7.5.12

Book Review: The House on Willow Street by Cathy Kelly

Tess lives in the idyllic coastal village, Avalon, with her teenage son Zach and nine-year-old Kitty and works in the local antique shop. Her only regret in life is that everything went so horribly wrong with her first love. Then her marriage falls apart and her first love returns to Avalon.
Suki, Tess's sister, fled Ireland years ago to marry politician Kyle Richardon, but when Suki discovers that a biographer is planning to tell all, there is only once place she can go to ensure her secrets stay hidden.
Danae is the village post mistress and she's worked very hard to make sure that nobody knows where she came from or who she is... Her past is her business and that's the way she would like to keep it.
In Galway, Mara sits with a smile glued to her face at a wedding. She only wants to ask the groom one thing: why did he tell her he loved her? Needing to put her past behind her, Mara picks up her life and gets ready for a fresh start.
Can these four women lay their pasts to rest? Or do they need to look back before they can begin to live for the future?
The House on Willow Street is the first book by Cathy Kelly that I have read and I have slightly mixed feelings about it. I really liked the sound of the blurb on the back but the book didn't quite do it for me. I liked the characters that Cathy Kelly created, especially Mara but I felt that some parts of the book dragged a little. I kept on reading as I was intrigued as to the secrets these women held and how they were connected but the ending was not really what I expected.
Cathy Kelly has a huge following and is often compared to Maeve Binchy so I would imaging that The House on Willow Street would appeal to those who have read and enjoyed her books in the past. I have Once in a Lifetime in my TBR pile so I think I will give that a go soon. If you can recommend any of Cathy Kelly's other books then let me know.

Dot Scribbles Rating 3.5/5


Many thanks to Harper Collins for sending me a copy of the book to review.

1 comment:

verity said...

I quite like Cathy Kelly and would agree she's like Maeve Binchy. Unforutnately she's the sort of author where the titles just merge together so I can't recommend anything specific, but when you need that sort of book she's good to pick up. Didn't realise she had a new one out! I always find out that sort of thing from you :)

All change here!

I have made the decision to stop doing written reviews on here for a little while. I shall keep this page open but for the time being I sha...