Daughters of the Lake

 Book 9 of my 2021 Reading Challenge

Daughters of the Lake

by Wendy Webb

Summary (via Goodreads)

published 2018

After the end of her marriage, Kate Granger has retreated to her parents’ home on Lake Superior to pull herself together—only to discover the body of a murdered woman washed into the shallows. Tucked in the folds of the woman’s curiously vintage gown is an infant, as cold and at peace as its mother. No one can identify the woman. Except for Kate. She’s seen her before. In her dreams…
One hundred years ago, a love story ended in tragedy, its mysteries left unsolved. It’s time for the lake to give up its secrets. As each mystery unravels, it pulls Kate deeper into the eddy of a haunting folktale that has been handed down in whispers over generations. Now, it’s Kate’s turn to listen.
As the drowned woman reaches out from the grave, Kate reaches back. They must come together, if only in dreams, to right the sinister wrongs of the past.

First Impressions/Judging a Book by Its Cover

When I was browsing the "free" books Prime Members can download on Amazon, this was one of the first ones on the list and the cover stopped me immediately and drew me in.  I was interrupted before I could look at the description or else I would've noticed right away that this is set in the same town with some of the same characters as a book I was reading at the time, The Haunting of Brynn Wilder.

Because I hadn't read the description it was an extra jolt when I finished The Haunting of Brynn Wilder and saw in the acknowledgments that it was written because she wasn't done with the town of Wharton yet after writing Daughters of the Lake.  At first I thought I was also being haunted but then I realized it's just Amazon being Amazon and doing good marketing.

So whether based on the cover or based on the writing of The Haunting of Brynn Wilder, I would've wanted to read this book either way and I'm looking forward to it.

My Opinion

3 stars

I received this book for free through Amazon Prime. I don't know if that needs a disclaimer or not so I'm including it just in case.

I liked it but not as much I thought I would and I can think of two main reasons why.  First, I liked the plot and characters of The Haunting of Brynn Wilder better so this probably would've been a little bit of a letdown no matter what.  However, the other reason is since Haunting took place after this book I knew what characters were going to end up together and who was going to stay in town and work on the hotel.  So while Haunting isn't necessarily a sequel, I did know some of character development earlier than the author revealed in this book by reading Haunting first.

I see in the Acknowledgments that there is another book, The End of Temperance Dare, that is also set in Wharton and I'll definitely read it because I like the author's writing style.