Dovetail

MarilynW

Rating: really liked it
Pearl, as a seventeen year old and Pearl as an eighty seven year old woman, dying of cancer, ties the two timelines of this story together. But so do the dreams of her grandson, Joe. Present day Pearl has sprung her grandson, who she has never met before, out of a mental health facility, where twenty two year old Joe has been for months, because of his very vivid, recurring dreams, that haunt him most nights. Both his doctor and his father want Joe to agree to electroshock therapy so he's more than ready to get out of that place and jumps at the chance to leave with his grandmother. 

The 1916 timeline has a very spoiled, selfish, lazy, unkind Pearl channeling Scarlett O'Hara, except Gone With the Wind hadn't been written yet...nevertheless, that it the personality that came to mind as I read about Pearl. She avoids helping her nineteen year old sister. Alice, with any of the chores that come with running a household made up of a father and his seven daughters. Pearl hides from chores while she daydreams of Hollywood or Paris, thinks the eyes of all men or boys are on her only and considers her kind, hardworking, loving, compassionate sister to be plain, boring, and not worth the time or attention that anyone would give to her. So when medical student John Lawrence comes to work on their farm for the summer, Pearl is enraged that John falls for Alice and she is determined to undermine their relationship. Also against the relationship is Frank, a man who considers Alice his girlfriend despite the fact that Alice openly shuns him and all his gifts and advances. 

In the present day timeline of 1986, Pearl wants Joe to clean out the old family home and take the saleable items to the local vintage shop, for resale. He's also to live in the house while he get the property ready to sell. Twenty six year old Kathleen runs the vintage shop and despite her being against having a relationship with anyone, after a very bad marriage to her ex husband, Ricky, she and Joe become best friends and spend all their time together. He tells her every detail of his dreams and both Joe and Kathleen decide to find out how Alice died at the age of nineteen. 

This story it really very simple with very simple themes. And the characters are very black and white. There is the almost perfect couple of Alice and John and the almost perfect couple of Kathleen and Joe. Any black spots in their pasts are no fault of their own, they are almost too good to be true. And then there are the characters of Frank and Ricky, rotten to the core, abusive, jealous, possessive and determined to make Alice/Kathleen love them, no matter who they hurt. Finally there is Pearl who hasn't turned over a new leaf in her late years. Really she is just wanting to be sure she has a chance to enter Heaven when she dies, because she knows she's broken every one of the Ten Commandments, at least once. So she's going to try to redeem herself, the little bit that she can, by helping Joe, and through him, hopefully getting a chance to apologize to her estranged son, Joe's father. 

I haven't really mentioned Joe's dreams much but to do so tells the story of what happened back in 1916. Joe is a tie to the past and his dreams aren't like most dreams. Instead he is living the life of someone else in them and he feels the great love this man has for the woman in the dreams. He also sees the great heartbreak of the man when the woman dies. Together, with Kathleen, they want to understand what these dreams mean. 

Published March 10th 2020

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC.

Dorie - Cats&Books :)

Rating: really liked it
***NOW AVAILABLE***

I think I would classify this as women’s fiction but with a good deal of romance.I must admit that I was hoping for a bit more about Pearls’ life but the book centers mainly about one particular event that she feels responsible for. She knows that she doesn’t have a long time to live and comes up with a plan to at least atone for part of her history.

The novel is told in a dual storyline, the past is the life Pearl lived when she was young, the second oldest of seven daughters to a newly widowed father. Alice is the oldest sister and most of the work of the household falls to her. She is sweet tempered and very maternal and does the cooking, cleaning, etc with the help of her sisters. Pearl at that age was very narcissistic and cared only about herself. She evaded work as much as she could and dreamt of being an actress and leaving their small Wisconsin town of Pullman. She wasn’t even happy when her sister Alice was at last finding some personal happiness and this is the point of the main plot of the story which I won’t divulge and spoil the novel for readers. It does however provide the romance for this time thread of the story.

The second story line is the present. Pearl sets out to retrieve her grandson, whom she has never met, from a mental institution where he has been because of recurring, extremely upsetting and vivid dreams. The dreams cause him to shout out and disturb his father and mother in law, along with his young sister Linda. Though they seem to have Joe’s best interests at heart he is sure that the therapy he is receiving isn’t helping. When he hears that his doctor has suggested electroconvulsive therapy he is adamant about leaving. Just when he is trying to decide how he will get out and where he will go he is told that his “grandmother” and her lawyer are waiting to check him out. At first he isn’t sure about this situation but goes along with it.

When we get into the story we find that Pearl has a plan for her grandson, she wants to hire him for the summer to get her family home ready for sale. There is much to go through in the house and barn and she is also hoping to get to know him. She and her only son, Joe’s father, have been estranged for many years.

During the course of the summer Joe meets Kathleen, a young woman fairly recently arrived to take over the resale and vintage shop that her aunt owned. It was left to her and she finds that she really enjoys the work and the people. Pearl had already set up an account with Kathleen so she was expecting all of the furniture, etc from the house. From this relationship grows the romance in this thread of the story. Joe also finds that his dreams are actually more like recreations of past events (this part of the story was the hardest for me to believe)

While I enjoyed the story I thought it was a bit slow moving and somewhat repetitive. I would have enjoyed hearing more about Pearl, perhaps explaining why she had been completely estranged from all of her sisters. I thought she would perhaps try to reach out to some of them or their children to make amends.

I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley.

Christine

Rating: really liked it
This is a story that takes place in small town Wisconsin over two timelines, 1916 and 1983. I would characterize it as a family drama/romance combo with a twist. The older tale revolves around nineteen-year-old Alice who is caring for her dad and six younger sisters after the untimely death of her mother. It also features John Lawrence, a new hire helping out on the family farm. Alice’s seventeen-year-old sister Pearl also has a major role in the 1916 timeline. The 1983 setting brings back Pearl as an elderly dying woman. We also meet her grandson Joe and Kathleen, the owner of an antique store in town. Joe is racked with terrifying nightmares that seem very very real and turn out to be at the crux of the tale.

This story is different. To enjoy it, the reader must park the believability factor at the door. I don’t generally like to do that, but I thought this book was worth giving it a try. Happily, I succeeded in going with it and felt rewarded by a satisfying reading experience. There are several threads going on that lend to romance and eternal love, mystery, suspense, and family dynamics. The main characters are appealing despite a couple of them seeming a bit too perfect. My other small criticism is that there are some slow spots. As I say, I did buy into the thread regarding Joe’s dreams, and that unusual angle of the plotline elevated the whole story for me.

I recommend Dovetail to all readers who love poignant fiction. I am pleased to have discovered this author and will definitely be seeking out more of Ms. McQuestion’s novels.

I would like to thank Ms. Karen McQuestion, Net Galley, and Lake Union Publishing for an ARC of this novel. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.

Brenda

Rating: really liked it
The elderly woman who came to his rescue in 1983 was a stranger to Joe Arneson but she declared she was his grandmother. Joe had always been told by his father that his grandmother had died, but as he came to know Pearl, he knew that she was in fact his grandmother, and there was a past of secrets that both his father and grandmother were unwilling to tell him. With Pearl in a nursing home, and dying from cancer, she asked Joe to clear the family home ready for sale. The secondhand store in Pullman, Wisconsin was willing to take the old furniture that was too good to dump – and so Joe met Kathleen, owner of the store.

Joe told Kathleen about the recurring dreams he’d been having; dreams that he felt were too vivid to be anything but real. But they also frightened him. As Joe and Kathleen investigated findings among the old furniture, some parts of the puzzle came clear. Back in 1916 Pearl’s older sister, Alice had died under tragic circumstances, her death having a profound effect on those left behind. Would they find the answers that Joe needed to find peace of mind? And what was the danger that was coming closer to Kathleen, a danger that she was completely unaware of?

Dovetail is my first by Karen McQuestion but definitely won’t be my last. An outstanding read, I thoroughly enjoyed both timelines – 1916 with Alice, Pearl and her family; and 1983 with Joe, Kathleen and Pearl – with the connection between the past and present profound. A captivating read, the blend of romance with family secrets is perfectly done. Dovetail is a book I have no hesitation in recommending highly.

With thanks to the NetGalley, the publisher and author for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader

Rating: really liked it
Joe Arneson’s life is anything but predictable. He has visions and odd feelings he can’t put his finger on. He visits his estranged grandmother, Pearl, in Wisconsin, and learns more about his family’s unique past, including a number of secrets, specifically related to his grandmother.

Her sister Alice’s death more than fifty years ago shocked the family and tore it apart. Joe feels like his visions are connected in some way. Joe finds help from Kathleen, and begins to fall in love. But Joe and Kathleen may be just as star-crossed as Alice and her beau before her tragic death.

If you want to fully enjoy the story, suspend your disbelief at the first page. Because I did, I found it a rewarding story for those times when I’ve had a “what if,” or wanted to believe something was a sign from a late beloved family member. Dovetail is an emotional story with its share of love and romance. Overall, Dovetail offered me hope, and I enjoyed the suspense, sweetness, and poignancy of it all.

I received a gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader

Karen McQuestion

Rating: really liked it
This book has been rattling around in my head for quite a while, probably about four years. All along I've been calling it Dovetail and although bits and pieces were coming to me (like listening to a radio station almost out of range) I waited to start writing until it was more fully formed in my head. After I finished each of my last few books, my younger son Jack would ask, "And now are you going to write Dovetail?"

Every time I said, "Not just yet."

And then one day, I knew the time was right and I sat down with my laptop and got to work.
It's a longer book than I usually write and there are more layers to it. Also, it's different than my other novels, but what else is new? I have trouble staying in my lane, so much so I'm not even sure I have a lane.

Some of my early readers have said this is my best book yet. For some reason I'm unable to judge my own work, so I don't know if that's true or not. All I know is that I hope readers enjoy it.

Dale Harcombe

Rating: really liked it
Joe Arneson has had troubling dreams or more like nightmares that disturb him and wake his parents and sister with his screaming. As a result he has been in an institution where they are trying to help him deal with these nightmares. Then one day into his life comes the grandmother he has never known, and never met. She wants to free him from where he is and take him to her place in Wisconsin. Joe’s father who had cut off all contact with his mother years before, is against the idea. But Joe goes to Wisconsin to help his grandmother who is dying of cancer. The year is 1983 when he goes to clear out the family home and prepare it for sale. As he sifts through items, he uncovers links and a deeper understanding of his ancestors and his family’s past. His grandmother, Pearl, is still haunted by the death of her older sister Alice who died young. But she won’t talk about it. As Joe digs into events of that summer of 1916 and Alice’s life and death, Joe is convinced his visions relate to Alice’s death. But could there be an even deeper meaning? A local woman, Kathleen, who owns the second hand store, becomes the recipient of the unwanted furniture and items from the house,. It doesn’t take long before he falls in love. With Kathleen’s help Joe finds the puzzles of the past falling into place. Yet with it emerges a very real threat to both Joe and Kathleen.
I found this an intriguing book. It certainly kept my interest throughout. I liked reading the story of John and Alice, Pearl and their sisters and others from the older story as well as the story from 1983 with Joe and Kathleen. It is a story of family, self-sacrifice, jealousy, love, danger and abuse. The characters are engaging and effortlessly drew me into the story. I couldn’t help but want to know what had happened to fracture this family and why events of the past had so much an impact on Joe. An engrossing read that deals with a number of issues as the truth emerges. I loved it and would be keen to read another book by this author.

Pauline

Rating: really liked it
A story set in two timelines.
1916 Pearl is the second of seven sisters. When a young student comes to work for her father Pearl is jealous that he prefers her older sister Alice.
1983 Joe is in hospital because he suffers terrible nightmares. His grandmother Pearl who he has never met comes to collect him to help her empty her family's home so she can sell it.
After he arrives in Pearl's home and he learns more about his family's history Joe's nightmares begin to resemble things that happened in the family before he was born.
Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Elizabeth of Silver's Reviews

Rating: really liked it
Finding out you had a grandmother you never knew you had and to have her release you from a treatment center was the best thing that could ever have happened for Joe and his entire family.

Joe wanted to know why his father never told him about his mother. What could have happened?

Joe was in treatment for nightmares, and his father wouldn’t let him come home until the treatments resolved his problems.

Another question is how did his grandmother find him, and why did she want to find him? Answers are she had a private detective look for him mainly because she wanted him to clean out her house and inventory everything that was in it. That would be a great way to learn about Grandmother Pearl wouldn't it?

We go back and forth from 1916 to 1983 and see the family Joe never knew about as we meet Alice and Pearl as young women and Pearl present day. The story from 1916 gave details about the family’s life without their mother, and present day gave details about what Pearl told Joe about her past and his place in her life now.

We have another story line that involved a young woman, Kathleen, hiding from her abusive ex-husband in her aunt’s home. Whose home could it be? None other than Aunt Edna.

Who is Aunt Edna? She knew Pearl's family, and her sister, Alice, was Aunt Edna's best friend. The odd thing is that when Kathleen and Joe met each other, they did a double take because they seemed familiar to each other, but they couldn't figure out how they knew each other.

DOVETAIL pulled me in because the characters and story line were warm and inviting. I would have loved to be acquainted with the characters.

If you need an uplifting read set in a small, mid-western town, you won't be disappointed in DOVETAIL.

This book has intrigue, tenderness, suspense, and an all-around cozy, sweet story line. 5/5

This book was given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Nursebookie

Rating: really liked it
“DOVETAIL” is a beautiful story told in two timelines, one in 1916 with Pearl as a young woman and in 1983 when Pearl is in a home dying from cancer. Pearl’s estranged grandson Joe Arneson has been having troubling dreams that have affected him so much he needed help and treatment. Pearl offers Joe a chance to reconnect by offering a job of clearing out her home and a place to stay. There in Wisconsin, Joe connects with Kathleen who runs the antique store, Secondhand Heaven, in town. In 1916, Pearl’s story as a young girl and older sister Alice is revealed. Between Joe and Kathleen, they piece together the past, uncovering secrets that have been haunting Pearl’s life and now Joe from so many years ago.

I enjoyed the dual time lines and the element of mystery as to what happened in the past and how it connects to the present day. The alternating timelines added to how the story moved forward and had me turning those pages. The story was easy to read and had characters I enjoyed reading about.

Bambi Rathman

Rating: really liked it
"I've long believed that no one should be judged on the worst thing they've ever done. And not on the best thing, either, for that matter." "Human beings are much more complex than one event that happened on one day in a very long life." Pearl has reached the end of her very long life and has lived with guilt, regrets, sorrow and pain. What secrets is she keeping and why is it so hard to reveal them?

The characters in the book are people that any of us could know and could relate to. They have emotions and traits that are individual in what makes their personalities. I loved John and Alice. Such caring, loving, and unselfish characters. I loved Joe and Katherine. Their story was one of an immediate attraction to each other but built as they worked to discover the connections from the past to the present. There were characters I disliked the whole book. Then there was Pearl. She had me on both ends of the likeable spectrum. I found myself despising her and then forgiving her. This worked so perfectly to create the story.

This book has suspense, drama, secrets, mystery, tragedy and foreboding. It also has compassion, devotion, forgiveness, hope and love. Love that can transcend time and space. The way it's all brought together in the pages had me turning them, each chapter building, to find out how it was going to all end.

I have yet to pick up a Karen McQuestion book that I have not liked. This book is no exception. In fact, I loved it! It's complex but written so adroitly that the plot and characters are easily followed and built up as the story goes. The uniqueness of the dual time lines and building the parallel stories until they merge is page turning anticipation. Karen McQuestion has created a book that is like the dovetail joints her title is named after. She takes each of the characters and designs them to perfectly fit with the characters they are joined to. Then she builds the story, chapter and event from 1916 to the parallel chapter and events in 1983. Each revealing more as to what really happened in 1916 that Pearl has held secret for all those years. The story starts to link together just as dovetail joints slip together to create a beautiful piece of work when it's finished. "A dovetail joint can stand the test of time."

This is a wonderfully detailed and crafted book. Written in such a wonderful way that the story unfolds in perfect synchronization. A novel that I thoroughly enjoyed from the beginning to the end. I want to thank the author, Karen McQuestion, for the honor of reading an ARC of this fantastic book. All opinions and thoughts are my heartfelt own. It is definitely a five star read for me.

Camille Maio

Rating: really liked it
This is my first book by Karen McQuestion and I look forward to reading more! I expected a typical girl-moves-to-small-town kind of story, but it was so so much more than that. With a touch of magical realism, the past and the present are found to be deeply connected, the romance is authentic and moving, and the story is captivating. Put this one on your list!

Julianne MacLean

Rating: really liked it
Karen McQuestion has crafted an emotionally suspenseful tale that explores the intriguing possibilities of genetic memory. It’s an inspired story—a marvelous, evocative read, the perfect blend of mystery, magic, tragedy, and hope. I absolutely loved it, and I devoured it from start to finish.

Bette Crosby

Rating: really liked it
Wonderful story full of all the love and warmth of a true romantic novel. With the right amount of tension, good versus evil and a beautiful ending. Set in two timelines, it is a story of secrets, betrayals, and uncovering the mysties of the past.

Elaine

Rating: really liked it
My Review
March 10th 2020
☕☕☕☕☕

Dovetail

By E sapp - Mar 10, 2020

This was a first for me by Karen mcquestion, this was a Arc that I absolutely loved I felt like I was right there in the story with Alice, and John. Pearl Frank.
And Joe and Kathleen.
This story goes from the year 19 16 - to 1983 back and forth in time to the Future but Alice taking care of her family after her mother dies her younger sisters and her father. A young man named John comes to help out on the farm Alice not knowing they would soon fall in love this young man has a background that back in those days was not lightly looked upon.. but I soon saw why Alice fell in love with John and he was such a giving caring guy..1916.. going into 1983 Joes dad and stepmom had put him into Trendale a place like psychic ward.. because Joe has nightmares and all it scared his family.. but Joe's nightmares have a lot to do with things in this story this is a wonderful Story one that touched me deeply one that I will definitely read again. Will be recommending to everyone which I have already done I finished this book yesterday but I wanted to sit on it a while and then do my review I just can't say enough about this book I absolutely love this book and if I could I would give it 10 Stars.
Thank you netgally For this copy.
And also Thank Karen McQuestion
For this Amazing Book.