The Nest Keeper by Beth Krewson Carter
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I received this ARC from Red Coat Publishing and the authors in exchange for an honest review.
I had to take a long break from reading this story, in part because of my piling research I have to do, and in part because of the way it made me feel.
I’m still quite on the fence about this book and I can’t even decide on the rating.
I found the characters drove this story more than the plot, which is great. But I had trouble finding just one character I could remotely like and muster up some form of interest.
My confusion about this story stems from the conflict I have with the characters. None of them I truly liked or enjoyed reading about, but at the same time I find it commendable when an author can create a character, let alone a full cast of them, that make my blood boil.
Their internal and external motivations seem genuine enough, it’s just the way they go about expressing their points of view that appear backwards, ignorant and insensitive. Yet, since they are doing all of this to each other, all of them basically acting the same way, it is difficult to say who really is at fault.
The plot seemed straight forward and wasn’t really that grand with respect to the story as whole, but it worked well.
The writing was good. As I mentioned above, the fact that the author was able to create characters that just either seem so slimy or tone-deaf to other people’s struggles is a sign of good writing and character control.
The scenes were nicely described and afforded the reader a full mental image of the setting the author meant to create.
I also want to point out the author’s skill at creating that certain type of mood that seems to take over for a number of readers once January, bleak, cold and grey, takes hold of them. It worked well with the story and was consistent throughout.
Overall, there was nothing really bad about this story. I just felt something was missing that could have really hooked me into it. Without even one character to like or identify with, it was difficult to remain invested in the story. I would suggest to it readers looking for a winter read, focusing on family dynamics and secrets.
