Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Arcadia Falls by Carol Goodman

Copyright: 2010
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Genre: Fiction
Pages: audio
Author's Website
My rating: 2.5/5

Simple Description: 
Meg Rosenthal and her daughter Sally are headed to Arcadia Falls.  Meg is a recent widow and due to some financial issues she is forced to take a job.  She feels lucky to find a job teaching at this school because housing is provided and she is working on a thesis for her PH D and the individuals she is researching formed this school.

This school has a strong focus on the arts but of course teaches the normal high school subjects as well.  Meg is doing a thesis on Lily Eberhardt and Vera Beecher. Lily and Vera were lovers back when this was not as common.  While Lily's death in 1947 was ruled an accident, there seems to be more to it.  Meg finds a journal that Lily left behind and this opens up even more questions and surprises.  When a student goes missing and is found dead in the same raven that Lily was, things get even more mysteries.

Meg not only deals with the new mysteries she is find, but also deals with the loss of a husband and a teenager daughter who seems to be pushing her away.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts: 
Unfortunately this is another book that I found to be ok bordering on good.  The book definitely got better towards the end, but it took me awhile to really get into it.  Once the mystery aspect of the book was revealed and more details about Vera and Lily's life were given I started to take more of an interest in it, but before then I could take it or leave it.   I don't want to give you too much info because I don't want to give anything away though.   Let's just say that when I thought the book was over, it wasn't, there were more surprises in store for me.   I not really sure what makes me say this book was just ok bordering on good, I can't put my finger on it.  I've heard really good things for this one though and I still think it's a good read, I just wouldn't rush out to read it.

I did listen to the audio version of this book and the narrator was Jen Taylor.  She did a good job for the most part but some of the voices she used rubbed me the wrong way and I didn't like.  This could be what kept me from enjoying the book more too, now that I think about it.

This audio book was rented from my local library.

3 comments:

Literary Feline said...

I have to say, I love the cover of this one. I'm sorry it wasn't better for you. I've been finding that a lot of books I pick up lately are getting off to a slow start--some turn out to be really good and others not so much.

I haven't had any real experience with audio books, but I imagine the narrator can make a world of difference.

Beth F said...

Very interesting. I listened to this one too and liked it enough that I want to read more of her work. I agree that it isn't going to make my top 10 list, but I did like it.

Unknown said...

Literary Feline - I was going through a period like that too..where books were slow to start, perhaps that had more to do with me than this book? I don't know....

Beth F - I did like it, just not as much as I thought I would, which just leaves me a bit disappoint in it. Not sure why either. lol