Book Review: The Dark Place by Mildred Davis

I love shopping at thrift stores. My husband and I recently moved to a new place. We purged so much furniture, we had nothing!! So off to the local thrift store we went.

Wow we found treasures!! I also scooped up some bargain books.

The Dark Place by Mildred Davis

Blurb: 

It was visitors’ day at the asylum, and a careless nurse forgot to lock the corridor door. Thus Laura escaped. She walked out with the visitors and hitched rides all day. In the evening she reached her brother.

She would have to go back, he told her. “They wouldn’t let you stay here. Remember the little girl…? That’s why we had to send you away.”

But Laura had it all planned….And so it was that the small community got new neighbors. One–her name was Beverly Urey–seemed very kind and obliging. She loved children and considered it a favor when she was allowed to babysit.

Peggy, who lived across the road, didn’t like her at all. Some of the other neighbors thought Miss Urey a bit peculiar. But they had other, more important things to think about: the body of an unidentified woman had been found in the woods.

FIVE STARS!!

Holy moly. I thought that I’d  be reading a fluffy, watered down thriller. No. Nope.

This book seriously gave me the creeps. Ms. Davis put me right into the mind of Laura and her psychosis.

It was originally published in 1955. I will definitely buy more of her titles. They may be difficult to find, but I will find them.

Do you buy books from thrift stores? Have you found treasures?

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Book Review – Notting Hill in the Snow by Jules Wake

It’s getting cold out so I think it’s a great time for a holiday story!

Title: Notting Hill in the Snow

Author: Jules Wake

 

Publisher: One More Chapter

Pub Date: October 11, 2019

Source: ARC via NetGalley

Description:

Viola Smith, plays the viola in an orchestra (yes really!), she’s bright, bubbly and enthusiastic about absolutely everything. And it’s enough to drive some people crazy…especially if they’re a grumpy widower with an eight-year-old in tow.

Nathan Williams hates Christmas, despite his small daughter’s efforts to stop him being the Grinch. But when he’s caught up in the community nativity play and meets Viola, her enthusiasm is infectious. As the snow starts to fall on Notting Hill and the bells ring out across London, Nathan might have to admit that Christmas isn’t so bad after all.

Four Stars

This was my first time reading a book by Jules Wake and it won’t be my last. If I feel I completely know the characters and the surroundings, I’m happy.

Notting Hill in the Snow. Such a beautiful location and time of year – perfect. I enjoyed the scenes involving the nativity performance at the school, Christmas shopping, selecting a tree, etc. so much fun.

The little girl, Grace is the highlight of this story. I love her. I want to take her home and keep her. So sweet, such great emotional dialog. Awesome.

Slight spoilers ahead…

Viola needed to learn when friends and family truly needed her and when they were using her. She was taken advantage of by her cousins and I’m not sure that part of the story was fully resolved. I would have liked to see an example of them changing their ways.

I had a big issue with the romance aspect of the story. We learn early on in the book that Nate is married. Again – he’s married! Not a spoiler there because, as I just said, we learn that early on in the story. (ppssst, he’s married)

Judge for yourself. I will read more by Wake. Hopefully all the romantic players will be single.

Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the review copy of this title.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

~Jenna