Wendy Webb

"After the end of her marriage, Kate Granger retreated to her parents' home on Lake Superior to pull herself together--only to discover the body of a murdered woman washed into the shallows. As the drowned woman reaches out from the grave, Kate reaches back, coming together, if only in dreams, to right the sinister wrongs of the past"--

Daughters of the Lake

Melea Mullican

Where to start with this one. The concept of this story intrigued me. Kate has just gone through something traumatic. Her husband cheated on her, and now she is getting a divorce. To top it all off, she has been having these strange dreams of a woman who mysteriously washes up on the shore of Lake Superior just down from where she is. To escape it all, Kate goes to stay at the B&B owned by her family. Things keep happening that Kate can't explain, and she knows she has to get to the bottom of the woman's murder. 

I really enjoyed the prose of this story. It was deliciously Fall, and full of mystery and intrigue from the very beginning. The story flips back and forth between Kate in present day, and Addie in the 1900s. We learn the story simultaneously between these flashbacks, what Kate sees in her dreams, and what she discovers along the way. I liked this back and forth way of telling the story because you get a lot more background information.

Where this story went off for me was toward the end. I found the entirety a little slow, but it was well written, so I was able to look over that. Unfortunately, there were a lot of holes and things that seemed rushed to make sense after this drawn out build up. I won't give specifics because I do not want to spoil it, but the why of Kate having dreams just seemed too "convenient," and quickly wrapped up. There were other little things that got under my skin because they seemed to be there just to fit the narrative at the end and not really because it made sense character wise. (view spoiler)[ There was no real reason behind Jess cheating on Addie. Especially when she spends all this time building up how much they love each other, and how much they were meant to be. It seemed to be there just to throw more onto him as the killer.  (hide spoiler)] 

Overall, the plot was intriguing and the atmosphere perfect for this time of year. I enjoyed the book, but it did not blow me away. I recommend this book if you are looking for a little mystery with a lot of atmosphere.

Daughters of the Lake

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