Katie Lowe

As I sit here writing this review, I am a little at a loss for words. I truly did enjoy this read but trying to explain the story without giving away too much is proving to be hard. My friend Simon says I should just say it was good because insert spoiler here and you should go read it. When I read an author for the first time, I try to give a solid review without giving too much away. Ten years ago, Hannah McLelland’s husband Graham is murdered. Her name has since changed and she is doing the best she can to move on with her life. She has even moved out of London and is now living in Hawkwood. Everything seems to be going well for Hannah and her daughter Evie. She is in a stable loving relationship and is trying to make the best of it given her circumstances. Then it all comes crashing down when Conviction comes knocking. A podcast that works to exonerate the wrongfully committed. You see while police did suspect Hannah of the murder a young man was convicted for the crime. The story unfolds as Hannah starts to remember things that took place ten years ago and it slowly starts to tear her life apart. Did she do it? Did someone else do it and why? So many questions and they are all answered by the time you reach the last page.
One of my favorite parts of this read is the dark atmosphere that the author puts together. I as the reader found myself feeling sorry for Hannah and at the same time in parts I felt bad for her dead husband. Is she hearing voices is she going crazy? I found this a hard one to put down and will continue to read books by Katie Lowe. I read the synopsis for The Furies and it seems to have a dark feel just like this book so I will be going back to read that as well as I wait for something new in the future.… (mais)

The Furies as a legend/myth is something I have heard about before so I was expecting lots of spells and the Furies turning up a lot. I was a little disappointed that they were only ‘seen’ once and not really many spells or rituals happened either.
That said, I really enjoyed the history of Elm Hollow Academy, it was explained in great detail, which is great as it helps the mind vision it.
The friendship between the four girls seemed quite strange to me as it felt like two of the girls were only interested in Violet when Robin was about, It felt as though Violet tried too hard to be accepted into the group and she felt awkward at times. She seemed to be lead easily, maybe because of her past and her home life and wanting to ‘fit in’.
It was a slow starting book, but it did get better as it went along, it was written well but when the book ended I felt that something was missing.
… (mais)

Well, this was dull. I really wanted to like this book and went into it with an open mind but it just wasn’t meant to be. I did think about abandoning the book at several points but I pushed through in hopes that the ending would be exciting enough to make up for the incredibly slow-paced story. It wasn’t. I thought that the premise of this book sounded like it had a lot of promise. It should have been an exciting story with deaths occurring and the history of witchcraft at the school but it just fell flat for me.

I didn’t like any of the characters which made it hard to connect with the story. I thought that the very beginning of the book where we learn Violet’s history was very well done and I wanted to be sympathetic toward her character but it just didn’t happen. Violet, Robin, Alex, and Grace just were not very likable. Robin was the ringleader for much of the story and she really just seemed like a bad influence on Violet. I was bored throughout the book.

I listened to the audiobook and thought that Olivia Dowd did a great job with the narration. Honestly, I don’t think that I would have finished the book if it were not for her narration. She had a pleasant voice and I liked the distinctive voices that she used for the various characters.

This is not a book that I will be recommending this book. This was a very slow-moving story with characters I didn’t care about. I do think that some readers will like this one a lot more than I did.

I received a review copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press Press and borrowed a copy of the audiobook.… (mais)