Naomi's Reading Palace: Review ~ Two Moons Over Cedar Hill by Sofie Couch

Title: Two Moons Over Cedar Hill

Author: Sofie Couch

Genre: YA Suspense

Published: October 9th 2013

Cedar Hill is more than a farm. It’s a way of life and those who have lived there are connected to it as inextricably as the primitive trees that give it its name. Salter Lyons, an enslaved craftsman, has struggled to find balance between his love of the farm and his love of a woman from whom he is separated by race, society, life and death. And with his murder, a family’s fortune is lost and Salter is trapped in limbo. One hundred, fifty years have passed, and Christina Breeden has left her home at Cedar Hill, she thinks forever, until one day when she receives a deathbed phone call from her mother, Mayella Breeden asks her daughter to return so she might make amends before she dies. The ruse works to draw her estranged children back to Cedar Hill, but everyone soon learns that the farm has gone to the dogs – in a very literal way. Thirty years ago, undocumented migrant farmers died, leaving their young son an orphan and adrift in his non-native country. Since then, Jorgé Lopez has lived with the family that illegally employed his parents, falling between the gap in generations. The only thing he has ever coveted is family and a home of his own, yet he watches as the people around him make seemingly little effort to maintain the family and farm with which they have been blessed. Mayella has secrets too dark and too personal to share with the farm manager of Cedar Hill or her twin children. She knows that confessing her own sins and asking forgiveness from her children would provide her immediate comfort, but would do little toward righting the wrongs of 150 years ago. Instead, Mayella ensures that her death sets in motion a chain of discovery that may make restitution for both the living and the dead who are bound to Cedar Hill.

This was quite an intriguing read as we follow the lives of a family, that set about to uncover the truth about an old story that has been told down through the generations. It often skips from past to present as we learn what originally happened as to what has happened to the people in this generation.

This book takes place ten years after Angels Unawares and follows the lives of twins Christina and Stewart. They left home 10 years ago after disagreements with their mother. When Christina receives a phone call to return home, she is hesitant but in the end decides to go. Of course Stewart follows her and we are taken on a journey, learning the reasons they left and as to why their mother wants them to return home.

We meet a number of characters along the way… Jorge - the farm manager, Annabelle - the lost love, Mayella - the mother, Treeny - the housekeeper, Richard - Christinas boss, and Beebo - the dog. They all have parts in this mysterious story, both relating to past and present. But we also step back in time to watch what happened between the original people on the farm, Grace, Salter and Jack.

I enjoyed the mystery behind this story and how it all unfolded. The ghosts of past and present play a haunting role that at times had me a little jumpy. Ghosts have that kind of effect on me and I know I am enjoying a story if it is pulling me into the story like that. If you like a mystery story, that takes you back in history, you will definitely enjoy this one!

I received a copy of this book from the Author in exchange for an honest review.