Book Review: Shadows of the Past by Carmen Stefanescu

When Anne and Neil leave on a one-week holiday hoping to reconcile after a two-year separation, little do they know that destiny has other plans for them. Their discovery of human bones and a bejeweled cross in the hollow of a tree open the door to the supernatural realm and the anguished life of Genevieve, a nun from medieval England. Can Anne save her relationship and help Genevieve her eternal rest? The twists and turns in this paranormal tale keep the reader guessing up to the end and weave themselves together into a quest to rekindle love.

Rate: 4 out of 5 stars

My thoughts:
     I usually don't review books that aren't young adult, but for this book, I just had to make an exception, because the author was really nice and she asked me to review it! (I'm talking about you Carmen!)
     This book sparked my interest when I first read the summary, even thought I would usually be like "Nah, this isn't my kind of thing..". Sometimes you gotta switch it up a little, right? When i saw the cover i was like "OMG...... HOT SHIRTLESS GUY!" and then immediately thought it was going to be an adult erotica book. But i was wrong. The romance in this book was very sweet.
      Anne and her husband Neil are trying to rekindle their romance with a week long vacation and some hiking when they get lost in the woods (spooky). Anne starts having weird dreams and visions of a woman that looks alot like her. They soon learn that it is the spirit of Genevieve, a nun from the local Abby with a tragic and lost past. And who is being chased by the one thing she feared most.
     The writing in this book was great! Carmen Stefanescu did a awesome job sucking me into the book. It felt like I was part of the book the whole time. She described people and places so wonderfully. It was just really good.
     I really liked the love aspect in this book. Best part was how the love felt throughout the whole book. Through all the tragic loss and pain there was still love.
     Now to the characters. Anne was a strong headed protagonist. But I have to say that my favorite character was Genevieve. I just loved her character. She faced so many tragedies in her life. She struggled to survive and defend herself from evil. It just broke my heart! :') The book is done in 3rd person, so we don't really get any of the juicy insite of the characters, like we usually do with other books.
     The book alternates between present and past, which was really enjoyable. I tend to stay away from historical fiction, but the whole alternating component got me very intrigued. I got a little confused in the first couple of chapters, and had to reread them to understand the whole alternating thing. But because of that, I deducted a star.
     All in all, this book was really good. Carmen Stefanescu did an awesome job with this story. But really, I still felt pretty sad for Genevieve and Andrew. (NO SPOILERS! READ THE BOOK)

Quotes:

"Our past and our future are tea leaves in the cup of our present."
-Carmen Stefanescu, Shadows of the Past