Read dates: January 18, 2019 – January 27, 2019
Expected publication Date: March 12, 2019
Source: Netgalley via publisher – Lake Union Publishing
4.5 out of 5 cats!
ARC received from the publisher via Netgalley (Release date: March 12, 2019)
My very first Emily Carpenter book! And after that story, it won’t be my last.
Erin is the CEO of a successful mobile wallet app called Jax that she and her husband started up with their best friends from high school. Now, Erin has lost her husband to a car crash and has also lost her way. She works long hours and neglects her relationship with her daughter, Shorie.
Shorie is heading off to Auburn University. She doesn’t want to, she wants to stay and work for the family company. She resents her mother for making her go. She’s good at the job. She can code, she’s good with computers, and she’s smart enough to hack her way into things. But her mother insists she go off to her alma mater and get an education. After Shorie and the other company heads send Erin off to heal from the loss of her husband at Hidden Sands, a resort where they don’t use the word “rehabilitation” but instead use the word “restoration”, Shorie soon finds that there is a small problem within Jax and it could be connected to her mother. And Erin finds that this resort she’s been sent to for healing is not at all what she thought it would be.
The beginning of this book, for me, was slow going. In the first few chapters we meet our main characters, Shorie and Erin. The story is told entirely through them. Though, I did find those slow burning chapters to be necessary to build the characters and their situations for what was to come.
I will admit, at times I lost who I was reading about. There are quite a few characters in the book that either have their own dialect or are mentioned multiple times. Every once in a while I had to stop and remember who this person was and how they tied into everything.
But, GUYS, once Erin got to Hidden Sands… just… just wow. From the minute she got there both the reader and the character can tell something is off. At Hidden Sands, people are not allowed to have their own clothes, they’re not allowed to tie their hair back in a ponytail, and they’re not allowed to talk during meal times. The picture the author paints of this place is enough to set you on edge before anything has even happened!
In the beginning, I enjoyed Shorie’s chapters a little more so than Erin’s. But by the time Erin got to Hidden Sands, I was invested in both narratives. I’ve read many books where more than one character is telling the story and I always have one narrative that I don’t care to read as I’m more interested in the others. But this book had me hooked on both. I was anxious. I needed the next chapters of Shorie’s narrative to finally align with Erin’s and I was on the edge of my seat! And then the stories DID align and I realized I had completely fallen out of my chair.
Is this book not a movie yet? Because it really should be.
All in all, this was a wonderful read. This was my second arc and, so far, the ARCs I’ve gotten have NOT disappointed.
HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS ONE
Just remember to hold on to your pantaloons because this one is NOT going to be what you think.
Note: This one took me a bit longer to read and while that usually means I’m not incredibly interested in the book, I assure you I was! I’ve recently purchased an Xbox One (I’ve been a Playstation gamer for a few years now) and I’ve reconnected with some old pals and we’ve been streaming on Mixer and playing all kinds of games and having a grand ol time. Don’t worry. I’ve found some balance I think!
House Of Cats Book Reviews 
Leave a Reply