Not my kind of book. More mystical than historical.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC copy for my review.

Title: The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare
Author: Kimberly Brock
Publisher: Harper Muse
@harpermusebooks
Genre: Historical Fiction

Today is my book stop tour date for @katerockbooktours and The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare. Thank you to the author @kimberlydbrock and publisher @harpermusebooks for the digital copy via @netgalley.

Historical and Literary fans mark your calendars for the April 12th release of The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare! Fans of Where the Crawdads Sing and Alice Hoffman, I would say this is right up your ally. This gave me serious vibes to those.

Lush, atmospheric, mystic, magical, mysterious, historic . . . all of these things woven together in a tale with characters to root for makes for an outstanding story. I especially adored the teenage daughter, Penn.

“A story doesn’t matter because it’s true but because it’s been told.”

Told in a dual timeline and multiple points of view; my absolute favorite story telling. It weaves the 1500s Roanoke and nearly post WWII coastal Georgia. Then the story is told from Dare descendant Alice. Her daughter Penn. And through the relative Eleanor and the Book of Eleanor Dare. The book timeline makes things both interesting and complicated. I don’t say this to necessarily be negative, just as a warning to go into this book knowing you need to pay attention to things.

Rating: Mysterious stones and a book, a charming guy, a graveyard, coastal town, characters that had been through some tragedy so you’re mmediately rooting for them, teas, herbs, and an awesome teen girl well on her way to being a feminist. Yep, I was sucked into this book! My only hangups were that I felt it was too long at 464 pages and a confusing flow at times. I’m a fast reader and it took me much longer to read than usual. I had to stop many times and read this one in chunks, despite my enjoyment. Again, not trying to be negative. Just preparing those mood readers out there. This is a really good book and I don’t want you not to finish because you are reading it at the wrong time! I wish The Book of Eleanor Dare much success!

I'm not usually into historical fiction but I know who Eleanor Dare was and this book absolutely captivated me from beginning to end. The shift between timelines made the book extra special because I thoroughly enjoyed the 1500's but also WWII, as well.

The writing was lovely, the story was absolutely engaging and the work that went into the settings was noticeable and superb. I felt absolutely transported and I'm so incredibly glad I was able to read an arc of this story.

This was actually an enjoyable historical fiction that shifts between two timelines--between 1500's to the WWII era in Georgia. Eleanor Dare has brought a book from England back in 1500's and was passed from generation to generation through the daughters. When thirteen year old Alice was going to inherit the book, the tragic death of her mother changed everything and the book got lost. Now an adult and a widow, Alice returns back to the town to inherit the house and the will. But her own daughter, Penn is curious about her lineage...

Though the first part of the book was slightly boring, it got interesting towards the middle. There were multiple perspectives--Alice, Penn in the present day WWII time and Eleanor during the 1500's. I actually like the author's style of writing as she does a good job of taking the reader through different periods of times. Her writing style is almost poetic. The ending was unexpected but I actually enjoyed reading this story in the end! Worth four stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

Not really what I was anticipating. The blurb talks about a book of knowledge being passed down through 15 generations of women, so I was expecting a book about potions or something, and some details about some of the various 15 women, I guess like Anne Rice's The Witching Hour. Instead, the book is mostly focused on the last woman in this multigenerational line, Alice, Alice's husband has recently died in WWII and after her father dies, she learns she has inherited her childhood antebellum home in Savannah with her daughter Penn. The book's focus is mostly on Savannah and Penn. The first ancestor, Eleanor Dare, doesn't figure into the story until around the halfway mark. This novel is well-written and the setting is gorgeously rendered, but I was expecting more plotwise.

Sometimes I get confused if you have too many folks telling the story. That did not happen with this book. This story flows so well and it was so interesting reading what each person had to say. The characters are fantastic. I really enjoyed this story and reading about the Dare descendants and their individual stories. Penn is a special young lady. I love her talents and her drive. I so enjoyed watching Doris become the person she really is. Characters and storyline are wonderful. I hope you check it out. I received this book from NetGalley, but my opinion is my own.

This book is a multigenerational historical fiction book. The characters are wonderful strong women! The lost colony of Roanoke is a mystery still today! Eleanor Dare and her father left England for the new world. Her father left to go back to England for supplies and when he returned the colony of Roanoke was gone! Eleanor wrote in a journal and the journal passes to oldest daughter in each generation. Alice and her daughter Penn inherit Alice's father's house, Evertell. They find Eleanor's book. This was a beautifully written story of mother and their daughters and carries the reader on an incredible journey! I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

"A story matters not because it is true but because it's been told."

Alice is a widow whose father has recently passed away. After Alice's mom died when she was a child she and her father had left their family home in Evertell. Her father never sold the property when they moved away to start over. She has now inherited Evertell and decides she'll take her daughter Pennilyn to Evertell and meet with the lawyer and arrange the sale of property so that Penn can attend the prestigious school she's always wanted to. Returning to Evertell forces her to face her past, her mother's illness and her family's history. The story in this book explores the Lost Roanoke Colony and the Lost Stones of Eleanor Dare. The book is slow paced with many subplots, and characters with their own stories. The book unfolds through multiple time periods, with the most recent being near the end of WWII. There are alot characters and storylines and a few different points of view in this book. The author did an excellent job of keeping the different characters clear. I didn't find the story confusing and was able to follow the timelines and different POVs and read all the different stories.

One of the main themes threaded through the story was about motherhood and the connection of mothers to their daughters through their ancestry line which I enjoyed. I have never heard of Lost Colony of Roanoke where 115 people went missing in 1587. I thought it was a creative way to tell the story and thread the storylines together. I've been reading up on the Dare Stones and the controversy surrounding which has been interesting and new to me.

I really enjoy reading historical fiction as I often come away learning something new.

This beautifully written historical fiction novel is about making your home wherever you are. It's a story about love and family and about the strong women in a family over the generations. It's dual time line novel with several points of view.

1585- After her mother died, her father began to ignore his daughter Eleanor. When he offered her a chance to sail to a far off country and start the first colony she agreed to go hoping that he would start paying attention to her. After a long trip, they arrived in what they called Roanoke. The small colony had troubles with farming and her father left for England to get more supplies and when he returned the small colony of people were gone. Eleanor stayed with the colony and got married. Her first daughter, Virginia, was born in 1587 and was the first English child born in a New World English colony. The settlement was never found again and the mystery involving The Lost Colony has lasted for generations. Eleanor kept a book and wrote down observations about her life. The book was passed to the oldest daughter in each generation for thirteen generations before Alice found it.

1945 - As the war is getting near it's end, Alice finds out that her father has left Evertell to her.
Her husband was killed during the war and money is tight, so she and her daughter, Penn, travel to the house she grew up in with plans to sell the house and land so that she has money for Penn's education. When they find Eleanor's book, Penn wants to read it to find out more about her family over the generations and becomes enthralled with Evertell because she sees it as part of her history. Alice is forced to decide if she wants to sell or remain in the house that was passed down to her and holds so many memories.

This book has family, mystery and a bit of romance. It's an intriguing story of the women in a family who are strong and resilient through the generations. Ultimately it's a story about mothers and daughters learning to make a home built on love.

Kimberly Brock's novel, The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare, is an unusual coming of age story based on seventeen generations of Dare women, beginning with Eleanor in 1585. It tells of the magic and mystery of a mother's wisdom passed to her daughter, linked to the legend of the Dare Stones, purportedly inscribed by the Lost Settlers of Roanoke, who disappeared in Virginia between 1587 and 1590. Eleanor Dare accompanied her father to the New World and was part of the group of Lost Settlers.

Alice and Penn are the latest generations of Dare women. In 1943, Alice lost her husband Finch in Italy during WWII. Mother and daughter were both traumatized by his death and the subsequent death of Alice's father. In a surprise legacy, he left Alice their family farm, Evertell in Belle Isle, Georgia, abandoned many years previously. Penn has many surprises at Evertell, a church with a bell that no longer rings, lovely concoctions made from herbs, and some very caring people. Will she find Eleanor Dare's lost book? Will it reveal the secrets of the generations of Dare women that went before?

I loved that the story is in the first person of Alice, her daughter Penn, and through letters from Eleanor beginning in 1585. This mode of story-telling is super interesting; we are privy to the inner thoughts of the storyteller – the doubts, fears, aspirations, and passions of the heart; resulting in characters of exceptional depth and interest. In addition, it's a luxurious treat to hear the words, dialect, and feel the ambiance of the south.

I am in awe of Kimberly Brock's extensive research. She is knowledgeable of the Dare stones, the Lost Colony, and she traveled in the footsteps of Eleanor 500 years before. She manages the drama of Penn discovering Evertell to convey to us the character of a Dare girl. She reveals Penn's spirit of adventure, her renewed self-esteem, and her outgoing nature. Additionally, we learn of the good people of Evertell, Sonder Holloway - Alice's childhood friend and Doris La Roche; they welcome Alice and Penn back into the fold. Will this cathartic process allow Alice to rediscover her own belief in herself and her ability to pass a faithful legacy to Penn?

I rate The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare 5 out of 5 stars. I appreciated the exquisite analysis of a mother's and daughter's psyche, the extensive research, and the history and explicit description of the south. I detected nothing to dislike. The prose was lilting and magical.

I recommend The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare to all mothers and daughters and anyone who seeks to understand the enigma of coming of age.

Boy oh boy, not another DNF! And it’s only March!
I’m afraid I just couldn’t get into this one. It dragged on way too much and I couldn’t even be bothered to try. It has had raving reviews on goodreads but I have no idea how they got past all the waffle to get to the good bits.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

It is true that human beings delight in the wonderful act of discovery. Uncovering new horizons and always learning more are the primary motivations of human growth. Despite discovery being a huge motivator, the true driving force that pushes human beings forward is the unknown, in other words, mystery; and it is the beauty of mystery that is explored in this work, the irresistible pull the unknown has, its gravity and its ability to drive people insane, wanting to find out the truth.

Alice Young, a tough minded and headstrong woman, visits her old estate, Evertell, with her blooming daughter Penn, after the death of Alice's father, and the subsequent realization that she still owns the home and lands at Evertell. Alice is a widow, her husband having been the victim of the second world war, still taking place during this story. His body has never been recovered, and he lies in a grave far away from his family, preventing them from getting the closure they so desperately need, especially little Penn, who has been left numb and broken ever since her father's demise. Alice hopes that this trip to their old home can help heal her daughter, giving her back the spark of life that has been snuffed out for a while now. However, Alice has her own shadows to confront at Evertell, where she witnessed her mother's tragic breakdown that led to her death years ago, profoundly scarring her. During this trip to Evertell, she attempts to find closure by digging deep into her family's past, a past that her mother was also obsessed with. the story of Eleanor Dare, their ancestor who was the first woman to birth a child in the New World. Alice's daughter Penn gets subsequently involved in this investigation of the past, which reinvigorates her previously lost drive for life.

This book is a very slow and reflective piece of work. Kimberly Brock is a lush writer, expertly bringing the Evertell estate to life. This book is definitely not a fast paced plot driven story. Instead, it is a quiet and patient and slow exploration of Evertell, full of centuries of history that is much greater than the characters who are experiencing it in the present day of the story. The land is ancient, its soul primordial, predating the present culture that dominates it, and the author does a great job infusing this ancientness into the story. The setting and the way it was written is definitely one of the essential aspects this book leans on, and by the end of the story, Evertell grows on the reader and the house, alongside its grounds, and the little island in the middle of the lake, with its ancient graveyard, begin to feel like home.

The driving theme of this story is our desire to know where our roots come from, in order to firmly establish our place in this world and solidify our identities, to have a solid footing on which we can begin paving our path towards our future. Alice and Penn feel stagnated in their lives, due to debilitating grief they can't move on from. Penn feels broken after the loss of her father, and Alice is traumatized due to believing that she was the cause of her mother's demise. The women in their family are known to have a seemingly genetic predisposition to madness, Alice's mother being the last unfortunate example. According to lore passed down throughout the generations in their family, each woman, at some point in her life, will have a vision that will reveal profound insight regarding her past and her roots, dating back to Eleanor Dare. Despite the lack of direct magic in this book, there is always that lingering feeling that the supernatural is just a step away, hidden behind the nearest bush, and all we need is belief to gain access to the magic hidden in the land, and coursing through our character's veins. This subtle implied presence of a possibly magical reality further adds to the intrigue that makes this book enjoyable.

The only aspect that sometimes felt a bit frustrating to get through in this book is the relative lack of plot. This can make the book feel quite long, since the relative slow pace and the reflective nature of the book might seem to drag on a bit if one is not in the mood for such a slow work. In order to enjoy this book, the reader should appreciate it for what it is meant to be, a cozy stay in the ancient Evertell. The characterization isn't as profound either, with most characters being relatively simple, but I hardly noticed or took issue with that, since the beautiful world building was more than enough to make this book stand on its feet.

This story is inspired by the true events relating to the disappearance of the Roanoke Colony, and Eleanor Dare is a real person who has lived during that time. The author has done impressive research and has linked that reality into this story, filling in the unknown pieces with her imagination. Even the characters themselves don't fully know what happened, and through their voices, Kimberly Brock makes it clear that it is not necessary to know the entire facts in all cases, because as long as a story is told, it has its own spirit that is worth acknowledging.

My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Harper Muse and the author Kimberly Brock for this advanced review copy in exchange for an honest review.

"A story matters not because it's true, but because it's been told."

I lost myself in this book—I was mesmerized by the characters, the story, the setting, the history. This lyrical novel transported me to 1945, when, after losing her husband and her father, Alice brings her young daughter Penn to her abandoned family home, Evertell. Alice has plans for the estate, with a vision of helping Penn achieve her dreams and gain independence, to help Penn heal from the weight of grief. But Evertell, with its rich history and legacy, where mysteries and magic and family abound, Alice and Penn might find something even more important. Not only was I swept up into Alice and Penn’s journey, I was also taken back several hundred years ago, to the lost colony of Roanoke and the fate of those who disappeared. The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare is rich and lush, emotions heightened by the history and the future of Alice’s family home. I was spellbound by Alice and Penn and their journey to heal and hope, to honor and grow, to find their truth and their home. Ultimately, this is a story about mothers and daughters, paying homage to all the mothers and daughters who came before.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to finish this book. I am 44% in and struggling to connect to the story and the characters. I am not understanding the importance of the book and the stones. I feel it's taking too long to get to the point. I may try it again at some point, as it may just be my current state of mind and being a mood reader but currently, it is being left unfinished. I have too many other books to read to spend time trying to force myself to get into one I am just not enjoying.

The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare is the perfect blend of true historical happenings and fictional mystery. In this story we are introduced to Alice Merely Young and her daughter Penn, the two living women of the Dare lineage. This remarkable line of women has passed down a powerful legacy from mother to daughter for centuries, unbroken until Alice.

After spending years trying to leave behind memories of tragedy and heartbreak, circumstances bring Alice and Penn back to Alice’s childhood home- a place she thought she would never see again. Alice is determined to sell and run, but Penn’s increasing attachment to the estate and curiosity about the truth of her lineage force Alice closer and closer to the secrets of her past.

This book is extremely well written and compelling- once I started I couldn’t put it down! The relationship between Alice and Penn perfectly encapsulates the love, drama and angst that often exists between teenage girls and their mothers. Kimberly Brock also does a great job of teasing us with glimpses and hints of the tragedy that prevented Alice from taking up the mantle of the Dare heirs, keeping us on the edge of our seat until she finally reveals what happened on that terrible day.

Would highly recommend to anyone who likes historical fiction and stories about strong women.

I love historical fiction, and living in NC I have always been fascinated by the mystery of the lost colony of Roanoke. I loved how this story imagined a possible history while weaving it with the story of a WWII widow and her family’s legacy. If you like historical fiction and mysteries, definitely check this one out!

This book first caught my eye because of the connection to the mystery of Roanoke. And then I saw it involved a commonplace book and I was hooked (I've kept one for years). It didn't start out as I expected, and you could feel the heaviness of the characters' lives and burdens. Kimberly Brock's skill at portraying strong, hurting, fearful, courageous women in a time period and location I'd never seen aligned before in any novel I've read....she kept me reading and kept me wondering where this all going to lead.

I enjoyed the multiple time layers and the layers in the relationship between the mother and daughter. I was hoping for more set in the time period of the Roanoke colony, but that's just personal preference.

Content caution: Sex outside marriage happens offstage and there's some language.

Thank you so much publishers for the opportunity to review this book! The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare is a historical fiction novel that fits my cup if tea exactly! I love a dual timeline, multi pov plot that really lets us explore the history AND how it effects the future and getting in the mind of more than one character so we are not so biased to one side of the story! There was mystery and strong characters and it was just well done!

I loved reading about the mother/daughter dynamic that is at the center of this book. It's not dealt with often enough and the awakening of both Alice and Penn ( I love her name) as they are both swimming in a sea of grief over the loss of their husband and father, came through in an achingly exquisite way. A wonderful read!

The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare by Kimberly Brock is a compelling Southern gothic set in 1944 that deals with hope, loss, forgiveness and embracing your true self. The story centers around Alice and her pre-teen daughter Penn, 20th century ancestors of Eleanor Dare from the lost colony of Roanoke. Alice is looking to forget her past, Penn's looking to embrace it. They both learn lessons about themselves.

This is not a fast-paced book. Rather, the plot unfolds like a hot summer day, slow and languid. Still, it keeps you hooked. I read the entire thing in two days. I recommend it.

Thank you Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

4 1/2 out of 5