From the Bookshelf of Gentle SPECTRUMS…

The House Between Tides

Sarah Maine

Start date: December 2, 2017

Finish date: December 9, 2017

Discussion: CELTIC COASTS 2017

Why we're reading this: My Kind Of Mystery, Canadian, history, I would say sky, and Celtic Coasts!
[close] My Kind Of Mystery, Canadian, history, I would say sky, and Celtic Coasts!

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CELTIC COASTS 2017

General CELTIC COASTS
By C. (Comment,… · 7 posts · 7 views

last updated Jan 19, 2018 08:48AM

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Dec 02, 2017 C. (Comment, never msg). rated it liked it

Shelves: riedel-titles-2017

“The House Between Tides”, Sarah Maine's 2014 début proved her an excellent storyteller with memorable characters. She crafted plots in which I remained invested. People will enjoy it, if they know it does not entail the tone or even the genre implied by the description. I was pleased to dig into the tantalizing scenario of a woman exploring a house but this was not the case. It is a shell Hetty only explores twice; both times with an island man yelling at her. Yet another author thought reader “The House Between Tides”, Sarah Maine's 2014 début proved her an excellent storyteller with memorable characters. She crafted plots in which I remained invested. People will enjoy it, if they know it does not entail the tone or even the genre implied by the description. I was pleased to dig into the tantalizing scenario of a woman exploring a house but this was not the case. It is a shell Hetty only explores twice; both times with an island man yelling at her. Yet another author thought readers would accept an ass for a love interest. I could not stand James any more than Giles. In 1910, I eventually like Cameron, as Theo lost favour.

Hetty's Great-Grandma is Emily, sister of famous Scottish island painter, Theo Blake. All she knew is that he had a short-lived marriage. While assessing whether or not the building can be made into a hotel, she finds bones. Sarah subtly portrays real life. Theo was not unkind. Although I doubt a grown-up would boo-hoo over a past flame, we understand that fractured relationships need no explosive cause. My disbelief was lodged the most in the exaggerated idea that Beatrice could only turn to the croft family next door. She had a family in London, Emily and Kit, Theo's brother! A one-hundred year -old mystery can only be investigated insofar as DNA testing, therefore the old story explains what happened. Meanwhile, Hetty ponders the high cost of stabilizing her ancestor's actual house. Would today's generation of islanders and the land, be an authentic enough connection to forge with her heritage?

I docked one star because there is no mysterious atmosphere of exploring a mansion for relics. Another, because the author had us fall in love with rare animals several times but each time, they were murdered. If you had a wife appalled about this, you would not do it. Plot-wise, every outcome was obvious to me. I don't normally fault authors if I clue into them but this many felt cliché. Is this a result of being a big reader, or could Sarah have surprised us? There should have been no mystery to Emily's eventual passing, because Hetty's Grandmother inherited her estate. It came across as a belated desire for another dramatic insert. Lastly, novelists need to stop having characters like James show up everywhere protagonists go. That was cliché but I enjoyed a lot about this novel. ...more

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Apr 26, 2017 Lorraine marked it as to-read

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