This is an intriguing and complex novel of family secrets which linger for years until forced to the surface. Told in dual time line- 1916 and 1983- the story is precipitated by Joe's nightmares and hospitalization for his mental health. His grand mother Pearl comes to rescue him and in putting him to work at her farm opens up her old wounds. It's also a romance tale between Pearl's sister Alice snd John and between Joe and Kathleen, the woman helping him clean out Pearl's home. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Nicely written and deeply heartfelt, this is a good read.

I love reading stories where the characters dive into the past of their loved ones. This story, though, was unique because Joe suffered from troubling dreams that he came to find out had some truth to them. After meeting his estranged grandmother, Pearl, he discovers not only the history of his family but the tragedy that befell Pearl’s sister, Alice, over half a century ago. I really enjoyed getting to piece together the details as they unfolded for Joe and Kathleen, and it was interesting seeing the parallels between the present characters and those of the past.

Highly recommend!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3207273766

Pearl, as a seventeen year old and Pearl as an eighty seven year old woman, dying of cancer, ties the two timelines of this story together. But so do the dreams of her grandson, Joe. Present day Pearl has sprung her grandson, who she has never met before, out of a mental health facility, where twenty two year old Joe has been for months, because of his very vivid, recurring dreams, that haunt him most nights. Both his doctor and his father want Joe to agree to electroshock therapy so he's more than ready to get out of that place and jumps at the chance to leave with his grandmother. 

The 2016 timeline has a very spoiled, selfish, lazy, unkind Pearl channeling Scarlett O'Hara, except Gone With the Wind hadn't been written yet...nevertheless, that it the personality that came to mind as I read about Pearl. She avoids helping her nineteen year old sister. Alice, with any of the chores that come with running a household made up of a father and his seven daughters. Pearl hides from chores while she daydreams of Hollywood or Paris, thinks the eyes of all men or boys are on her only and considers her kind, hardworking, loving, compassionate sister to be plain, boring, and not worth the time or attention that anyone would give to her. So when medical student John Lawrence comes to work on their farm for the summer, Pearl is enraged that John falls for Alice and she is determined to undermine their relationship. Also against the relationship is Frank, a man who considers Alice his girlfriend despite the fact that Alice openly shuns him and all his gifts and advances. 

In the present day timeline of 1986, Pearl wants Joe to clean out the old family home and take the saleable items to the local vintage shop, for resale. He's also to live in the house while he get the property ready to sell. Twenty six year old Kathleen runs the vintage shop and despite her being against having a relationship with anyone, after a very bad marriage to her ex husband, Ricky, she and Joe become best friends and spend all their time together. He tells her every detail of his dreams and both Joe and Kathleen decide to find out how Alice died at the age of nineteen. 

This story it really very simple with very simple themes. And the characters are very black and white. There is the almost perfect couple of Alice and John and the almost perfect couple of Kathleen and Joe. Any black spots in their pasts are no fault of their own, they are almost too good to be true. And then there are the characters of Frank and Ricky, rotten to the core, abusive, jealous, possessive and determined to make Alice/Kathleen love them, no matter who they hurt. Finally there is Pearl who hasn't turned over a new leaf in her late years. Really she is just wanting to be sure she has a chance to enter Heaven when she dies, because she knows she's broken every one of the Ten Commandments, at least once. So she's going to try to redeem herself, the little bit that she can, by helping Joe, and through him, hopefully getting a chance to apologize to her estranged son, Joe's father. 

I haven't really mentioned Joe's dreams much but to do so tells the story of what happened back in 1916. Joe is a tie to the past and his dreams aren't like most dreams. Instead he is living the life of someone else in them and he feels the great love this man has for the woman in the dreams. He also sees the great heartbreak of the man when the woman dies. Together, with Kathleen, they want to understand what these dreams mean. 

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC.

Dovetail is a beautiful romantic, suspenseful and dramatic novel. Loved the characters and the way this book was so perfectly crafted to fit together and develop. Full of secrets, jealousy, regret, dreams and new beginnings, this book was fantastic! Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the review copy. All opinions are my own.

Perfectly Executed. This was an interesting take on the dual timeline approach, where the connection between the two timelines is both standard and... not. Standard in that the older characters in the more current timeline are much younger in the older timeline, not in ... exactly how the older timeline is revealed. This is a drastic departure from the feel-good story of McQuestion's 2019 work Good Man, Dalton, but is perhaps even more interesting because of it. Here we get much darker themes of possession, abuse, and regret, but we also get a seemingly accurate portrayal of life in rural 1916 and 1983 and the hope that could exist in both eras. Truly excellent work, and solid evidence of McQuestion's adaptability as a storyteller. Very much recommended.

4.5 Stars!

Wow! This book has a little bit of everything. Family drama, mystery, love and betrayal. This was the first book I’ve read by Ms. McQuestion, and I need to go back and read her earlier books. Her characters were realistic, flaws and all, not expecting our love or forgiveness. The past (1916) and present (1983) timelines go back and forth seamlessly and tie things together honestly. The touch of magical dreams thrown in was perfect touch.

Set in a small town in Wisconsin, Pearl is a feisty, opinionated grandmother. She springs her never met grandson, Joe, out of a mental hospital where he is staying because of his vivid dreams. She takes him to her childhood home and offers him a job for the summer. He becomes friends with Kathleen, who inherited her antique/second hand store from her GreatAunt. There is a instant connection that they can’t explain. But, Kathleen is hiding something.

Now go back to the past. Pearl is a self-centered, head in the clouds, pretty teenager. She wants the finer things for herself and especially her future. Second in line of six girls. Her mother deceased, a loving father and an older sister, Alice, who was born to run a home. When a handsome man comes to work for their father, he has secrets of his own, but much to Pearl’s dismay, he only has eyes for Alice.

Both Kathleen and Alice have unwanted suitors who won’t take no for an answer. These two timelines collide with totally different outcomes. You will cheer for both these couples...one just a little too perfect for me.

I loved the family dynamics... the sibling dynamics, parental interactions and family mystery. I especially loved how Pearl never changed, only aged and softened. Thanks to Ms. McQuestion, Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone.

Will post to Amazon and B&N on pub day.

Absolutely astounding.... A Love Story that transcends the ages. It will be a classic love story for years to come. Great characters, that you immediately fall on live with.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC!



1916: Pearl is not a fan of housework, getting dirty or the lack of men in the town of Pullman, Wisconsin. After losing their mother a few years back, Pearl and her six other sisters live on a farm with their father. As the second oldest, Pearl doesn't understand how Alice-the eldest- can enjoy all of the housework she does. Alice is always singing, always happy, and always giving to her younger sisters. As summer approaches their father hires a man, John Lawrence to help on the farm. John is dark and handsome, hardworking and secretive. It doesn't take long for him to notice Alice, much to Pearl's dismay. However. John has a past, and that past comes to haunt the whole family in the end.



1983: Joe Arneson is having vivid dreams. So real he feels that he is inside this man's body in a different time. They keep him up at night and he starts to scare his family. Sending him to the mental insitute, doctors can't even figure out how to cure him, or what the source of his dreams are. One afternoon, an estranged grandma comes to break him out of the place. Together they head up to her home in Pullman, Wisconsin where Joe discovers more than he could have ever bargained for about his unknown family history. As Joe helps his grandma clean out her house he is acquainted with Kathleen, the antique shop owner. Together they piece the broken parts of history and connect Joe's dreams with a message from someone in the past.



THIS IS A MUST READ. As someone from Wisconsin herself, I was eager to read a novel taking place close to where I live. This story is so magical, I haven't read a novel this good in a long while. There is drama, suspense, love, history and every good thing that a book can offer. It flows, it's livid, and relatable, This book follows a past and present theme, and has multiple character narriatives. I was so impressed with how the author made each story flow and intertwine with each other. Never was I confused or lost in the timeline of the characters. I was so sad when it was over because I could read 1000+ pages on their lives in Pullman, Wisconsin. I would recommend this book to people who love a good story, especially with the past and present theme.



Rate: 6/5

Fiction

Author: Karen McQuestion

Pages: 349

This was a curious book. The storyline is in 2 different time periods. I'm always intrigued as to how an author creates a story and this author was very creative. I often think life was simpler in the early 1900's but this story provides an excellent insight in the role of children of all ages in keeping a household running smoothly.
The story touches on so many emotions from spousal abuse, jealousy, love and heartbreak in both time eras. I recommend this book as you'll fall in love with the characters.

Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Description
From the bestselling author of Hello Love comes a spellbinding new novel of enduring love, family secrets, and mysterious death.


Joe Arneson’s ordinary life is upended by troubling dreams of himself as a different man in another place and time. It isn’t until he visits his estranged grandmother, Pearl, in her Wisconsin hometown that a startling connection emerges.

Drawn into his family’s past, Joe discovers secrets weighing on the old woman’s soul: the tragic death of her sister Alice a half century ago and its ripple effect on all who loved her. Digging into the events of that summer in 1916, Joe is convinced that his recurrent visions relate to Alice’s untimely passing and to the beloved man she meant to marry. With the help of Kathleen, a local woman Joe’s fallen for, the puzzles of the past start falling into place.

As uncovered truths bring Joe and Kathleen closer together, they also reveal a new danger. For Joe’s dreams may be a warning—from one star-crossed couple to another.

This is my first book by Karen McQuestion.
It takes a talented writer to keep their reader on track with a dual timeline. I found myself enjoying it as I read and being able to keep my place between both timelines without getting confused. I found myself engrossed in both worlds.

Character development was richly done. Spot on.

I felt like I knew everyone in the 1916 story. I wanted more of Alice and John and of Pearl and Frank. The twists and turns of the plot surprised me at the end.

For the 1983 timeline, learning about Pearl in her older years was interesting and also, I enjoyed the story of Joe and Kathleen - though, I found myself guessing the outcome for their ending.

I also wanted to mention the cover with the rowboat - It makes me smile and pulls at my heartstrings just a tiny bit. Good choice!

Kudos to Karen McQuestion for a splendid read.

So, thoughts.... well, the book is very well written, well researched and the characters are very likable and developed. The story is sweet and loving, and features parallel timelines that work well together and that is not an easy feat. But....for me, the plot twists were entirely too predictable and that took away some of the entertainment out of it,

The elderly woman who came to his rescue in 1983 was a stranger to Joe Arneson but she declared she was his grandmother. Joe had always been told by his father that his grandmother had died, but as he came to know Pearl, he knew that she was in fact his grandmother, and there was a past of secrets that both his father and grandmother were unwilling to tell him. With Pearl in a nursing home, and dying from cancer, she asked Joe to clear the family home ready for sale. The secondhand store in Pullman, Wisconsin was willing to take the old furniture that was too good to dump – and so Joe met Kathleen, owner of the store.

Joe told Kathleen about the recurring dreams he’d been having; dreams that he felt were too vivid to be anything but real. But they also frightened him. As Joe and Kathleen investigated findings among the old furniture, some parts of the puzzle came clear. Back in 1916 Pearl’s older sister, Alice had died under tragic circumstances, her death having a profound effect on those left behind. Would they find the answers that Joe needed to find peace of mind? And what was the danger that was coming closer to Kathleen, a danger that she was completely unaware of?

Dovetail is my first by Karen McQuestion but definitely won’t be my last. An outstanding read, I thoroughly enjoyed both timelines – 1916 with Alice, Pearl and her family; and 1983 with Joe, Kathleen and Pearl – with the connection between the past and present profound. A captivating read, the blend of romance with family secrets is perfectly done. Dovetail is a book I have no hesitation in recommending highly.

With thanks to the NetGalley, the publisher and author for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

This was certainly a very intriguing story. It’s written in two timeline, 1916 and 1983, with the characters, inexplicably linked during those years. Karen Mc Question is a very skilled storyteller, with well developed characters, who just grab you into their stories.
Alice and her 6 sisters are motherless, as they live modestly during the pre war years of 1916. Jealousy, secrets and a tragedy disrupt their lives, leaving scars that are still there, when the story flips to 1983. An old family home reveals things that link Joe, his father Bill and Pearl to their 1916 family, and the nightmares that have incapacitated Joe start to develop meaning and the keys to the tragedy that devastated that family.
My thanks to #LakeUnionPublishing #Netgalley and #KarenMcQuestion for my ARC of this beautiful romance and fantasy tale. All opinions are my own and I can truthfully say, I loved it from the beginning to the wonderful end.

I have read a few Karen McQuestion books, and I think I may have just found my favourite.
Dovetail is a beautifully crafted pair of love stories, running simultaneously in both 1916 and 1983.

In 1916, Pearl is a beautiful young woman in her prime, wishing to be swept away by love, into a world of glamour, rather than the smalltown lifestyle she has. Her elder sister, Alice, has looked after her and the rest of the family since their own mother died. News of a new, and possibly eligible, man, Jack, coming to live and work near them, sends Pearl into a frenzy of planning her own escape from this life, but fate has other plans.

In 1983, Joe is trying to wrangle with strange repetitive dreams he keeps on having. They scare his family so much, he is committed to a hospital for treatment. Joe struggles there, until one day, he's granted freedom, in the form of a grandmother he never knew was alive.

Slowly, connections between Joe's dreams, and Pearl's early adult life form parallels that no one could have expected.

Oh, I truly loved this story so much! I realised the similarities and the possible ending before finishing, but I had to keep going because I just wanted to see how everything happened!

A tale filled with surprises, and blossoming romances.

A MUST read!!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I will leave a review on NetGalley or B&N on Mar 10, 2020

I received an Advanced Readers Copy from NetGalley and the publisher an this is my fair and honest review.

I have never read any of Karen McQuestions book before so wasn't really sure what to expect. Books set between two timelines isn't one of my most favorite types of reads, but having said that overall I found this to be and overall very good read. I found it to be an unique read that was emotionally moving, the storyline was interesting and not like anything I have read before so in that instance I was very happy. Sometimes I wished it was a little quickly read, at times I found it to be slow reading. The pace did pick up more toward the middle to end of the storyline. I would recommend this book to others that enjoy books by this author, and enjoy her way of writing.

This was an entertaining story written in two different timelines; 1916, Pearl and 1983, adult grandson, Joe.

Joe has never met his grandmother Pearl until she takes him out of treatment for nightmares that he does not understand. The two share family secrets, intrigue and hopefully healing.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for this advanced readers copy. This book is due to release in March 2020.

Finding out you had a grandmother you never knew you had and to have her release you from a treatment center was the best thing that could ever have happened for Joe and his entire family.

Joe wanted to know why his father never told him about his mother. What could have happened?

Joe was in treatment for nightmares, and his father wouldn’t let him come home until the treatments resolved his problems.

Another question is how did his grandmother find him, and why did she want to find him? Answers are she had a private detective look for him mainly because she wanted him to clean out her house and inventory everything that was in it. That would be a great way to learn about Grandmother Pearl wouldn't it?

We go back and forth from 1916 to 1983 and see the family Joe never knew about as we meet Alice and Pearl as young women and Pearl present day. The story from 1916 gave details about the family’s life without their mother, and present day gave details about what Pearl told Joe about her past and his place in her life now.

We have another story line that involved a young woman, Kathleen, hiding from her abusive ex-husband in her aunt’s home. Whose home could it be? None other than Aunt Edna.

Who is Aunt Edna? She knew Pearl's family, and her sister, Alice, was Aunt Edna's best friend. The odd thing is that when Kathleen and Joe met each other, they did a double take because they seemed familiar to each other, but they couldn't figure out how they knew each other.

DOVETAIL pulled me in because the characters and story line were warm and inviting. I would have loved to be acquainted with the characters.

If you need an uplifting read set in a small, mid-western town, you won't be disappointed in DOVETAIL.

This book has intrigue, tenderness, suspense, and an all-around cozy, sweet story line. 5/5

This book was given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.

A really lovely novel that's done with a masterful hand. It starts off in a very intriguing way with the very likable protagonist Joe getting a ticket to freedom from a grandmother (Pearl) who he's never heard of before. What follows is an amazing parallel story between 1983 and 1916 all set in the small town of Pullman, WI, anchored by Pearl and Joe's strangely real series of dreams. I really enjoyed this back and forth and the way that both times moved the plot line forward without stepping on one another, which resulted in the perfect pace for the events in this story. And, it picks up at just the right time. I couldn't put it down for the last 100 pages or so.

It's pretty obvious which characters line up with the others in the separate timeline but I liked that. The switching between POVs is done so well! Most novels rely on putting the character's name in the header of a chapter to indicate who's speaking but in Dovetail they all have such unique voices that it wasn't needed. I'm really impressed by that. Ricky was legitimately terrifying to me and his POV chapters really made my skin crawl. Joe, John, Kathleen, Alice are all very likable, the kind of characters you'd be happy to be friends with in real life. To me though, Pearl is irredeemable. I kinda liked her in her old age but young Pearl was so revolting to me, I just couldn't forgive her for the events that transpired because of her decisions. I know she's supposed to be redeemed but I couldn't get there. (That probably says more about me than the novel though.)

All in all, a very enjoyable historical romance that I would absolutely recommend to fans of the subgenre.

Note: I received a free Kindle edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher Lake Union Publishing, and the author Karen McQuestion for the opportunity to do so.

Romance, family secrets.... this was very good. The writing has depth and the two stories are woven together. It truly is magical.
Many thanks to Lake Union Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I got this book from netgally for an honest review


Dovetail is the latest book by Karen McQuestion due to be released on March 10th 2020, tells the story of how decisions taken in an instant can lead to a chain reaction and affect the rest of your life and how sometimes the stars align to reconcile them.


The story is divided into two time lines, the first is in 1983, when Jo is in treatment for, having four recurring dreams, showing scenes which he does not understand, one of which he calls his death dream, all of them lead him to wake up screaming. Jo is then taken out by his Grandma Pearl, who he has never met before and his dad even told him that she had passed away. Pearl Takes Jo to her home town to work for her for the summer He meets Katherleen, who is also running away from her past, there seems to be a connection, between the two of them, Jo’s dreams and events involving Pearl in the summer of 1916.

The second time line is 1916, when Pearl the eldest sister who is a dreamer, lives with her widowed farther, Alice the next eldest sister and the one who does most if not all of the cooking and cleaning along with with 4 other younger sisters. All is fine until John comes to help the farther for the summer.


The most enjoyable thing about Dovetail is how the the writer drip feeds little bits of intrigue and clues at the start of the novel, for example why did Jo not now about his Grandma or even if she was his Grandma in the first place, this keep you interested as a reader, as Karen McQuestion eases you into both the story and her writers style, which in this novel is enjoyable to read

The only thing I will say that slightly took away from the book is the ending, (don’t worry no spoilers), in that everything seemed to be wrapped up at the end. This is only a personal preference, and did not distract from the end but, sometimes I like and author to leave a little bit of the ending to the readers imagination.


This is the first book that I have ever read by Karen McQuestion and I really enjoyed both the writing style and the story and feel I can highly recommend Dovetail not only to your TBR, but to one of those books on your TBR never ending list that you actually read.