menace. She awakens from it to have Kathi and Jared banging on her door while her mother is out on a "business" dinner.
Molly calls her father once they leave and behind her mother's back, they make arrangements to fly Molly up to Hibben, Maine to stay with Bill and Molly's stepmother, Paulette. Jen says her daughter is taking the coward's way out by running away from her problems (perhaps a slight dig at her ex-husband thrown in?) but I don't think I could blame Molly wanting to get away.
Molly arrives to have Paulette picking her up from the airport because her dad fell off a ladder and broke his ankle. They are fixing up the home they are living in to be a bed and breakfast for tourists and Paulette had to go answer the phone while her husband was stripping the walls so luckily it wasn't a fatal slip.
That is just the first thing to happen, nothing much.. once Molly reaches Hibben, Maine it all changes.
Molly recognizes the house and finds that inside are the familiar places from her latest dreams and she knows things about the house to as if she were someone else. Places in town seem to be familiar too and the song keeps haunting Molly's head.
Suddenly, Jared Bernstein shows up and Molly thinks she has gone completely crazy but he's real. Molly's mother told him exactly where she was, he was the one who called the day her dad had the accident and ever since that night he threw Molly in the pool...he's been having the exact same dreams.
Dreams of the bloody water and visions of the dark-haired girl in the old-fashioned clothes. Jared swears that girl is Molly but she knows it isn't because her newest vision has happened while she's awake and the name of the girl was Clementine Horn...
Very, very hard not to give away any more of the plot but you can already guess that we are dealing with some past-life plot points and making things right in the present...and so on.
It is still a very captivating book where we meet some more characters in both the book's present and the past of 1912 and everything is woven into a grand tapestry of romance, drama, character growth, a few chuckles here and there. Molly and Jared trying to find answers is where we get to be grounded despite the supernatural elements we've got going on.
Clementine's story is a great period setting and you have to decide whether or not you can feel sorry for her or bored to death her being a typical heroine who seems as if she is too whiny.
There are moments to tug on heartstrings and moments to shudder in dread but overall, Dreadful Sorry has a lot more going for it than you would believe based on the title. Come for horror and stay around for something that is less typical teen slasher pulp and more young adult modern day tragedies akin to Wuthering Heights.
I promise you will be anything but sorry...*wink*
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June 5, 2012Don't you hate that feeling when you wake up in a cold sweat from a dream you thought was real? Dreadful Sorry by Kathryn Reiss is about Molly, a young teen terrified of the water, struggles to keep reality and her dreams of Clementine (a girl who Molly believes she has reincarnated into) separate from each other. Hints and clues along the shoreline of her father's beach house lead her to expect that reincarnation and reliving someone else's life is able to happen.
Molly is a seventeen year old who has nightmares and visions of a girl named Clementine. Molly soon discovers that her and Clementine take the same footsteps in life, but Clementine takes them just a hundred years before. Molly finds herself falling for the same kind of boys and most importantly, having a petrifying fear of water similarly to Clementine. Throughout the book the visions and "memories" constantly bring up the song "Oh My Darling". Molly figures out that Clementine drown with her lover Hob. Molly worries on that the same will happen with her and her boyfriend, Jared.
One scene from the book I thought was good was when Jared pushed Molly into a pool at a summer party. The author created this eerie mood to go along with this event and hinted that they knew each other somehow, but without even meeting in the first place. I overall enjoyed this book because of the suspense and the genre of the novel. Being a mystery, this book allowed me to infer and make assumptions about what was going on and going to happen in the plot.
Molly is a seventeen year old who has nightmares and visions of a girl named Clementine. Molly soon discovers that her and Clementine take the same footsteps in life, but Clementine takes them just a hundred years before. Molly finds herself falling for the same kind of boys and most importantly, having a petrifying fear of water similarly to Clementine. Throughout the book the visions and "memories" constantly bring up the song "Oh My Darling". Molly figures out that Clementine drown with her lover Hob. Molly worries on that the same will happen with her and her boyfriend, Jared.
One scene from the book I thought was good was when Jared pushed Molly into a pool at a summer party. The author created this eerie mood to go along with this event and hinted that they knew each other somehow, but without even meeting in the first place. I overall enjoyed this book because of the suspense and the genre of the novel. Being a mystery, this book allowed me to infer and make assumptions about what was going on and going to happen in the plot.
March 29, 2014
Dreadful sorry was a book intricately woven yet lucid. The storyline was great, touching upon the topic of reincarnation and ghosts in an innovative manner. The book keeps one gripped till the last page and wanting more. I would have given it a 5 star, one star fell short due to the ending. It was too predictable, was hoping for more twists and a more mature ending, though overall it gives a comfy feeling when reading it sitting by the window with rain pattering outside. I wouldn't give away the story or analyse the characters in depth as I do not want my review to be under spoiler alert, though the character of Clementine was very well portrayed. A highly recommended read as the characters are shown very real and down to earth though some are also exaggerated and too 'obvious'. Overall, a must read!
November 30, 2009
Dreadful Sorry was a fantastic read! The character-Molly is passionate, caring, and carries the story well. Weiss weaves other great and memorable characters in through many different relationships: mother, friend, romantic interest, stepmother, father. Also, the storyline itself is hooking and and consistent of fantastic variety. Dreadful Sorry contains adventure, fright, love, desperation, and care, and is an overall enveloping read that will keep one reading until it's done.
July 17, 2009
I read this when I was eleven or twelve, and it got stuck in my head. I'm not sure why, because it's not a spectacular story. I had to track it down once I joined BookMooch and reread it, and I enjoyed the nostalgia.
July 20, 2023
“Oh my darling, oh my darling
Oh my darling, Clementine
You are lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorrow, Clementine”
I first read this book back in middle school and since then I’ve had the lyrics of that song stuck in my head, once in a while. It took me a while to remember the title and a little longer to find a copy that I resorted to purchasing one.
After over 15 years, it was weird reading this book again, knowing I had read it before. Once I had started reading though, it was like reading it for the first time. I honestly was expecting to remember the main points of the story and start skimming but it didn’t happen.
My memories of the book weren't there. My mind remembered it as a Romeo and Juliet type of book, yeah no where near that!
Primarily through the point of view of Molly’s and secondarily through Clementine’s, the story builds a connection between the two.
Molly has nightmares which turn out to be memories from Clementine’s life, mostly of all the decisions Clementine had made that led her life and that of others close to her to where they are present day. Coincidentally, due to Clementine again, it has started a domino effect in Molly’s life, leading her on the path to help bring closure to Clementine’s soul(?).
There wasn’t a character I cared for, there were a few I really disliked. Jen was one of them. No sympathy whatsoever. Uncle Wallace and Aunt Ethel were others. I know it’s based on a different time with different upbringings and priorities but the times were changing and they were just being unfair to her.
I was actually going to pace myself, maybe reading a chapter a day but I finished it in two days. I was surprised. Maybe subconsciously I remembered some details?
This falls more towards the supernatural spectrum and, depending on the beliefs you have, the story could be believable.
Hmm, having read this story in two different points in my life, I think I would have waited reading this book until high school, at least. Then again, I have read a lot of books that I hadn't fully understood until later or doing some research.
September 19, 2022
Although I adored Reiss's Blackthorn Winter as a preteen, I never came across this one until now. It's an imperfect but delicious YA read. One I wanted to reread as soon as I finished it. (Also, as a native blonde Ohioan with a high-powered lawyer for a mother and repetitive nightmares, I enjoyed having a protagonist who is another blonde Ohioan with a high-powered lawyer for a mother and repetitive nightmares).
It's rather melancholic, with a dreamy quality to the narrative - or, more accurately, a nightmarish one. The respective stories of Clementine, a girl in 1912, and Molly, a 17yo girl in the modern world with an inexplicable phobia of water who has been haunted by a certain nightmare her entire life, and who is presumed to be Clementine reincarnated, were artfully woven together. Ditto Hob/Jared.
From what books I've read from Reiss before now, she’s great on character development. I appreciate nuance in a YA book, and Reiss delivers here. Clementine is . . . no hero. Molly is understandably ashamed of being her reincarnation. Still, while Clementine isn't the greatest, Reiss makes it clear that she’s not the devil either. Like everyone, she's a mixed bag, and realistically brought to the page (as is Molly).
The idea of reincarnation appeals to me, and compared to the more common ghost or time-travel tropes, I think reincarnation is an under-used concept.
Quality read. Reiss is a solid writer adept at dispensing chills and thrills.
It's rather melancholic, with a dreamy quality to the narrative - or, more accurately, a nightmarish one. The respective stories of Clementine, a girl in 1912, and Molly, a 17yo girl in the modern world with an inexplicable phobia of water who has been haunted by a certain nightmare her entire life, and who is presumed to be Clementine reincarnated, were artfully woven together. Ditto Hob/Jared.
From what books I've read from Reiss before now, she’s great on character development. I appreciate nuance in a YA book, and Reiss delivers here. Clementine is . . . no hero. Molly is understandably ashamed of being her reincarnation. Still, while Clementine isn't the greatest, Reiss makes it clear that she’s not the devil either. Like everyone, she's a mixed bag, and realistically brought to the page (as is Molly).
The idea of reincarnation appeals to me, and compared to the more common ghost or time-travel tropes, I think reincarnation is an under-used concept.
Quality read. Reiss is a solid writer adept at dispensing chills and thrills.
April 19, 2025
I read this years ago and still remember it as one of the best-written stories I've ever picked up. I don't personally align with the concepts/ideologies of the supernatural in this story (it explores an actual belief system in what happens after death). Still, as a work of fiction, it's really neat.
Summary:
A nightmare-plagued, straight-A student who hates the water (she has a genuine phobia) is being forced by her Type A mother to attend swimming lessons to graduate as the only class she's flunked is Swimming, to get out of these lessons the girl goes to live with her Type B father and his new partner at an old historical coast mansion they are trying to renovate and turn into a B&B. During her time there, she meets a cute boy (she's briefly, and not happily met before) and learns about the mansion's history, while finding out how both are personally tied to her.
It gives a cold-coastal, mixed family, and historic/otherworldly mystery vibe. There are key elements of the supernatural as well.
The main selling point is how well it is written; the descriptions and elements in this story are so well portrayed that both adults and children can get a lot out of it.
Summary:
A nightmare-plagued, straight-A student who hates the water (she has a genuine phobia) is being forced by her Type A mother to attend swimming lessons to graduate as the only class she's flunked is Swimming, to get out of these lessons the girl goes to live with her Type B father and his new partner at an old historical coast mansion they are trying to renovate and turn into a B&B. During her time there, she meets a cute boy (she's briefly, and not happily met before) and learns about the mansion's history, while finding out how both are personally tied to her.
It gives a cold-coastal, mixed family, and historic/otherworldly mystery vibe. There are key elements of the supernatural as well.
The main selling point is how well it is written; the descriptions and elements in this story are so well portrayed that both adults and children can get a lot out of it.
April 21, 2023
I was relatively optimistic when I started listening to this on Audible. I liked the idea of a girl having visions from another girl in the past and trying to solve for what was happening to her. But having finished it, I am kind of disappointed with this book.
It was too predictable from the start. I expected some kind of twist or revelation but there was nothing that you couldn't see coming from a mile away. The plot was by the numbers.
I had a big problem with Molly's mother. She was supposed to be very smart but couldn't understand that her daughter had a phobia and felt psychologists were useless. I'm not sure if she was meant to come off as an absolute asshole but that's how I felt.
I also take issue with this being marked as a time travel novel. There is zero time travel that takes place in this novel. The only thing that happens is seeing events that took place approximately 80 years in the past.
Overall, I had higher expectations from this book. I doubt I will read the other books in this series.
It was too predictable from the start. I expected some kind of twist or revelation but there was nothing that you couldn't see coming from a mile away. The plot was by the numbers.
I had a big problem with Molly's mother. She was supposed to be very smart but couldn't understand that her daughter had a phobia and felt psychologists were useless. I'm not sure if she was meant to come off as an absolute asshole but that's how I felt.
I also take issue with this being marked as a time travel novel. There is zero time travel that takes place in this novel. The only thing that happens is seeing events that took place approximately 80 years in the past.
Overall, I had higher expectations from this book. I doubt I will read the other books in this series.
April 24, 2024
While the actual supernatural mystery and the unraveling of the events of the past are compelling, I didn't care for the beginning of the book or the general attitude toward mental health and mental health professionals. I know that's partially probably a product of when it was written, but even when it was written, plenty of educated professional people knew therapy was a real thing. The mom comes off less like a logical no-nonsense person and more just plain abusive. Medical professionals tell you your daughter has a phobia, so your solution is to just keep pushing swim lessons? Sorry, but that just makes you an awful person.
(It doesn't help that none of that was actually necessary. She could've gone to her father's for a break because of the traumatic pool incident.)
(It doesn't help that none of that was actually necessary. She could've gone to her father's for a break because of the traumatic pool incident.)
August 10, 2022
This book is better than I thought it would be. I liked story behind Molly and Molly's fear of the water.It was interesting how Molly's best friend (Kathi) cousin Jared interacted in her life. It was a story about Molly's fear of the water and her nightmare about drowning and Molly seeing a face in the mirror. She finds out the face she she sees belongs to a girl named Clementine. After she is thrown into a pool and almost drowns, she decides to go visit her Father and step-mother to get away from Jared ( who threw in in the pool at the party). There she experiences strange things like seeing Clementine in the mirror. I don't want to give too much of the story away.
These is a good book and I would recommend it to people I know. If you like books that has a mystery, you will probably like this book.
These is a good book and I would recommend it to people I know. If you like books that has a mystery, you will probably like this book.
April 27, 2022
The story centers around Molly, a 17-year-old girl from Ohio, who has nightmares and visions about a girl named Clementine from Maine who has died 80 years before. Molly and her best friends’ cousin Jared find that they are both experiencing the same visions and, after a very unfriendly introduction, begin to work together to solve the mysteries behind them. Only after all the answers are found are the ghosts put to rest. It might be called a supernatural romance and I found it to be a real page-turner. It is well-written and doesn’t contain any objectional components such as drugs or sex. It is light and easy-to-read, and the kind of thing girls will find very satisfying. Good for grades 7 and up.
September 24, 2023
I read this book after feeling nostalgic after reading Legacy of Lies, but boy did it not hold up the same for me. The book follows a pretty similar plot- you have a young teenager who starts experiencing things not related to her life but somehow entangled- but I found Dreadful Sorry's plot to be a lot less compelling, the dialogue difficult to read, and Molly as insufferable up to 60% in.
The biggest difference is that I read this for the first time as an adult rather than a teenager, thus not giving me the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia, but still... this was hard to finish.
The biggest difference is that I read this for the first time as an adult rather than a teenager, thus not giving me the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia, but still... this was hard to finish.
February 25, 2024
This has been a favorite of mine for a long time, but it didn't sit as well this time around. Jared's treatment of Molly, especially before they get together, is highly unacceptable, bordering on stalking. But even after she decides to be with him, he continuously superimposes his opinions over hers. Even when she's trying to explain what Clementine, whose thoughts she shared, was thinking, Jared is trying to tell her what happened.
I truly hope this is not the end of this book for me, as I've always found it cozy to reminisce in the 90s, but this was not an enjoyable read through for me this time.
I truly hope this is not the end of this book for me, as I've always found it cozy to reminisce in the 90s, but this was not an enjoyable read through for me this time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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