It flits between two time periods, when Helena and Anastasia were teenagers and the present time when Helena is forced to return home in order to be there for her father. It was a great way to tell the story as we got some mysterious sightings of a woman only Helena seems to notice and being badgered by a neighbour about doing ‘the right thing’ by a neighbour, but also we get to see Helena’s step-mother’s point of view and how she found Helena’s reappearance in their lives, especially while trying to do whats best health wise for her husband, which at times is contradicted by Helena. Interwoven with tales of Helena’s childhood and teenage years, where fuelled by her friendship with Anastasia, she is open and cheerful, but equally had complications in their friendship when it comes to boys and other such things I’m sure we can all relate to on some level when we were that age. Helena as a teenager was a contrast to modern day Helena who is closed and guarded.
As mentioned, we often hear from Helena’s step-mother Kate, which was some of my favourite parts of the book. She seemed to truly care for Helena, something that wasn’t quite reciprocated, though Kate can be a tad prickly at times. However what stood out was Kate’s disapproval of Anastasia and her bad influence over Helena. Don’t get me wrong, they weren’t the worst teenagers by a long shot, but there was something about Anastasia that Kate wasn’t too keen on, and seemed to be sure it was effecting Helena’s behaviour.
Helena wasn’t a very warm person. Likeable enough, but as she was still upset about Anastasia, combine that with her guarded personality, it meant I wasn’t really able to get to know her as a person when she was an adult. When a teenager, as I said she was cheerful enough, but also incredibly jealous. I know she didn’t like Magnus but I think it could have been anyone and she would have felt the same amount of hatred. No one is perfect, but it was bordering on obsession.
The book overall was intriguing as you are drip fed information about the past. What I didn’t expect though was the end. I had to go back and read it again several times just to make sure what happened really did happen and I wasn’t imagining it myself. A great end to a book that could have played it safe, but chose not to, and is all the better for it.
Published by: Nightingale Editions
Gratefully received from the Publisher for review
Released 3rd October 2016
View Book on Goodreads
Order on: Amazon UK | Amazon US
Make sure you check out the other bloggers on this tour (Click to see the picture bigger), and thanks to Nightingale for inviting me to take part!
