The House on Foster Hill

Outstanding Debut Novel from an Author to Watch

Kaine Prescott is no stranger to death. When her husband died two years ago, her pleas for further investigation into his suspicious death fell on deaf ears. In desperate need of a fresh start, Kaine purchases an old house sight unseen in her grandfather's Wisconsin hometown. But one look at the eerie, abandoned house immediately leaves her questioning her rash decision. And when the house's dark history comes back with a vengeance, Kaine is forced to face the terrifying realization she has nowhere left to hide.

A century earlier, the house on Foster Hill holds nothing but painful memories for Ivy Thorpe. When an unidentified woman is found dead on the property, Ivy is compelled to discover her identity. Ivy's search leads her into dangerous waters and, even as she works together with a man from her past, can she unravel the mystery before any other lives--including her own--are lost?

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368 pages

Average rating: 6.5

2 RATINGS

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1 REVIEW

Community Reviews

melbeesue
Oct 16, 2023
4/10 stars
DISCLAIMER: I'm not a fan of most Christian fiction, and I probably wouldn't have added this book to my queue had I known it belonged in that category. I read this book in one sitting, skimming for the plot nuggets to keep the story going because I did want to see how things got resolved.

I started off the book without realizing that it was indeed Christian fiction, but it didn't take me long to decipher that it was. I kept on reading, not wanting to pre-judge the book, but about 1/3 of the way into the novel, I knew I wasn't going to make it without skimming.

I recognize that some of us have LOTS of inner dialogue going on in our heads. I know I do. I too have conversations with GOD on a regular basis, but these are private relationship moments between me and GOD. I wouldn't want them shared. Others would think them cheesy or pathetic maybe, and they probably are at times, but they aren't meant for public consumption.

In my opinion, this kind of dialogue or thoughtful discourse doesn't play out well on the page or on the big screen. I'm not a fan, and this book had many of those private moments where a character was contemplating something with GOD in their struggle. It's not that I can't relate because I can. It just turns me off somehow. I read to escape, and that doesn't feel like an escape. It feels like something else.

This past-present story is about two women, each in a different century, but each discovering some of the same secrets in a house. It was a semi-good mystery with some romance thrown in, but I wouldn't recommend it because of my reasons above.

I did recognize that the character in the book and I had something in common based on the following text: "A page from the old classic by Dickens. Kaine curled her lip. She’d never liked Dickens. He took four pages to explain one setting when he only needed a paragraph." INDEED! Truer words have never been spoken, and that sums up much of my personal dislike for Charles Dickens' writing as well. I am not a fan of him either.

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