Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

What a perfect read for this time of year! Daphne Du Maurier is a highly skilled author who can draw the reader into the atmosphere of the story she is telling. I'm definitely going to check it out and see what else she has written.
Rebecca begins with a young girl (the narrator whose name is never used) meeting and falling in love with Maxim de Winter. They end up marrying and moving to Manderley. Except the new Mrs. de Winter feels out of place as Maxim was married once before to Rebecca. Rebecca was everything that the new Mrs. Winter isn't. Add to the mix a creepy housekeeper named Mrs. Danvers and an eclectic mix of characters and you've got a great cast. The author creates a creepy atmosphere filled with details that draws the reader into the story. I could picture Manderley by the way it was described.
The story started off a bit slow for me but it was my fault. I needed to slow down and just appreciate the writing and the atmosphere that the author was creating. After that, I was immersed in the story and it didn't let me go. Without giving anything away, the ending of the story took me by surprise. I actually had to go back and reread it as I wasn't quite clear about it. After giving it some thought and thinking back to the beginning of the story, I realized that it was a perfect ending for the story. I ended up really enjoying this book and think that it was a perfect slightly creepy read for this time of the year. I'm glad that I finally read this book and will be looking for more by this author.
Challenges: PBT Challenge (Play Book Tag), LIO Challenge (Lay It On)
My Rating: 4.5 out of 5