Blog Tour: The Mill River Redemption by Darcie Chan

Title: The Mill River Redemption
Author: Darcie Chan
Published: 26th August 2014
Publisher: Sphere

Review
Having not previously read The Mill River Recluse, I was quite interested to see what The Mill River Redemption would be like and was told it could be read as a stand alone novel.
I found myself easily drawn into the world of the DiSanti's. You are always aware that each character is hiding something and the author cleverly gives you ever so subtle hints as to what will happen further on in the book. I found myself desperately wanting to know what had drawn Rose and Emily so badly apart and what it was that Josie was hiding from them about the fire that had made them end up in Mill River. This made for some compelling reading as every time the author takes us back to the past, she reveals a little bit more to uncovering the secrets in the story.
Having a sister myself I found the dispute between Emily and Rose really intriguing. Darcie gets across the love/hate relationship that sisters have and how because of this, it would take something really big for them to truly hate each other. I found myself thinking of my own relationship with my sister and really hoping that the two of them would be able to reconcile. I thought their Mother's idea of trying to get them to set aside their differences was a brilliant idea and how it leads to something that you don't quite see coming.
What I thought was well done was the two different plots running alongside each other. You have Josie DiSanti's story in the 1980's and then Emily and Rose's story (her two daughter's) in present day. This definitely worked really well and helped to break up the story. So although I had not read The Mil River Recluse first, I did not feel that I missed out on anything, but still feel that it's best to read that one before The Mil River Redemption.
A compelling, intriguing read from Darcie Chan.