Moonrise

By: Cassandra King

Narrated by: Jennifer James Bradshaw, Willow Hale, Elle Newlands

Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's Summary

When Helen Honeycutt falls in love with Emmet Justice, a charismatic television journalist who has recently lost his wife in a tragic accident, their sudden marriage creates a rift between her new husband and his oldest friends, who resent Helen's intrusion into their tightly knit circle. Hoping to mend fences, the newlyweds join the group for a summer at his late wife's family home in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. Helen soon falls under the spell not only of the little mountain town and its inhabitants, but also of Moonrise, her predecessor's Victorian mansion, named for its unique but now sadly neglected nocturnal gardens. But the harder Helen tries to fit in, the more obvious it is that she will never measure up to the woman she replaced.

Someone is clearly determined to drive her away, but who wants her gone, and why? As Emmet grows more remote, Helen reaches out to the others in the group, only to find that she can't trust anyone. When she stumbles on the secret behind her predecessor's untimely death, Helen must decide if she can ever trust - or love - again.

©2013 Cassandra King (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Critic Reviews

King’s latest novel takes inspiration from Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, keeping the best of the latter’s atmospheric tension without falling into melodramatic cliché...A suspenseful Gothic that gives a nod to its predecessors while still being fresh." (Publishers Weekly)

“Moonrise touches all the night notes to make it a suspenseful story and also a romantic one. Kudos to Ms King for getting it right…this is a story that impacts the reader, and its mixture of emotions will linger long after you have closed the book." (Huffington Post Books)

“Though darker than King’s other novels, Moonrise succeeds at what she does best: masterfully weaving a story with threads that bind some characters together while pulling other strands loose. Moonrise dives into the waters of women’s friendships with the same level of honesty readers admire in Margaret Atwood’s “Cat’s Eye” and “The Robber Bride.” Moonrise further cements King’s high standing as a writer of contemporary women’s fiction.” (Charlotte Observer)

Not sure what all the complaints are about...

What was one of the most memorable moments of Moonrise?

Story-wise, it wasn't necessarily the most original thing I've ever come across but it was quite enjoyable nonetheless and the mystery was excellently plotted. Also, despite what some of the other reviewers have said, the accents are very authentic, and this is coming from someone with family in the Carolinas. The accent isn't exactly the most pleasant I've ever come across but, truth be told, it is very accurately portrayed here, to the readers' credits.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Again, as said above, I'm not sure what the complaints over these narrators are about. I have listened to several books by Jennifer Bradshaw and she is AMAZING. I have not listened to Willow Hale or Elle Newlands previously but I thought they both performed admirably and I would happily listen to them again.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I listen to my audiobooks in my car on my commute to work. That being said, my commute is quite long (I travel from the city to an off-site base out in the middle of nowhere) and I happily finished this book in about half a work-week.

Any additional comments?

Where's the movie?!?

Not very good

I decided to get this because it was 1 of the 3 in the banner on the homepage of Audible. It seemed like it would be a suspenseful story with good characters. The plot was weak and it just never picked up. The main character is gullible beyond belief and with the exception of Lync and Willa, the characters are not anyone I would ever want to be around, much less socialize with. They are all shallow and the 2 women (Tanzy & Kit) were just plain mean. From their interactions, it seemed impossible to believe that they'd remained friends for so long. The narrator that did the voice for Tanzy was SO ANNOYING. She talked entirely too slow, putting odd emphasis on certain words, where no emphasis was necessary. Sentences that weren't questions ended as though they were. I suffered through the chapters she read. The other 2 narrators were good, but, again, the plot was just weak. The ending left me feeling a bit cheated. There were many loose ends, not enough to warrant a sequel, but enough to make me feel that the book ended entirely too abruptly. It was also a very anti-climactic ending. There was so much build up and then it just fell flat. I would not recommend this book.

Overall Great Book!

I loved this book! The narrators were all great. The narration pulled me in and made it very enjoyable. You can tell all the narrators put a lot of effort and heart into their characters, making it seem very real like I was there with them! The sound quality was great. Excellent choice making this book a multi-narrator book. I think if one narrator read it, it wouldn't have been as good and engaging. Overall, very good book!

What a great book!

Would you listen to Moonrise again? Why?

Yes. The author was very descriptive and captured a nice, southern feel.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

All three narrators were fully devoted to their characters.

Any additional comments?

I actually thought the accents were regionally accurate.

A southern accent that doesn't make me cringe

I am from Tennessee. We have different accents than Atlanta, Mississippi or along the southeastern coast. Most people have to use the overdone accents from Clampets of Beverly Hills fame. It is sooo annoying. The narrators for this story have Atlanta and Florida accents wrong but that's okay cause they don't over do it. How they think the Blue Ridge mountain native caretaker can have a Scottish accent (because her ancestors were from Scotland?) is kind of nuts but I just let that one go. The story was pleasant, the characters were a mixed lot, just like in life, full of quirks and contradictions. There was a bad person but it was well hidden and revealed in a series of believable encounters.

This was an enjoyable listen. While I didn't find it as engrossing as other reviewers, it was a pleasant story set in the south that was modern and showed admirable self restraint by depicting the southern characters as modern people living in contemporary United States while giving the usual trite southern woman stereotype a welcome rest.

Plop, plop, fizz fizz oh what a relief it is when we are not caricatures.

Narrator for Tansy Awful.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would definitely have a different narrator for Tansy and the male characters. She read in a monotone, emphasized the wrong words and used a sing-songish method that was very annoying. The narrator for the males made them sound like women which really detracted from their characters. It detracted a lot from my mental vision of the characters.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

How could anyone be as naïve as Helen? The portrayal of her as a bright intelligent woman was not consistent with her naivete' in not seeing the motives of Kit nor would she not be able to figure out that copying a cake recipe from her grieving step-daughters dead mother might not go over so well.

How could the performance have been better?

Different voice for Tansy.

Do you think Moonrise needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No.

Any additional comments?

I have enjoyed Cassandra King's previous books. This one not so much.

Great escape for a long commute

If you could sum up Moonrise in three words, what would they be?

Intriguing southern story

Who was your favorite character and why?

I enjoyed both Helen and Willa as they came from two very different worlds. It was nice to have the variety of characters throughout the book.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I enjoyed that this book had three different readers, as it gave variety to the story that matched the various characters. I preferred the readers doing Helen and Willa. In fact, I enjoy listening to Jennifer James Bradshaw's readings and seek out audiobooks she has read. She always does a great job with a variety of character voices (hear her Willow Springs reading). Willa's character was well done also with the Appalachian/Scottish accent. My least favorite was the Tanzy reader, but I chose to use the 1.5 speed function on the audible app to get through her parts more quickly so it wasn't a big deal.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I never have that much time in my life, so probably not! But, I do typically listen to two 40 minute stretches a day during my commute to and from work.

Any additional comments?

This was an enjoyable story and was enhanced by the Helen and Willa narrators.

Worst narrative ever!

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Different readers - the women did terrible men's voices - completely took away from the reading of the book.

Would you recommend Moonrise to your friends? Why or why not?

No - because of the terrible narrative

Would you be willing to try another one of the narrators’s performances?

Would be the reason not to read it.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

NO

Any additional comments?

Very disappointing

Really Enjoyable

What made the experience of listening to Moonrise the most enjoyable?

I was really excited about this book because I loved Rebecca. I understand some of the complaints about the Tanzy narrator. While she was my least favorite narrator (the other two were great) it was not so bad that it was unlistenable. A great listening experience.

Goes nowhere

I purchased this book based on other reader reviews which compared it to Rebecca. Rebecca it was not!!! The flimsy storyline took forever to get started and it was just too easy to see where it was going. The ending was unsatisfactory. For my Aussie ears, the accents were just downright irritating and the bitchiness of some of the characters almost too hard to take. I persevered to the end due to the reviews given by other readers, hoping for some final twist that would give the book some WOW factor. It didn't come! For me, it was not an enjoyable experience and a waste of money. I wish I had bought my second choice!!