Willow Pond – Carol Tibaldi

READ     23 – 26 January 2012

RATING     3 / 5

FORMAT     Kindle

Reviewed for and on behalf of the Kindle Book Review

This book by Carol Tibaldi is set in 1930s America and follows a mother’s desperate plight to find her kidnapped son. The plot twists and turns along the way and has the reader guessing just who is involved until the end.

This is Tibaldi’s debut novel, and it’s strong; she does well at creating strong characters early on who have a real sense of personality and individuality and her two female character, Laura and Virginia are stunning – Tibaldi has created two strong female who could lead their own books easily and I think (and hope) Tibaldi has much more she can explore with these two women.

I found Tibaldi’s writing style to be nice and easy to read; the plot moves along at a good pace and draws the reader in right from the beginning. You feel the love between Laura and her son and the animosity between Laura and her husband – a great achievement by Tibaldi in a short period of time.

One disappointing element for me was that this book was set in the 1930s, I had expected to get a real feel for the period, but I was left wanting. The character of Virginia, who owns the Speakeasy, is a strong female character, and you get a sense of her feistiness and a little of the world she inhabits but references to the 1930s are fleeting, But, when they’re there it’s done beautifully. For instance when Laura meets her Aunt for lunch the description of her ‘flapper’ clothes is superb, allowing the reader to visualise the era for that moment.

If you’re a fan of mystery books with a romantic theme then you won’t go far wrong with Willow Pond. There are some slight formatting issues with how the book appears on the Kindle, but Tibaldi is looking into fixing this and it doesn’t detract from the read itself.

I really do look forward to future books in the Willow Pond saga – perhaps exploring Laura and her sister’s life and upbringing by the formidable Virginia Kingsley and what exactly did happen with Erich and Jenny’s child?

 

 

To buy this book in the US click here, or for the UK click here.

 

Follow Carol on twitter @cat5149 or visit her website to find out more