Book Review: FALLEN MOUNTAINS by Kimi Cunningham Grant

 

Title: FALLEN MOUNTAINS

Author:  Kimi Cunningham Grant

Read: December 2021

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 all the stars!

 

Book Description:

 

When Transom Shultz goes missing shortly after returning to his sleepy hometown of Fallen Mountains, Pennsylvania, his secrets are not the only ones that threaten to emerge. Red, the sheriff, is haunted by the possibility that a crime Transom was involved in seventeen years earlier—a crime Red secretly helped cover up—may somehow be linked to his disappearance. Possum, the victim of that crime, wants revenge. Laney will do anything to keep Transom quiet about the careless mistake they made that could jeopardize her budding relationship. And Chase, once a close friend, reels from Transom’s betrayal of buying his family’s farm under false pretenses and ruthlessly logging it and leasing the mineral rights to Marcellus shale frackers.

As the search for Transom Shultz heats up and the inhabitants’ dark and tangled histories unfold, each one must decide whether to live under the brutal weight of the past or try to move beyond it.

What attracted me to this book:

 

I loved Kimi Cunningham Grant’s book THESE SILENT WOODS, so I had to rush out and read her previous novel FALLEN MOUNTAINS straight away – and I’m so glad I did!

 

 My musings:

 

Fallen Mountains, Pennsylvania, is a sleepy, one-sheriff town set among farmland and forest that is gradually being taken over by logging and fracking companies since people can no longer make a living from farming alone. After Chase’s grandparents die, he is faced with losing the land his family have farmed for almost 200 years, because of the debts his grandfather has accrued trying to stay afloat. So when his best friend Transom Shultz, the son of the most affluent and influential family in town, offers to buy the farm and let Chase continue to live there, he jumps at the chance. But their life-long friendship is compromised when Transom starts selling out to the logging and oil companies and Chase witnesses the destruction of his beloved forests. So when Transom goes missing, he is the prime suspect. Until Sheriff Red starts investigating and finds that there are quite a few people in town who had reasons to dislike the charming but ruthless young man Transom Shultz has become ...

 

I loved everything about this book. From the small town setting, to the rich descriptions of Chase’s beloved woods, to the characters who were so real to me that I miss their presence now that I have finished the book. As with THESE SILENT WOODS, here the setting is as much a character as the people, and I loved reading about the forests surrounding Chase’s grandparents’ farm (which ultimately also broke my heart).

 

In fact, I have the biggest book hangover right now! As the story went along, I felt so solidly invested in the mystery that I simply could not stop reading. I am in awe of the author’s skill to present us with characters so richly drawn and complex that exploring them was like forging a new friendship. Even though I came to thoroughly dislike Transom in the course of the book, in the end I felt a slight sense of empathy even for him.

 

 

Summary:

 

Words simply cannot do justice to the way this story captured my heart and my imagination. I was so sad when the story ended, knowing that a book like this doesn’t come around very often. FALLEN MOUNTAINS is a definite favourite for me, and one I am very happy to finish the year with. I cannot wait to read more from this talented author in future!

Book Review: THE MAID by Nita Prose

 

Title: THE MAID

Author:  Nita Prose

Publisher:  Harper Collins Australia

Read: December 2021

Expected publication: 20 January 2022

My Rating: 🌟🌟1/2

 

Book Description:

 

 

Molly the maid is all alone in the world. A nobody. She’s used to being invisible in her job at the Regency Grand Hotel, plumping pillows and wiping away the grime, dust and secrets of the guests passing through. She’s just a maid – why should anyone take notice?
 
But Molly is thrown into the spotlight when she discovers an infamous guest, Mr Black, very dead in his bed. This isn’t a mess that can be easily cleaned up. And as Molly becomes embroiled in the hunt for the truth, following the clues whispering in the hallways of the Regency Grand, she discovers a power she never knew was there. She’s just a maid – but what can she see that others overlook?

What attracted me to this book:

 

I read some fantastic reviews about Nita Prose’s debut novel THE MAID, so of course I couldn’t resist, even though “cozies” are not usually a genre I read very often.

My musings:

 

 

Molly Gray is a socially awkward twenty-five year old woman who has been living with her grandmother until she passed away from cancer a few months ago. She is still feeling her absence and misses her guidance dearly, and barely makes ends meet as a maid at The Grand Regency Hotel, a job Molly loves because she feels a lot of satisfaction in creating order.  One day she finds a dead guest in one of the rooms she regularly cleans, and her life is turned upside down.

 

THE MAID was a light, borderline humorous read with some deeper themes of loss, grief, friendship and finding your way in the world. Molly was a quirky if slightly naive character, and I kept picturing her as a kind of female Forrest Gump – kind-hearted and honest but always slightly behind the eight ball.  Unfortunately I never quite connected to Molly as much as most readers whose glowing five star reviews can be found everywhere on Goodreads and social media.

 

Unpopular opinion: I found Molly to be an inconsistent character, totally naive one moment and quite streetsmart the next. I also found the plot quite predictable and not very original, but perhaps that is the characteristic of a cozy mystery and I am simply not the right reader for the genre. I much preferred the snarky honesty of Gail Honeyman’s Eleanor Oliphant, the original protagonist who seems to have sparked an avalanche of books with neurodivergent characters. All side characters felt like wooden caricatures to me, their relationship to Molly only ever skimming the surface without real background or depth. If I am totally honest, I struggled to finish the book because I did not feel invested in any of the characters. However, I think that this book would make a perfect screenplay / TV series!

 

 

Summary:

 

All in all, THE MAID has received high praise by countless readers on social media and will appeal to people who appreciate a gentler, less snarky version of Eleanor Oliphant. Personally, I found it a bit slow and predictable, and wanted more character development, even though it ticked the boxes for a light, slightly humorous read.

 

 

 

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins Australia for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Book Review: THESE SILENT WOODS by Kimi Cunningham Grant

 

Title: THESE SILENT WOODS

Author:  Kimi Cunningham Grant

Read: December 2021

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2

 

Book Description:

 

No electricity, no family, no connection to the outside world. For eight years, Cooper and his young daughter, Finch, have lived in isolation in a remote cabin in the northern Appalachian woods. And that's exactly the way Cooper wants it, because he's got a lot to hide. Finch has been raised on the books filling the cabin’s shelves and the beautiful but brutal code of life in the wilderness. But she’s starting to push back against the sheltered life Cooper has created for her—and he’s still haunted by the painful truth of what it took to get them there.

The only people who know they exist are a mysterious local hermit named Scotland, and Cooper's old friend, Jake, who visits each winter to bring them food and supplies. But this year, Jake doesn't show up, setting off an irreversible chain of events that reveals just how precarious their situation really is. Suddenly, the boundaries of their safe haven have blurred—and when a stranger wanders into their woods, Finch’s growing obsession with her could put them all in danger. After a shocking disappearance threatens to upend the only life Finch has ever known, Cooper is forced to decide whether to keep hiding—or finally face the sins of his past.

Vividly atmospheric and masterfully tense, These Silent Woods is a poignant story of survival, sacrifice, and how far a father will go when faced with losing it all.

 

My musings:

 

Do you love books that break your heart and yet reinstate your faith in humanity? THESE SILENT WOODS  did that for me. Initially I was drawn to it by the promise of a remote wilderness setting, but I hadn’t counted on the way Cooper and Finch would highjack my heart and draw me into their world. What would compel a father to retreat from the world and bring up his child in a remote cabin in the woods, far away from civilisation and friends and family? Finch has grown up here for eight years, and she has never set foot in a store or had any other human contact apart from their equally as reclusive neighbour Scotland and Cooper’s best friend and army mate Jake, who visits once a year just before Christmas to deliver supplies for the harsh winter ahead. What would such a life be like?

 

Once details from Cooper’s past are revealed, their circumstances become very clear and I felt torn between the beauty of their natural environment, and its isolation (and loneliness). Both Cooper and Finch are wonderfully drawn and appeared to me vividly as flesh-and-blood characters, utterly captivating my heart. I don’t cry easily, but by the end I was blubbing like a little baby, utterly heartbroken. I loved to witness the bond between father and daughter, and the sacrifices Cooper has made to keep them together. As a slow character study, this was as good as it gets, with the natural environment as a perfect backdrop. And unlike other novels with similar themes and backdrops, this one never ventured into the realm of disbelief or the over-the-top melodramatic. Even in its most dramatic moments, the characters stayed true to themselves and remained utterly relatable. This is not an easy balance to achieve and shows the author’s skill as a writer.

 

Summary:

 

All in all, THESE SILENT WOODS  was one of my favourite novels of 2021. Atmospheric and compelling, it pulled on my heartstrings and utterly captivated me.

 

 

You may also enjoy:

Book Review: DEVOTION by Hannah Kent

 

Title: DEVOTION

Author:  Hannah Kent

Publisher:  Pan Macmillan Australia

Read: November 2021

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟1/2

 

Book Description:

 

Prussia, 1836

Hanne Nussbaum is a child of nature - she would rather run wild in the forest than conform to the limitations of womanhood. In her village of Kay, Hanne is friendless and considered an oddity...until she meets Thea.

Ocean, 1838

The Nussbaums are Old Lutherans, bound by God's law and at odds with their King's order for reform. Forced to flee religious persecution the families of Kay board a crowded, disease-riddled ship bound for the new colony of South Australia. In the face of brutal hardship, the beauty of whale song enters Hanne's heart, along with the miracle of her love for Thea. Theirs is a bond that nothing can break.

The whale passed. The music faded.

South Australia, 1838

A new start in an old land. God, society and nature itself decree Hanne and Thea cannot be together. But within the impossible...is devotion.

 

My musings:

 

After reading Kent's previous books BURIAL RITES and THE GOOD PEOPLE, I knew that she has a special skill in bringing the past to life with vivid imagery of her words. The story of Hanne and Thea, two young Lutheran girls embarking on a journey to the colonies of South Australia to start a new life, sounded interesting. Little did I realise though that it was not a straightforward, ordinary piece of historical fiction. Though inspired by the real life characters and the origins of the settlement that is now Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills, Kent has a few surprises in store for her readers.

 

As Hanne and Thea's friendship blossoms into a forbidden romance, I was wondering about what the future would hold for these two young women, considering the ultra religious and conservative environment that entraps them. I could never have guessed the turn the story took at its half way mark, and I admit that I was a bit taken aback initially. However, Kent's lyrical prose lent the story an almost dreamlike quality that fitted in well with this "twist", for the lack of a better term without giving too much away. It also allowed for a broader perspective of the lives of the new community established in the colony, and a resolution that was unusual to say the least.

 

This turn of events probably won't be for everyone but I urge you to give it a chance, because the rest of the journey was worth it. I particularly enjoyed Kent's descriptions of nature and the slightly supernatural air that marked the later part of the book. Kent also doesn't shy away from exposing the darker side of European settlement and the treatment of the Peramangk people, the original custodians of the land. Overall, the story turned out to be less of a historical account, but an emotionally charged tale of love, longing and grief that rapidly got me under its spell. It was both beautiful and sad, with many topics to reflect on. DEVOTION is one of those books that will stick in my mind with its timeless quality and characters.

 

 

Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan Australia for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Book Review: THE LIGHTHOUSE by Fran Dorricott

 

Title: THE LIGHTHOUSE

Author:  Fran Dorricott

Publisher:  Avon Books UK

Read: December 2021

Expected publication: 3 February 2022

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Book Description:

 

Six friends travel to a remote island north of the Scottish Highlands for an old school reunion. They’ve rented The Lighthouse – a stunning, now abandoned building that was once notorious for deaths at sea.

On the first evening, someone goes missing. The group search all through the night to no avail. But when the five remaining friends return to the lighthouse early the next morning, they are shocked to find James inside. He’s looks terrified – but won’t say a word about where he’s been.

The party vow to put the strange night behind them and enjoy the rest of their stay, but when more unexplained things begin to occur, tensions escalate. It’s clear James knows something, but nothing will persuade him to give up the secrets of the island. Is he protecting his friends from a terrible truth, or leading them into more danger?

A chilling, gripping and powerfully atmospheric suspense novel with a gothic edge.

 

My musings:

 

Fancy a spooky story set in an old lighthouse? Oh yes, please! I love spooky, and I love lighthouses, so as soon as I read the description of this book I had to have it. Don't be fooled by the innocuous title because this story will soon raise goosebumps. I made the mistake of reading it at night whilst on a camping trip near an actual lighthouse and was terrified to venture out after dark.

Here we have a fantastic atmospheric setting on a small Scottish island dominated by an old majestic lighthouse and keeper's cottage  that have been turned into an exclusive holiday resort. Without phone or internet reception, it makes for a perfect escape from the modern world. Kira, a travel writer, has been offered a free stay and thinks it would make a great location for an annual reunion with four of her closest friends from university. Packed with lots of food and alcohol, the group set out on the boat trip to this spectacular location.

The author knows how to set the scene and the island initially sounds like heaven. Remote, windswept and buffeted by the waves, the landscape appears serene and beautiful to the friends as they settle in for a weekend of fun and relaxation. Soon, however, the atmosphere changes. Things disappear and everyone denies having taken them. Shadows appear in corners when there is noone there. And what lies behind the only locked door in the lighthouse? Suddenly the isolation becomes claustrophobic as the friends realise they are stranded here without a way off the island, with something that doesn't want them here.

How perfect is this premise? Despite my growing unease, I read it in almost one sitting because I had to get answers. As the weather closed in and darkness fell, I knew I was in for a spooky treat. I loved the hinting at a supernatural element that made me wonder if there was something ghostly going on or if there would be a rational explanation, which made the story even creepier for me without ever feeling unbelievable.

My only quibble was that the ending appeared a bit rushed and could have exploited the eerie background a bit longer. I was at the 95% mark when I thought that there wasn’t enough time to wrap up all the threads and ultimately felt that a few very good elements were left hanging. Seeing how the beginning of the book was slow, character driven and atmospheric, I felt that the rush to the conclusion let the book down a bit.

 

Summary:

 

All in all, THE LIGHTHOUSE is the type of atmospheric, claustrophobic story that makes for a perfect escape. With a hint of a supernatural element, it managed to spook me enough to keep the lights on and read late into the night to get all the answers. Despite the rushed ending, I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope to read more from this author in future.

 

 

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon Books UK for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.