The Forgotten Ones
by Steena Holmes
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In this novel from a New York Times bestselling author, the search for truth is defined by secrets and lies.
Elle is a survivor. She’s managed to piece together a solid life from a childhood of broken memories and fairy tales her mom told her to explain away bad dreams. But weekly visits to her mother still fill Elle with a paralyzing fear she can’t explain. It’s just another of so many unanswered questions she grew up with in a family estranged by silence and secrets.
Elle’s world turns upside down when she receives a deathbed request from her grandfather, a man she was told had died years ago. Racked by grief, regrets, and a haunted conscience, he has a tale of his own to tell Elle: about her mother, an imaginary friend, and two strangers who came to the house one night and never left.
As Elle’s past unfolds, so does the truth—if she can believe it. She must face the reasons for her inexplicable dread. As dark as they are, Elle must listen…before her grandfather’s death buries the family’s secrets forever.
My Rating:
Favorite Quotes:
Truth be told, I’ve been ready to greet death for a while now. But there’s a difference between greeting death and accepting it.
They say life flashes before your eyes when you’re about to die. I tend to believe the memories of the life you miss surround you until that’s all you see.
I guess in the end… you start thinking about the beginning.
I look at Mom in shock. The disdain in her voice is unexpected. Like finding out the sweet little puppy you adopted is really a snarling, ankle-biting, rabid wolf.
How are you doing? Do you need anything? Some water? Wine? A time machine so we can start this day over?
My Review:
I quickly tumbled into this divinely written and evocative tale that was so lushly detailed, I felt like a spectator rather than a reader. This was my first exposure to the remarkably talented scribe known as Steena Holmes and I was an instant convert to her cult. Ms. Holmes is a master storyteller with major word voodoo. I was enthralled, appalled, completely engaged, and immediately drawn to the character of Elle, as I well know the chill of looking down your family tree and seeing the deeply diseased roots of mental illness. My long-standing joke is that “stupid and crazy is everywhere in my family forest.” The storylines were ingeniously crafted, cleverly honed, and held taut at a cunning and maddening pace to the very end. I was a quivering mess and consumed with curiously to unravel the multiple layers of devious secrets Ms. Holmes had ruthlessly taunted me with, secrets that had been literally and figuratively buried for over sixty years. It was exquisite torture. Sigh, I’ve added her entire listing to my TBR.
Steena Holmes
NY Times & USA Today Bestselling Author – Steena is the author of the heart-wrenching Finding Emma series.
Her latest novel – The Word Game won the 2015 USA Books Award for Best Fiction and her novel, The Memory Child was a finalist in the same category.
Steena Holmes grew up in a small town in Canada and holds a Bachelors degree in Theology.
In 2012 she received the Indie Excellence Award. Holmes was inspired to write Finding Emma after experiencing a brief moment of horror when she’d thought her youngest daughter was missing.
She currently lives in Calgary with her husband and three daughters and loves to wake up to the Rocky Mountains each morning.
This looks very interesting! Darn you adding to my TBR 😉
Every now and then i come across an author like this… i read something they wrote and then all of a sudden i want to read all their stuff. I just call them the Destroyer of TBRs. 😀 In the best way, of course.
I saw this book on the Kindle first program, but i didn’t get it. (Dont even remember which other one i picked to be honest). But it sounds really good and your review is awesome, so i think i’ll get it anyway eventually… 😀
This sounds like a really interesting book! You’re making me add things to my TBR list!
This one sounds like an interesting book and I love the cover. Great review!
Great sounding book and marvellous review.
Great review. I like the sound of this book.
This one definitely sounds like one I am going to have to check out. As always, great review!
Great review, this one looks and sounds frightfully amazing I really want to check it out one day. Plus this is the first time I actually heard about this book thank you so much for sharing your awesome post.