Book Review // Lost Lake House by Elisabeth Grace Foley

(Gorgeous cover, yes?)

First for the official story summary:

"The Twelve Dancing Princesses meets the heady glamor and danger of the Jazz Age...

"All Dorothy Perkins wants is to have a good time. She’s wild about dancing, and can’t understand or accept her father’s strictness in forbidding it. Night after night she sneaks out to the Lost Lake House, a glamorous island nightclub rumored to be the front for more than just music and dancing…in spite of an increasingly uneasy feeling that she may be getting into something more than she can handle.

"Marshall Kendrick knows the truth behind the Lost Lake House—and bitterly hates his job there. But fear and obligation have him trapped. When a twist of circumstances throws Dorothy and Marshall together one night, it may offer them both a chance at escaping the tangled web of fear and deceit each has woven…if only they are brave enough to take it."

This is actually my first book from Elisabeth Grace Foley and I already can't wait to start in on my next. Intriguing, glamorous, and fascinating, I was almost immediately caught in the whirl of the story and then promptly couldn't put it down.

As a note, I think Foley did a great job handling various themes of the story (i.e. obedience and disobedience, courage and cowardice, etc.) from a thoroughly Christian perspective yet without being 'preachy'. Altogether quite beautifully done....

Avoiding spoilers, I won't go into a ton of details, but I will say that the blossoming friendship between Two Certain People was one of my favorite things ever -- and I thought, too, slightly reminiscent (in setting, with the pines and the lake and the car, etc.) of Barney and Valancy's story in Montgomery's Blue Castle. In short, it's perfect, realistic, and absolutely darling.

I also found quite a few new favorite lines, so here are just a handful for a teaser taste:

“A breeze blew in through the open window, brushing the light curtains gently against her bare arms. It seemed to carry the spirit of gypsy adventure on its wings—”

"Dorothy set her mother’s dainty dimpled chin in an expression that belonged to her father. “All right,” she said, “I’ll be there.”

"There was a streak of something hard and real and true about him—he had experienced the reality of life in a way that flirting, thoughtless crowd she had followed on the ferry and in the ballrooms never had. Perhaps that was why it was no difficulty to talk to him, even though they were strangers; he knew how to speak to the point and about things that mattered."

"For the third time that night, Dorothy felt the stinging of tears in her eyes. She had the sudden impulsive feeling that she would have liked to hug him—but only if he had been a few years younger than she was, for as they were it wouldn’t do."

“If he says he will, he will,” said Dorothy. “That’s one good thing about him: he’s as straight as a line. He always keeps his word.”

~     ~     ~

So yes, evocative and engaging, I was riveted from beginning to end, thoroughly enjoyed it, and am now most happy to highly recommend it! :)

Tell me! Have you read or are you planning to read Lost Lake House?

(I received a free ebook of this story in exchange for my honest review.)