Linda Watkins

Although, this would probably make a good movie, the writing was very amateurish and the story just didn't flow very well! The dialogue between the constantly quarreling husband and wife, which was the bulk of the story, and whether they would stay together or not, was incredibly shallow and immature. This was more about each of their flings on the island. This was suppose to be my choice for a suspense/thriller (#20/52) on the 2019 52-bookmark reading challenge. But, just like Ten Mile Creek, it's so stupid I can't even count it. My search continues for a real suspense/thriller novel.

Bill Anderson is the first one laid off from a lucrative software company because he was caught flirting and messing around with the bosses girlfriend. His wife, Karen, knows something was up but not sure how far things went. Bill hasn't been able to find another job in affluent California for two years now. Their house is going into foreclosure when, luckily, his lesbian Aunt Janie dies and leaves him the haunted house on Mateguas Island, once owned by an Abenaki native woman and her child. Centuries earlier, the native woman was booted off the hill and then eventally killed in the woods so that the white man could "make better use of the land" and build a home there. So, of course, the ghost of the Abenaki is looking for revenge. She cries and moans during storms until someone goes out searching to help her and they are never seen again.

Bill and Karen's twin girls, Sophie and Terri, find a hidden box with two locks on it. They are on a mission to find the keys to find out what's inside. Meanwhile, Karen is having hallucinations. She's out cutting rose bushes and blackerry bushes when suddenly she sees a well established trail in the woods just beyond. She cuts through the bushes and walks it to a beautiful pond surrounded by spring flowers. But, suddenly it all turns to swamp and the smell of rot and death. An owl attacks her and she takes off running as the trail seems to grow narrower and narrower. When she gets to the end, the bushes had already grown over the entrance to the trail, but she has to barge through the thorns because the owl is after her again. She barely makes it out. As she learns more, she discovers she's the only one who can save her family.

Meanwhile, the bulk of the story is about their relationship falling apart and each of them having affairs with an islander. He with the beautiful redhead Mag, and her with Dex, the finest and most successful fisherman on the island. Bill gets the lady pregnant on their last fling and loses it all, even his life in the end. The evil Abenaki spirit kills him in the swamp. Karen comes out the winner. Her husband is dead and she still gets the hunky Dex. He actually sells his beautiful home, his fishing boat and picks up and moves back to California with her and the two girls just days after her husbands death. So stupid.

The author sets it up at the end for part two, "Return to Metaguas Island". Maggie is pregnant with Bill's baby and has purchased the house on the hill. But, here's where I stop. The dialogue writing between persons and flow of the story is just horrible and is not worth my time.… (altro)

"The place had a distinct medieval quality to it with its four large manor houses, each strategically located on one of the primary compass points".

Storm Island (Kate Pomeroy Mystery, #1)
by Linda Watkins

Oh wow. This is one of t he craziest books I have read in awhile. It also crosses so many genres. It is listed as a mystery/thriller but just to list some of the other genres.

Gothic.

Romance

Historical

Folklore

Family Drama

Medical thriller

Paranormal

Horror

You get all that?

This was also a tough one for me to rate. Here is why:

Beginning-five

middle-two

Seriously..this book was intense.

So it starts with Kate, a Doctor witnessing a conversation she should not be hearing at the hospital where she works. A short time later, right before she is to begin surgery, she collapses. Has a complete breakdown. She is evaluated and eventually released and sent to Storm Island, to heal there.

Kate grew up on Storm Island and her memories of the place are not good. Her mother died tragically there and Kate was the one to find her. There are many secrets..she is unhappy about going back there..as well she should be because her journey and recovery there will change her life.

Storm Island has a great premise. And it is a really spooky read. As Kate goes about getting used to being there again, she is haunted by a variety of utterly bizarre happenings, including nightmares, strange noises and hallucinations.

Does someone have it in for Kate? Is she imagining all this? Or has the past returned to guide the way for the present and for the future?

There were many things I liked about Storm Island including that you do get hooked in and fly through the pages trying to figure out what is going on.

What I did not like..is that it is pretty easy to guess what is going on. I was not really surprised by the big reveal..this book is pure Gothic and if one likes.or loves..Gothic I really cannot see them not loving Storm Island. But the time spent on Kate's visions and druggings and crazy stuff happening felt far to long to me.

But I am picky about My Gothic books. What I did love..was the history and the Folklore which really does not come into the picture until more than halfway through the book. That aspect was fascinating. It is an odd book because there were things I liked so much about it but other things where I rolled my eyes a bit. And the killing off of one character left a bad taste in my mouth and prompted me to rat er t his a 3 and not a 4.

It is said this is to be a series and I intend to read the prequel if there is one because I think I just might adore it. I hope that other books in the series are less Gothic oriented and more focused on the haunting folklore. I'd even like to see a prequel that goes back to the group of women who met such an sad end so very long ago. (Nobody will understand what I just wrote unless they have read the book).

Dare I say that I disliked Kate's love interest? Alot!

So I would recommend this and would rate it a 3. It was a really different type of read.… (altro)

This book can be read on its own but it is the second book of a series and you will enjoy it more if you read book 1 first. This picks up shortly after Storm Island. Kate is in the process of setting up her free clinic on Storm Island and still seeing Jeremy. They are planning their future together. It seems she has her happy ever after. Wrong! People are still messing with her mind. Who is it this time? I'm not telling. You will have to read it to see. I thoroughly enjoyed this action packed Gothic mystery/paranormal suspense. I can't wait to read book 3. Thanks to Netgalley and the author for allowing me to read this book and review it. And thanks to the author for being so involved in dog rescue.… (altro)