I really struggled to get into this French mystery by Douglas. This is my second read by this author but I certainly did not connect with the narrative like I did previously. I also thought that the cover was quite misleading: it portrays a stormy, brooding narrative, despite the fact this takes place in the height of summer and there are lots of positive references to the warm weather.

From the beginning I thought that something felt ‘off’ with the narrative and I think I could put this down to two reasons. Firstly, I did not understand Mila’s obsession with connecting with Gosia’s son after her unexpected death. It seemed rather rash and inexplicable because Mila barely knew the woman and I thought she was becoming unnecessarily involved in a stranger’s affairs. Secondly, I quickly disliked Mila and her attitudes towards her family. She treats her niece with disdain: she is a burden that is preventing Mila from returning to England; she dislikes her step-mother and is exasperated by being the interim carer for Ani.

I would have preferred if Douglas had developed Gosia’s character throughout the narrative because Mila’s investigations made it all seem rather one-sided. Incorporating some flashbacks would have helped me understand this absent character a bit more and likely sympathise with Mila’s caring approach. Instead, it felt like all the revelations came in the last ten or so chapters; this is when I felt the story was most interesting and picked up a pace that was largely lethargic and slow.

I found it interesting how Mila is haunted by her sister. Throughout the story, Mila “hears” Sophie’s responses in her head. Not only does this represent Mila’s raw grief, but also the isolation she feels. Reinforced by looking after Sophie’s daughter, I think it demonstrated how detached Mila had become to everyone around her – symbolised by how few friends she has and the suspicions she has of so many. Furthermore, I was saddened about how Mila treated her niece, particularly with regards to her future plans, and I think this added to my dislike of the protagonist.

This was a very slow-burner of a mystery that I found I cared less and less about. I persevered because I wanted to see how Mila’s character would change and, when some action started to happen, was keen to understand the motives driving this. However, it was largely a struggle to read this book and I found it quite disappointing overall.

With thanks to Boldwood books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn’t expecting such a great mystery! I thought this might be a cheesy, cozy little mystery but the mystery aspect was really laid out well and I found myself thoroughly enjoying the characters! A pleasant surprise!

This was quite a gripping read with a lot to take in at first as we familiarise ourselves with the characters and the main story threads. However, the pieces of the puzzle do all start to link and make sense pretty quickly. The setting Morannez is excellent, and described in quite a beautiful way, which really contrasts well with the tense and twisty narrative. I particulary enjoyed the way in which the deceased Sophie added to the story telling through Mila, her sister. This added quite an eerie element.

This is such an intriguing novel. It engaged my imagination from the very first page and kept me on tenterhooks all the way through trying to second guess the outcome.

Through the author’s wonderful narrative of the Brittany Coast where the story is set, I could easily visualise the scenery.

I love an atmospheric story and I really appreciate how Louise Douglas author is adept at making her readers feel all the emotions her characters are facing, their unease, mistrust and ultimately fear, all which makes it hard to put the book down.

What a fabulous book. I instantly got into it and was totally gripped by it. Loved the characters and their stories and how they developed as the book went on. Addictive reading and highly recommended,

The Lost Notebook by Louise Douglas takes us to Morranez and the Brittany Coast. Mila's sister has dies in a tragic accident and she has to now be a mother to her niece. She is planning on enrolling her in a boarding school in Switzerland. While getting her ready, a woman is found dead. Mila just can't stop thinking about it. Even though the authorities think it is natural death, Mila has her suspicions.
I have read other works by Louise Douglas and enjoyed them much more than I did The Lost Notebook. I found this one hard to engage and hard to follow. I actually struggled to finish this one. Special thanks to NetGalley, Louise Douglas, and Boldwood Books for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest opinion. 3 stars for me.
#TheLostNotebook #NetGalley

Really enjoyed this read. Mila is in France looking after her niece after a tragic accident left her an orphan. Mila is looking forward to Ani heading off to boarding school so she can resume her life, but when an elderly woman ends up dead and a Professor is accused of other crimes, Mila is left reassessing her future.
Found it hard to put this one down.

An old woman, dies and her journal disappears. Mila, who is looking after her neice, is looking into a case at the archaeological dig, with it's possible links to the old woman and the missing notebook. As the case gets more complicated, secrets from the past are revealed. Mila and Carter race to solve it all.
Amazing novel, with such a well developed plot and great characters! Brilliant read for all mystery fans.

Louise Douglas is one of my favorite authors and this book is another 5-star read for me. I did find the ending a bit ambiguous, it didn't answer a few questions I had, so I'm hoping there's a follow-up on the horizon, because I would love to Brittany and meet all the characters again.
Louise's description of the area was fantastic and as usual, I was totally wrapped up in the main character's (Mila) life. She's in France looking after Ani, her niece, after Ani's parents were lost at sea, but hoping to go back to her life in England when Ani goes to boarding school. However, as usual, life throws a few curve balls and makes for an exciting read!

I chose to read this book because I really enjoyed two other books by the author. This basically meant I had a preconceived notion of how the book would turn out to be, and my expectations were high.
The books I had previously read were highly atmospheric, and the atmosphere permeated through a reasonably normal plotline each time. Here the plot carried the load of the narrative. I am not claiming that this is by any means an average book, but my expectations coloured my own experience.
The story begins with a nameless woman who is living in a trailer, and her life does not concern anyone else, or so one could easily assume. Our lead protagonist, Mila, is fighting off feelings of annoyance and wants to be more considerate of the role of a parent that she has been thrust into. She is fighting a mental battle and is counting down the time until her niece is sent off to boarding school, and she is free to return to her regular life.
When the nameless woman dies just a day after meeting with Mila, the latter is invested in figuring out what happened. She is working in an investigator role already and begins to use those skills to puzzle out if there's a way to find out who the woman is and if anyone did kill her.
What follows is the effort that it takes to run down clues and possibly identify the culprit. I did not see the twist coming, but everything else was slightly familiar to me since I, unfortunately, recently read an older book with a similar plot line.
There are some undercurrents of secrets regarding the death of Mila's sister, the appearance of an old flame, and other such small things which I kept hoping would take centre stage - but they never did.
I think the central mystery and its unfolding were well done, and even after my reactions to this one - I would still want to pick the next thing the author writes and recommend this to other readers of this genre.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

I found the last 2/3 of this book to be wonderful: great mystery and a surprising twist. I did have a hard time getting to the 2/3 point. I found the characters very confusing and hard to get into. The first part of this book almost seems written by someone else. Once through that part, the book really opened up and I got into the story. Thank you to Netgalley and Boldwood books for the ARC of this book with the understanding that I would leave an honest review.

Really enjoyed this read, This is the best I have read by this author, and will be reviewing it on my socials soon.

This new book for 2022 by Louise Douglas is brilliant.

As usual the story gripped me from the first page and I couldn't put it down. It's beautiful and the end is a really brilliant.
Heartbreaking, mysterious and compelling read.

I’ve been reading a lot of heavy stuff at the moment (biography of Fred and Rose West), so it was such a relief to get sucked into the latest offering from Louise Douglas. That’s not to say that The Lost Notebook is completely lighthearted. This is a drama with its own share of heavy topics. However, it is a nice slow burn which also has pockets of family, friends and community to make it a more enjoyable read.

The Lost Notebook has some wonderful characters. I especially enjoyed reading Mila and her struggle between life in France and her old life in England. However, while I did like all the characters in some way, I didn’t feel like I knew them completely. There were times where this book felt like a sequel, referring to things that happened in the past without going into too much detail.

Likewise, I enjoyed the plot line of The Lost Notebook. For the most part, it kept me guessing and there were some surprises at the end. It was just that the end didn’t feel fulfilling to me. There were a number of loose threads that could have been tidied up, and would have bumped up my enjoyment overall.

Louise Douglas, The Lost Notebook, Boldwood Books, 2022.

thank you, NetGalley, for this uncorrected proof for review.

The lost notebook belongs to an elderly woman, considered almost a vagrant, who lives in a modified horsebox in a wooded part of a coastal environment. The natural environment, with the sea as a focus, makes an important contribution to the narrative. It is a source of fear to the living characters, at the same time as suggesting a freedom that they are unable to enjoy. They are so bound up in their personal conflicts that they rarely look outwards. The characters who do appear to have lived life to the full, have drowned, leaving behind them the difficult relationships that are developed in the story. In circumstances considered suspicious by the woman telling the story, but ignored by the police, the elderly woman dies, and the notebook disappears.

Mila tells the story, the disappearance and investigating the content of the notebook taking place alongside events at an archaeological dig and her personal narrative. The relationships developing between Mila, her niece Ani, and Mila’s mother Ceci after Ani’s parents, Sophie and Charles drown, are central to the narrative. At the same time, the mystery of the notebook is unfolded. Sophie is a constant in Mila’s life, her presence being one of admonition, encouragement to think more freely, and a source of irritation as well as affection.
I found the characters and their relationships rather contrived. Mila’s constant concern with her own wishes, at the same time as claiming her affection for her niece, is perhaps, understandable. However, her actions suggest that the burden placed on her by her sister’s death, at times seen as an outcome of the intemperate way in which she lived, was her paramount concern. Weaving together legitimate concern for self, with necessary responsibility for another is not an easy task. However, Louise Douglas needed to do far more to develop Mila’s dilemma in a way that would encourage sympathy for her situation. Mila’s constant self-justification, which I found grating, contributes to the difficulty of relating sympathetically to her role in her relationship with Ani.

The story behind the notebook provides a detective plot that involves the characters in a story outside their personal relationships at times, and this is a positive feature of the novel. I would have liked less emphasis on Mila’s introspection, with the detection taking centre stage.

I thoroughly enjoyed this well-written, slow burn suspenseful story. There is a lot going on and while the main mystery is resolved, certain things are left open to interpretation. Normally that bothers me, but here is felt right.

Kind of a mystery, kind of a family drama, this ended abruptly with a lot of questions left unanswered. It was quite a slow burner too, with the mystery itself being solved rather in a rush just before the end. It was enjoyable enough, but it felt like there was a sequel to come, and there probably isn't enough material for one so I would have preferred more to be fully resolved by the end of this book.

In this story we meet Mila and her recently orphaned niece Ani. Mila is struggling to cope with the loss of her much loved stepsister Ani’s mum. She is alone in France looking after her niece and trying to come to terms with the loss.
She meets Gosia a traveller woman and when she finds her dead in her caravan, she suspects things aren’t as they initially seem. She begins to investigate and what she discovers could put both her and Ani at risk. Can she solve the mystery and keep her and her niece safe?
I did enjoy this book and at times I found it hard to put down. I had my suspicions to certain events as I was reading but never fully got the answers I was expecting. I feel like there is much more to come from this book, it Alamo’s feels like the start of a series as I was left with lots of unanswered questions so I’m hoping there is more to come soon

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read the book

As a fan of Louise Douglas’ other books, I was excited to read this one and drawn in by its description.

The mystery, suspense and intrigue builds slowly but as with Louise’s other stories, there are soon plenty of plot twists and turns to keep you reading on the edge of your seat!

With immensely likeable central characters, and a well-researched setting which provides accurate and descriptive detail as well as historical information due to the archaeological dig which takes places within the storyline, this is sure to be another best seller!

One not to be missed!

With thanks to the author, Rachel at Random Resources and Boldwood Books for the opportunity to participate in the tour.

This book started out a bit slow for me, but as it went on I was brought into the story and eagerly turned the pages. A compelling family drama involving Mila Shepherd who is in France, on the Brittany coast. She is there to help with her niece, Ani, whose parents, Sophie, and her husband, Charlie had an accident and were lost at sea.

She is also helping her mother by taking Sophie's place at the agency that they had. They handle missing person's cases. Carter Jackson, a new recruit starts at the agency. Mila is not a fan because they knew each other when they were younger and Carter was a good friend of Sophie's.

Mila goes looking for Ani one day and finds her with an old woman traveler, Gosia, and when she finds the old woman dead, she is compelled to find the woman's son Tomaz. The police think that Gosia just died but Mila is not happy with that, she intends to investigate when she finds out that Ani tells her of a book that the old woman had, it cannot be found. Inside that book are the clues as to who Gosia was and what she has written in the book may be enough to have had her murdered.

There is an archaeological dig and Professor Perry, a respected man from Cambridge. Someone is trying to ruin his reputation and Mila thinks that there is a connection between Gosia and the professor. Mila along with Carter's help decides that they need to investigate. They need to be careful or they could be the next victims.

Like I said before, it was slow going, just setting up the back story, and I soon became hooked. The descriptions of France, the scenery, and the food were enough to have me wanting more. The mystery of Gosia and who she was was very interesting. The characters were very likable and the plot was also interesting. A murder mystery, not a cozy mystery though.

I love a good mystery and this one fit right in, I even liked Ani who was surly most of the time and missed her parents tremendously. If you like a good story this is one I would recommend.

I give it 4 stars!