Sunday 21 October 2012

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

It was with much anticipation that I took Kate Morton's latest book on holiday with me recently.

I loved The Distant Hours and I was expecting another gothic mystery. The cover looked inviting and appealing in an historical fiction kind of way.

I started the book on the plane flight expecting to be whisked away into another Daphne du Maurier style story.

It didn't quite happen that way.

I thought I was tired and distracted.

So I persevered over the next two days...until I found myself skimming paragraphs, then whole pages and finally, I skimmed my way to the end to see if I had solved the 'secret'...and I had.

I was so disappointed I nearly cried.

The story was so slight, so easy, so uncomplicated I was bored. It felt lilke Morton was going through the motions, writing to a formula that was missing the 'x' factor!

You can read the first chapter for yourself here.

Maybe I was just having a bad day. But I ended up leaving my copy of the book in the B & B we stayed at - perhaps someone else will enjoy it!

9 comments:

  1. I'm sorry you had a disappointing holiday read, I hate it when that happens. I haven't read any of Kate Morton's books yet, but have heard generally good things about her before.

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  2. Ouch! Sorry you didn't like the book but I really like the way you kvetched about it.

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    1. And I love the word kvetch - thanks for introducing it to me and making me look up it's definition!

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  3. Hi, nice to meet you. I am one of your newest members to your blog and I noticed that we share a love of historical fiction. I will be keeping up with your blog and hope you will join me at mine:

    girllostinabook.blogspot.com

    Hope to see you there. Happy reading.
    Kimberlee

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  4. It's always disappointing to be let down by a book you've been anticipating. But the fact that you were anticipating it must mean that you've like other books by Kate Morton, which I'm glad to hear since I have The House at Riverton on my shelf waiting to be read!

    P.S.- I really like the "reactions" voting boxes on your posts! I haven't seen that on any other blog.

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    1. Anyone using blogger can personalise the reaction boxes by opening up the layout tab. I'm glad you liked them!

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  5. Anonymous23/10/12

    What a shame you didn't enjoy it. I was like that with The Distant Hours - I only read half of it. I did love The Secret Keeper though!!

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  6. Anonymous24/10/12

    really? sorry you went through this. wow, I loved it so much. I thought her characters were so true to life. here is my review: http://wordsandpeace.com/2012/10/01/2012-48-review-the-secret-keeper/

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  7. Interesting comments here - The Distant Hours was the Morton book I liked more than any of the others!

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