If you love a good dose of complicated romance and family drama, this book will be right up your alley. But, if you have a complicated relationship with the mother figure in your life, you might want to take a look at the description and pay close attention to my review before digging right in.
About the Book
On a snowy February morning in 1978, eighteen-year-old Leah Cavanagh meets Brother Matthew Haddon while on a retreat with her Catholic girls’ school. The four days she spends at Greystones Abbey in the wilds of North Yorkshire will have a profound impact not only on her own life, but also on that of her single mother Molly, who never recovered from the murder of her fiancé in 1956.
Leah and Matthew start writing to each other. Soon a tentative friendship develops, with a hint of more. The longing that Leah feels is shared vicariously by Molly, who sees something of her late fiancé in a photograph that Leah shows her of the handsome young monk. When Leah leaves home to study at music college, her feelings for Matthew deepen and she has difficulty committing to other relationships.
Over the coming years, Leah keeps returning to Greystones Abbey, spurred by her infatuation for Matthew. The forbidden desire between them grows in intensity with each visit, until it seems impossible that the monk’s vows of chastity will remain unbroken. Soon Leah finds herself unable to break free – neither from her controlling mother, nor her enigmatic yet tortured monk – and realizes that choices will have to be made.
My Thoughts
If you had a weird, complicated relationship with your mother – this might be a hard read for you. Or it might be cathartic. Just know that the relationship with the mother-daughter relationship in this book is #toxic AF! I could feel it on a visceral level because many of the issues and experiences reminded me a LOT of my relationship with my mother.
This is the kind of romance that some people will be uncomfortable with. I can promise that because I’ve written one similar enough and had several people tell me so. But it is important. It shows a portion of our society that isn’t talked about much, and I think that’s what good writing does. Those who love a good dark romance or a really good romance mixed with family drama will eat this up.
The author has written dynamic characters. Each one is unique, supplied with their own special demons – or ghosts – depending on how you want to look at it. This is one of the best examples of “love hurts” I think I’ve ever seen. Lest I accidentally turn you off – but let’s be honest, we’re all looking for a heart-ripper sometimes – it does also have a hopeful message. Even with all the flawed, very human characters, all hope isn’t lost.
Told through flashbacks, diary entries, letters, and the eyes of an angry young woman on her wedding night, we’re left wondering how reliable our narrator is. I’d almost throw #domesticthriller into the mix because the sense of dread and confusion is strong throughout the read. But maybe that’s only if you have certain life experiences.
So grateful to the author and Love Books Tours for being included on this tour!
You’ll love this book if you love family drama, dark romance, and complicated tales of love. It is full of intrigue, religious complications, and a young girl trying to figure out her place in the world.
Content Warnings: Religious Ideology, Infidelity, Parental Abandonment, Lost Love, Abuse of Power, Adult Situations, Adult Language, Death
Question of the Day
Have you ever been on a religious retreat?
About the Author
Wendy Skorupski had an international upbringing in Cyprus and Vienna and graduated from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in England. She lives in the beautiful historic city of Krakow in Southern Poland and works in the field of international education. Her first dream was to be a concert pianist, just like Leah Cavanagh in her latest novel, Infinite Stranger, therefore she writes about this little-known world from first-hand experience. Infinite Stranger was also inspired by the murder of Wendy’s late mother’s fiancé, Peter Fox – a tragic event that changed the course of her life and provided the backdrop to the novel.
Wendy is the mother of three wonderful children and the owner of a stubborn but loveable Belgian Malinois. During her daily brisk walks with this high-energy dog, ideas for her writing abound.
Wendy is also the author of the novel, Once Upon a Thousand Hills, available on Amazon. She is currently working on her next novel.
Amazon US: https://a.co/d/fC6Jffs
Bookshop US: https://bookshop.org/a/25511/9788395722219
Amazon UK: https://amzn.eu/d/06Izt72A
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/156837111-infinite-stranger
Author Website: https://wendyskorupski.com
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Published by Amorina Carlton. Award-winning American author, Amorina Carlton, is currently working on her first novel. You can find more about her published work and works in progress on the home page. She also serves as the PR/Marketing Lead for Ravens and Roses Publishing, and reviews books, mostly by other indie authors, here and on Bookstagram.