Blog Tour & Review – The Missing Years by Lexie Elliott

Happy belated release day!

Thanks to Berkley for the free advanced copy in exchange for my honest review

THE MISSING YEARS – Lexie Elliott (Released yesterday!)

I read her debut, THE FRENCH GIRL, and loved it! See the #CJSReads2018 reviews here

Book Description:

An eerie, old Scottish manor in the middle of nowhere that’s now hers.

Ailsa Calder has inherited half of a house. The other half belongs to a man who disappeared without a trace twenty-seven years ago—her father.

Leaving London behind to settle the inheritance from her mother’s estate, Ailsa returns to her childhood home, nestled amongst the craggy peaks of the Scottish Highlands, joined by the half-sister who’s almost a stranger to her.

Ailsa can’t escape the claustrophobic feeling that the house itself is watching her—as if her past hungers to consume her. She also can’t ignore how the neighbourhood animals refuse to set one foot within the gates of the garden.

When the first nighttime intruder shows up, Ailsa fears that the manor’s careless rugged beauty could cost her everything.

My Thoughts: 4/5 stars!

Right off the bat, I know this one has already divided a lot of readers. I feel like it was the same way with her debut novel, THE FRENCH GIRL. I’m personally a fan of when this happens because there are so many discussions and it really motivates some readers to pick it up and see how they feel about it. Before beginning I had seen some glowing reviews and some where it just didn’t click with them, so I was anxious to see where I fell. I really enjoyed this one!

From the beginning we are treated to an overall eerie and uneasy vibe. A creepy Scottish manor in the middle of nowhere. Sounds like an ideal place, right? Ailsa has just inherited half of a house, while the other half is owned by her father that disappeared almost three decades ago. Once she arrives and gets settled in, she notices some odd things starting to happen. You know something is wrong with a house when animals refuse to cross onto the property – never doubt the instincts of animals. I don’t want to go into too many more details so that I don’t spoil some of the events that take place!

This story had so many unsettling elements and plenty of suspense to go around. What I think some readers aren’t a fan of is that this is more of a slow building suspense. Lots of questions raised and I think Elliott did a great job bringing it all together for the reader. The characters were well-developed and she perfectly sets the scene and creates an atmospheric read. If you haven’t read her debut yet, I highly recommend doing so and then pick this one up (these aren’t in a series, but I think both are intriguing reads).

About the Author:

Lexie Elliott has been writing for as long as she can remember, but she began to focus on it more seriously after she lost her banking job in 2009 due to the Global Financial Crisis. After some success in short story competitions, she began planning a novel. With two kids and a (new) job, it took some time for that novel to move from her head to the page, but the result was “The French Girl”, which will be published by Berkley in February 2018 – available to pre-order now!

When she’s not writing, Lexie can be found running, swimming or cycling whilst thinking about writing. In 2007 she swam the English Channel solo. She won’t be doing that again. In 2015 she ran 100km, raising money for Alzheimer Scotland. She won’t be doing that again either. But the odd triathlon or marathon isn’t out of the question.