** My thanks to Anne Cater and Lake Union Publishing for my copy of this book and for inviting me to be part of the blog tour **
Description:
Munro House is the new start Stella needs. But it will also draw her back to a dark past…
Devastated by a broken engagement, Stella Jackson leaves her old life behind for a new start in rural Scotland. But when she arrives in the remote coastal village of Arisaig, nothing is what she expected.
At the edge of Arisaig sits Munro House; grand, imposing and said to be cursed by a string of tragic deaths. No less intriguing is its eccentric and handsome young owner, Jamie Munro, who hires Stella as his assistant while he pursues a seemingly impossible aim. Working through the great house’s archives, Stella soon finds herself drawn in by a cache of increasingly erratic letters from a young Victorian woman about her husband, Dr James Lockhart, a man whose single-minded ambition has strange parallels with Jamie’s.
Just as Stella begins developing feelings for Jamie, she discovers that the connection between the Lockharts and the Munros could have sinister repercussions for them both. She’s finally found the life she wants to live—but is it all an illusion?
My Thoughts & Review:
Beneath The Water was a book that jumped out at me when I read the burb, perhaps it was the promise of mystery set in the Victoria era…I’ve been on a historical fiction hunt recently.
The parallel timelines of the plot run alongside each other, although there are several chapters where the modern day thread of the plot is the only one being narrated. The action from the Victorian era comes in the form of letters between a newly married young woman and someone she holds very dear, her sister. Jessie Lockhart regales her sister with snippets from her early days as a married woman, asking advice and generally asking after family back home. Initially I did wonder how this would tie into Stella’s tale and what connection it all had with the big house in Arisaig.
Stella’s story was one of heartbreak and rebuilding, leaving life behind her in tatters she heads north to the highland village to visit friends from her university days. Determined to clear her head and get over the trauma of a breakup she quickly falls in love with the picturesque village. The details about the setting were superb, readers could conjure such clear images of the village and the local pub, the local shop and the big house. The details about the Scottish weather were very authentic (yep, I’ve been up that way and can confirm that the weather can be as unruly and harsh!).
I found it hard to connect with Stella at times, granted the more I read about her the clearer my understanding of her thinking became. She does develop throughout the book, growing in confidence and trusting her own instincts but I couldn’t help feeling that she was sometimes using excuses too often. Whilst she wasn’t my favourite character, she did make me think and wonder how I would react in her situation. The same could be said for another prominent character, Jamie Munro was another character that I wasn’t entirely sure of. His mannerisms and attitude were not the most endearing and at times I really disliked him but the author has a great way opening a character up and revealing things that change your thinking.
I would have loved to read more of the Victorian story, it almost fascinating me more than the mystery and intrigue of the modern day plot.
Overall an enjoyable read, well written and well thought out.
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