Summer Reading #17

Evergreen Falls by Kimberley Freeman

This one came in my Roaring 20's Lit Cube. It's a mystery, but only from the present day parts.

Lauren is thirty years old. She has been overly sheltered her whole life because for most of her life, her brother was terminally ill. Her mother was too overprotective, so Lauren was not given much of a chance to live her life. She has recently gotten out from under her mother's thumb, even though Mom calls a million times a day, and moved to Evergreen Falls, home of an opulent hotel and spa. The hotel is being re-done, and one night, Lauren finds long lost love letters in the part of the hotel that is still closed off. She tells Tomas, the guy she is seeing, about it, and he provides her with a key so she can figure out who sent the letters, and who received them.

In the 1926 sections of the book, our protagonist is Violet, an almost twenty year old girl who moves from Sydney to the falls to become an employee of the hotel. While working there, she falls in love with one of the wealthy hotel guests, Sam, who is an opium addict. We also meet Sam's sister, Flora, who is at the hotel with her fiance and his goons because she is supposed to be making Sam well again. There is also a young man named Clive, who helped Violet get the job at the hotel and is in love with Violet, even though the feelings aren't returned.

There's an interesting love triangle and a mystery, and it took nearly the whole book to figure out exactly how the two stories fit together. I mean, obviously, the mystery Lauren is trying to solve revolves around Violet, Sam, Flora, and Clive, but it is not until the end that the pieces come together and make sense.

This got off to a slow start, but picked up around the halfway point. Definitely one I would recommend.