Title: The Gates of Evangeline
Author: Hester Young
Published: September 1, 2015 by G.P. Putnam's Sons
Pages: 416
Source: Publisher via She Reads book club
Rating: 4/5
Goodreads
When New York journalist and recently bereaved mother Charlotte “Charlie” Cates begins to experience vivid dreams about children she’s sure that she’s lost her mind. Yet these are not the nightmares of a grieving parent, she soon realizes. They are messages and warnings that will help Charlie and the children she sees, if only she can make sense of them.
After a little boy in a boat appears in Charlie’s dreams asking for her help, Charlie finds herself entangled in a thirty-year-old missing-child case that has never ceased to haunt Louisiana’s prestigious Deveau family. Armed with an invitation to Evangeline, the family’s sprawling estate, Charlie heads south, where new friendships and an unlikely romance bring healing. But as she uncovers long-buried secrets of love, money, betrayal, and murder, the facts begin to implicate those she most wants to trust—and her visions reveal an evil closer than she could’ve imagined.
My review:
Color me surprised that I liked this book! This book is my example of how the book blogging world has opened my eyes to appreciate books that I never would have picked up before. This book is considered to be a "gothic mystery", and when I read that there were paranormal visions involved, I filed it under "not my type of book". Then I started reading reviews from bloggers who I trusted, who had led me to lots of great reads, and then this book was picked as one of the She Reads blog network books of winter. Ok, I caved and picked it up. And just like Mikey (in the Life cereal commercials of old), I liked it, I really liked it! It's filled with a little bit of everything. There are the dream visions that the main character sees (truth be told, I still didn't like this part, but I understand how it fits into the story, and it wasn't a huge part of the book, so I'm letting it go). There was a wonderful old Southern manor, and the whole southern culture of the elite and old established families. There was the mystery of what happened to the Deveau baby thirty years ago. There was the great family interactions, especially those with the dying matriarch. There was romance, although that was tempered with deep distrust, which made it all the more interesting. Dead bodies, cover-ups, a mother grieving for her dead son, family secrets, police work, all come together to build a page turner of a novel. The writing was superb, there are plot twists and turns along the way, and best of all this is the first in a trilogy (which I did not know until doing a bit more research about the book).
If you are like me, this will not necessarily be something you would pick up without a recommendation. Consider this your recommendation, I'm looking forward to seeing what Ms. Young comes up with next.
I am like you in that books I never would have looked at twice I now read thanks to reading book blogs and learning to trust those bloggers. I am not sure if I will get to this one but if I do it may be on audio. Happy to hear you were hooked!
It was a surprise like for me. I bet it will be good on audio.
I hear you on the paranormal visions - those are usually a turn-off for me too!! But, they worked in this case and I enjoyed this book as well! Did you hear it's the first in a series? I'm not sure how I feel about that or whether I'll read the others (especially now that I heard the next one is not set in the South)...I'm not sure where the story goes from here.
I did not realize that it is to be a series until a couple weeks ago. I will likely give it a shot as long as the supernatural element does not become more of a focus.