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The Vines  By  cover art

The Vines

By: Shelley Nolden
Narrated by: Jess Nahikian
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Publisher's summary

In the shadows of New York City lies forbidden North Brother Island, where the remains of a shuttered sanatorium hide the haunting memories of century-old quarantines and human experiments. The ruins conceal the scarred and beautiful Cora, imprisoned by contagions and the doctors who torment her. 

When Finn, a young urban explorer, arrives on the island and glimpses this enigmatic woman through the foliage, intrigue turns to obsession as he seeks to uncover her past - and his own family's dark secrets. By unraveling these mysteries, will he be able to save Cora? Will Cora meet the same tragic ending as the thousands who've already perished on the island?  

The Vines intertwines North Brother Island's horrific and elusive history with a captivating tale of love, betrayal, survival, and loss.

©2021 Shelley Nolden (P)2021 Shelley Nolden

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What listeners say about The Vines

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
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    5 out of 5 stars

I’m in shock!

I am in shock. This may have been the best book I have EVER experienced. This writer is a genius. I was hooked from the very beginning, I had to know the mystery of Cora! I needed to hear her story. I sobbed like a baby, I rooted for certain characters and hated others! This book was incredible. At the end I was like nnnoooooooooo! I must know what happens now! But I will be first in line for the next book. And now I’m going to check out everything Shelley Nolden has written. This book was AMAZING. ♥️

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7 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Didn't like it

An 18 year old girl ends up in a plague hospital on an island near NYC. The island has some "special power" that keeps her diseases at bay and keeps her young while a family of doctors experiment on her through the generations. 105 years later she's still alive on the island with her disease. Nope not for me

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4 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

disappointing

i loved the premise of this book but it was terribly slow, writing was just ok and a very anticlimactic ending.. Narrator was hard to listen to.

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3 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Slowly the vine twists

the book starts out pretty slowly and jumping back and forth through time can get confusing at times..it took several chapters to get into this story but I'm glad I stuck with it. I'm a little disappointed/happy there will be another book. (I don't like to wait)

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3 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Boring!

Hi there. This is a snoozer. Not sure how this was even published. Recommend not wasting your time.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A surprise and hard to put down

A richly told story about a mysterious woman and an abandoned island. A real page turner. I enjoyed both the narration and the subject matter. The characters really grab you and I was inspired after reading this to research the real island behind the story. Highly recommend!

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1 person found this helpful

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Amazing story!

This story was so timely and full of twists and turns. This is a book for this time! I can’t wait to research North Brother Island and it’s history! And I can’t wait for the sequel!
I loved the Authors’ note at the end! Shelly Nolden explained everything about her life experiences and how that impacted the story line.
My only critique of the audio book was the narrator’s tones attempting to sound like various male characters. But honestly, I don’t think anyone else could do better.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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GREAT BOOK

I listened to this book when walking and driving. It was so good I found myself sitting on the porch just so I could listen some more. I finished it this morning while walking and after listening to the author talk about how she decided to research and write about North Brother Island, I hurried home to read about this place. Wow She is a great writer and the narrator was wonderful. Loved the story and the characters (good and bad) and to learn a sequel is coming is icing on the cake. I can’t wait ❤️

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great book

I was hooked from the beginning. I love the storytelling. I loved Cora. I didn’t realize this was historical fiction.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Drags and drags

This has an interesting premise, but literally nothing is explained. I struggled to finish this because of how slow it was. I understand that there is a second book coming (or already out?) but this did not live up to its great reviews for me.
Somehow a family has gotten away with experimenting on a woman sent to a plague hospital but she’s magically immune to viruses unless she leaves the island. In all the years of experimenting on her, they don’t think to look into the island itself or the vines that barely came into play. This was more of an ode to the incurably diseased or chronically ill people of the last 100 years which isn’t a bad thing but at least be forthcoming instead of marketing this as a mystery.
All in all, not for me.

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