I'm ending up giving this book three stars. But it was a four star for most of the story. There were just some things that were a bit too much for me. Yet the story was pretty much incredible. And I loved reading about Clara. There was very much going on and I liked how different it was. It takes place in 1878 and in 1892 too.
I very much liked that the book was set in the past. I love reading books that are not modern. This book tells the story of Clara, the fifteen year old cousin of Lizzie Borden. But it starts when she is twenty nine years old, living a very different life. It begins with her living with her love, Josiah. And that made me very happy, that it started with the romance already being there. But oh, it ended up being so very complicated. Yet so good too. There was just very much going on in this book. I do not know how to put words to everything. I'm going to try not to share too much. But have to share some things. Clara is living a pretty much peaceful life. Until she learns that her cousin, Lizzie, will be on trial for murdering her parents. Which somewhat ruins Clara's life all over again.
We get to know much about her past. In the present time as well as going back to when she was fifteen. As this book is told from different timelines. Which I really liked. I liked getting to know Clara when she was young and when she was older. I must confess to liking her older version better, as she knew more about life. Reading about her being younger was so much stress yet so exciting at times too. I dreaded knowing what would happen next. Yet I needed to know. It was a great suspense book. Which I so liked.
Clara ends up going to live with Lizzie and her parents for a summer when she was fifteen because her parents died in a train crash. And it was so sad to read about that, how Clara was grieving. It was well done too. It hurt my heart that she lost her parents. And had to be forced to life with a family she did not know. She learns right away that her life with the Bordens will not be the same. Her own parents were full of love and laughter. The Bordens were not. They were all kinds of strict and mostly pretty mean as well.
Clara is not happy about being at this place at all. Though she likes getting to spend time with Lizzie. At least at first. Until she gets to know her better. There is just so very much going on in this book. I shall not mention the plot more, as it is mostly just about Clara living with them. We get to know how twisted Lizzie is. And she does so many awful things. It made me so stressed. Shudders. Yet it was fascinating to read about too. Clara was so innocent at first. But that quickly changed. Also, I did not really like Peter at all.
There is so much to know about Clara. She got so damaged while she lived with Lizzie. There were so many bad things happening. Especially on the night she finally left that place. We do not get to see that until the end. Instead we first get to witness her having gotten away, how hurt she was, how she had to heal for so long. How she met Josiah. I liked that he loved her, but it happened a bit too fast as well, with him being older than her as well. Felt a little weird. I grew to adore him even so. He was gentle and kind.
We learn so much about Clara when she is older. I loved the town she lived in. I loved the work she was doing. I loved that she had a man who loved her. But then there were a few small things about their life that I did not like. Clara was so damaged, and she kept secrets from Josiah. She refused to marry him. And he got a bit damaged too. It is mentioned that he sometimes visits with the whores in the town. I did not approve at all. He loves Clara. Yet he still does that. It hurt my heart. But, well. It was set in the past.
But even so. That is one part that I wish was not included in the book. Although it also changes their life, what he has been doing. I'm not fully sure what I felt about this change in their lives. I liked it. I did not like it. It was complicated. Yet interesting too. I felt like it brought them closer together, which they needed. As Clara loved Josiah too. But she was so scared because of her past. Because of her madness. And I must say that I did like reading about her being older the most, as her life was much better and less dangerous.
Must mention another thing too. Although I have already written way too much about this book and I feel like my review is a little bit of a mess. Clara is so very damaged. And a little bit crazy. I liked how that was written. How we get to see her shutting down. It was pretty heartbreaking to read about. Yet it felt so real too. She very much needed to heal her mind as well, from all that happened to her in the past. I wish we had gotten to see a little more of the healing. I truly wanted Clara to get to have the most wonderful life.
One thing that bothered me about this book was the writing. I very much enjoyed it, and I felt connected to the story. But there were so many writing mistakes. It took me out of the story a bit too often. I am not fully sure if I got a finished version of the book or not, if the mistakes have been fixed. But I'm guessing that they have. But yes. That did bother me a little. But I was still able to very much enjoy this book. As despite the errors, the writing was pretty well done. I just loved the book being set in the past. So good.
There is so much that I wish to share about this book. But trying my best not to include too much. But there are some spoilers that I need to talk about. This book went from a four star to a three star because of the scenes at the end of the book, when we finally learn what happened in the barn back then. There is a rape scene where Lizzie is raping a young man in front of Clara. And I so felt like this did not need to be there. He was half dead, so it was a little weird too. And how she hurt Clara. It was brutal but interesting.
I do feel like this book needs some trigger warnings, for those who need them. And so I shall include a little in my review. There is a rape scene at the end. There are hints of incest happening a whole lot, and I did not like it one bit. That was too much for me as well. There was a fear that the newborn kittens would be murdered. I kept waiting for it during the whole book. That was stressful. It did not happen, thankfully. But it was painful to think that it would happen. This book was so stressful. Yet I liked it most of the time.
I did not know much about the actual story of Lizzie Borden before I started this book. And I know this was fictional, with a little truth added as well. But oh, how I hated this girl. She was the absolute worst. Yet I did like learning more about her. This book included a little of her trial at the end, though it did not share how it ended. I had to look that up. And it was the rudest real ending. Hmph. I liked how this book ended, though. I liked getting to know Clara and her story. But I so wish the ending had the reunion too.
Thank you so much to the author for sending me a free copy of this book to read and review. I have read some of her books in the past, and I could not resist reading her newest one. I'm glad that I gave this one a try. It surprised me. It was such a great read, even though it was not perfect to me. Fall River is a book that I will be thinking about for a long time. Possibly because of how disturbing it was at times. But I really enjoyed reading this book. And I think you should give this one a try too, if you also like true crime stories.
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