Blythewood by Carol Goodman (thoughts)

Blythewood was my final read of 2014 and ended up being a great way to end the year!  I went into this book not knowing a lot about it (other than I have enjoyed both adult books by this author that I have read) and it worked out really well for me.  This was a book filled with questions, where I never knew quite what was going on, and the suspense/questions carried me through the pages with ease.  I loved it!

In this book Avaline Hall is taken in by her maternal grandmother after a few horrifying turn of events including the death of her mother, a fire, and a stay in a mental asylum.  Staying with her grandmother means getting the chance to go to her mother's old boarding school, Blythewood.  Despite never explaining the fallout that happened between her and her own mother, Ava's mother always spoke fondly of her time at Blythewood and her memories from there.  Ava realizes that to learn her mother's secrets she will need to go to that school to look for the answers.  Maybe now she will be able to finally find out who her real father is and what happened to make her mother leave Blythewood forever.  Ava is about to learn though that the world that she is stepping into is one that she could never have imagined.

I really, really enjoyed reading this book!  There are certain authors that you just trust as a reader and Goodman has become one of them for me.  For good reason too as she writes these books that just suck you in as the reader.  That is exactly what this one did to me!  Ava is about to step into this new world that she could never have dreamed of.  She's learning more about herself but she is also learning more about her mother's past.  All of these things led to questions for me as the reader.  This was mainly because I never quite knew what was going on for sure with this book.  The author took her time giving us pieces here and there.  It made the book so much more suspenseful for me!  I feel like I say this a lot in my reviews but this was yet another book that I just could not put down.  The author has set up such a unique storyline that feels different from a lot of what is out there.  It has a historical fantasy feel to it but there was just so much more.  I can't even explain without giving things away that I don't want to.  Suffice it to say that this book is exactly why I will read anything/everything that this author writes!

Other things I enjoyed about this book were the secondary characters.  Neither of Ava's roommates were what I expected and that was a good thing.  I'm eager to see how their characters grow and develop in the next book as this is part of a series or trilogy (not sure which).  There is a hint of possible love triangle that might bother others but what really left me excited at the end of this book was Ava's learning something new and completely unexpected about herself.  I am sure that this is going to play a huge role in the next book and I can't wait to see how!  The ending of this book was done well with things left open for the next book but not in a cliff hanger kind of way.  It just left me super excited to see what will happen next!  I can't wait to get my hands on book two!

Overall, this was a really great way to end my reading year in 2014!  There were so many reasons to love it but what really made this book stand out for me was the unique storyline.  I just cannot wait to see what this author does with the storyline in the next book.  I won't be waiting long to find out as my library has a copy that I can check out for me kindle!  I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book and am hoping that more readers find it as it was a really great read.  Recommended!

Bottom Line:  A delight to read as this book just sucked me in!  I love this author!

Disclosure:  I checked this one out from my local library for my kindle.  Thoughts are my own!

This book counts as book 1 for the Winter COYER challenge that I am participating in.  Woohoo!