Member Reviews

I am very interested in the Lost Colony and Eleanor Dare, but this was a difficult book to keep interest in reading. It's very complex, a lot of storylines merging and different characters take the lead in different chapters.

There is a lot going on - mystery, a bit of fairytale, the Lost Colony and Eleanor's story, Alice's story, Penn's viewpoint, WWII. Alice, a young mother and new widow, inherits Evertell the family lands, after her father passes away. She takes her daughter, Penn, and goes back to the house to get it ready to sell. There is a lot of mystery over why her and her father left, her mother's death, and the family curse.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a temporary, digital ARC in return for my review.

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The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare, though it was a little slow at times, was interesting and complex enough to hold my attention throughout. The main characters, a mother and her child, are well developed and robust with complicated feelings about love, loss, and coming into her own. Add in a little mystery, a light love story, and some historical throwbacks and you've got it!

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Although I found initially that the book was slow to advance and difficult to get into, once the story was established I found it a great read with compelling characters. I am glad that I stuck with it and would recommend this book to lovers of historical fiction.

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I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. This is a fascinating read about the Roanoke colony. Highly recommend

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Alice Young lost her mother at 13, her husband to the War, and her Father to natural causes at an older age. When her father dies, she finds that her family home, that they left behind when her mother died, in Savannah is now hers. Alice sees this as a way to give her daughter her heart’s desire, but first they must go to the homestead and find a buyer.

Upon arriving at Evertell, Penn is mesmerized by the family homestead and Alice is haunted by the past. How much of herself, and her family stories, can she share with Penn without having to share her own past? This is the story of the Dare women, but most of all the story of Alice and Penn.

A great setting and storyline. It drags a little, especially at the start, but once you get going, you’re hooked and want to find out exerting. I recommend this book for the Historical Fiction lover, especially if you have a love of the South.

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This was a wonderful title and I cannot wait for it to come out to share with friends. I've not heard the story of the stone(s) and look forward to learning more. I love Penn and Sonder and the relationships throughout the story. It was multi-layered and rich with historical facts and details. It is one of those titles that will stick with you and it has for me.

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I wasn’t sure when I started this book. I was afraid there was going to be a good deal of mystical happenings. But what I found was a poignant story of a woman coming tot worms with her heritage and with her very complicated feelings about her relationship with the mother she lost at the age of thirteen just as her daughter turns thirteen. It is a story of loss and love, belonging and community set in WWII Georgia.

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This book is beautifully written and a bit of an epic. While I kept turning the pages and wanted to read until the end, I found I was disconnected from the narrative. Perhaps if I'd known what the Dare Stone was before reading, it would have been better. As is, I was never interested in the stone or invested in the mystery. There was so much tension in Alice about her past but it didn't seem warranted. I did connect with Penn and enjoyed the return to a historic house full of family lore. However, the resolution of this story did not live up to the build-up from the beginning.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

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What an undertaking Kimberly Brock took on with this book! It is truly a magnificent story, and I loved the matrilineal storyline.

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This was an interesting book. It was different than what I had expected and didn’t focus as much as I had hoped on the life of Eleanor Dare. It was an intriguing book but at times, moved slower than I prefer.

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A young widow and her daughter return to her crumbling family home set in Savannah during the latter days of World War II, Here she reconnects with her family history through the book that has been passed down for generations linking her to the Eleanor Dare and the mystery of the Lost Colony. Having been to the Outer Banks as a child and seeing the play based on the mystery of the Lost Colony, this book drew me right in. It is obvious that the author has done so much research on this topic, and it shows. Form the descriptions Of Savannah (which is a place I have visited many times)) to the the characters in the book, I absolutely fell in love with this book. I highly recommend it to people and will suggest it as a book club choice..

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As World War II draws to a close, Alice finds herself a widow with a daughter. She has recently inherited her family home, Evertell, a crumbling ruin in Savannah, and returns there to prepare the house for sale. But her teenage daughter Penn, has other ideas. She wants to know about her lineage and in exploring the old home, uncovers the Commonplace Book of Eleanor Dare, her ancestress who was a member of the lost Roanoke Colony. Eleanor brought the book with her when she sailed from England, and the book was passed down through the centuries to the daughters that followed when they came of age. Alice was next in line to receive the book when a tragedy prevented her from getting it. Now, mother and daughter are face to face with their legacy. This is such a grand and magnificent story! I loved the matrilineal storyline, once something sacred in our history. Brock is an author to watch

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