At it's heart, this is really an examination of friendship, if you can believe that from a horror novel, but those friendship aspects tugged at my heartstrings a little bit. This fabulous foursome all live in different places and it can be tough to stay close over such distances. I loved learning about beehives. Keeping bees alive is primal to our survival. So I was very interested in them. With a captivating cast of characters and a thought-provoking plot, The Returned is a poignant read that makes the reader question what they would do were a loved one to return from beyond the grave. A beautiful debut from Jason Mott whose unique style of story-telling will no doubt cement him as one of the most impressive writers around. About The Returned Well, I'll tell you, they weren't the only ones that were scared. This book had moments that legit creeped me out.

Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Landmark and NetGalley.) Mich hat der Klappentext des Buches sofort angesprochen. Die Geschichte hörte sich mal wieder nach etwas neuem an. Außerdem klang es super spannend und auch etwas gruselig.TREATMENT: We gave her “Shining”s signed copy and poured a big glass of wine to shout her up! And of course we stole her dancing shoes so she is not gonna scare the other unhappy readers ( We have a huge group stopped by lately who recently read “Testament” and they’re in big pain right now!!! Terribly sorry for big Handmaid’s Tale fans!) Throughout, these characters’ stories build and build and as they converge, they astonish. For while this heartbreaking and magical book entertains and is at once about family, love of parents and children, art, and money, there always is the tragic story of a police shooting playing over and over on the news. The rest of the book is so dreary, I read three fourths of it in rapt attention, hoping to find atleast one line or paragraph that I could happily mark as a witty or sarcastic or wonderfully phrased piece of literature, but there were none. All over the world people’s loved ones are returning from beyond. No one knows how or why this is happening, whether it’s a miracle or a sign of the end. Not even Harold and Lucille can agree on whether the boy is real or a wondrous imitation, but one thing they know for sure: he’s their son. As chaos erupts around the globe, the newly reunited Hargrave family finds itself at the center of a community on the brink of collapse, forced to navigate a mysterious new reality and a conflict that threatens to unravel the very meaning of what it is to be human.

They can’t decide if they are more happy about her reappearance or more freaked out about it. It doesn’t help that Jules is in some ways the same Jules and in other ways not. It is like experiencing the vestiges of the past wrapped in dark forebodings of the future.

Book Summary

I was so excited to read a new brilliant debut author’s work. And the cover is magnificent! The blurb is intriguing: Julie goes for a hike and disappears into thin air. Nobody knows where the hell she is. Three besties and newly husband are so worried (after one years later they arrange a ceremony for declaration of her death! Two of her friends start to see shrinks! Poor silly girls!) I enjoyed the ambiguity of certain aspects of this story and how Harrison leaves some of the storyline open to interpretation from the reader. I think reading this with Daniel and then discussing it with him helped me to fill in some of the gaps that were missing for me. The middle part of the book is about the Ramirez family and Spain's Civil War in the 1930s. There is a mother, Concha and father, Pablo. They run a cafe and for a while things are wonderful in their life. Their oldest son, Antonio is a teacher. Their middle son, Ignacio is a bull fighter. Their youngest son, Emilio is slowly taking over the cafe and has a passion for music. The daughter, This took me so long to read because it was painful to get through. The writing was terrible, glossed over, one note, boring, had a weak plotline, had flat characters, and unbelievable details. Speaking of information dump: the talk about PTSD, CBT, and DBT felt forced and like I was reading a textbook. And again, that would be more interesting than reading The Return.

Everyone is stunned. There are so many unanswered questions. How had she survived? Where had she been? And now you can’t possibly resist finding out what the frill is going on, and you won’t be disappointed. So come along with me and the gals on a little trip, and let’s all figure out together what exactly is going bump in the night. And they began drifting. That is, until Julie disappeared and a rift formed between the remaining three. Understandably, her friends were heartbroken. After a significant amount of time passed, with no sign of Julie, a funeral was held. In spite of this, Elise genuinely didn't believe Julie was gone. With spare, elegant prose and searing emotional depth, award-winning poet Jason Mott explores timeless questions of faith and morality, love and responsibility. A spellbinding and stunning debut, The Returned is an unforgettable story that marks the arrival of an important new voice in contemporary fiction. About Jason Mott

By Elizabeth Loudon

My grandfather’s house, carried the ghosts of meaningful memory; it was a place where the past continued to whisper, as long as I was willing to hear it.”