Cover Image: Behind Love's Wall

Behind Love's Wall

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Member Reviews

This is a dual time frame story using the Grand Hotel where all the action happens. There are multiple characters for each time frame to keep tract of.
I enjoyed the mystery and many unexpected twists and turns. The ending was a bit different than I had guessed.
I struggled with the present day Covid regulations and details. While accurate, it’s a touchy subject for many of us who have differing views on how Covid is being handled.

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"Behind Love's Wall" is a dual-time novel by talented author Carrie Fancett Pagels. The fourth installment of the Doors to the Past series, its actions take place on Michigan's Mackinac Island.

Full of secrets, the past and present meld together, culminating in a satisfying conclusion. Characters are well-drawn and descriptions of Mackinac Island are vivid. Lily and Willa are wonderful heroines, past and present respectively. Stephen and Michael are their equally appealing love interests. The detailed history is absorbing. As an aside, my favorite novel from The Heart Belongs series is Pagels' contribution, "My Heart Belongs on Mackinac Island: Maude's Mooring". While characters from that novel appear here and play an important role, it is unnecessary to read that work. Gently inspirational, this is an enjoyable read. There are a couple of characters, both past and present, who have the same name. While this makes sense, it was confusing and distracting at times.

Thanks to NetGalley and Barbour Publishing for an ARC of this engaging novel.

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Behind Love’s Wall by Carrie Fancett Pagels is part of the Doors to the Past collection. This dual time line story takes place on Mackinaw Island, telling the stories of two women: modern day Willa, an interior designer, and Lily, a singer with secrets from the 1890s.

I found this book to be a little disappointed and difficult to follow. The characters were uninteresting and I didn’t connect with them. As a result, I liked this book, but I didn’t love it. It was just ok.

I received an advance copy from the publisher and Net Galley. The opinions are my own.

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Behind Love's Wall is Carrie Fancett Pagels contribution to the Doors to the Past series. I have loved her books in the past and was excited to have the opportunity to read this one. I was far from disappointed. It is now my favorite I have read by her to date. It has romance, mystery and suspense. I did not find it to be predictable and I was captivated right the start. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and loved the setting of Mackinac Island.

Behind Love's Wall will be getting a very well deserved five plus stars from me. I highly recommend it for readers who enjoy reading Romantic Historical Suspense. As always, I look froward to more by Carrie Fancett Pagels.


I received a copy of Behind Love's Wall from the publisher, but was not required a positive review. This review is one hundred percent my own honest opinion.

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This is one of my favorite stories by author Carrie Fancett Pagels. A dual timeline, a mystery, love, danger, secrets, and family history kept me reading and not wanting the story to end. The lives of the characters are filled with many twists and turns. What a great story! I received a complimentary copy of the book. No review was required.

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I did not enjoy this book. I could not even finish it I was so bored. I have read books by this author before and enjoyed her book but not this one.

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This is a fascinating story that takes place on Mackinaw Island, Michigan, at the stately Grand Hotel. It alternates between the years 1895 and 2020. I found it intriguing that the descendants of those in 1895, are some of the characters in the 2020 version of this compelling story.

In 1895, Lily, a orphan, in her early 30s has a beautiful voice and supports herself by singing at various venues throughout the nation. Her cousin, Clem, accompanies her on the piano. As far a Lily is aware, Clem is her closest living relative.

The Grand Hotel on Mackinaw Island, has engaged them for the entire summer to entertain their guests. At the same time a convention of psychiatrists are present at the hotel. One of the young psychiatrists, Stephen, takes a liking to Lily, and her beautiful voice. Although they develop a pleasant friendship, both are harboring past family secrets that prevents their friendship from going any further. The family relationship between some of the characters are a surprise and provide an intriguing twist to the story

On Mackinaw Island, 120 years later, Willa, a successful interior designer, with her own TV show, arrives at the Grant Hotel to consult in the redesign of part of the hotel.

The handsome landscape artist, Michael, and Willa strike up a friendship, and although there is an attraction between them, both also are harboring secrets. While on the Island, Willa has a slight memory of living there when a very young child. Her goal, while on the island, is to discover the identify of her father.

Behind a wall, Willa finds Lily's journal that reveals some surprising secrets. Should she share those secrets with the person who appears to be Lily's descendant?

This is a captivating story that was hard to put down.

Thank you to NetGalley and Barbour Publishing for an advanced copy of this book. The opinions and comments are mine.

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I had a lot of trouble following the two story lines. I usually enjoy split time books, but this one was more difficult to follow. I felt there were too many characters to keep track of. I did enjoy the descriptions of Mackinac Island. The island is one of my favorite places on earth. With the author's descriptions, I felt like I was back on the island. Many times when an author inaccurately describes a place you've been, it's very distracting. Perhaps I would find this book more cohesive if I had been able to read it in longer stretches of time

Thanks you NetGalley for an ARC for my honest opinion.

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In Behind Love's Wall, author Carrie Fancett Pagels sweeps the reader away in a wonderful dual-timeline set on beautiful Mackinac Island—with seagulls squawking over brilliant azure lakes, lovely, vast arrays of flowers, small-town tourist shops, horse-drawn carriages, and bicycles galore! How I'd love to visit, but at the moment I'll enjoy the beauty vicariously through the author's splendidly descriptive writing.

Two successful women, a hundred-and-twenty years apart, are somehow connected and with the help of an old journal, modern day interior decorator, Willa, is determined to find out the writer's deep, dark secrets. If you enjoy a story with strong, complex characters, plenty of stunning descriptive imagery, and two sweet romances for the price of one—be sure to pre-order BEHIND LOVE'S WALL at your fave bookseller!

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour via Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion. All opinions expressed are my own and I received no monetary compensation.*

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Unfortunately, the writing style is not for me.

3 stars, as I need to be somewhat neutral

~ I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own ~

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This was a fun story centered at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. (Lake Huron) . Willa is a modern day interior designer whose roots are in this area. Lily is a singer who is hired by the Hotel back in its heyday and she too had roots in this area. What they have in common is a desire to figure out who their living relatives are. Willa is also intrigued with Lily's story as she finds historical references and documents that start to tell the story. The story goes back and forth between the two time periods as they work out their genealogies.

I have been a genealogist for many years and frankly the relationships that were mentioned in the book were somewhat confusing to me. I would never have figured it all out from the narrative if I hadn't diagrammed it out. I'd prefer not to work that hard to get the details when I am reading for entertainment. In addition, it seemed like pieces were missing. It suddenly jumped from one day to another with no transition. I was wondering how they changed their mind about things so quickly when in the last section they had a totally different point of view about what was happening and I wasn't privy to how they made that decision. That said, I still enjoyed this book and would pick it again if I had a do-0ver .

I have voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book that I received from NetGalley. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.

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Behind Love’s Wall by Carrie Fancett Pagels is a delightful time-slip novel with a mystery from 1895 and the present day story. The story is about family and what connects a family. The mystery intertwines nicely. The setting was well-written and described. I had a nice time scrolling through this island and all its little cottages. I enjoyed the mystery. There was some times where I wanted a little more information to be more specific about the mystery that was occurring. Sometimes I had a hard time following the story. The romance was a little on the shy side, which is the way I like my stories. I have really enjoyed these stories, and I can’t wait to see what the next ones will instill. Mysteries are one of my favorite genre. Overall, Behind Love’s Wall is a delightful historical mysteries with a time slip twist. I believe fans of history and mysteries would enjoy this novel.

I received a complimentary copy of Behind Love’s Wall by Carrie Fancett Pagels from Barbour Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

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As with others in the 'Doors to the Past' series, this is a multi-timeline story that follows Willa in the modern day and Lily in the past. We get a virtual trip to Mackinaw Island, in all it's beauty and glory at the end of the 19th century, and follow characters' bloodlines right up to the present. As a psychologist, I found that angle to be fascinating, too...it's not often we find our profession woven into books that aren't about serial killers. :)

A few things that didn't work for me, however, included the Covid-19 angle....I just think the world isn't ready yet for it to be in novels. It's still with us, and pervasive, and many people read to escape. One day I'm sure it will be the subject or backdrop of many novels, but...too soon. Another was that I felt like I should know more of the backstory of these characters, but didn't. The author's note explained that they were from some other novels, so maybe that's why.

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I really enjoy dual timeline books, and so I was excited to check this one out. There was more of a psychological angle to it thank I expected, and I liked that, as well. I like how the authors wove the two stories, and characters, together. The setting was nicely described and easy to visualize. That said, I wasn't expecting a Covid-19 angle. I wish I'd known about that in advance. As I'm still living with that, I don't care to read about it (as I read for escape). The author did do a nice job of showing how the pandemic has impacted people and daily life. Some plot points were a bit out there, as well. I have read and enjoyed other books by this author, but this one didn't hit the same mark overall for me.

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I love dual timeline stories. From 1895 to the present both stories intertwined so well that I got caught up in both of them and I couldn't wait to find out how it all worked out. Carrie does a fine job of sharing many characters and their history surrounding The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island in upper Michigan.
There were beautiful descriptions of the magnificent countryside and the Great Lakes that I found delightful.
In the late 1800's Lily was a singer at the Grand Hotel with her cousin piano player. Due to her past she was embarrassed to let anyone know the truth so she traveled quite a bit. She meets a handsome psychiatrist but she keeps her past a secret. He also has a secret from his past. An interesting romance.
In the present day, Willa, who is a famous designer with her own TV show, comes to redo a room with a history no one want to discuss and it turns out to be a bigger challenge than she expected. She makes a surprising discovery that gives her some answers.
A lot went into this book and I found it enjoyable but also interesting!

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This was an okay story. I really enjoyed the other two books I've read in the Doors to the Past series, but I sadly didn't love this one, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, I found it a little difficult to connect with the main characters. This could be because I haven't personally suffered from the sorts of mental health issues most of them faced, but I've had no trouble sympathizing with and getting attached to characters in other stories who had mental health problems, so I don't know.

Secondly, I found it a little difficult to follow the unfolding of the two interconnected mysteries. Sometimes it seemed like the story-telling was a little muddled, with logical steps or events getting skipped over. It didn't help that so many characters in the two different time settings had the same names, although that's not an issue unique to this book (I'm looking at you in particular, Wuthering Heights!).

Finally, related to my second point, it felt like some of the key findings in the two mysteries were just told by one character to another after the fact in the present day setting, instead of me getting to experience the events as a reader. Like, one character would simply mention some key finding to another character in passing as something they'd discovered the other day, which kind of took the interest/excitement (the emotion?) out of the discovery for me.

This really wasn't a bad story, but I was disappointed with it overall. In the author's note at the end, the author mentions that quite a few characters who show up in the story are from other stories she's written, so maybe I would have connected more with the book if I'd read other stories from her?

Thanks to NetGalley and Barbour Publishing for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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#netgalley #behindloveswall

Thanks to netgalley for allowing me to read this book. This was a dual storyline, that collided in a fantastic love story. Very good read.

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I had the hardest time getting into this book. While it is a time-slip book, it seemed too disjointed for me. I want you to understand that this is my opinion, not a solid fact. I've read other Carrie Fancett Pagels books and enjoyed them. This one was just a miss for me.

Lily is a singer whose mother is implicated in a fire that took her life. Lily holds this information close to the vest because of the stigma of her mother being in an asylum. The man she meets who captures her interest is a psychiatrist, the very kind of person she doesn't want in her life.

Willa is a great-grandchild to one of the major characters in the book, and is trying to solve the mystery surrounding Lily.

There are so many convoluted plots in this book that it was hard for me to follow. Chalk this up to my reading mood, or that time slips are not always my cup of tea, or whatever. Someone else will enjoy this book immensely and that's great! It just wasn't for me.

What's right in the book:

the setting--Mackinac Island, Michigan, and the Grand Hotel. While I've never been to Michigan, Carrie's descriptions are absolutely fantastic.

how Carrie deals with the COVID-19 situation. She provides a clear picture of how this pandemic has had an effect on everyone--in work, in travel, in just day to day life.
I'm not going to NOT recommend this book, but I only give it two stars. It was just too complicated for me to muddle through.

Barbour Publishing and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

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BEHIND LOVE’S WALL by CARRIE FANCETT PAGELS is a dual timeline novel, based on true stories, which takes place at the famous Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island in 1895 and in 2019.
In 1895 we meet Lily with her beautiful voice, and accompanied on the piano by her cousin Clem, entertaining the guests at the Grand Hotel. Lily has a dreadful secret about her mother and she is first of all afraid of the handsome psychiatrist finding out, although it turns out that he has a secret ow his own. Her maid, Aloce also has dark secrets, and it is only when interior designer, Willa, together with landscaper Michael, find a 120 year old diary, that all the mysteries are solved, including those concerning Willa’s origens.
It is an interesting romantic historical novel with quite a bit of psychological analysis of the characters.
I was given a free copy of the book by NetGalley from Barbour Publishing. The opinions in this review are completely my own.

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Fantastic story! This is a Doors to the Past book and it's such a great look at history - I've enjoyed all the books in this series that I've read!

It's a dual timeline story - and all the characters are so intertwined, it's really interesting to see how they're all connected and how their stories lay out. The setting is the magnificent Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, in my home state of Michigan.

Current day designer, Willa, is tasked with consulting for the Grand Hotel’s possible redesign. During part of a demolition, she finds a journal - lost in 1895 by Lily, the hotel's summer songbird. In the pages of the journal lay dark secrets about Lily's past. With the help of local landscaper, Michael, Willa sets out to discover more about Lily's life and in turn, learns more about the missing pieces of her own past. It's very intriguing!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a temporary, digital ARC in return for my review.

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