ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – Reflected Destinies by Florence Keeling @KeelingFlorence @rararesources #BlogTour
I’m delighted to be reviewing Reflected Destinies by Florence Keeling today, a book that was right up my street. My thanks to Rachel Gilbey from Rachel’s Random Resources for the place on the tour and for providing the copy for review.
Laura is happy and content, she has a new boyfriend and loves her job teaching primary school pupils in London. But when she inherits a rundown house from a stranger on her 30th birthday, memories of her prom night come flooding back, memories of a scary encounter and an antique mirror in the very same house.
Laura visits the house with all its secrets and as she unravels the clues she reveals the biggest secret of all: her own destiny. But how can you change the future if it’s already written in the past?
I loved the sound of this book from the blurb but I have to say that it far exceeded my expectations in terms of the story, and that story was 100% up my street.
Laura is the main character. Along with two of her friends, she decides to visit a derelict house on the night of her prom. It’s a dare between the three of them as the house has a reputation for possibly being haunted. What she witnesses there that night scares her and will never leave her, but she couldn’t possibly have known the impact it would have on the rest of her life.
I don’t want to say too much more as I might be giving away details about the plot that aren’t in the blurb. But this is a book that has a time slip/time travel element that absolutely thrilled me. The antique mirror is key to the story as is the house that Laura visited as a sixteen year old.
There is so much mystery in this book to start with and then, along with Laura, we learn the significance of certain items and of certain events. It was so thrilling for me to follow Laura’s story and her journey of discovery. And there’s nothing more exciting than when a book requires me to join the dots, as is often the case with time travel stories, where what happens in the present can affect both the past and the future.
Reflected Destinies is a sweet book, one that captivated me and left me wanting more because of the rather emotional ending. It’s a romance, a bittersweet love story and a cleverly plotted travel through time. I think there could be more mileage in Laura’s story – maybe a follow up novel? Please?
Florence Keeling adopted for her pen-name her Great Grandmother’s name, chosen because of the shared birthday of April Fool’s Day. She is married with two teenage chidren. Born and raised in Coventry, England she now lives just outside in Nuneaton. Reflected Destinies is her first novel.
Florence Keeling also writes for children under the name of Lily Mae Walters.
