The first word that I thought of after reading this was gothic. There's a dark and foreboding overtone - lots of hand-wringing and drama. I enjoyed it at first but then it became a bit too much and seemed like it kept repeating. At several points I wanted to grab Ariel (narrator/MC) by the scruff of the neck and tell her to snap out of it and just get on with things.

this was a pretty good mystery with a surprising twist at the end. it might have been five stars except i thought there could have been a bit more development in charlotte and ariel's relationship, and also the author had a habit of repeating herself (which could have been easily remedied by a good editor).

I enjoyed this book but I wanted to like it more. The story was complex and the characters were interesting but there was something missing for me. The premise of the "faithful servant" asking the estranged wife of her employer to return was a good one but somehow the narrative didn't live up to the opening. I put the book down several times. But it is worth noting I did return to it, so there was some strength to the writing. I wanted to know what happened. This is the first book I have read by this author and I will look out for her next one.

I was given a copy of the book by Netgalley in return for an honest review.

I was unable to review this book because of a conflict in my schedule. Sorry for any inconvenience this has caused the publisher or the author of the work. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review for you and I look forward to reviewing for you in the future.

I decided to read this based on the premise that a woman, after walking away/running away from her wife for two years, returns "home" to try to win her back. I was curious how the author was going to tackle the abandonment issue, the reason for it, and still make the protagonist likable. This ended up being a very strange book because it did none of the above. The story is told in first person through Ariel, who had married Charlotte three years previously and had moved into her sprawling seaside villa known as Sea Oats. And my god you will NEVER forget the damn name of Sea Oats because it's repeated ad nauseum. Pages and pages are spent describing Sea Oats for some reason. Charlotte is an heiress and business woman, significantly older than Ariel who was fresh out of college when they married. So after a falling out, Ariel runs off into the night, moves back to NYC, returns to her interior design firm where now two years later she's somehow on the cusp of making partner. I wonder more about that firm willing to make a partner out of someone who has a whopping two years of actual experience, but that was not broached in the book. She's emailed by one of the Sea Oats staff and asked to return to the estate, which she naturally does. All of this is fairly ridiculous, as is the asinine reason for the falling out, all of the mentions of how much growing up Ariel did between leaving her wife and now (again, all of two years have gone by and she's still in her early 20s), and this whole takeover of Charlotte's company/murder mystery/other such nonsense added to the plot that has absolutely no bearing on or effect upon the story. The issues I had is twofold--one, nearly the entire book takes place in Ariel's head as she's thinking about the relationship with Charlotte, she and Charlotte have very, very little interaction thus there's no emotional investment the reader has with their relationship and two, the author is repetitive and occasionally even contradictory with descriptions of people and events, relationships, and dialogue. I would read the same descriptions and background of Charlotte's brother Sebastian, the rocky relationship Ariel had with Charlotte's ex, Ariel incessantly planning for a divorce when she gets back to the city, etc.
This could have used a heavy-handed editor to pare this redundant snooze fest down to a focused short story. Maybe it would have worked better in short form. As it currently stands, I'm surprised how incredibly clunky this stinker was. Big pass.

This was my first book by this author and she definitely got my attention. It is sort of a murder mystery with a twist. It's the best way I could think of explaining it.

The main character Ariel (no not the mermaid), and the book is from her point of view. Anyway she left her wife Charlotte two years previous and received an e-mail asking her to return to the house she shared with her wife and family urgently. Which she does. But in the time she has been away she has rebuilt her life and pretty upset with her wife for not actively coming after her.

The mystery starts when the grounds keeper approaches her and says the truth is at the center of the maze. Cryptic and he seemed drunk. Later the same evening he is found dead. There is quite a lot of repetition in the book. I am not sure if the author was trying to instill in the reader the sense of history or whether it was just the ranting of the character trying to put all the pieces together. Several things happen like her room is tossed and the attic scene is definitely worth reading twice. Ok I read it three times but it just happened so fast where everything else was explained at least twice. I just wanted to make sure I understood.

Ariel is thrown from the roof, she is saved by Charlotte. Turns out they still love each other. But Charlotte is the head of an important and wealthy family and is under going a hostile take over. Maybe I should have mentioned that earlier. Anyway there is a twist so you are going to have to read it to find out. Sorry..... you're right I'm not :)😊.

Yes I would recommend it. It isn't too bad. The repetition may annoy you but I am sure the author had good reason for it. Enjoy!


*ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley*

https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R1UTN7N2VVD4ZY/ref=pe_1572281_66412651_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2079272259

If you're into classical murder mysteries with an added lesbian twist then A Lamentation of Swans is a good fit for you. Written in the first person through Ariel's POV with a Victorian mansion and English garden grounds this novel feels like it should've been set in the Victorian era even though it's written in modern day. I liked the way the story was classically written with the beautiful Victorian mansion and grounds as the backdrop. The backstory of the original owners and Charlotte's ancestors was also intriguing. This novel was not without some issues though as some of the plot didn't add up just right, and when we hit the crescendo of the story it just abruptly ends. It felt it was missing a proper epilogue to tidy up the loose ends left dangling. The title is all too fitting as Ariel goes on lengthy internal dialogues regarding her failed marriage to Charlotte when I wanted more dialogue between them about their possible reconciliation. This was a decent murder mystery that needed a bit more length, a little less lamentation from Ariel, and bit better editing but still enjoyable all the same.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32073009-a-lamentation-of-swans" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="A Lamentation of Swans" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1486147729m/32073009.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32073009-a-lamentation-of-swans">A Lamentation of Swans</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7015022.Valerie_Bronwen">Valerie Bronwen</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2085720971">2 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I rec'd an ARC from NetGalley/Bold Strokes Books in exchange for an honest review. No synopsis needed. Ariel and Charlotte are the leads in this murder/romance. I found the plot confusing and was unable to "connect" to the characters with everything seemingly rushed/forced. 2 stars.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/31134832-gail">View all my reviews</a>

I wanted to like this book so bad since I really liked the description, but to be honest I wasn't a huge fan. The whole book was mainly in the head of Arial and written in descriptions. I'd say dialogue between characters could have made up one chapter worth. The whole rest of the book just kept describing the situation, what had happened in the past, what the house looked like, who was who...and so on and so on. The two main characters didn't even have a real conversation until 80% into the book, literally. And on top of that, the same back stories were told about 3 times a piece just with different wording. Next time I'd prefer if the author wrote events happening in the present through dialogue, as opposed to just saying "after dinner" for example. Give me the dinner!

2 1/2 Stars. This book was tough. I wanted to like it, it had so much potential. Unfortunately, it just did not come together. This book is in first person. I know some people don't like first person, but it doesn't bother me. Some of my favorite books have been first person because I connected with the main character so much. That didn't happen here. I had trouble connecting to any characters. But what really didn't work for me, there was so much "telling" not enough "showing".

Besides all the "telling" there was a bit of an issue for me with the flashbacks. Though I honestly don't know if calling them flashbacks is the right word. It was more of Ariel constantly talking about the past. The problem was how quickly, as a reader, you are shifted in and out. You had to very careful to know if Ariel was talking about the present or the past. There also was a lot of info dumps on the reader. Normally you don't see that in mysteries, but that is how it felt to me. Ariel, was constantly telling me this, telling me that, and she would often repeat herself. That was really annoying. Too many times I was like "didn't I read the same thing a few pages ago?" It felt to me like the author was trying to stretch out the story, and this is a short book. I think if the author would have wrote a novella instead, so many of these issues could have be gone.

One thing I do have to say in Bronwen's favor, there was a few exciting scenes. Without trying to give too much away, I will say the "attic" scene, was pretty exciting. What normally would be another plus for me is, I did not know who the murderer was. I am normally very good at picking out the murderer, but this time the reason it is not a plus. There really was no good clues for the reader to pick out and make guesses on. I love when an author will drop tiny hints, so you can kind of solve the mystery along with the character. That did not happen here, in fact the character didn't know who the murderer was either. At the big climatic end, Ariel's character actually guesses one name, than another, than another. I was like "wait a minute, why is it not the person you mentioned before?" She just kept naming random people until the killer was smack in front of her face. It honestly was an odd ending.

Last thing to mention, I can't really call this a mystery-romance. While so much is about their relationship, there is no romance. I really had trouble finding any chemistry between the characters either. I thought the character of Charlotte, had some potential. I really wanted to know more about her. But she was not even in half the book. It felt like a big wasted opportunity, and I was disappointed.

I just can't recommend this. This book had a lot of potential. The start of it pulled me in. But I only finished it to find out who the killer was, and that was a bit of a let down too. I hate to have to pick on a book so much, but I have to be honest. Bronwen really had some great ideas, it just did not come together. I wish her luck in the future, but this book was not for me.

An ARC was given to me by BSB, for a honest review.

This is a book about a family mystery explained in a strange way. The story is telled by Ariel, that is Charlotte Swann's wife. The narration evolves through flashbacks that explain since Ariel and Charlotte relationship to the Swann family story and ambient descriptions of the Sea Oats house and sorroundings. This isn't odd in itself, but when the flashbacks appear in the middle of a dialogue between characters and makes you forget what was the dialogue about, then it starts to annoy a little. Well, that is at least what's happened to me with this book. The story itself is not bad at all, the plot is interesting and the mistery is solved with some suspense at the end. But for me, the excess of flashbacks and the lack of dialogues hasn't liked me much.

I thought the story was intriguing and it kept me guessing who is behind all of the mysterious things that happened at Sea Oats. The main problem I had with the book was that it kept retelling things that were already explained in great detail. That got a little annoying and felt a little as a page filler. I wished there would have been more at the end and a little less at the beginning where they didn’t talk with each other – for most of the book Char just ignored Ariel but in the end they finally talked it out… i wish that would have happened earlier. All in all it was a good mystery/ romantic novel.

This read reminded me of the keys to giving a good speech. Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them and tell them what you told them. However, this is not a speech. There was too much telling and retelling which interfered with the pace of the story. I like the title, I like the cover and I wanted to like the story but I just could not connect with the either of the main characters because I did not know enough about them and Charlotte came to the story too late. I wanted to hear from her sooner.

This book is more from Ariel's point of view, which is OK, but it varies a lot from the past and present. So it's confusing to understand what actually took place between Ariel and Charlotte (her wife). It's more of a murder mystery at heart and I will admit the mystery definitely kept me guessing on who was the killer.

But as far as a romance book, well I never saw anything from Charlotte that shared her point of view.

As I had some difficulty with Ms. Bronwen's first full length volume, "Slash and Burn," I did not know what to expect from this newer publication. While the premise was interesting, at least from a romantic perspective-how does one recover a marriage?-the mystery subplot felt unnecessary and often proved distracting to the stronger interplay between the protagonist/her spouse. There were definite meritorious moments, specifically midway through the book, but the plot suffered from too much action that did not conclude in a way that I found to be interesting. Also, at points, Ariel grated and I wanted more from her emotionally. Overall, the potential for a greater work lay in the pages and I believe had the text been longer by a third, allowing more room for development, it would have achieved that.

An honest review thanks to NetGalley. I wanted to love this book; it felt way too short. I didn't have enough background, and I was confused at the constant back and forth between past and present. I never got a feel for Charlotte and felt that more backstory on her or even having some of her point of view would have given more depth to the book. This could have been an amazing book, but it fell short in many different areas.

I did not realize the author, Valerie Bronwen is in fact a man, Greg Herren when I requested this title from BSB. I choose to read very few male authors as I find they rarely understand the female perspective, whiether it be romance or mainstream fiction. I cannot leave an objective review for a F/F book written by a man. My apologies to BSB for requesting this title.