Beneath the Mother Tree by D. M. Cameron

I feel like it has been a while since I have written a review. I have been so busy doing other things, mostly uni things, that I hardly ever have the time to sit down and write a full review.

I received this book by the author in exchange for a honest review.

Beneath the Mother Tree comes out in stores on the 1st of August.

Synopsis

On a small island, something sinister is at play. Resident alcoholic Grappa believes it's the Far Dorocha, a dark servant of the Faery queen, whose seductive music lures you into their abyss. His granddaughter Ayla has other ideas, especially once she meets the mysterious flute player she heard on the beach.

Riley and his mother have moved to the island to escape their grief. But when the tight-knit community is beset by a series of strange deaths, the enigmatic newcomers quickly garner the ire of the locals. Can Ayla uncover the mystery at the heart of the island's darkness before it is too late?

My experience while reading

When I went into this book I could feel myself starting to get into a reading slump. I was reading one book a day and it started to feel like too much. My best bet would have been to take a break... but noo I decided to read Beneath the Mother Tree.

I wouldn't say it was a complete failure though. For some of this book I did somewhat enjoy where the plot was going but I did definitely get bored at times.

I was thinking about DNFing it when I got to around 150 pages in but I thought I would power through and see what happens. Then I got to the last 100 pages and again thought about DNFing it.

I honestly thought I was going to enjoy Beneath the Mother Tree. I love mystery and loved the idea behind the plot... but it just wasn't really for me.

Characters

I just turned 20 so I am around the age of both Ayla and Riley, but something I struggled with was connecting with them. It wasn't just them, I didn't connect with any of the characters and being closest to Ayla and Riley connecting with them would have been easier than connecting with any of the other charaters.

I also didn't care about any of them. I didn't like the characters and some of the actions they took. I thought some of it was pointless and a waste of pages.

Something about the characters I did like was seeing some character development, especially in Riley and Ayla. I liked seeing them grow as people.

Plot

As most of you will know I am one of those readers who much prefers plot over characters and although Beneath the Mother Tree had an interesting plot, at times I really didn't care about it.

Beneath the Mother Tree was definitely slow to get into to. I don't think it was until I got to around page 100 where I was like 'this story is kinda interesting'. And then as I continued on things started to go a little up hill but then they went back down.

The pacing did pick up after about 150 pages in but by this point I was already done with the character I didn't care for the plot.

Writing

I was not a huge fan of the writing.

Something I really did not care for was the different point of views. I understand when an author wants to write in two point of views but as soon as you go over that things start to get confusing.

This was what contributed to me not liking the characters. The story would have done so much better if written only in two perspectives, leaving more room for the lacking character development.

Conclusion

So overall I am going to say I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would.

I rated this book 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Happy reading!

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