3 out of 4 stars
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Ellen Frazer-Jameson's Dark Hole in My Soul is an emotionally charged book written mainly from the perspectives of a mother and daughter. Kathleen is an American born to immigrant Irish parents. She is determined to make a better life for herself than the one her parents provided for her. With an alcoholic father and a distant mother, growing up in New York City teaches her that the only person she can rely on is herself. When she finds herself pregnant out of wedlock and kicked out of her father's house, she has no real choice but to find solace at an upstate home for babies and mothers. The choice she makes there sets the tone for the rest of her life.
Serena grows up with two adoring parents in a life of wealth and privilege. She is given every opportunity to succeed and she doesn't let anything pass her by. Yet tragedy still manages to find her. When her birth mother comes looking for her, a chain of events is set off that changes the course of Serena's life. Will she ever be able to forgive her biological mother? Ellen Frazer-Jameson does a fine job of showing that although they couldn't have grown up in more different circumstances, the paths their lives take show just how similar mother and daughter truly are.
This book wasn't quite what I expected going into it. It's presented as a romantic suspense novel but I actually don't think it fits either of those genres. For me this reads more as a women's fiction novel. I don't have a problem with this as a genre, but feel that it is worth mentioning that I don't think it's marketed appropriately.
I really enjoyed reading from the perspectives of Kathleen and Serena. These characters came to life and continued to develop as the chapters passed. My empathy for each of them grew to the point that I had to set the book aside for a bit after certain events took place just so I could get out of their world.
Errors occur consistently through the book. Many of these mistakes are the wrong form of a word being used. One example I found was the word "emphasis" where it clearly should have been "emphasize". There were also a lot of very long sentences with no commas used when there should have been at least one. I began to think this was just the writing style of the author, but it happened too inconsistently to be purposeful. It did break my flow of reading on more than one occasion. Besides the editing errors, my one small complaint about the book is the dialogue. In my opinion it doesn't ring true to the way people actually talk to each other and it felt too formal and uptight.
This book deals with a lot of darker themes such as addiction, betrayal, loss, and strained mother/daughter relationships. With so many different elements to the book, it could have easily felt like the plot was all over the place. The author manages to tie everything together into one cohesive story that is easy to follow. The meaning of the title is clear early on and becomes a recurring theme for the duration of the book. Seeing how the characters develop and come full circle with their relationships made for an enjoyable read.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars mainly because of the amount of proofreading errors. At the end I was happy to have read this book even though it wasn't what I was expecting. I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoys women's lit but is looking for a little more grit to their novel than that of a typical beach read.
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Dark Hole in my Soul
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