S U M M A R Y 

Jax loves her sister Lexie very much, but Lexie's bipolar disorder and her tendency to go off her meds has pushed Jax away - pretty much across the country away. When Lexie calls in the midst of an obvious manic episode, Jax ignores the calls - and the next day, Lexie is discovered dead, drowned in the pool of their ancestral home.

Ethel Monroe is recently married woman nearing middle age in 1929. All she wants is a baby. Her husband takes her off on a holiday to a hotel with a pool that has supposed miraculous powers of health and rejuvenation, even rumored to grant wishes. 

Before her death, Lexie was researching the history of their family and the land their home sits on, where once a hotel stood. Is it possible that she made a wish upon those waters, and paid the price? Or was it just her bipolar disorder that led to her death? Jax becomes determined to find out.

 C H A R A C T E R S 

I found them all very compelling and very real, which is always a compliment from me. They were complex, with good and bad, flaws and foibles. I especially enjoyed Ethel, even her little bits of harm that anchored her in times of stress because of its realism and how little you ever see that kind of thing. Jax is a pretty judgy character, so I didn't always like her as much, but you could see where she was coming from.

 P L O T 

Very complex swirl of things, but very well executed in my opinion. Dual timelines that cross in a poignant way by the end, I felt like it was so well balanced and yet the tension was there, climbing, pulling you ever onwards. I have to admire the tight writing and editing that must have gone into this. I particularly liked the mystical elements, which gave me faint lady-in-the-lake Arthurian vibes as well a little bit of native American lore I've heard (though I would have liked to hear more on that in this book!). I liked how this one was done better than The Invited, which had similar historical dual timelines and a mystical element - this one felt tighter than that one. And the ending! 

I only really have a couple smallish complaints, and those mostly dwell in the areas of Jax's young patient (Declan I believe?). I felt like his entire connection to things, and whatever happened to him, was left rather hanging in the wind, and that bothered me. 

 N A R R A T I O N 

Joy Osmanski and Imani Jade Powers did a fantastic job! Loved that there were two narrators. 

 O V E R A L L 

Anyone who likes a good spooky book, a good mystery, will probably like this book! I really enjoyed it, and the concept will be sticking with me for a long time, I think. I would definitely like a hard copy for my shelves, and I can't say that about all mysteries. It was all just so enthralling. 

(Can I also say? THAT COVER)