Book Review: Dear Pen Pal (The Mother-Daughter Book Club, #3) by Heather Vogel Frederick

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Dear Pen Pal (The Mother-Daughter Book Club, #3)  by Heather Vogel Frederick  is the third book in a middle grade book series that is being rereleased. Chaos erupts in this third installment as the daughters in the book club get themselves into trouble. Each of the girls have big changes in their lives:  Jess is going to boarding school; Megan's grandmother comes to live with her; Emma starts a campaign against school uniforms; Cassidy has a lot of unexpected change coming to her family. Will the mother daughter book club stay together? I'd like to thank NetGalley, Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, and Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers for an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of Dear Pen Pal  by Heather Vogel Frederick with it's upcoming rerelease to the public. I always love a good book that involves books, even if its target audience is children between the ages of eight and twelve. It wasn't until I reached the end of the book that I realized that it...
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Book Review: The Lake House by Kate Morton

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Book Club Book Review of The Lake House by Kate Morton

The Lake House by Kate Morton opens in Cornwall, England in the year 1933. Sixteen year old Alice Edevane loves writing and is working on her first novel at her family's lakeside estate. The night of their midsummer's eve party, Alice's eleven month old brother, Theo, vanishes. Present day. London Detective Sadie Sparrow is visiting her grandfather in Cornwall and discovers an abandoned estate frozen in time. Wondering why the house was left to decay, Sparrow starts digging into the history of the estate, revealing secrets long forgotten.

When another member of my book club recommended The Lake House by Kate Morton, my first thought was to ask if it had anything to do with the movie starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. Thankfully, the two are completely unrelated. When I pulled up the book on Goodreads, I realized it had already been sitting on my "to be read" list.

Not your typical thriller, I had some trouble getting into the book but forced myself to continue since it was a book club pick. By the time I finished, I was glad I read it. The Lake House alternates between the present day Cornwall, England and various years of the past, mainly the year 1933. 

book club book review the lake house kate morton
Normally, switching between time periods within a book doesn't bother me, but it did with this one. It was frustrating because when it switched to the past, it didn't do it chronologically. For example, it would jump back to June 1933, then to August 1932, and so on.

Unfamiliar with Kate Morton, I was surprised to see she has written other novels. Many of her fans who reviewed The Lake House felt like it wasn't up to par with her previous novels and thought it followed a formula. I'm interested to read some of her other novels so I can compare for myself.
 
Other than being slow to start and jumping around the past too much, the novel was very well written. It reminded me of something P.D. James would write. Somewhat predictable, it kept me guessing for the most part. If you like historical fiction or mystery, it's a must read. I gave The Lake House four stars out of five.

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Location: Cornwall, UK

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