by Scott Wilbanks

 

Oh my, where do I start? This is a time travel book, my favorite subject, with an interesting selection of misfit characters. As far as the mechanism for time travel goes, it's a simple magic door, or actually a more complex magic door than the usual, but we're only given hints about how it actually works.

 

It starts out in 1895 with some rough city life and the leader of a sandlot gang being warned to flee, though we don't yet know why. The gang are pickpockets and scrounge food in an almost Dickensian situation, only they're in Kansas City. Then we move out into the country in Kansas and still in 1895 and meet Elsbeth Grundy. She owns a farm, but one day finds a house on her back 40 and writes the occupant a letter of complaint.

 

The letter is received by Annabelle Aster, only she lives in 1995 San Francisco and sees the farmhouse as an intruder into her back yard in her own time and location. There was an anomaly about other girls swooning over David Cassidy when Annie was growing up, which seemed to be in the wrong era, but otherwise so far so good.

 

Annabelle writes back to Elsbeth, explaining her side of things and the story begins to develop into something that becomes very interesting and intricate. Annie shows the farm to her best friend, Christian, who has his own strange experiences of repeatedly seeing a face in a crowd. On one occasion time seems to slow down while this is occurring, then speeds up again.

 

There's a great quote in reference to dumbing down writing: "Never lower yourself for others. Make them rise to you. Whether they can or not is their burden, not yours."

 

The writing for this story is very good and I considered giving it the full 5 stars, but a few things towards the end could use some clarification and I had to stretch belief a little far concerning something about the bad guy's sidekick.

 

The story did include an excellently written high tension climax, some very creative methods of self defence and the most erotic kiss I've ever read, ever! The erotica writers could take some lessons from this.

 

I'm being careful about saying too much about the plot because part of the joy of reading this story was discovering the intricate connections along the way. It involves a stage magician, a murder, some rough business dealings and hiding a baby in time. I found it all very original and absorbing and pretty much read the second half of the book in one sitting.

 

In places it feels like a nice story of friendships between women, or an in-depth look at flexible morality issues, or a high action story of intrigue. There's something of everything in there and plenty of mystery to boot. Most importantly, it was a great read and will leave me remembering the characters for some time to come. I'll also be keeping an eye out for anything else written by this author.

This was a bit unexpected. Based on the title and the author’s definition of the word “lemoncholy” I thought this was YA. It is not. See? Unexpected! Having shifted gears to adult novel mode and noting that the book isn’t listed as romance, I thought myself safe from insta-love. I was not. Unexpected! I enjoyed the little bit of romance anyway, though I confess my eyes did roll a little. Unexpected! (The enjoyment, not the eye-rolling.)

 

Seriously now, I did enjoy this for the most part. Some of the “coincidences” were hard to swallow (but you get that with time travel) and were visible from miles and decades away. The ending was saccharine-sweet with nearly every sub-plot happily resolved and tied up with neat little bows, and yet at least two things that I can think of never got explained, one of which is really bothering me. So it was a mostly satisfying read that tried too hard at the end but still left me with a pleasant buzz.

 

I do wonder, though, with all that vintage Victorian clothing piled around Annie’s house, wouldn’t the whole place smell like great-grandma’s closet? And who stores vintage clothing in piles in the first place?! Take care of that stuff! Sheesh!

 

I read this for the Halloween Bingo 2018 Supernatural square.

 

In the vein of the movie ‘The Lake House’ in which a mailbox links two different times, this book has just such a communication device which links past with present, and two different geographical locations: present-day San Francisco with 1890s Kansas. I have always been fascinated by stories that bend time and space, and this one weaves properly fleshed-out characters in a well-developed plot. I particularly enjoyed the wit and banter between the two main protagonists. Part of the story is told in letters, and I love the quality of the personal correspondence: well-written, clearly elucidated, and exchange of ‘courteous barbs’, if you will -- made me laugh aloud in some places. There are twists in the story which I did not see coming, and while you could have knocked me over with a feather at the revelation, I was greatly delighted at the brilliant storytelling. This quantum story gets a 5-star rating from me.

I read a lot of reviews since this book's release that said the story left the reader flat, as though it didn't quite live up to the reader's expectations.  I bought it anyway because, cover love.

 

Perhaps because of these reviews my expectations were adjusted accordingly, or maybe the book was just more suited to my tastes; either way, I quite enjoyed it and stayed up way too late last night because I couldn't stop reading until I was finished.  I liked Annie and Christian and Mrs. Grundy.  I'm not actually a time travel fan and towards the end the story's logic starting chasing its own tail, reminding me why, but the characters and the 'mystery' kept me invested.

 

The plot has several twists: I guessed one and talked myself out of it, totally nailed the second one and didn't see the third one coming at all.  So, all in all, a solid four-star read.

The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster is a book that had me at hello. The title intrigued me and I liked the sound of it. The word “lemoncholy” was my favorite part. I had never heard that word but I enjoyed saying it over and over. And then once you open the book, the first thing you read is the definition of lemoncholy which made me love the word even more. I can absolutely relate to its meaning, as my life has been in a permanent state of lemoncholy. Anyway, this is a great book title.

Then there’s that bright lemony yellow cover with the turquoise flower flourishes that is impossible to miss. I saw this cover and I knew I had to read this book. The antique mailbox with the 2 birdies is another lovely detail which compliments the cover beautifully. The composition is great and I see how it relates to our 2 main characters. Although having read the book, I think instead of a mailbox, the red door would’ve been better element of choice for the cover, as it is such an important object for the story than the mailbox. But that’s just me being picky. The cover is gorgeous, whimsical and charming.

The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster takes place in Kansas and San Francisco in two different periods of time. It is the story of Annabelle Aster, “Annie”, a peculiar twentysomething woman who loves to dress in vintage Victorian clothes and lives in a purple house in San Francisco in 1995; and Elsbeth Grundy, a widowed retired teacher who lives in a cabin in the plains of central Kansas in 1895.

We meet Elsbeth first, when one morning she finds that a purple house has appeared out of nothing in the wheat fields. A house whose door she can’t knock because every time she tries to do it she finds herself back at the gate of a picket fence. Elsbeth is not thrilled with whoever is invading her property and decides to send a letter with her objections via a brass mailbox on the fence.

Annie is the recipient of said letter. She is also surprised to suddenly have found a wheat field in her garden, a cabin in the horizon and a brass mailbox on a fence. And so begins a correspondence between these two women whose lives are more intertwined than they would know. Two women in you could say “different time zones” that bond via hand written letters and who with the help of loyal friends solve the mystery behind a murder and discover how and why they are able to communicate despite the passing of time.

I couldn’t put this book down. It was fast paced and I had no problem in going back and forth in time as I read. The premise of the story was great. But as much as I liked the premise, in the end I couldn’t quite adore the book. I liked it but not that much, because of the cast of characters, the love stories, the time travel deal, and how a character gets cured. I explain this thoroughly in the full review on my blog.

The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster is a good book. 3.5 / 5 is a good rating in my book. This is a good story that has time travel, murder, mystery, action, friendship, love and family reunions. It makes you think what you would do if you could time travel. I personally think if I could time travel, I would do it just to be a tourist back in time. I would do it just to observe how it all was back then, but wouldn’t dare interfere with events that could possibly change history.

In the end, for me this was not a book about time travel. It is a book about 5 loners who become a family, because a family is not made only of people with whom you share DNA, but of people with whom you share bonds of respect and joy in each other’s lives.

The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster is a good summer read. It is a book that will keep you guessing what will happen next until the end. It is a good choice for book clubs who could discuss on subjects such as homosexuality, drug abuse, homelessness, child neglect and family.

 

 

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DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

I received an Electronic copy of this book but was not financially compensated in any way nor obliged to review. The opinions expressed are my own and are based on my personal experience while reading it. This post contains affiliate links