Lost Lake...Review

About the book:
From the author of New York Times bestseller Garden Spells comes a beautiful, haunting story of old loves and new, and the power of the connections that bind us forever…

The first time Eby Pim saw Lost Lake, it was on a picture postcard. Just an old photo and a few words on a small square of heavy stock, but when she saw it, she knew she was seeing her future.

That was half a life ago. Now Lost Lake is about to slip into Eby’s past. Her husband George is long passed. Most of her demanding extended family are gone. All that’s left is a once-charming collection of lakeside cabins succumbing to the Southern Georgia heat and damp, and an assortment of faithful misfits drawn back to Lost Lake year after year by their own unspoken dreams and desires.

It’s a lot, but not enough to keep Eby from relinquishing Lost Lake to a developer with cash in hand, and calling this her final summer at the lake. Until one last chance at family knocks on her door.

Lost Lake is where Kate Pheris spent her last best summer at the age of twelve, before she learned of loneliness, and heartbreak, and loss. Now she’s all too familiar with those things, but she knows about hope too, thanks to her resilient daughter Devin, and her own willingness to start moving forward. Perhaps at Lost Lake her little girl can cling to her own childhood for just a little longer… and maybe Kate herself can rediscover something that slipped through her fingers so long ago.

One after another, people find their way to Lost Lake, looking for something that they weren’t sure they needed in the first place: love, closure, a second chance, peace, a mystery solved, a heart mended. Can they find what they need before it’s too late?

At once atmospheric and enchanting, Lost Lake shows Sarah Addison Allen at her finest, illuminating the secret longings and the everyday magic that wait to be discovered in the unlikeliest of places.

When Eby Pim and her husband George purchased Lost Lake and its quaint cabins, they could have ever imagined the legacy it would leave or the lives it would transform.  Now, faced with the pressure to sell, Eby wants to enjoy her last few weeks at the lake.

Eby's niece, Kate, remembers the wonderful summer she spent at Lost Lake as a 12 year old.  After the loss of her husband, she impulsively returns to Lost Lake with her daughter.  Also arriving are a motley assortment of people who each return, searching.  For what, they don't know.  Together, they wander the pathways and share meals and memories, laughter and tears and along the way, the different closures they needed.

The best part of Sarah Addison Allen's book is her way with magical realism.  That mystical element is like the final sprinkle of sugar on the top of a cake, finishing it off with that perfect touch.  Here, it's Devin's innocence and her belief in the alligator; Lisette's ghost and everyone's pursuit of answers and the discovery of memories.

I could not put this novel down. Sarah Addison Allen never disappoints.  Ever.  Her books are enchanting, her characters appealing, her stories captivating.

Thanks to She Reads for the opportunity to review this book.  You can learn more about Sarah Addison Allen here. You can purchase your own copy here.

Read 4/14

* * * * *
5/5 Stars

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