I enjoyed reading this new book by Ellie Alexander. It was intriguing to see her apply her skills as a cozy mystery writer to a different genre of fiction. This is a book about a young woman faced with a decision and a family mystery that will affect not only her life but that of her newfound family. I often caught myself wondering what was going to happen next whenever I wasn’t reading the book.
Ellie Alexander created new characters I enjoyed learning about as I read the book. Especially the grandmother, Gertrude, who the reader gets to know gradually through the eyes of other characters. She is definitely the type of grandmother people dream of having. Not to mention, Gertrude’s house was practically a character in its own right. I wish I could curl up next to the fire in her home library and read for hours on end. Or peruse Gertrude’s eclectic collection of titles and genres which reminded me of my own home library.
The protagonist’s love of the written word jumps off the page mentioning a variety of titles, most of which I’ve read myself which helped me to easily identify with the character.
As usual, Ellie Alexander includes a lot of descriptions of the food and drink consumed throughout the book. This typically has the side effect of making me want to go searching for similar tastes in my own town.
I don’t know if the writer plans on turning this into a series or not but this book left me wanting to know more about the characters, the town, and Gertrude’s beautiful Victorian mansion. Learning about California’s Lost Coast was interesting and left me wanting to learn more and wishing I could visit the town of Cascata. For now, I’ll have to settle for reading “Lost Coast Literary” again.
Many thanks to Sweet Lemon Press, LLC for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.