unnecessary baggage

The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare by Kimberly Brock

Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: historical fiction

Review: If this book had just stuck to the story of Alice, and her daughter, Penn, it would have been much stronger.  Instead, Brock chose to make it more convoluted by throwing in their family history: they are descended from Eleanor Dare, the only survivor of the lost colony of Roanoake.  And supposedly, Eleanor left behind a book that has been passed down through all the generations of female Dare descendents since 1585 through to 1945, when the book takes place.  Or maybe the book was just the invention of Eleanor's mother?  And there's a stone that she carved soemthing on, that was lost, but then found, but then lost again?  This is where a started to get bogged down, and ultimately, I found that I just didn't care enough about this part of the story.

I liked Penn and Alice as characters, though, and was interested enough to want to know what happened to them.  Did Alice ever come to terms with her mother's mental illness and death?  Was Penn able to get a fresh start and make friends?  Were they able to come to terms with each other in the wake of Penn's father's death?  There's more than enough there for a good story without the intrigue.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.