The Mill River Recluse: A Novel (Mill River #1) By, Darcie Chan narrated by, Amy Rubinate

The Mill River Recluse: A Novel (Mill River #1) By, Darcie Chan narrated by, Amy Rubinate

This was a very different book than I was expecting when I started, I guess from the description I assumed it was a mystery but it turned out to be kind of a feel good story. It was the story of a town and the woman who looked down from her mansion on a hill because she couldn’t leave her house due to severe social anxiety disorder, however Mary does have one friend Pastor Michael who has been there for her when she had no one else. I felt this book was also about this friendship that was true and real their friendship was one most people dream about, the kind of friendship that knows all your secrets (or almost all as in this case) and accepts you for who you are faults and all.

I enjoyed this book, it told a good story, even if at times some characters didn’t get fleshed out as much as one would have liked. It’s hard to characterize this book into a genre; it’s has family drama, a bit of a whodunit, town secrets, abuse, friendship and social anxiety so if you can figure out what genre it belongs in let me know!

Amy Rubinate’s narrations was fabulous as always all her voices were distinct and every character had their own voice. She also did well at aging the characters voices as they sounded younger when they were recalling the past and older in the present day. Narration was very well done.

As I said even though I went into this book thinking it was something it was not I still enjoyed it, and would recommend to people who enjoy a well told story. I will be reading the next book in this series as I am curious at what else is going on in Mill River.

3 ½ Stars