Ruth Coe Chambers

This book starts with the tale of an old love triangle. Lies told, murders past, and a very sad ending to a wedding. Answers are sought but none are found and so no one’s spirit rests easy in the small town of Appalachicola. In the modern day a family looks for a new start by escaping their problems in the big city with a move to a small town.

Elise, her mother and stepfather are looking to begin anew so they are leaving all they know to move to what Mrs. Foster calls “a fishing village.” She comes down with all her city and I know better attitudes wrapped around her. The reader does not know what has led to the move but there are hints dropped. Elise had wanted to escape her parents and go to college but she is not going to get her wish. She is wary of the move but finds the town far more welcoming than she expected. In some ways. In others the town is getting under her skin and invading her dreams. What is real, what is fantasy and what is Elise creating out of the stories she hears around town?

Elise feels increasingly more comfortable in her new home town as she explores further about. She meets many of the inhabitants and learns more about the history of her unique home. She finds herself pursued by a nice young man but she is unsure of his intentions at first. Also she finds herself attracted to another young man but he is rebuffing her for reasons she cannot understand – yet.

There are many threads in this tale all weaving together to form a very enthralling tale. I will note that if I sat back and really thought about some of the threads with a literal brain the whole plot just fell apart. So I warn you to not do this. Just allow yourself the freedom to go with the flow of the book and ignore the pull of reality. Just let the story happen and you will find yourself enjoying the work overall. There are just a couple that bothered me but I’m deciding to let them go for the sake of an overall good ghost (?) story.… (mere)

When eighteen-year-old Elise's parents decide to move from their comfortable lives in Atlanta to a small fishing village in Apalachicola, Florida, Elise becomes anxious. Her mother has asked Elise to put off going to college for a year in order to help them settle in. Elise has always been an outsider, even to her parents, she decides that the move may mean a new start for her as well. When Elise first sets eyes on their new home, something inside her clicks. Finally, Elise feels like she belongs, the townspeople adore her and the boat shaped house feels like home. Then, the dreams intensify, Elise dreams of another young woman, Annelise, who never got the chance to live in the boat shaped house that was built for her in 1897. Elise keeps getting clues to Annelise's life and how the man she loved died. Elise feels she might be burdened with living out Annelise's dream but those around her are worried that Elise is living in a fantasy world.

House on the Forgotten Coast pulled me in with the intense atmosphere and air of mystery. I was grabbed by the snippet from Annelise's demise and then caught up in Elise's story and wondered how the two women connected. I was effortlessly drawn to Elise, she has been an outsider all of her life, not even understood by her parents, but determined to make her own way. I was pleased that she was generously taken in by the inhabitants of Apalachicola. The residents of the town were also very well developed, I loved getting to know Peyton, Dallas, the Myers, the Aunts and Ty. They all added to the mystique of the town. Through the entire story, the writing presents a very gradual build up of something being not quite right. The mystery lies in whether or not the town is cursed due to Annelise's demise or if Elise herself is the only one being haunted by Elise's memory. I did love the idea of two souls trying to find each other throughout time. Overall, a mysterious and haunting story that I absolutely devoured.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.… (mere)