The Portals of Sparkling Falls

Laura loses her memory and ends up in a town called sparkling falls. The town has no electricity and it’s like living in the past.
I really enjoyed this book. I finished it in one day.

I absolutely loved The Portals of Sparkling Falls, it was definitely an interesting reading. The author’s writing style is fabulous and I love the plot and characters. Definitely 5 stars for me, it’s an unique book that exceeded my expectations.

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This book had the most intriguing premise, a girl goes through a portal into a parallel world, that seems to live in an ancient past or maybe magical (you do have stones that shine brightly when wet with water), its a very mysterious story, because Laura, the girl that goes through the portal suffers an accident and loses her memory, only remembering her first name…

As far as the story goes, all the twists and turns make this book worth of being read, my only low side is that I felt a bit disappointed with the dialogues, they felt to me a little too basic, but again, can be my own bias against the dialogues and you could love those. At first we learn that things take place in the year 241, Rochelle the maid of the house where she will be staying in Sparkling falls, she is also a portal traveller, but to make things weirder, she comes from the future, so the year from witch Laura comes, Rochelle was a 3 years old child, this kind of twist in the plot makes things more interesting, after many twists and turns, things come together in the end, I don’t know if we will have a second volume, but this one feels complete.

I give it 3,5 stars and will jump it to 4 stars, because the story is good and makes us continue reading and coming for more.

You do have religion in this book, but Christianity is not the main religion, but to know more that, you’ll need to read because all I can say will only spoil your trip.

Thank you NetGalley and BHC Press for the free ARC and this is my honest opinion.

A very cute book starring a teenage girl, complicated like all teenage girls, but smart, empathetic and perceptive. After making who knows what disaster and losing her memory due to a fall, Laura ends up in a time-space portal that deposits her in Sparkling Falls. The small town seems to be taken over by the past, but if so, it is not the past she knows. Even the deity the villagers worship has nothing to do with the God she knows and has disturbingly human traits. Soon Laura discovers that she is not the only one from another reality and finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy. As her memory gradually returns, she realises that someone has been playing with space-time rather casually. Pleasantly unclassifiable, this is a genuinely entertaining novel and even the final hook, which hints at a sequel, does not bother. Too bad about the cover, because it is really ugly.

Reminiscent of of an M. Night Shyamalan movie, The Portals of Sparkling Falls is an interesting concept. A young woman, Laura, hits her head and develops amnesia. In trying to figure out who exactly she is she sets off to explore the house she woke up in. She ventures down into the basement and is suddenly transported to a forest. No longer is there a snowstorm raging but instead it feels like summer. In this strange new land she finds a community who seemingly live in an entire different world. No electronics. No electricity. No cars. Simple homespun clothing and traditional gender roles is what Laura finds.

Laura is quickly taken in by the local aristocratic family and searches to find who she is and how to return to her home. Or did she even have a home and family? Small fragments of her memory return but not enough to tell her who she is or where she is from. At the same time, she’s trying to figure out exactly where, and when, she is now.

Laura attempts to get to know this strange town of Sparkling Falls and their even stranger customs. It appears that these people believe their world is only 240 years old and was created by a man named Litchfield. When a second child from the same family goes missing, Laura and her new friends will seek to understand the mysterious Sparkling Falls and its god.

I really enjoyed the vast majority of this book. I do feel it became sloppy towards the end and the emphasis on religion was a bit too much at times. It felt rushed towards the end and I found that quite frustrating. The twists throughout the book are very engaging and I initially did not see them coming at all. I’d recommend giving this book a chance.

This book definitely exceeded my expectations! I love time travel the author did such an incredible job writing this story.