Cover Image: The Memory House

The Memory House

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Member Reviews

I have read this book maybe three or four times. I have cried sad tears and happy tears. I enjoyed this book’s storyline and it’s weaving back and forth between two women—Everleigh and Beck. I can relate to the sadness and emotions! How the house plays significance is pretty neat. Some of the ending Parts I felt was a bit “never would ever happen” but that’s okay.

Hauck writes a story that just draws you in and this is the same way. I wish some of the events of storms were a bit more realistic for me? But once I got over it, the love story and plot were good.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing a review copy for me to read and thereby write this review.

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The Memory House by Rachel Hauck was an amazing book. I loved how it traveled back and forth between time periods and characters, intersecting them all in a way that made me fall in love with each of them – fallacies, imperfections and all. I loved how even the “villains” (term used loosely) were shown in such a way as to make my heart bleed for the choices they made and the mistakes they had to live with. I loved the depth of the characters – I truly fell in love with all of them, and I think Beetle Boo was my ultimate favorite. So many people lost so much in this book; yet they all seemed to find what was important in the end … or were working toward that future by the close of the book. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye when I closed the final page. This book was like a great cup of coffee – meant to be savored long after taking the final sip.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher and was under no obligation to post a review. All opinions were strictly my own.

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This was a cute read. I love how Racheal Hauck always seems to seamlessly weave the past story and the present together.

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Well, I learned my lesson in waiting to read this incredible book. I have no idea what took me so long. I felt myself pulled into the story. The lack of perfection in a character apparent that she didn't fit the cookie cutter Christian fiction character that I know many people expect. The story with multiple layers, characters and over all the lack of desire to remember all memories pertaining to a certain time period.
As I read, deeper and deeper the story took me until suddenly a dam broke and one moment in the book touched within. I am not a crier. But today I needed that. I needed to feel and this book made me feel. Forgiveness as a theme is overdone at times, but this one made you see and feel the true meaning of the word.

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In a way I have now come to expect from Rachel Hauck, The Memory House connects the lives of two women across decades for a story filled with loss, hope, romance, and a very important house.

Beck Holiday is struggling with her career, secrets, and memories when she inherits a Floridian house, while Everleigh Applegate must face a reality she never anticipated after a devastating tornado. Both women desperately need change in their lives, and the way their stories unfold is well-crafted and beautiful.

I highly enjoyed The Memory House. For readers who enjoy dual timelines, as well as journeys of faith and healing, I definitely recommend it.

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This story captured my attention from the very beginning. The chapters alternate between present time with Beck, her dog and Bruno; and the past with Miss Everleigh, Rhett and Don.

Beck inherits “The Memory House” on Memory Lane when Miss Everleigh passes away. Beck doesn’t remember much of her childhood after her father is killed as a police office in NY on 9/11. She goes to stay at the house to try to heal and find answers about the past.

I loved this story about faith, healing, hope and love. I loved how the story intertwined with the characters from the past and present. Great characters, easy to read, very enjoyable!

I received a copy of this book complimentary for blog and social media review. All opinions are my own.

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Heartbreaking and captivating romance. Beck and Everleigh go through so much, I wasn’t expecting feeling all this when I started it. It was so much more than a love story. The characters are relatable despite the Christian aspect, a compelling and heartfelt novel.

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I’ve been so looking forward to reading The Memory House, and it proved to be just as fantastic as promised! I love dual timeline stories, and Hauck is a master of them. She excels at creating characters who are alike just enough for the reader to notice their similarities but more than different enough to keep and hold your attention.

The very premise of The Memory House is fascinating. The very point of the Memory House is to preserve and remember the past, which contrasts with the two characters who have both experienced severe memory loss due to trauma. Hauck kept me in suspense about who would remember what when, and I loved trying to figure it out.

That’s the only thing about the story I didn’t like – I wanted more of it! Beck’s story is well fleshed out by the time you turn the last page, but there are more holes in Everleigh’s story that I liked. I wanted to know so much more! The reader is able to fill in a few by piecing different parts of the story together, but Everleigh was such a great character that she could easily have been the main character of her own complete story. I wanted to know more about how she dealt with the problems that she faced later in her own life story, and while you get the ultimate ending, I think that those missing pieces could have been amazing to know.

I really liked Beck, too. She’s not your typical Christian fiction main character as she has a past that keeps confronting her throughout the story, but that’s one of the things I liked about her. She doesn’t run from her past, and Hauck uses it to grow Beck throughout the story in many ways. She’s also a super tough lead, and that’s my absolute favorite kind.

The spiritual lessons learned by the characters in the story vary, but forgiveness is a definite theme. It shows up in a myriad of ways and forms, but it can be found all through the story, and I really like the way that Hauck uses it.h

The Memory House is a great read for your spring break or summer vacation. You won’t want to miss Hauck’s latest!

I received a free copy of this book from the author. All opinions are my own.

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Rachel Hauck is one of my go to authors, I can buy a book without even reading the synopsis. Her books are always fantastic reading and her stories are always written so perfectly.
This is the story of Beck a New York City cop. She has been suspended from work and goes to Florida where she has recently inherited a house. There she meets Bruno Endicott, he was her best friend as a child when she use to visited Florida.
Fifty years earlier, Everleigh is living in Texas until a tornado sweeps through Waco, Texas. She then moves home to live with her mother. She is stuck in the past and has a secret she will never tell. She connects with an old high school friend Don Callahan.
Will Memory House help them heal?
This Story was truly a pleasure to read. Rachel pulled me into the story from the first page and I fell in love with all the characters. There where twists and turns along the journey. But the way it is written and the way that she has interweaved the two main characters is amazing.
I would recommend this book.

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Dual time books are still something I'm working on loving. Historical fiction has never been something that I loved, but after enjoying Hauck's previous dual time books, I decided to give this one a try.

The Memory House was a story that I wanted to love but struggled to get into. Considering the number of reviewers who loved this book, I think it was more me than it was the book.

The premise of the story was interesting. Just like with the Writing Desk by Hauck where individuals were connected from two time periods by something, having a house that connected two individuals from two different periods of time was a neat concept.

Hauck is a talented author, and I wish this story would have captivated me more.

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In spring of 1953, Everleigh Applegate is happily married and expecting her first baby. She has high hopes for her future, until a tornado sweeps through Waco, Texas, and takes everything from her. Seven years later, she's widowed and childless, when an unexpected reunion with Don Callahan, a friend from high school, gives her a spark of hope. But, secrets that Everleigh carries could threaten the future happiness she's seeking. Beck Holliday is a tough, angry New York City cop who lost her father, and many of her memories, on 9/11. She learns that she's inherited a house in Texas, from Everleigh Callahan, someone that Beck doesn't even remember. But since she's on suspension from work for anger issues, it seems like a good time to go and look at the house. When she arrives, she meets Bruno Endicott, someone who clearly remembers her, inspiring Beck to try to work on her memory issues. The two women are connected by the beautiful house, and both must find the courage to face their pasts and to allow themselves hope for their futures.

One of the things that I really like about Rachel Hauck's books is that her characters aren't perfect. They deal with heavy, dark subjects and find their way through them, with God's help. She focuses heavily on redemption, forgiveness, and second chances, which are things that we all need. Just because things seem hopeless, doesn't mean we should give up. We can't see what's coming in our future. Rachel has a talent for writing complex, memorable characters and telling their stories in such a way that you find yourself immersed in them, experiencing things along with them. Her characters have heart and I really enjoy that.

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In this book, two timelines come together to make one main story. A widow and a police officer who survived and worked 9/11 are the main characters. One of them has a past that has to be confronted over and over again, or do they both really have that past to confront in different ways? Even though some would think they would have a huge generation gap, they don't. Beck and Everleigh have quite a life to live, and a big story to tell. Healing and forgiveness are strong themes, as well as how God works all things to our good.

My copy is via Celebrate Lit. My review is my own.

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The Memory House is the story of four people, two couples. Told in past and present story lines, with the viewpoints of each of the main characters, there’s a lot going on in this story. A fantastic story about love, loss and forgiveness

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THE MEMORY HOUSE is a story of learning to live after loss, faith, family, forgiveness, and love. A story that slips back and forth from present to the past as it tells the stories of two women whose lives somewhat shadow each other's. A beautiful, heartfelt story from beginning to end.

I loved everything about this story! The characters were easy to connect to and fall in love with. I loved Beck and her resolve. Her struggles were very real and affected her life and choices to a point where they were debilitating. Miss Everleigh's life was very similar. Her loss had frozen her until a man loved her enough to try to push her to live and find happiness. Don was wonderful and just what Everleigh needed. Then there's Bruno... he's such a troubled soul and fighting for his career and his family and his own happiness. I loved, loved the way he reverts back to his friendship with Beck even though she doesn't remember. The way these two romances struggle, develop, and grow was truly beautiful. I also loved all the family that surrounds them, and all the friends. The house with its memories and the feel of peace and love it emulates as well as how faith is weaved throughout the story, played such a huge part in it all. The story pulled on my emotions and made me think. Only the best stories can do that.

This line from the book sums things up perfectly:
"What could she not accomplish if she let faith overcome her fear?"

In the end, was it what I wished for? This was a wonderful, heartwarming story. If you're a fan of Hauck or poignant stories that pull on the heart, this comes highly recommended.

Content: Some references to mature content, but clean.
Source: I received a complimentary advanced reader's copy from the publisher through Celebrate Lit, which did not require a positive review nor affect it in any way.

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Rachel Hauck expertly crafts The Memory House across two specific time periods, fostering a strong sense of place and what defines a family

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The Memory House by Rachel Hauck is a novel set in two time periods. The two time periods can be confusing in some novels. This author has always excelled at weaving a story with different voices and time periods with no confusion. This story is nothing like what I expected in some ways— at the start I thought I was reading sports fiction! But it quickly developed into a fantastic story. I highly recommend it. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.

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My Thoughts on The Memory House:
This is an author that I’m familiar with. I loved her princess series. I’ve loved her wedding series. In fact, I’ve loved everything I’ve read by her. This is yet another book that I can highly recommend. She’s a great all-around author. I do feel this had a bit of a different style to it though. I almost want a story to go before this one for some more background information, but that’s just because I want all the details immediately instead of finding them out as we go along.

The Memory House starts out with Beck risking her career for a poor little mistreated dog. And she cries. Both are totally out of character for her. We then learn that she’s pregnant. She’s told no one. And she’s not returning her supervisors calls. . . . who also happens to be the babies daddy. Oh my. Talk about starting out complicated.

Well, ratchet that complication up a few more notches when she gets a letter informing her she’s inherited a house known as The Memory House from a little old lady she can’t remember.

In fact, she can’t remember a lot. Like anything from before her father was killed. That’s a lot of years unaccounted for.

With the way things are at work, she decides to take the opportunity to go check out her inheritance and find out who this lady was and why she got the house. Along the way she gets flashbacks and haunting memories start surfacing. She meets people she doesn’t remember knowing. And life keeps moving on.

Definitely a great read though it did not read as fast for me as her other books have. It has some deeper issues being discussed. I recommend it but don’t expect it to read like a quick romance novel. There is so much more depth to this book. I loved it.

I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from Celebrate Lit. All views expressed are only my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC regulations.

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Rachel Hauck is one of my favorite authors and I will read anything she writes. I read my first Rachel Hauck book in 2012 and I have been reviewing her books as part of the Fiction Guild for years. Against my better judgment I decided to wait a long time before picking this up. I decided to wait until my pre-order of this book to come in before reading it and then it continued to sit on my shelf. I was worried that once I read it then I wouldn't be able to read it for the first time again. It felt like I was a kid again saving the best for last, which in theory doesn't actually make sense. I finally got around to reading this book and I'm glad that I did! I love the way that Rachel Hauck is able to weave two different timelines together. She is able to tie historical fiction to contemporary fiction in a seamless way. As a reader, you know that these two timelines are going to connect in some way. It always takes me until the end to figure out how they are going to do that, which I really appreciate. I also really loved the two love stories in this book. They felt very realistic and were very touching. Thank you again for providing me with this e-book to review and bring to my youtube followers. I will continue to read and promote all that Rachel Hauck writes.

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I love Rachel’s writing. She writes characters I love with spiritual themes I’m still thinking about years later…and that get incorporated into my repertoire like “Love Well.” This novel is a welcome addition to her timesplit novels. You’ll walk through two heroine’s stories that intersect in one house. Each is dealing with guilt about surviving a tragedy and the fall-out in their lives. At times you will wonder how healing can be found, but it is possible, because in this book as with her others, Rachel firmly points the way to truth.

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This book is a must-read for all Rachel Hauck fans. I'm a devoted reader of her books myself, and this one is going to find a spot near the top of my stack of her novels.

In her storyline, Rachel has combined several elements I love - a split time storyline with characters that intersect as well as having both storylines based partly on real historical events. The novel also has an adoption thread, which I enjoyed untangling. There is more than one mystery to be unraveled, which always makes for a more intriguing read.

Rachel's characters are relatable and well developed- particularly Bruno and Everleigh, in my mind. They, as well as Beck, all have their own particular and unique history. There is much to be learned about being a Sports Agent, a New York City cop, and being a young woman and wife in the 1950s.

This book is a must-read for all Rachel Hauck fans. I'm a devoted reader of her books myself, and this one is going to find a spot near the top of my stack of her novels.

In her storyline, Rachel has combined several elements I love - a split time storyline with characters that intersect as well as having both storylines based partly on real historical events. The novel also has an adoption thread, which I enjoyed untangling. There is more than one mystery to be unraveled, which always makes for a more intriguing read.

Rachel's characters are relatable and well developed- particularly Bruno and Everleigh, in my mind. They, as well as Beck, all have their own particular and unique history. There is much to be learned about being a Sports Agent, a New York City cop, and being a young woman and wife in the 1950s.

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