So here is the deal. I read an excerpt from this novel that was quite lengthy. I really enjoyed the beginning that I read. Then I get the full book as an ARC. I had such a hard time, almost slogging through the middle. Well as I get into the last third of the book, I was flipping pages so fast they were blurring because I could not put it down. This was hard to rate for me, and I went with 3.5 stars.

I usually enjoy historical fiction, perhaps not as far back as this one goes but I was very intrigued with the time in history in which this story takes place. And then the fantasy hit me. So I guess you could call this historical fantasy fiction. The story takes place in three different timelines with four very distinct women across 200 years.

Gaelle is our modern day, struggling, refugee, that is working in a senior center. She forms a relationship with a very old Jane Doe.
In the 1850's we have Margot, who is a house slave on the run with her sister. She loses her sister along the way, and struggles to come to terms with her new position in life.

Abagail is a married slave in late 1700's Haiti and she is sold away from her family to a house in New Orleans. It is there she meets Simone and Josiah who are spiritual beings and help her understand who she really is.

Mother Abagail creates a place called Remembrance and takes in all sorts of lost souls and slaves on the run. One of these souls is Winter, who also has her own special gifts and Abagail raises her as her own. This place is separate and hidden and provides a sense of community and belonging for those that reside there. It is a safe place that cannot be found, until the barriers begin to crumble and the safe world begins to crumble too.

The four women’s lives connect in many ways and challenge our concepts of time and space. The writing is wonderful and creates imagery so vivid and detailed you feel as though you are there. The empathy I felt especially toward the end of the novel is so deep. I felt connected to their world. All the marks of excellent writing.

My frustrations lie with waiting for all these pieces to fall together took longer than I imagined. I was getting frustrated with not understanding how these stories would connect, which is why I felt as though the middle was dragging on and just not getting there for me. I still enjoyed the story on a whole and thought the characters were written well, it was a timing issue for me.

Thank you to the publishers and author for allowing me to read and review. This book will be published on January 21, 2020 by Forge Books.

Every once in a while a book comes along that will blow me away. It will blow away all preconceived notions. It will blow away all the hype that surrounds it. It will be a book that stays with me for the rest of my life. It will be a book that makes me rearrange not only my top 10 list but also my way of thinking.

This is by far the best book I have read in several years. There are no words to explain how much this book affected me. I will try to make you understand. I was sitting in a bar sipping on a glass of wine while reading this book. There was a point where I had tears in my eyes. Lydia and Luca were having a struggle and someone asked me if I was ok. I looked up at them with tears in my eyes and could not convey how in the moment I was. I was with these 2 characters as they were wondering where the next meal was coming from, when their feet hurt so much from walking, when they hadn't even had a moment to grieve their absolute loss of everything they knew. I couldn't just tell this person, I was fine, because I wasn't. And I couldn't tell this person that it was ok, I was just reading a book, because I wasn't JUST reading a book. I was living this book.

When I closed this book for the last time, I knew I had been changed. I know that sounds crazy, but I truly feel like I am a lucky person that I had the chance to read this book. I feel blessed that I got to live this story. I know that I will tell every single person I know that reads, about this book and how much it has meant to me.

This book comes out in January. I beg you to preorder now, read this book, live with Lydia and Luca, escape with them, feel their anguish, want to take care of Rachel and Soleidad, and I can't even speak of Beto right now. Live this book, not just read it, live it, and then tell everyone you know. I am glad that this story has been told. I am glad that I read this book. I feel like I am changed for the better, having read it.

Thank you so much to the publishers and the author for bringing this book to reader and for letting me be one of the first to get my hands on it and review it. My sincere gratitude is given.

This book kept me guessing until the big reveal. Everyone seems to have a motive yet who did it?
When Aldrich's University's emails are hacked and exposed for everyone to read, lives are changed. Kit Manning's husband is murdered, perhaps based on what was in his email ( hint-it wasn't good stuff). But with all the players who had reasons to hate Dr. Greg Strasser, who actually committed the crime?
This novel is told from multiple first person female narrators: Kit, Lynn, Raina, Laura and Willa. Kit is the murder victim's wife, Lynn is Kit's coworker, Raina is a friend of Kit's daughter, Laura works with the good doctor, and Willa is Kit's sister. I kept going back and forth about what really happened while reading. Lots of reveals, lots of frustrations with red herrings, and overall a very satisfying ending for me. I really enjoyed reading this. I thought it was very well played and the ending really got me.