SHADOWS 5 star review on LIBRARY THING

I’d like to thank the readers on LIBRARY THING for their support of the written word and the reviewers who take the time to carefully consider each book. I was thrilled to be given a 5 star review for my novel “LET THE SHADOWS FALL BEHIND YOU:”

This is a wondrously written thriller that I couldn’t put down. Set in Canada, a young woman trying to escape her violent childhood cons her way onto an environmental research team where she falls in love with the team leader. When he inexplicably disappears into the Canadian wilderness, she returns home to sort out her past and, by default, her future.

The novel traverses three time periods: the protagonist’s early childhood, the present, and the not-so-distant past of her scientific expedition. The three time frames meld together perfectly and there is no confusion, only enhancement of the story.

This is a character-driven, psychological thriller that hooks you immediately and doesn’t let go until the last secret is revealed. The plot increases intensity to an almost feverish point, but the author does so with beautifully written prose. The sights, smells, sounds and emotions come alive.

Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys a good thriller that isn’t just about car chases or explosions.

Thank you LIBRARY THING for celebrating what lies between the covers!

Five star review on GoodReads

I’d like to thank Ramona for the recent 5 star review of LET THE SHADOWS FALL BEHIND YOU on GoodReads:

I’ll go out on a metaphoric limb and say that this is a post-modern gothic novel, in that the heroine is not in actual physical danger, but she is mighty, mighty confused. Brannagh keeps losing key people from her life, and she doesn’t know why they disappear. The story is all about how Brannagh tries to make sense of her life and these losses, now that she is a young adult and many of the people who know the answers are silent and/or dead. Her mother vanished when Brannagh was a child and no one will talk about it—except when they drop cryptic hints. Her moody boyfriend, Nikki, has just disappeared, and no one but Brannagh seems much concerned, except a police detective who vaguely menaces Brannagh. Preoccupied over Nikki’s mysterious departure (did he just leave her, or did something awful happen to him?), Brannagh reluctantly decides to travel from her avian research job in the primeval forest of northern Canada to a reunion with girlhood chums in the Maritimes. But hold on for much more than just a change of scenery. The author weaves the plot like one of those intricate Celtic knots, in which the strands wander back and forth in time and space in dizzying swirls, over and under and around each other. They tell you not to do that in novel writing 101, but Ms. Leveille pulls it off. This is her first novel, so my hat is off to her for coolly ignoring the writing professors and doing the flashbacks and scene switches so deftly. Setting is important to me as a reader, and here again Ms. Leveille shines. I’ve never been to the forests of Canada, though I have visited the Maritimes. This novel, set in both places, brought the locales alive for me without slowing down the action with long descriptions. The feel is gothic, atmospheric, and slightly spooky, created on the page with adroit phrases and images. This story will resonate with you long after you finish the last page.

I’ll be posting a contest to win a copy of LET THE SHADOWS STAY BEHIND YOU on GoodReads after the holidays, so stay tuned.