The Forgotten Gift: Book Review

The Forgotten Gift
My Rating: 4.25
Genre: Fiction
Format: eARC*
Publication Date: November 11, 2020
Author: Kathleen McGurl

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~Book Blurb~

What would you do to protect the ones you love?

1861. George’s life changes forever the day he meets Lucy. She’s beautiful and charming, and he sees a future with her that his position as the second son in a wealthy family has never offered him. But when Lucy dies in a suspected poisoning days after rejecting George, he finds himself swept up into a murder investigation. George loved Lucy; he would never have harmed her. So who did?

Now. On the surface, Cassie is happy with her life: a secure job, good friends, and a loving family. When a mysterious gift in a long-forgotten will leads her to a dark secret in her family’s history she’s desperate to learn more. But the secrets in Cassie’s family aren’t all hidden in the past, and her research will soon lead her to a revelation much closer to home – and which will turn everything she knows on its head…

Discover a family’s darkest secrets today.

~My Thoughts~

The Forgotten Gift is a dual POV and multi genre book. Part historical fiction part mystery.

Sometimes a dual POV and a dual timeline can be difficult to read, because you constantly feel as though you are shifting about without getting a strong foothold into either story. For me, this particular problem only occurs in the beginning of The Forgotten Gift; however, once the stories begin to intertwine, the book really takes off.

I liked Cassie and really felt emotionally connected to her story. I also really enjoyed her interest in genealogical research and how it ended up playing a big part in the story. I just loved how it all worked together.

I will point out that George kind of drove me crazy at first, but once we get to the inevitable point of his tale, things really take a turn. He becomes almost a completely different person for me and I found myself really liking him.

For me, this book is all about the end and I loved missing some sleep to finish it.

~About the Author~

Kathleen McGurl lives in Bournemouth with her husband and cat. She has two grown-up sons who have now left home. She always wanted to write, and for many years was waiting until she had the time. Eventually she came to the bitter realisation that no one would pay her for a year off work to write a book, so she sat down and started to write one anyway. Since then she has sold dozens of short stories to women’s magazines and written three books for writers. These days she is concentrating on longer fiction and has published several dual timeline novels with CarinaUK and HQ. She works full time in the IT industry and when she’s not writing, she’s often out running, slowly.

*Special thanks to Kathleen McGurl, HQ Digital, and Rachel’s Random Resources providing a copy of The Forgotten Gift in exchange for an honest review.