Review: Call Me Elizabeth Lark by Melissa Colasanti

Call Me Elizabeth Lark

by Melissa Colasanti 

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Pages: 300

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Your daughter went missing twenty years ago. Now, she's finally back. You thought she had returned a few times in the past, and your husband tells you she's not the one, but you feel it in your bones.

Now, what will you do to keep her home?

Twenty years ago, Myra Barkley's daughter disappeared from the rocky beach across from the family inn, off the Oregon coast. Ever since, Myra has waited at the front desk for her child to come home. One rainy afternoon, the miracle happens--her missing daughter, now twenty-eight years old with a child of her own, walks in the door.

Elizabeth Lark is on the run with her son. She's just killed her abusive husband and needs a place to hide. Against her better judgment, she heads to her hometown and stops at the Barkley Inn. When the innkeeper insists that Elizabeth is her long lost daughter, the opportunity for a new life, and more importantly, the safety of her child, is too much for Elizabeth to pass up. But she knows that she isn't the Barkleys's daughter, and the more deeply intertwined she becomes with the family, the harder it becomes to confess the truth.

Except the Barkley girl didn't just disappear on her own. As the news spreads across the small town that the Barkley girl has returned, Elizabeth suddenly comes into the limelight in a dangerous way, and the culprit behind the disappearance those twenty years ago is back to finish the job.

Kritters Thoughts:  A young woman shows up at bed and breakfast while on the run from leaving an abusive relationship and she ends up at a place where a family has been longing for their daughter to return for twenty years.  Could this young woman be the missing girl and could this family help her escape the life she was living?

I love a twisting and turning story where there are many layers and many ups and downs almost until the very end.  Told through a few of the women's points of view, the book switches between and I loved this part of the story.  Seeing the action unfold from different perspectives helps the reader see how each character reacts to the information as it comes out.  

This book was one of those where the synopsis was great and I was absolutely intrigued, but I am not sure that it fully lived up to the promise of the synopsis.  There were a few times where I may have rolled my eyes at the convenience of things coming together or was confused by how the pieces fit.  It felt as though the plot just didn't completely fit together from point A to point B.  

After finishing the book, I realized this was a debut and for me that was interesting to find out and it made me want to see what comes next from this author.    

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

Ebook 2021 Challenge: 53 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Partner in Crime Tours.  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.