Afterwards, Black Rabbit Hall, their home, with its endless corridors and ancient creaking clocks, is a twisted and changed place, set to steal the last vestiges of their childhood and innocence. A home that not all of the Altons will be strong enough to survive.

Now, thirty years later, a message from one of the Alton children is discovered carved into an old oak tree. Could the tangled truth of that terrible summer finally creep into the light? Or should some secrets be left in the past for good?

My thoughts:

I’m just going to get right to the point. When I read a book that reveals secrets from the past, how those secrets are unfolded is important to the premise indicated in the book description. Though the secrets intrigued me, I’m not convinced it was executed as it could have been. Black Rabbit Hall is certainly not Manderley. I wanted to be haunted, to experience more of the endless corridors and ancient creaking clocks. To be swept away in the houses secrets and tragedy.

Though tragic strikes early on in the story, it wasn’t flushed out enough and it would just go on and on about the children’s life after the tragedy in the first half of the book. Which much of it was tedious reading. The elements to the tragic circumstance fell flat to me and was not suspenseful. I could not sympathize with the character’s loss.

It wasn’t almost half way in when it really became intriguing for me-when Lucian and Caroline made their entrance. The first half of the book and the second half is like night and day at that point. The authors narrative becomes stronger and begins to have a lyrical feel to it-if you will-and gives a better sense of the house and the characters emotional and actions.

In one scene, Lorna begins to explore the house. She walks through the ball room and chambers and she sees the remanence of the past. That was an exceptional scene. The first time I got a real feel of the true atmosphere of the house.

I respect the author’s efforts and there is a quality to the story that I liked for the most part. It just wasn’t enough to pull me in from the beginning. As I indicted above, it felt like the story really began almost half way through it before it took hold for me.

I do look forward to seeing what more the author has to give us in future stories and I do believe she is a good writer. I recommend my audience to read this book. I want to know your perspective to give it more balance and I would like to add that these are my experiences with the story. I am almost certain that many others will come away with a different experience entirely.

I’ve rated this book three stars.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Stephanie M. Hopkins