There aren't many books I've read that have captured a mother's grief over losing her child quite like The Gates of Evangeline has. Hester Young's portrayal of Charlie Cates, a mother who lost her young son unexpectedly, is chillingly accurate. My heart went out to Charlie, I cried with her, was haunted by her "what if's", struggled with her to remember the last thing she said to her son the last time she saw him alive.

Through Charlie's grief, she sees children in her dreams. These kids are in trouble and need her help. Charlie thinks the only way to stop the dreams is to help these kids and crack a 30 year old unsolved mystery of the disappearance of 3 year old Gabriel Deveau. This is where the book gets creepy good and unputdownable.

I wish I could say more about the book but I don't give spoilers. I really loved The Gates of Evangeline, a creepily spectacular debut novel by Hester Young and I look forward to the rest of the trilogy.

For more of my review, visit my blog at Mom's Small Victories

Interesting and surprising, but not as good as the third book in the series

This book was entertaining if a tad predictable. Wasn’t hard to figure out where it all was going early on. And it’s clearly written by a straight white woman trying to be woke about race and queerness. In some ways, she gets it right, but in others she just doesn’t.

Not bad, though. A quick, easy, entertaining read.

I really really didn't like this book. Looking at the author's bio, it seems she's lived everywhere but the American South, which would explain why she chose to rely so much on stereotypes and cliches.

Oh my, what a book! I actually figured out part of the mystery way before it's told in the book (which never happens to me so it was pretty exciting). I blew right through the last half of the book. Great mystery story with a bit of romance and scandal.

You can see all of my reviews on www.itsbooktalk.com

The beginning of the story was, for me, a pretty slow burn set up of the rest of the book, but that's not a negative at all as I found it quite interesting. We meet Charlie who's struggling to put her life back together following the sudden death of her young son. I really felt for her and thought the author did a great job weaving in the details of Charlie's day to day fight to keep putting one foot in front of the other. I felt a connection with her character fairly quickly which is so important to me if I'm going to stay engaged with a story and want to keep turning the pages. Soon, Charlie begins having dreams, very particular ones, that involve children. These dreams eventually lead her to Louisiana where the plot really takes off.

The remainder of the novel centers on a sprawling mystery that had its beginnings 30 years ago when 3 year old Gabriel Deveau vanished without a trace from his locked bedroom in the Evangeline estate. There are so many threads to this mystery, several key players who may or may not be involved but all of whom have a stake in the outcome in one way or another. I have to say, the setting of a gothic southern estate in the swampy town of Evangeline was perfect and contributed to the claustrophobic feel of the story.

Needless to say, Charlie becomes entangled in the story of Gabriel's disappearance (among other things) and along the way finds herself questioning if she can trust the alliances she has made. Through the peeling back of the layers of this mystery we get to know Charlie better and while, on the one hand, I really liked her and felt she was there for the right reasons, there were also many times her character came across as very judgmental of southern people. Some of the off handed comments she made about townspeople and Noah were patronizing and made her seem as if she thought she was better than them. This bothered me because it didn't seem to be congruent with what we knew of her character before she went to Louisiana.

Other than the character inconsistency, I have to say I really enjoyed this book. I love that the author told the story in a linear format. There was no jumping back and forth of timeframes or narrators and I'm finding that I really prefer this method of storytelling. In my opinion, it keeps the story flowing which keeps the pace quick. I was also completely on board with the use of premonitions as well as the web like mystery that kept me guessing until the final pages. Just when I thought I had it figured out, the author dropped a bomb or added another detail which caused me to constantly change my mind...I LOVE it when that happens! If you like well plotted mysteries with a little something different thrown in, I would highly recommend grabbing a copy of this book. The second book in the series, The Shimmering Road, was just published Feb 9 and it's at the top of my TBR so the good news is..there's more to come.

I honestly did not expect this one to grip me as it did. It reminded me of a true-crime tv show, or a drama movie, I needed to keep going so I could find out what would happen next. I highly recommend this one!

While the mystery element kept me turning the pages at a blinding pace, I could have done without the romance. Gabriel's disappearance was more than enough to hold my interest and the romance that springs between Charlie and the gardener felt hurried and tacked on. Love story aside, however, I was thoroughly enchanted by The Gates of Evangeline. This Southern Gothic mystery reads like a true crime novel and had me guessing until the very end (and I feel I owe an apology to certain completely innocent characters I had initially pegged as being guilty!) Though the ending left me wanting - it's a little too sitcomy for my tastes, especially with the rest of the novel being somewhat gritty - I enjoyed this one immensely and eagerly await the next installment!

For the full review and more, head over to The Pretty Good Gatsby!

You can see all of my reviews on www.itsbooktalk.com

The beginning of the story was, for me, a pretty slow burn set up of the rest of the book, but that's not a negative at all as I found it quite interesting. We meet Charlie who's struggling to put her life back together following the sudden death of her young son. I really felt for her and thought the author did a great job weaving in the details of Charlie's day to day fight to keep putting one foot in front of the other. I felt a connection with her character fairly quickly which is so important to me if I'm going to stay engaged with a story and want to keep turning the pages. Soon, Charlie begins having dreams, very particular ones, that involve children. These dreams eventually lead her to Louisiana where the plot really takes off.

The remainder of the novel centers on a sprawling mystery that had its beginnings 30 years ago when 3 year old Gabriel Deveau vanished without a trace from his locked bedroom in the Evangeline estate. There are so many threads to this mystery, several key players who may or may not be involved but all of whom have a stake in the outcome in one way or another. I have to say, the setting of a gothic southern estate in the swampy town of Evangeline was perfect and contributed to the claustrophobic feel of the story.

Needless to say, Charlie becomes entangled in the story of Gabriel's disappearance (among other things) and along the way finds herself questioning if she can trust the alliances she has made. Through the peeling back of the layers of this mystery we get to know Charlie better and while, on the one hand, I really liked her and felt she was there for the right reasons, there were also many times her character came across as very judgmental of southern people. Some of the off handed comments she made about townspeople and Noah were patronizing and made her seem as if she thought she was better than them. This bothered me because it didn't seem to be congruent with what we knew of her character before she went to Louisiana.

Other than the character inconsistency, I have to say I really enjoyed this book. I love that the author told the story in a linear format. There was no jumping back and forth of timeframes or narrators and I'm finding that I really prefer this method of storytelling. In my opinion, it keeps the story flowing which keeps the pace quick. I was also completely on board with the use of premonitions as well as the web like mystery that kept me guessing until the final pages. Just when I thought I had it figured out, the author dropped a bomb or added another detail which caused me to constantly change my mind...I LOVE it when that happens! If you like well plotted mysteries with a little something different thrown in, I would highly recommend grabbing a copy of this book. The second book in the series, The Shimmering Road, was just published Feb 9 and it's at the top of my TBR so the good news is..there's more to come.

Gothic mystery/crime with strong romance element, good atmosphere and I'm disgusted with myself that I didn't work out the plot before the revealing scenes! :-)