The Lighthouse. 3.5/5 (rounded up to 4).

This novel was so different to what I was expecting and for the first 50-100 pages I was nervous I wasn’t going to click with it, but after 100 or so pages I could hardly put it down, Parker did a great job at keeping me intrigued! This was a story/concept I haven’t read before, so for me it was really unique. I wasn’t too shocked by the first reveal, but I enjoyed where the story went enough that this didn’t hinder my reading experience. Super impressed by the writing, it was easy to click with and it didn’t feel too over the top after the reveals. I’d absolutely recommend the audio with the physical if you can get your hands on it, the narrator did a great job.

Thank you NetGalley and Beacon Press Limited for an advanced listening copy.

Thank you Netgalley and Beacon Press for the chance to listen to an advanced copy to The lighthouse by Christopher Parker. The audio book was narrated by Braden Wright and he did an excellent job of reading this wonderful book. The premise of The lighthouse was intriguing and although I found parts of the story slow, it really kept me wondering what the mystery was, and what was in store for Amy and Ryan, two lost souls who found themselves through a quirk of fate.. As the story unfolded, I found myself overwhelmed with grief, and crying, while I also cheered on the characters. While I liked the epilogue, I would have been happy had it not been there and a slight change been added. I do recommend this book; it does have a Young adult feel, and deals with grief when a parent dies suddenly. This is the debut novel for the author, I look forward to reading his next book.

I listened to the excerpt from this book and I had to read it. I had the ending figured out early on. The love story was very sweet.

I wasn't expecting it to be a ghost story.

It reminded me of Nicholas Sparks' books. I looked for another book written by this author. It appears this was his first book. I'll have to watch for a second.

The Lighthouse is definitely not adult general fiction. YA, possible, but not adult. The story itself is very YA. The writing style is unsophisticated and, frankly, shallow. It tried to be mystical and supernatural and “beyond”. But it fell short. The story moved too slowly, took too long to make a point and when finally doing so, doing it heavy-handedly.

Braden Wright has a great voice for narration. He probably was not a good fit for this story, as most of the characters are female. He does not do a girl child girl voice well at all.

Wow! This book was marvellous. If you love books with massive unexpected twists then this is the book for you. I listened to the audiobook and loved the narrator he really brought the book to life adding to the tension and atmosphere. The great thing is the twists that were so unexpected. Then boom this book hit another level, I just couldn't put this book down such amazingly powerful writing and emotions. The author is amazing at writing this unique story-line. The depth of characters allowed instant connections and allowed me to fall in love with them instantly. This is a real page turner full to the brim with twists and turns that it keeps you on the edge of your seat. It is so heart warming and devastating in equal measures. The ending without giving anything away was amazing I just couldn't predict it. The ending was so perfect . It felt so satisfying and a feeling of contentment. Its a perfect complete novel full of mystery and magical realism with a very errie feel to it. This book is beyond its 5 star rating its on another level.
I would like to thank the author and publishing team for bringing us such an enchanting tale that will blow your mind.
For a debut novel this author is definitely one to watch. I just can't wait to read further books by this talented author.
Noted down the date to set reviews on publication day already reviewed on goodreads
Review is already live on my blog
https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/the-lighthouse-by-christopher-parker-beacon-press-limited-5-stars

I listened to this book on audio. The narration was good, but not great. Some of the characters done well, while others were lacking. A full cast narration would have really brought it up to par. The storyline was intriguing...and really picked up after Part one. I felt like it was really best to go into the story without knowing anything about the plot. The character of Amy has gone through a close personal loss and is grieving. She travels to Seabrook a coastal town with a dormant lighthouse with her police officer father who is working on a case in the area. Ryan a local ranch owner is also going through turmoil in his life. The two meet up in a chance encounter which helps them both to put things into perspective and heal. With the lighthouse beginning to shine brightly they grow closer and share more heartbreaking memories. A shocking twist uncovers the truth of their situation and they must work together to make the most difficult changes to the rest of their lives. Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

18 year old Amy is struggling to handle her grief following her mother’s recent death. She’s never been particularly close to her father Kevin, a police detective, however when Kevin is sent out of town on police business, Amy tags along for a couple of days in the seaside town of Seabrook.
In Seabrook, Ryan is a young man with a disabled father. Ryan has tried his best to keep the family ranch going, but medical expenses following his father’s recent stroke have plunged him into serious debt and he risks losing everything.
Amy & Ryan meet in a bizarre way & they bond over the fact that they both have lost their mother. As they spend time together strange things happen – eg Amy’s father goes missing, the lighthouse starts to shine for the first time in decades – and the two help to heal each other, even if they don't realize it.
This is a character driven book, with Amy, Amy’s Dad, and Ryan at the heart of the story. Ultimately the book explores grief, and how different people cope with it, along with dealing with the aftermath of bad decisions. It’s very sensitively done and unusually, all the characters are likeable and realistic – I particularly liked the character of Ryan’s Dad who I felt could have had more page-time! The small coastal community of Seabrook was well described – I could picture it (though undoubtably with a British bias!) & the narrator suited the story.

At the 10% mark, I was hooked – I needed to know more, find out the whole story. By 50% I was still intrigued and was enjoying the way that the story was unravelling – I was not sure where it was going but was enjoying uncovering the new snippets of information and the twists that came at just the right moment. By 80% of the way through the book we were heading for the “and then she woke up and it was all a dream” territory and I started to feel … disappointed? cheated? Lets just say that it definitely didn’t go the way that I had hoped and for me, it totally turned the book from great adult mystery/thriller to YA coming of age with a bit of a supernatural feel. As a consequence I didn’t enjoy it so much and whilst I did really like the way that the book veered away from a “happy ever after” ending, it left me feeling flat.


#JourneyToSeabrook #NetGalley

I am going to DNF this one. I am 25% in and it just has not caught my attention. Obviously Amy is hurting and no one is seeing this, her father is/becoming an alcoholic, and between the two stories, it is just boring me. And the narrator is just emotionless, so he really has not interested me in that aspect either.

I hate to do this, I like to finish all my books, but this is a DNF for me.

I was enjoying this book right up until the "slow globe" twist. Sometimes twist like that are exciting, but this one just felt forced, and none of it truly made sense to me. The author tried to explain how the whole concept worked, but I couldn't wrap my head around it. It just felt like a whole bunch of elements cobbled together to try and make a story - longhouse, small town, death, horses, reluctant souls - and it just didn't work for me.

Highlights
Love the small town vibes where everyone knows everyone
That part where he asks Amy to hold the stone in her hand and close it, 1st time it hurts, but next time it doesn't hurt, it fits perfectly, nothings changed, only they got accustomed to him
The concept of illusion and world-building, comparison of that with your dreams world building
The horse ranch actually brought the memories of Black beauty back
The end was such a perfect closure where they collected all the loose ends and tied them together


Lowlights
Until chapter 16 there is no mention of a lighthouse
A little slow-paced in the starting
Not fully on-board with the title of the book


So I will start with the fact that as soon as I picked it up I had this weird feeling of reading #viriginiawoolf #tothelighthouse
But it was nothing like it apart from the similarity in name 😆 & I am glad.

*****Spoiler alert*****
I am not going to reveal the whole story but certain parts that made a deep impression:

Because Amy has lost her mother recently, Ryan was consoling her of how this all will pass. He took a rough stone with sharp edges and asked her to close her wrist. He then pressed it. Amy thought he has lost in mind, why would he hurt her this way? There was a pain of 10 needles pricking your hand together. Then he asked her to open the hand. There were marks of stone edges on her palm. Then he closed the fist again & pressed it. But surprisingly the pain was less. The edges were not hurting anymore, the stone was still there.
Just like that when you lose someone, that emptiness hurts very badly at first, but with time... the pain lessens. The void is still there, you still miss them, but it doesn't hurt that way anymore. Like the stone, that void has made its place in your life and it fits perfectly into the spaces

I had trouble getting through this book. It was too much of a slow burn and I never felt that anything really happened.

I also listened to it on audio, and the reading voice felt almost robotic. I feel like that was a lot of me disliking it.

The book was well written but I found it yo be somewhat depressing and sad in story line. A teen losing their mother and a father figure that seemed disconnected to his child was not interesting to me as a reader.

The Lighthouse is a love story. It is a sad story, that made me shed tears, that broke my heart.
At first I couldn't make if it's going to be a mystery or an horror or maybe a fantasy!
And it turned out to be a sad love story. And I loved it.

I want to say more about it but anything would be a spoiler. And WE HATE SPOILERS.

Lost Spirits

This is a story of a troubled young girl grieving for her mother taken away in an accident and of a troubled young man caring for his ill father. Two kindred spirits find each other, a sweet romance, a little help from other spirits and a mysterious lighthouse.

Amy travels to Seabrook with her father for her father’s job. She doesn’t want to go, but she does. She is still not over the death of her mother. Ryan has been caring for his father after his stroke, and the bills are piling up. He has borrowed more than he can repay and foreclosure on their ranch is at hand. Amy meets Ryan at the hotel she is staying at.
Together they are there emotional for each other as they try to solve the mystery of the old dilapidated lighthouse and how and why it is shining after all these years.

This is a very emotional story of two young people; you will be drawn in and involved in this lighthouse mystery. It was a good story and I would recommend it.

Thanks to Christopher Parker, Beacon Press limited and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a complimentary copy of the audio book for my honest review

'"There!" He said, still holding her hands tight. "Think about what's changed. Nothing really changed. The memory is still the same memory, except time has now smoothed over its edges. Now it doesn't sting so much. Now you're free to remember, you can think about your mom as much as you want."' — The Lighthouse, Christopher Parker.

What a book! I chose to read this coincidently (it was actually my first audiobook), and... let's say it was a good coincidence!

The Lighthouse is the debut novel of Christopher Parker. As readers start this novel, we are directly emerged in Amy's world, a world filled with the pain of having lost her mother in a car accident a month ago. Amy is lost; she doesn't know how to spend her days without her, now that her mother is gone. But what Amy knows is: she really doesn't want to be in her father's presence. She doesn't want to be in anybody's presence. She only needs to be alone. Yet Kevin is worried about his daughter and, when he tries to get closer to her, his attempts all fail. Desperate to make her days better again and rebuild the bond with her, Kevin follows his brother's advice to go to Seabrook, a small town where a person has mysteriously disappeared. He sees in this two-day trip the perfect opportunity to escape their grief and find his daughter again. There, Amy's world is shattered once again: while she encounters that cute cowboy, Ryan, after a very clumsy first meeting, her father seems nowhere to be found. And, among the strangest of all things, for the first time in many years people have seen a glowing light shining from the local lighthouse.

Before saying what I thought about this novel, I just wanted to praise the narrator of this audiobook, because I really like his voice and the efforts he was making to play the different roles and characters in these fifty-four chapters. I was a bit afraid of not understanding everything since I'm French, but I actually did! So, well done! *thumbs up*

Now, let's talk about The Lighthouse. I loved it! Writing this review now, I have so many thoughts that I'm not sure where to start.

In the beginning, I didn't know what I was diving into. Yet, as the first chapters passed, I felt really connected to Amy myself. Having just lost someone very dear to my heart, I shared her pain many times and, in some ways, I think that her story, her trying to heal from the loss of her mother, helped me as well. I wrote the quotation of the pebble experience she has with Ryan above because it really had an impact on me. Among other moments shared between the two young adults, this experience was so relatable for someone who has already encountered grief once in their life. And it was also very true.

By the end of this novel, Amy epitomises the human experience with grief. She shows that, while she thinks that she won't be able to live without her mother, she actually can. And she will. Life goes on: she has many things yet to live in her life, so many people to meet, to fall in love with, so many foods to taste. Ryan helps her go through all that. He opens her eyes to the fact that, while things can be hard in life, she has to find these little moments in-between to do something that makes her happy, that will help her overcome all that.

In so many ways, this story was so true that it is impossible not to get a lump in the throat by the end of the reading. Already before the end, one chapter was heartbreaking for me. I fear I'm going to say too much if I venture into saying more. But I bet that, if Christopher Parker reads this review, he'll know exactly the moment I'm referring to. (*cough* impossible love *cough*)

I really like Kevin's character as well. Even though he appears less than Amy and Ryan in the story, the chapters dedicated to him revealed all the complexity of parenthood, of putting aside his own grief to lift Amy up and help her go through her mother's loss. For him as well it was a healing journey. Not the easiest one, I'll give you that, but he eventually finds happiness again.
I remember this story, it was in Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, I believe. It was the story about the Augusteum, about how this temple was pilled, ruined, turned into chaos after the barbarians vandalised all of it. Gilbert writes about how sometimes things have to be completely destroyed before being born again. I think this story has some parallels with Parker's novel. This trip to Seabrook eventually leads the main characters to lose everything in the first place: their relation with each other, their faith in love, in life, their will to live perhaps (one could argue with that I'm sure), but this was by losing all of that that each was able to build something from the ashes left behind. A new life, a better place to live in, to find peace, something that was born from ancient roots, from the heritage Amy's mother left to their loved ones. I think this was beautiful!

Overall, I really enjoyed this debut novel! Some moments were a bit predictable, but this didn't prevent me from loving the story. I removed a little star because at some point I wasn't sure I loved how things were turning out. I mean, it still made sense, and I predicted it would probably turn out like this. But after everything that happened between Amy and Ryan, I was a bit sad by how things were progressing. Eventually, one detail made up for that, I guess (again, I'll avoid spoilers here haha)

I would highly recommend this book! Parker's writing is very good. He succeeds to bring up emotions very easily, at least he didn't fail to make me emotional many times when reading its story. I'm so thankful to Netgalley and Beacon Press Limited for giving me access to this audiobook. Thank you so so much!

And, everybody, go read this book! It's very good!


#JourneyToSeabrook

I enjoyed the audiobook version of The Lighthouse. The narrator did a great job voicing each character and providing the right amount of emotion for each one. I did speed the narration up a bit because it was a little too slow for me, but that’s just personal preference. I would give it 4 stars for the narration.

The story drew me in and had enough twists and turns to keep me listening. There was a clue pretty early on that suggested what eventually happened in the story, however I didn’t see one of the other twists that happened. It’s a fairly good ghost story. I appreciated the fact that there was very little swearing if any. There were a few uses of the Lord’s name in vain. There was no sexual content other than some passionate kissing.

The characters were fairly enjoyable. Both of the main characters have suffered terrible losses and I liked the way they tried to lean on each other and work through their problems. I liked how Ryan tried to take matters into his own hands in protecting his father even if he was a little naive. Chloe was a fun character and I enjoyed her interactions with the main characters.

The ending did seem to go on a little too long. However, for the most part I really enjoyed it and would definitely read another book by this author. I would give the story 3 1/2 stars rounded up to 4. I received an advanced copy of the audiobook from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own and I was not required to provide a positive review.

Any is struggling while grieving the sudden loss of her mother. College is being put on hold and her beat friend and father are growing more concerned. Her dad, a detective, receives an assignment in a coastal town in the Pacific Northwest. He convinces Amy to come along for a night or 2 just for a change of scenery and to maybe get her to talk to him. While there, Amy meets Ryan, with struggles of his own. Simultaneously, an abandoned lighthouse in the area lights up and has the entire town talking. Was it a ghost? Is it haunted?
Overall, this was a unique and engaging story about a father and daughter finding their way after loss.
**huge thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

First, thank you NetGalley for allowing me to listen to this novel. I gave the The Lighthouse by Christophter Parker a 4 but it may be a 3.5. A 3.5 because the beginning of the book was a little difficult to get into. A four because I couldn't put it down later. The book surprised me because I knew so little about it. Amy Tucker's mother recentlfy died in an accident and Amy can't get over it. She's really struggling and so is her father. Neither know how to move on. Amy's uncle suggests that her dad (a detective) take her on a weekend trip to Seabrook. There Amy meets a young man, Ryan who is also struggling with many problems of his own. They spend time getting to know each other (in a day) and I was thinking it as a Nicholas Sparks type book. However, then enter Chloe, (who I start to think was a ghost). Also the lighthouse on the Island is doing weird things like lighting up for no reason. A mystery book or a ghost story? Read it to decide! This book is a diverse genre. The twists and turns will keep you reading.

If you are a middle school or high school librarian, this would be a great book to add to your list. No sex or bad language and a great story that young people will really love.

This book destroyed me in the most wonderful way. Not even close to what I was expecting but it was perfect. I will be shoving this book in every book readers hand from here to eternity. I am sitting here writing through tears wanting to start the book again and I literally finished it when I started this review. Do yourself a favor and read (or listen the narrator was lovely.) this book. I wish it were possible to give more than 5 stars.

This time of year, I crave all the spooky and creepy reads that set the October mood without too much gut or gore. The intrigue of a romance with an underlying haunting drew me into The Lighthouse.
While the book took a very different direction than I had initially anticipated, I did enjoy it. It was a nice change of pace to have a ghost story set seaside and I found the characters, especially Chole, to be endearing. It did a great job of depicting the emotional pressures and responsibilities that young adults take on.
There were times when the plot lines felt a little disjointed and challenging to follow but by the end of the audiobook, everything seemed to tie in neatly.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to listen to this audio in exchange for an honest review. The Lighthouse is set to release on 10/26/21.