{Book Review} The House on Foster Hill by Jaime Jo Wright

Title: The House on Foster Hill

Author: Jamie Jo Wright

Genre: Suspense, Mystery, Historical, Christian

Published: November 21st, 2017

Author Links: Goodreads / Website / Facebook

Purchase Links: Goodreads / Amazon / B&N

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?

MY REVIEW

  As a fan of suspense novels, the description of The House on Foster Hill immediately captured my attention. I wasn't sure what to expect from this new to me author, but I got so much more than I anticipated out of this book. 

  The House on Foster Hill is a suspenseful mystery told in parallel time lines from Ivy's point of view back in 1906 when the murder occurred and Kaine's point of view decades later after moving into the house where the girl was found. The book starts off mysterious with it's spooky tones and a case of an unidentified girl found dead. While there are some "spook" filled passages, the author doesn't sensationalize them, preferring to focus on the mystery behind the house instead. The book itself is riveting and keeps you wanting to read page after page without putting it down. 

  The main characters, Kaine and Ivy have their own stories and their own opinions on what happened to the girl found murdered in a tree at Foster Hill House. Past meets present in this book and both Kaine and Ivy's stories draw you in to their worlds. You can picture yourself there with them, be it 1906 or in the present. 

   Both Ivy and Kaine are different, but so alike at the same time. Ivy, the great-great grandmother of Kaine is strong, unconventional and bold. She stands up for herself and for those who stories have ended too soon. While the townsfolk find Ivy weird, I find her caring and sympathetic. Kaine on the other hand is a woman who has been hurt. She knows the heartbreak of losing loved ones and is in need of a fresh start, which is how she winds up purchasing Foster Hill House. Kaine, despite the pain of her past, is still strong in the face of everything she is going through and how dangerous it really could be. At times, I had trouble relating to Kaine as well as I did to Ivy, but I still enjoyed her character. I found myself questioning a few of the things she did in regards to her stalker, but I liked that even decades after the murder of 'Gabrielle', she was still passionate about finding out what happened to her. 

     Wright is a new to me author, but she kept me engaged in the storyline and what was happening in both the past and the present. What I did find surprising throughout the book is that there is Christian undertones. I wasn't expecting it in a book such as this since you don't find many books that blend thrillers with God, but Wright managed to do it easily. If you like a good and twisty mystery, I highly recommend The House on Foster Hill.

 AND COMING SOON

The Reckoning at Gossamer Pond

Release Date: July 3, 2018

Bethany House Publishers

For over a century, the town of Gossamer Grove has thrived on its charm and midwestern values, but Annalise Forsythe knows painful secrets, including her own, hover just beneath  the pleasant faade. When a man is found dead in his run-down trailer home, Annalise inherits the trailer, along with the pictures, vintage obituaries, and old revival posters covering its walls. As she sorts through the collection, she's wholly unprepared for the ramifications of the dark and deadly secrets she'll uncover. 

A century earlier, Gossamer Grove has been stirred into chaos by the arrival of controversial and charismatic twin revivalists. The chaos takes a murderous turn when Libby Sheffield, working at her father's newspaper, receives an obituary for a reputable church deacon hours before his death. As she works with the deacon's son to unravel the mystery behind the crime, it becomes undeniably clear that a reckoning has come to town -- but it isn't until another obituary arrives that they realize the truth depths of the danger they've waded into.

Two women, separated by a hundred years, must uncover the secrets within the borders of their own town before it's too late and they lose their future -- or their very souls.