"Refuge on Crescent Hill" Blog Tour

Refuge on Crescent Hill

A Novel

by

Melanie Dobson

This homecoming wasn’t what she expected…

Jobless, homeless, and broke, Camden Bristow decides to visit the grandmother she hasn’t seen in years. But when Camden arrivers in Etherton, Ohio, she discovers that her grandmother has passed away, leaving her the 150-year-old mansion on Crescent Hill. The site of her happiest summers as a child, the run-down mansion is now her only refuge. When Camden finds evidence that she may not be the mansion’s only occupant, memories of Grandma Rosalie’s bedtime stories about secret passageways and runaway slaves fuel her imagination.

What really happened at Crescent Hill? Who can she turn to for answers in this town full of strangers? And what motivates the handsome local Alex Yates to offer his help?

As she works to uncover the past and present mysteries harbored in her home, Camden uncovers deep family secrets within the mansion’s walls that could change her life – and the entire town – forever.

Get more information about this book and read an excerpt here.

This title will be available for FREE on Amazon Kindle starting October 31st!!!

Be sure to check it out here.

About the Author:

Melanie Dobson is the award-winning author of The Black Cloister, Love Finds You in Liberty, Indiana; and Together for Good. A former corporate publicity manager at Focus on the Family, Melanie has worked in the fields of journalism and publicity for more than eighteen years. She and her family live in Oregon.

My Take:

I have been reading a lot of Amish fiction and historical fiction lately, so I was glad to have a little change of pace with Refuge on Crescent Hill. This novel includes historical elements such as references to the Underground Railroad, so I was able to enjoy a contemporary book without straying too far from my favorite genre of historical fiction.

Refuge on Crescent Hill is told from four people’s perspectives about the mysteries surrounding Crescent Hill. At first I was afraid the different points of view would get confusing, but I actually enjoyed getting the whole story as it unfolded. Since the reader does follow the different perspectives, you tend to know everything as it is discovered by each person, rather than just as one person discovers it. Because of this, I wouldn’t call it a hard-core suspense novel that leaves you guessing until the end; the twists and turns along the way were revealed more gradually. However, I enjoyed this way of telling the story.

I sometimes felt that the characters were repeating themselves a lot during their thoughts. I realize that we are following them during an intense period of time in their lives, and their focus is mainly on the house and what is going on in the town. But, it sometimes felt as if I was reading the same thoughts today that Camden had had yesterday and the day before. So, it felt a little repetitive in between the twist and turns and revelations.

Although I felt this repetitiveness at times, I was still engrossed in the story. I love when contemporary books explore a mystery that happened hundreds of years ago, and the way all the stories came together was really interesting. I also appreciated that the romance in this novel was present, yet understated, more like it would happen in real life. It didn’t feel sappy to me, which I really respect in a contemporary novel.

Refuge on Crescent Hill is a novel that has it all:  mystery, romance, compassion, history, and above all, hope.

I will give Refuge on Crescent Hill … 4 BookWorms.

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received this book free from Kregel Publications through their blog tour program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this is accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255:  “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”