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A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

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Kris is Currently Reading

Kris is currently reading

Broken Country

by Clare Leslie Hall (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: arcs, vhhsed, khed, currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

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Mar 12, 2026 08:34AM

Kris is currently reading

A Study in Charlotte (Charlotte Holmes, #1)

by Brittany Cavallaro (Goodreads Author)

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Mar 09, 2026 08:20PM

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Lost Lake (Lost Lake, #1)

by Sarah Addison Allen (Goodreads Author)

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Reading for the 2nd time

read in May 2014

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Kris said: " I loved this book from the cover to the story line. For me, one look at the cover evoked thoughts of the south and the mystery and magic that is a part of of good Southern fiction. The main characters, Kate and her daughter Devin, were very sad in t I loved this book from the cover to the story line. For me, one look at the cover evoked thoughts of the south and the mystery and magic that is a part of of good Southern fiction. The main characters, Kate and her daughter Devin, were very sad in the beginning, as Kate's husband had died. She had been walking around in a fog for a year, but when she came across an old postcard from Lost Lake something in her woke up. Without telling her mother-in-law, who had basically been controlling her life for the last year, she packed up her daughter Devin for a road trip.

Eby, Kate's aunt, was planning on this to be her last summer of running Lost Lake. Her husband had passed away and many things were dilapidated and in need of repair. When Kate shows up after so many years had passed, it starts to bring back old memories. Some of Eby's summer regulars start to show up and together they determine to stop Eby from selling out to a real estate mogul who wants to turn the area into a resort.

There are some magical, mystical elements to the story - like the alligator that speaks to Devin and only she seems able to see. He wants her to find a box that he claims will save them and Lost Lake. Devin herself is a little magical, as only a child can be, with her wise-beyond-her-years attitude and flair for dressing. Kate and Wes' relationship is also magical - the first boy she ever had feelings for and almost kissed - meeting him again at Lost Lake.

Being at Lost Lake was almost as if time had stood still - the cabins, the lake, the path through the woods. Makes me remember a lake we would go swimming at when I was a kid, that still holds a little magic in the memories when we go back today.

Devin looked out over the water. They didn't look like knees. They didn't even look like roots. They looked like the ancient spires of Gothic buildings sticking out of the top of the water, like there was a church under the lake and she and Bulahdeen could only see the top of it. They were clustered in a section close to the bank, no more than a foot or so out of the water. She got as close to the edge as possible and looked down. The water moved slightly, and she thought for a moment that she saw a flash of something electric blue at the bottom. But, then again, the water was so murky that it was hard to tell just where the bottom was. She didn't see any evidence that the alligator had been here, or that whatever it was he might want her to find was hidden anywhere. She even put her hand over her good eye and looked around. (p175, Lost Lake)

I haven't read anything else by Sarah Addison Allen, but Garden Spells has been on my TBR list forever. I really must read some more of her work as I enjoyed this one immensely. ...more "

Jun 23, 2014 10:02AM · see review