Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen

Back in January 2014, I had a glimpse of a prequel short-story, Waking Kate, that Ms Allen had put up for fan of hers. It was enjoyable to get a feel of her upcoming Lost Lake and I was so excited that I grabbed this book days after its launch.

Lost Lake tells us the story after Kate's husband had passed away and how she decided to visit Lost Lake, a place where she held her childhood memories, to get away from her mother-in-law. In this place, she met up with her Aunt Eby and a boy, Wes,  who she almost lost her first kiss to. The sparks between them flew almost immediately after reuniting with each other. When Kate realised that Aunt Eby was going to give up Lost Lake to Wes's uncle as she could no longer upkeep this place and was hoping to return to Paris to relief her memory of her dead husband, Kate decided that she wanted to save this place. For herself and for her daughter, Devin. However, her mother-in-law had better ideas of how she wanted to make us of Kate for own her political benefits so things are definitely not going as smoothly as Kate hoped.

With her aggressive mother-in-law, a man she loved but with a dark secret and her daughter who kept talking about a mysterious alligator, how was she going to save Lost Lake and bring it back to how it was to be when she had first visited.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and it was a pretty good read but I was very disappointed in it. Unlike other books by Ms Allen, the magical feel is just not in this book. Ghost and Alligator does't impress me nor spoke out to me. I had a hard time trying to blend the alligator into the story. What's worse was just days after finishing this book, I almost couldn't remember the characters in it.

For a book that was listed under the magical realism genre, this book definitely did not contains any magic in it. As I knew that Ms Allen is in remission of her cancer and this is her first release since her illness, I am hoping that this is just a book to get her back into writing. Although I have to say that this is my least favourite of her book (Oh yes, I have read every single book of hers and I loved almost everyone of them), I am still looking forward to her future work.

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

I have been a fan of Sarah Addison Allen since I first picked up The Peach Keeper (I need to put up a review of this soon! I still can remember the story even after 1 year!). Garden Spells is the debut novel of Sarah Addison Allen and after I have read it, I can really tell that her writing had improved over the years. The sentences in Garden Spells wasn't as smooth as it was in The Girl Who Chased The Moon and The Peach Keeper. Nevertheless, the story is great and I loved the magic in it.

In this book, we have Claire and Sydney who are half-sisters with two different personality. Both of them had magic in them to change someone else's day. Claire could cook up magical dishes with the herbs and flowers she grew in her garden and Sydney could do wonder to people's hair with her magical touch. Both of them found love after going through tough time trying to get over what it is to be a Waverley.

My favorite character in this book would have to be Bay and Evanelle. Bay for her matured character despite her young age and how she hope for peace and harmony to come. I loved her interaction with The Apple Tree. The tree is so lively and although Claire and Sydney did not like it, I found that the tree was actually protecting them. Those moments where the tree wanted to be a part of their family is just so funny. Evanelle gifts of gifting the right thing to someone which they would need it was great. I would have loved to have someone like her as my friend or relative. This would helped in many situation where I was forgetful and didn't prepare something in advance.

My only complain about this novel is that I couldn't really understand to how the Emma/Hunter John and Fred story contribute to the main storyline. They did not directly affect nor change the story at all. Even without their part in this book, the main plot wouldn't have been affected at all, so I felt that it was a waste to include their story. I would rather read more about Claire and Sydney without the somehow-seems-to-be-quick ending.

This is definitely not my favorite book by Sarah Addison Allen but I would be looking forward to reading her new releases in future.

Waking Kate by Sarah Addison Allen

I was really excited when I found Sarah Addison Allen's new short story, Waking Kate, free on Amazon and B&N! I have been a fan of hers since I first read The Peach Keeper.

Waking Kate is a short prequel to the upcoming Lost Lake (expected publication: 21 Jan 2014). It is only 38 pages long but it will filled you with emotion by the end of it.

Honestly, this book is pretty hard to rate for me as the book started slow and you won't know what you will be expecting. However, by the middle of it, you will be captivated by Mr Reginald Donbeet's love story. I was caught by surprised on how Ms Allen managed to make that one sided love so touching.

The end made me wondered if the encounter with Mr Reginald was real or did Kate dreamt about it? The last sentence of this book made me wanna screamed out loud. Why can't the story be longer! I want to know if that's what Kate would have done instead of just pondering about it.

Now, let me put in some quotes that I like in this book:

“It’s hubris to think you’re the only person who can make another happy. Some people simply have the ability to make it seem like they need you. All they really want is the attention.”
Excerpt From: Sarah Addison Allen. “Waking Kate.”

“There’s no pain in the world like loving someone who doesn’t love you in return. But it disappears, almost like it wasn’t there at all, the moment you find the person you were really meant to be with.”
Excerpt From: Sarah Addison Allen. “Waking Kate.”

One thing that stayed on my mind all day after I have read this book is butter coffee. I ended up googling on it and found lots of recipes on it! I might try it one day. LOL!

There is a chapter of Lost Lake included in this book but I didn't read it as I didn't want to start something which I couldn't finish. I knew how Ms Allen would have my attention just with one chapter. I can't wait to read Lost Lake in Jan 2014!

Lost Lake Review is now up!