INNER PAGE BLURB: What magic is this?
You follow the hidden creek towards a long-forgotten house.
They call it Keepsake, a place full of wonder ... and danger. Locked inside the crumbling elegance of its walls lies the story of the Butterfly Summer, a story you've been waiting all your life to hear.
This house is Nina Parr's birthright. It holds the truth about her family - and a chance to put everything right at last.
SOURCE: A GoodReads win. Not available until the 19th of May 2016, this is a Free Proof Copy hence the lack of First Sentence and Memorable Moment.
MY THOUGHTS: Two books within one. For the main part The Butterfly Summer is the contemporary story of Nina Parr and Keepsake, the magical home that is her birthright. Interspersed with her story is that of her grandmother, Theodora aka Teddy.
A novel that took me a while to get into. Whilst both stories taken by themselves are enjoyable enough, I'm afraid the duel perspective, the weaving backwards and forwards in time, simply didn't work for me, making this a book that, taken as a whole, was ultimately merely OK.
Essentially a story about the secrets (many of them hardly secrets at all) and obligations that, generation after generation, bind together the women of the Parr family. I'm afraid, especially in its earlier chapters, the characters from the differing eras yet to be established, I found the book confusing, the various strands to the plot unnecessarily convoluted which sadly meant instead of focusing on the story I found myself concentrating overly hard on just where (if anywhere) it was going.
Character wise?
Alas I'm afraid I didn't for some reason or other connect with the characters. The best I can say being I found myself intrigued with the mysterious elderly woman who, seeming to know many aspects of her life despite the fact they haven't met before, approaches Nina in the London Library.
9 comments:
Tracy, thanks for sharing your honest thoughts. It sounds as if the story was hard to follow. It's unfortunate that you didn't connect better with the majority of the characters. That's a deal breaker for me.
Have a happy Easter, Tracy!
Ah shucks. It sounded so promising too! Thanks for the peek inside... May still check it out for myself to see if it falls in that "trash vs treasure" situation.
I think that novels that take place over various time periods can become unnecessarily confusing.
I also think that with books such as this, it is important for the reader to have some connection to the characters. Thus I understand why this was disappointing to you.
I'm sorry this one didn't work for you, with characters OR story.
I'll admit I'm always disappointed when I can't see a cover or a first line. Both can influence me greatly when considering books.
Sorry to hear that this one didn't live up to its promise. Unnecessarily convoluted stories annoy me to no end! Hope that your next read is more to your liking!
It's always difficult wheny ou can't connect with the characters
Aw... too bad. Yea, if a dual perspective doesn't work, you often don't connect with the characters. Hope the next one is better.
Thanks for your opinion...sounds like you found it hard.
This sounds like an interesting book. I wonder if I would fare better with it. I like the premise.
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