The Haunting at Bonaventure Circus by Jaime Jo Wright

Amazon description:

1928
The Bonaventure Circus is a refuge for many, but Pippa Ripley was rejected from its inner circle as a baby. When she receives mysterious messages from someone called the "Watchman," she is determined to find him and the connection to her birth. As Pippa's search leads her to a man seeking justice for his murdered sister and evidence that a serial killer has been haunting the circus train, she must decide if uncovering her roots is worth putting herself directly in the path of the killer.

Present Day
The old circus train depot will either be torn down or preserved for historical importance, and its future rests on real estate project manager Chandler Faulk's shoulders. As she dives deep into the depot's history, she's also balancing a newly diagnosed autoimmune disease and the pressures of single motherhood. When she discovers clues to the unsolved murders of the past, Chandler is pulled into a story far darker and more haunting than even an abandoned train depot could portend.

It seems like I've been reading Jaime Jo Wright's books all the time, but really I've been trying to read more and reviews and blog posts have fallen to the wayside. However, I was super thrilled to join the launch team for her newest book, even if my social media book presence has slowed. 

Wright has the ability to take you into the minds and souls of her characters while using using suspense and mystery in a tasteful way. Pippa and Chandler's story both resonated with me in different ways. I appreciated how the physical limitations of a deformed leg and disease along with the mental limitations of anxiety brought out different relational connections between Pippa and Chandler. And Pippa finds comfort in a dog while Chandler places her hopes and dreams in her son, Peter. 

After recently seeing The Greatest Showman again, this book circus setting came alive for me in a new way. While I've never personally attended a circus, the movie gave me the mental images and lifestyle, and Jaime's book created a story within a story. Circuses are like any other scenario where the outward lifestyle is a scene which may not accurately reflect the characters lives until you get to know them, and even then, Jaime's characters learn much about each other--some good, some bad. 

A strange theme in this book was the hierarchy of power in victims lives. I think too often I wonder why victims don't stand up for themselves or run away or find help. But the mental limitations and abuse they endure leads them into a life that is much more complicated. Often the risks of moving outside the "group" lead to more danger than remaining--at least for the present. 

Once again, I love Wright's ability to create lives, scenes, characters, hopes and dreams, wins and losses, and tackle the hard topics in her novels. Thank you for letting me join your launch team, Jaime!! 

*I received this book free from the author in exchange for my honest review.

Echoes Among the Stones by Jaime Jo Wright

From Amazon:
After Aggie Dunkirk's career is unceremoniously ended by her own mistakes, she finds herself traveling to Wisconsin, where her grandmother, Mumsie, lives alone in her rambling old home. She didn't plan for how eccentric Mumsie has become, obsessing over an old, unsolved crime scene--even going so far as to re-create it in the dollhouse.

Mystery seems to follow her when she finds work as a secretary helping to restore the flooded historical part of the cemetery. Forced to work with the cemetery's puzzling, yet attractive archeologist, she exhumes the past's secrets and unwittingly uncovers a crime that some will go to any length to keep quiet--even if it means silencing Aggie.

In 1946, Imogene Grayson works in a local factory and has eyes on owning her own beauty salon. But coming home to discover her younger sister's body in the attic changes everything. Unfamiliar with the newly burgeoning world of criminal forensics and not particularly welcomed as a woman, Imogene is nonetheless determined to stay involved. As her sister's case grows cold, Imogene vows to find justice . . . even if it costs her everything.

This story is a hard one to read for anyone who has traveled through the journey of grief. People mourn and grieve in different ways, and Jaime does an amazing job showing different levels of the healing process through her characters.

Aggie's past career has left her searching for purpose and wondering if she is capable of responsibility. After receiving a letter from her Mumsie, she attempts to bond with her grandmother while also grieving the loss of her mother. Skeletons and bone fragments initiate a rough beginning for the estranged granddaughter and grandmother, but the two soon realize they may have more in common than they know.

Approximately 7 decades earlier, Imogene relives the day she found her sister's body in her attic bedroom. While her deputy brother attempts to relieve her concerns and follow the clues, he's handcuffed by work politics and his impulsive younger sister.

Each of these young ladies finds themselves intertwined with one another in ways they didn't imagine. Their faith, families, and friendships are tested as they try to unravel the mystery of Imogene's sister's murderer.

I especially love Collin's part in this story. While not a main character, he's an important support and friend to Aggie, and basically everything one would wish for in a solid friendship. Mumsie too begins to hold a large place in Aggie's life and the transition is beautiful to watch. I wish I had the words to unpack the depth of this story, but it's a hard one to describe or feel. I admire Wright for her willingness to unpack such deep topics and yet bring healing out of horrible tragedies. She allows characters to grapple with loss and the pain of sorrow, but yet keeps the hope of Jesus at the forefront. Jaime Jo Wright captures emotion, friendship, love, and sorrow in this story, and reminds us that those who have gone before leave their memories and love for us to share.





*I received this book free from the publisher. All opinions expressed are my own. I was not required to write a positive review. 

The Curse of Misty Wayfair by Jaime Jo Wright

From Amazon:
Left at an orphanage as a child, Thea Reed vowed to find her mother someday. Now grown, her search takes her to Pleasant Valley, Wisconsin, in 1908. When clues lead her to a mental asylum, Thea uses her experience as a post-mortem photographer to gain access and assist groundskeeper Simeon Coyle in photographing the patients and uncovering the secrets within. However, she never expected her personal quest would reawaken the legend of Misty Wayfair, a murdered woman who allegedly haunts the area and whose appearance portends death.

A century later, Heidi Lane receives a troubling letter from her mother--who is battling dementia--compelling her to travel to Pleasant Valley for answers to her own questions of identity. When she catches sight of a ghostly woman who haunts the asylum ruins in the woods, the long-standing story of Misty Wayfair returns--and with it, Heidi's fear for her own life.

As two women across time seek answers about their identities and heritage, can they overcome the threat of the mysterious curse that has them inextricably intertwined?

I hesitated long and hard before ordering a review copy of this book. I loved Jaime's previous book The House on Foster Hill and I didn't want to be disappointed. I saw that it included the idea of a ghost and used the setting of an asylum. Put those two things together and normally you'd have a book or genre that I'd tend to stay away from. But I kept seeing it on social media when it came out, and so I read up on the book and the history of it. Then a while later, I went and read reviews from others who read it. Like one review said, the ghost idea has a "perfectly logical explanation" and indeed it does. 

I've been slowly and informally learning about mental illnesses over the past couple years. I see and hear of people just pushing the idea aside or of medical practices that just try to drug the problem away. I think it's an uncomfortable topic for most people because we aren't taught how to deal with it. Or sometimes people just don't think it exists. But those who suffer from even the more "minor" mental struggles such as anxiety or depression could tell you just how crippling it can be in the best of moments. Jaime Jo Wright explores the challenges of anxiety in her character Heidi. While Heidi doesn't know she has a story of her own that she's not aware of, she knows her mother's failing health (dementia) is bringing some things to light. Her new journey will teach her what true faith is--finding identity in her Designer and allowing others to help her when her efforts can go no further. 

Thea has her own challenges as well. While not necessarily the added burden of a mental illness, she indeed is harassed with questions of her past, since she was abandoned by her mother as a young child. As a photographer, she finds security and a sense of direction in an unexpected person, Simeon Coyle. Thea has a rough start finding business, requiring her to take unconventional methods to develop her photographs, but Simeon shows her a better way to capture the souls of the asylum--to remember those who are sometimes intentionally unremembered. Mr. and Mrs. Amos show her the gentleness and caring of true faith. 

Pleasant Valley is where Heidi's and Thea's story collide. While not pleasant in most aspects, I loved how Wright incorporated so many aspects of life's struggles in one story. She touches on mental illness, autism, child abuse, trauma, anxiety, dementia, murder, legalistic Christianity, and family division based on Protestant and Catholic beliefs. It's a complex story with a simple faith outlined through it all. Heidi and Thea are providentially given the right people in their lives to encourage and redirect them to Jesus. Usually it comes from unexpected people in unexpected ways. Each woman comes to find healing through their challenges and pain, even when answers don't make their life easier. 

I think for some, this could be an intense and somewhat scary read. While I believe that spirits do exist (both good and bad), I don't believe that they unintentionally walk the earth haunting people, so the moments that could have been unnerving were not so for me. And like the review I read previously, the ghost-like appearance has a very logical explanation. I so appreciated reading about a character struggling with anxiety because it's a common struggle today and few have the people or resources to help them walk through it. And I'm so glad another author is bringing the life of those in an asylum to life. 

There were so many themes I loved in this book, but one of them was that human love and help comes from unexpected people. That faith means fixing your eyes on Jesus and the rest follows. That it's okay to find people you can trust again. It's okay to be broken and realize that you can't fix your life. But that healing comes through pushing through the pain and fear. That's it's okay to know that strength usually comes from a point of great weakness. And to never find your identity in your circumstances, but in the Creator who makes all things new. 

*I was given a copy of this book from Nuts About Books for free. All opinions are my own and I was not required to write a positive review. 

The House on Foster Hill by Jaime Jo Wright

From Amazon:
Kaine Prescott is no stranger to death. When her husband died two years ago, her pleas for further investigation into his suspicious death fell on deaf ears. In desperate need of a fresh start, Kaine purchases an old house sight unseen in her grandfather's Wisconsin hometown. But one look at the eerie, abandoned house immediately leaves her questioning her rash decision. And when the house's dark history comes back with a vengeance, Kaine is forced to face the terrifying realization she has nowhere left to hide.

A century earlier, the house on Foster Hill holds nothing but painful memories for Ivy Thorpe. When an unidentified woman is found dead on the property, Ivy is compelled to discover her identity. Ivy's search leads her into dangerous waters and, even as she works together with a man from her past, can she unravel the mystery before any other lives--including her own--are lost?

Murder mysteries aren't usually the first thing I pull off the shelves. Actually, I could probably count the murder mysteries I've read in my lifetime on one hand. But because I've been trying to expand my reading horizons this year, and because I'm searching for the good quality books and authors of today, I decided to push submit and request The House of Foster Hill. I'm glad I did. It was a newer experience, but one I don't regret. 

This book follows the stories of Kaine (I just love that name!) and Ivy simultaneously, however, their stories are set about 100 years apart. We enter Ivy's world first, plunging into the sobering world of death, as her father is the medical examiner in the tragic death of an unknown girl. Since she has confronted death all her life, she uses her time to write the stories of those who have passed away and she records it in a little book. While others in the community believe she's crazy, she knows there is something different about this girl's death and stops at nothing to bring the unknown to light. I really appreciated Wright's confidence and ability to begin a book with a distressing topic but use it to create the just horror for murder and yet wrap the book and reader in a faith-based message. The unknown girl found dead isn't the only one with a mystery around her for Ivy has her own story to live through the book and hers is one of soul-searching and courage. 

Kaine's story begins in Wisconsin as did Ivy's, but Kaine unknowingly stumbles across family history when she purchases a huge house. In order to avoid her stalker, Kaine has lived in continual vigilance and fear all her life, but she learns the meaning of trust and safety as she attempts to find evidence that her husband was murdered. She finds protection in a doggy friend, and begins the slow process of friendship with a few around her, all the while seeking to relive her past in order to bring justice to her husband and remove the stalker from her life. 

This story isn't all horror and tragedy. There are sweet moments of friendship and vulnerability. There is trust and justice. There is comfort and relief. And some of the greatest comfort and hope comes from a very unexpected place and person in the darkest of times. 

But this is a deep story, and for that reason (among others), I would not recommend it to young readers. There are a few instances where the romantic thoughts were unnecessary, in my opinion, especially as both parties were not married. However, I can only recall about two moments of that, so it's not excessive. Also, there is murder, human trafficking, abuse, stalking, and other topics that would be frightening if not handled with a mature mind. But for those who are able to process such topics, this book is an important reminder and an inside look into "everyday" lives of some people. We don't speak of human trafficking and murder much perhaps, but it's real, and it's good to understand the fear and terror that accompanies it so we can do something about it when the need should arise. And I think it's good to be reminded about the dark side of life once in a while in order to be able to support organizations and individuals who focus their time and resources on bringing relief to such victims.

Read carefully, but read deeply. 

Join me in 2018 for more reviews of fantastic books! Happy New Year. God bless.

*Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.