About the book:Moving home after a recent job loss was supposed to reassure Camden Bristow and give her time to decide what to do next. But when she arrives in Etherton, Ohio, she discovers that her grandmother, who she hasn't talked to in years, has passed away and "home" is an empty mansion hundreds of years old. Not exactly the comfort Camden was looking for. What happened to the house she played in as a child, the bedtime stories that told of secret passageways and runaway slaves, and all those family memories?
When antiques start disappearing and footsteps are heard, some of those memories start to creep back and Camden wonders if her grandmother's bedtime stories might actually be true. What really happened here . . . at Crescent Hill? How was her grandmother involved? Who still has access to the house? And for what purpose? As she works to uncover the past and present mysteries harbored in her home, Camden also uncovers secrets about her family that could change the town-and her life-forever.
My thoughts:
Having read another novel by Melanie Dobson earlier this year and really liking it, I really had high expectations for this book. Honestly, this book fell way short. True, it's a totally different genre than the other book I've read by her (which was historical), but I really had a hard time getting through this book, in general.
I guess you could call this a suspense novel....maybe. In a way, I almost consider that a little bit of a stretch because in addition to reading Camden's side of the story, I was also getting the bad guy's side of the story. Sometimes that's good, but I don't know if I felt that it was, in this case. I like for a suspense novel to make me guess a little, even if really don't have it all figured out by the end of the story. There was a small twist at the end that I did not expect, but other than that, I felt the ending was a little anticlimactic.
I also felt no connection to the characters, except maybe a little bit with Camden. She's pretty much on her own, has no money, and has inherited a house that she can't pay to repair. All through her story, I was rooting for her to succeed, and hoping that she would not say yes to the first person to come along and make her an offer on the old house. Grant's character was just okay...nothing really spectacular to me. And the creepy guys were just....well....creepy.
In spite of this book being not so great, I know I'll be reading more from Melanie Dobson in the future. I typically like reading suspense novels, but this one was just a little flat. Overall, I'd give it 3 out of 5 stars.
**Many thanks to Kregel through FIRST Wild Card Tours for providing this book for review.
**Click here to read the first chapter, and here to purchase a copy of Refuge on Crescent Hill.
Well, I'm glad I read this. I can't find it at any of the local libraries & was going to actually purchase it, something I hate to do! I'll save my money
ReplyDelete