Down the Rabbit Hole

Welcome to Kensington Grove, the safest place to call home….

Jodie Madison can’t think of a better place for a fresh start than the exclusive, gated community of The Grove. But from the moment she passes through the wrought iron gates, she starts to suspect she’s made a mistake.

Despite her vow to keep apart from the other residents, Jodie can’t help but feel drawn to her unnerving neighbour Norah Williams and terminally ill daughter, Lacey. Jodie knows she should stay away, but something draws her in.

When a murder shocks The Grove, Jodie vows to do everything in her power to save Lacey from her mother. But as more secrets emerge from Norah’s shadowy past, Jodie is faced with the unthinkable – Norah’s not so different to herself, and neither woman is innocent.

The past won’t stay hidden forever. And The Grove will be an unforgiving witness.

Another long wait at the library, so I picked up a quick copy to read through to see what the fuss was all about. Needless to say, I was not disappointed and I will definitely be looking for more from this author in the future. As far as mystery/thrillers go, this has been one of the better ones that I have read recently!

The Girl Beyond the Gate takes place in a typical “idyllic” gated neighbourhood, where people have come to live a nice life…or perhaps a secret life? The story revolves around the newest neighbour, Jodie Madison, who moves into the neighbourhood and gets to know the various characters who form the little town. As usual, before we know it, problems start to arise, and it appears that many people have secrets in this little community. The story takes place all in the timeline of “x number of days before the murder” and the suspense starts from the prologue all the way to the very last page.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Stand-alone Books I Wish Had a Sequel

June 13, 2022 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

It’s been one heck of a week and I’ve been neglecting the blog (whoops) because I’ve been getting back into writing stories of my own after a number of years of hiatus. It feels SO good to be creative again in a different way than blogging.

But I had to come back for TTT, so here’s my take on this week’s topic. Originally it was looking at books I wish had an epilogue, but I can never remember if an author actually wrote an epilogue (or something to that extent) for a book, so I changed it to “Stand-alone books I wished had a sequel or companion novel”.

Have you ever just wished you got to stay with the characters longer? Maybe sometimes there are loose plot lines that could be continued into a second book or enough world building laid out for a companion novel in the same universe.

Either way, it’s something I wish for from time to time so here’s a collection of books that come to mind.

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discussion

Let’s Talk Bookish – First or Third Person Narration?

June 10, 2022 Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Aria @ Book Nook Bits will be the new host for Let’s Talk Bookish! If you aren’t following her yet, good check out her blog and give her a follow!

June 10: Do you prefer first or third person narration? (Mikaela @ Mikaela Reads)

Prompts: What kinds of narration do you prefer? First person? Third person objective? Third person omniscient? Third person limited? What are the pros and cons of different kinds of narration?

* Third person objective: The facts of a narrative are reported by a seemingly neutral, impersonal observer or recorder. | Third person omniscient: An all-knowing narrator not only reports the facts but may also interpret events and relate the thoughts and feelings of any character. | Third person limited: A narrator reports the facts and interprets events from the perspective of a single character.

Welcome to another week of LTB here at DTRH! Ever since I saw this on the schedule last week for the month of June, I was excited to share my thoughts a bit on this topic. But not only that, I also want to know if there’s a divide in the community with a preference over one or the other. Can’t wait to here what you all have to say!

For me, I’m not sure if it’s actually my preferred, hands down all the time, but I think I tend to like the first person narration. Of course, this is probably unsurprising because I enjoy mysteries and thrillers. For me, the first person narration certainly adds a level of suspense, and I like “finding out” the mystery and going through the suspense in the perspective of the main character. It’s also nice to get their thoughts on it to really help me immerse in the content.

I also enjoy third person limited for basically the same reasons. The limited knowledge can really add to the suspense and sometimes it’s nice to be on the close sidelines without being in the actual perspective of the main character(s). This is also more effective when there are multiple POVs and it may not be the most appropriate to use first person for all of them, though I have seen that as well.

Third person omniscient can also be good for mysteries and thrillers but the crafting will take more finesse, and the story usually has to be more complicated and messy. That is because the reader will know more than the characters, and will generally be able to predict, or at least see ahead a little bit of the characters. This can be used to create effective foreshadowing if executed correctly. Third person objective can also be used in a similar way without this drawback, but it also has some execution challenges because you don’t want to be so much on the bystander lines that the reader is not engaged.

The POV or narration that is chosen greatly affects the tone of a book. While I have never liked a book except for its chosen narration, it certainly frames how I think about each book, and even lends certain emphasis to things (like character development, etc., depending on the perspective). I find myself tending to prefer the exciting ride of first person, or at least, any perspective that really throws me into the drama as well so that I can experience the confusion and the clearing up, and that really gets me engaged. I am probably less picky about general YA, and for something like fantasy with a lot of description, a more wide-scope view like third person omniscient or objective can also provide a lot of value.

What perspectives do you all enjoy? Is it because of the genres you read, or just because you enjoy the perspective overall? Let me know in the comments below!