Review: The Forgotten Ones by Steena Holmes

The Forgotten Ones

by Steena Holmes

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Pages: 345

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Elle is a survivor. She’s managed to piece together a solid life from a childhood of broken memories and fairy tales her mom told her to explain away bad dreams. But weekly visits to her mother still fill Elle with a paralyzing fear she can’t explain. It’s just another of so many unanswered questions she grew up with in a family estranged by silence and secrets.

Elle’s world turns upside down when she receives a deathbed request from her grandfather, a man she was told had died years ago. Racked by grief, regrets, and a haunted conscience, he has a tale of his own to tell Elle: about her mother, an imaginary friend, and two strangers who came to the house one night and never left.

As Elle’s past unfolds, so does the truth—if she can believe it. She must face the reasons for her inexplicable dread. As dark as they are, Elle must listen…before her grandfather’s death buries the family’s secrets forever.

Kritters Thoughts:  This is a tale of unreliable narrators and a reader trying to figure out who to trust.  There are two narrators.  Elle is a daughter and that is all she has been her whole life that is the only family relationship she has known.  David is counting his days in the hospital and as he hasn't had communication with the rest of his family he is pretty sure he will die alone.  

Very early in the book, the reader finds out the connection between David and Elle and I loved the premise that his days are numbered and Elle must quickly get the truth of the past out of him.  I loved how that easily took us back in time through David's eyes to see the past.  

The thing that I didn't love completely was that everyone was second guessing everyone else's version of the truth.  I can handle an unreliable narrator, but it felt as though no one in this book could be trusted and it lasted for a very long time in the book.  I am not sure that I would change anything, but I could see myself getting frustrated once David told a story and I was ready to hold that as truth and would have other characters possibly dispute what he had just told.    

I am and will always be a fan of Steena Holmes.  Her characters are built so well and the stories are always interesting.  Her writing is easy to read, but still has depth.  All of her books are easy to curl up with on a rainy afternoon and read basically in one sitting - I love those kinds of books!


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2018 Challenge: 31 out of 100


Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from the author.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.