I really liked the way the story was divided into sections and tied into the Tempest by William Shakesphere in many ways.  In the story, Richard is left reeling after a landslide ends the life of a border in his home.  He feels an immense amount of ownership over what happens and withdraws into himself to try to cope.  During this time, he finds that his wife has been unfaithful and this further divides them.  When he meets, Jacintha in one of his classes, she is a breath of fresh air in his stagnant life. As she further immerses herself into his life, he discovers her true identity and is appalled.  I really wanted to like this one, but it kind of fell flat for me in a lot of places.  Richard does not seem to be dealing with anything and comes across as weak and uninteresting.  Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

I had to force myself to finish this one.  It was such a slow read and felt like it took me forever to finish it.  I was hoping that the plot would get better, but it didn't.

God knew he needed her. If only she could stand by like a nurse who feeds and bathes her patient, smiled sympathetically, never makes judgments, never expects anything in return.

When a landslide kills student border Jenny, English Literature Professor Richard and his wife Carol are devastated. Not only is their entire life buried in mud and rubble, all their belongings damaged by water, their ruins of a home off limits labeled a safety hazard but the weight of the loss of young Jenny haunts them, how will they tell Jenny’s parents? Carol knows a natural disaster isn’t their fault, but Richard grapples with shame, guilt and is marked by a deep depression. The injuries are nothing to the lasting effects of this tragic moment. Carol has lost the most precious anchor in her life, her husband Richard, who is as distant as the stars. Lucky to be alive, but not feeling blessed, it’s not just his injuries, he has become a veritable stranger. There isn’t any intimacy left, and he claims to just need more time.

Teaching a class on The Tempest is just what he needs to get out in the world again. Richard plans to have his students write a version with an environmental theme, an homage to Jenny because she wanted to do it someday herself. This should be the salve to his emotional wounds. His desire for Jenny didn’t dissipate with her tragic end, though he never acted on his intense passion for her. Accident or not, had he not wanted her so badly, had he not continued to allow her to board with them, had he been a better man she would have still been alive. Irrational or not, in some strange way he still feels he is at fault, desire as an omen?

Richard should be the one to see a therapist, but Carol’s urging only angers him. It is Carol who decides to talk to someone after she acts out of character and betrays her husband and their marriage. But Richard isn’t giving her any reason to believe he is getting better, and the truth is that trauma from near death can have an ill effect on any relationship. Surely this doesn’t mean they are doomed, does it? She’s dealt with other disappointments about her husband’s life, like the strain in the relationship between he and his daughter Imogen with his first wife Grace. One constant is his inability to be present in the moment with those who need him most. Now Carol knows how it feels to be the person on the other end of his emotional distance. Through their separation letters pass between them, those in a future moments too, discussing the book he is writing about everything that passes after Jenny’s death, which encompasses Jacintha and her place in his life.

Jacintha’s childhood with her feckless mother Catherine sees her living with an adoptive family after some ‘incident’, all her life she has had one goal and that is to find Richard, who for her is the cause of her own live’s ruin. “Jacintha had written only one word:  Richard. She places the paper int he metal bowl, set it on fire, and watched it burn.” It takes more than a spell to get what she is after. Love and revenge are chains, and it will claim them all. Charming her way into Richard’s life, her kiss “A taste of berries“, seems to reawaken him in a way Carol’s couldn’t. It’s not what he wants, he wanted it to be Carol who could bring him out of this lifeless state, but it is exactly what Jacintha needs. Her past lay in rubble much like Carol and Richard’s relationship, it is only a matter of time before she reveals the truth, but her plan of seduction hinges on remaining unaffected by Richard as a man. She will share her terror with him, let the insidiousness of her own horrific nightmare weave it’s way through his soul, another thing to gut him with. She is letting other transgressions color how she sees Richard, but tenderness is surprisingly entering her heart as well. When Richard discovers the truth behind Jacintha’s presence, it is far more complicated and horrifying than the shame of falling in love with a student.

The letters between Richard and Carol sometimes upset the story, disrupted it’s flow. They are at a point where they know what has happened, and we are still in the dark, and it can confuse readers. As we are told in the Preface by the character Richard, “it is a true story written in the form of a novel about my relationship with Jacintha”,  therefore we know in advance it’s a novel within a novel. In the present day Carol and Richard are writing about their feelings in the aftermath of the Jenny’s death, the collapse of their marriage, and Jacintha’s blame or lack thereof in what followed. We already know Jacintha is a harbinger of disaster. I almost think the novel would have worked better if they weren’t discussing the novel he is writing about the entire affair while it’s still happening for the reader. I know I sound confusing, but this is the state it put the reader in. It is disorienting…but the novel has engaging moments, it just may be hard for most readers to get there.

Love is never wrong, how you express it is another story. Richard learns this too late, and before he even has a chance to know just how wrong his desires are.

Publication Date: November 19, 2019

Dundurn

This read like 4 stories that vaguely overlapped, but really didn’t fit together. The characters weren’t merely unlikeable...they were boringly histrionic. Didn’t know that was possible. It was honestly a struggle to force myself through this.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dundurn and the author Ms. Lorraine Davis, for the opportunity to read this Advanced Readers Copy of "Jacintha".

This is an Interesting read with a few unexpected twists.

"Richard" and his wife "Carol" both survive a horrific landslide that destroys their dream home and takes the life of a young lady who was boarding with them.

Richard and Carol are struggling to rebuild their lives and their marriage since surviving the landslide.

Richard returns to the classroom and resumes his work as an English Literature professor. Appropriately he chooses "The Tempest" for his students to study,
Unfortunately Richard can't stop thinking about his young ward who died in the landslide, how much he lusted for her and how he wishes things were different.

then into the classroom walks "Jacintha"...

2 Stars

A really unusual read, I really enjoyed this book. It was told in a thoughtful, suspenseful, and continually engaging way by the author (of whom I have not read a novel before but will certainly do so again in the future on the basis of this novel!). Thank you!

As always I was incredibly grateful to be given the opportunity to read this book for free in exchange for an honest review. From the first page it was uncomfortable to read due to subject matter and out of personal conviction I have chosen to not continue reading this book.

Such high hopes for this one. Slow and words didn't flow. Disappointed!

Thanks to author,publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free,it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

I could not finish this book. The plot and characters were flat and I really did not care what happened to anyone. Very boring and dull. I don't know what else to say. I simply didn't like it.