Author: Nina Manning
Publisher: Boldwood Books
Date Published: July 21, 2022
Be warned that this is a slow burn. I found myself checking at the halfway point when the secret that Kit has been hiding has yet to be revealed.
But if you stick with it, the book advances through some atmospheric scenes in the large and isolated mansion that Kit has won through a raffle. The house has its problems, like most old houses, but Kit also has won £20,000, which she believes will last her for a while (clearly, she has never lived in an old house!).
Although she still hasn’t quite moved all her things into Willow Cottage, she feels like it’s the perfect place to be anonymous, a place where her past won’t catch up to her. But someone knows she’s there. I cringed every time she returned home after dark. Since she still had her old flat, I kept willing her to return there.
Although it’s easy to guess several of the plot points, and Kit’s secret wasn’t the horrible thing I thought it would be, Kit is so mired in guilt and self-doubt that to her it’s the only thing she can think about. Stick through to the end of the book and the ending will be a pleasant surprise.
Thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for an advance reader’s copy.
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