Evening in the Yellow Wood

Evening in the Yellow Wood is a “hold-on-tight and don’t let go” kind of a read! This book took me into the world of Justine Cook and her world was a place of unsolved myteries, unsolved murders, and unsolved questions of what really happened to Justine’s father, Robert Cook. It was a thrill of a time searching with Justine for the answers. There is a lot going on in this novel and it never slows down.

Justine’s father leaves (she feels abandoned) when she’s only twelve years old on her birthday. He has left a gift for her with a card. She doesn’t understand how a father could do this. One she’s so attached to and loves so very much. She’s angry and tears the card up and leaves the gift unopened.

The story then advances to ten years later and Justine sees her father in a newspaper photo. She knows she has to find him. She wants answers as to why he left her. This is where the story takes you on a wild and unforgettable ride into a world of secrets and mystery. A world of terror, shamans, old legends, mind reading, murders, paranormal visions, totems and symbolism. This book has so much that kept me running and holding my breath as I was holding onto my seat! I was “living” this story along with Justine and trying my hardest to get through the tangle of past versus present. It was a heart pounding, rushing adrenaline, don’t close my eyes kind of a book. There was a romance aspect to the story that had me pulling for the characters in spite of all the obstacles and threats thown into the mix.

Ms. Kemp wrote a book that kept me awake reading. I could hear and feel a “bumps in the night” kind of feeling as I turned the pages. The story had the pictures in my head and my mind seeing the tricks of the visions so vividly because of the descriptive writing. I enjoyed this book very much…it holds a wonderful mix of things that make you go “YIKES” but also has a storyline with a romance that I loved. There are also so many humorous passages that gave me laughs.

“Except for the fact that I’m a liar who has paranormal visions that cause me to wander around and almost fall off breakwalls, a married ex-lover who has a tendancy to show up unannounced……and a crazy grandmother………. . aside from that, Mrs. Locke-I’d be a perfect candidate for your son.”

I am sufficiently breathing now and had a thrill of a read in this book. I want to thank Ms. Kemp for the copy of her suspenseful book that had my heart racing in so many places. It was GREAT! A five star thrill a page book!

Great paranormal, liked the magical sense , keeps you engaged and great characters will be looking for more from this Author

Laura Kemp Just Blew My Mind!!

Whoa! What did I just read? Evening In The Yellow Wood is Ms. Kemp’s debut novel and created a genre all it’s own. She includes romance and family secrets, (that’s with a capital “S”!), heartbreak, healing, humor and action. So much action that is extremely well written I dare you to turn the pages as fast as this story moves. Justine’s father abandoned her as a child. When she spots his picture in a Newspaper article she decides to start out on a quest to find him and get an answer to the question she’s had half her life. Why? Justine is such a loveable character she makes it worth being on this wild ride because I truly was invested in her outcome from the first page to the last. The fact is there are many well developed Characters and the crafty way this story unfolds is just amazing writing. It contains the elements of suspense, the paranormal, mystery, murder mixed with some grand historical fiction and a sweet albeit complicated romance. A true genre bender that Kemp has woven perfectly together and really makes it all work. The relationships in this story are strong and deep whether based on good or evil. Beautifully written descriptions definitely place you in the setting with the characters; rather than reading the story you walk into and through it with them. I would recommend this book to any reader because of the crossover to multiple genres and the strength of the story. Bravo Laura Kemp! Beautifully done!

Evening in the Yellow Wood is an absolute must read! This story grabbed me from the first chapter!
Justine, an only child is left with her mother after they are both abandoned by her father. How could he just disappear? And why? As the years progress Justine is determined to find her father and the truth. She leaves home and meets some great characters along the way. The necklace her mother gave, which is thought to be one of a kind, shows up on a young boy she meets along the way. Why? Who is this boy? Justines journey leads the reader along, as though you are right there with her, feeling her emotions, smelling the scents of the woods, and seeing the (bird) fly by!
I give this book a Five Star rating!

Evening in the Yellow Wood is a fascinatingly unique blend of paranormal, mystery, romance, and family saga that will keep you engaged and guessing from the first page until the last. Justine is a superb protagonist, wounded but still strong in her indefatigable drive to find the closure she needs. A twisty plot full of surprises, touches of supernatural creepiness infused at all of the right moments, and a cast of rich characters round out this engrossing tale of love, loss, and the weight of the past.

I didn’t know much about this story going in. I originally was drawn to the cover—those yellow leaves were exactly what I was seeing this fall on my walks every day. They really made me think about this book… and then I started reading it.

I immediately fell in love with Laura’s writing style. The words flowed easily off of the page into my head and I found myself becoming completely immersed in Justine’s world. And then things started getting creepy and weird, but trust me, it was in a totally good way. It’s just that since I really didn’t know much about the story, it kind of caught me off guard. But the surprises in the story-line were great and kept me captivated.

I read this during the week of Halloween and let me tell you, that was the perfect time to read a book like this. Spooky, creepy, strange characters and happenings—yep, it had it all!

I loved this book and loved the character of Justine and the whole story surrounding her. This is Laura Kemp’s debut novel and I am so excited to see what else she has in store for her readers!

All I knew going into author Laura Kemp’s highly praised Evening in the Yellow Wood is that I loved the title. It’s phonetically pleasing, lyrical, and balanced. Give me a title that sings on a haunting book cover and you have my attention. Hand me a dilemma that yearns on the second page and I’m thoroughly roped in.
In an au currant voice so accessible you think you know the narrator, Evening in the Yellow Wood exemplifies the term “page turner.” It’s an off-kilter, rollicking ride on a hero’s journey; an edge-of-your-seat through-line chock-full of forward momentum in a cauldron of delectable genres that has something for every discerning reader.
Recent college graduate Justine Cook doesn’t know her genetic history. She’s on course of a promising journalism career when one glance at the local newspaper derails her plans. Through the glass window of a hardware store in another town stares her lost father’s photograph. The mystery begins with Justine’s caution to the wind move, and the game begins.
More than a mystery, Evening in the Yellow Wood is commercial fiction walking the high wire of romance strung up by the paranormal. Its personality shimmers, its pacing is breathtaking. It’s the rare writer who makes the unusual plausible, and Laura Kemp does so by anchoring her charming novel in the small-town Midwest. In the name of covert operation, Narrator Justine Cook takes a bartending job and drives “the heap.” She shares an apartment with a delightfully disreputable local and falls in love with a cop– who, it unfolds, is uncannily part and parcel to the whirlwind story, as Justine adheres to the task of finding her father.
Immortality, mind reading, totems, and visions fuel the fire of this spellbinding book. Evening in the Yellow Wood by Laura Kemp is absolutely unforgettable.

Evening in the Yellow Wood is the literary equivalent of your favorite aunt’s holiday trifle….layer upon layer of goodness that reveals itself with each bite. And in the end, the result is just plain deliciousness.

First impressions imply a story of dysfunction within a family. Delving deeper, the reader soon realizes there are additional layers of telepathy, time travel visions, love, and a haunting family history within a northern Michigan lake community. The overwhelming aftertaste is a satisfying one. So pull up a chair and dig in. You won’t regret it.

Romance, Suspense, Family issues with a dose of Paranormal /Supernatural. Not my usual mix, that said, I Loved this book! This story pulls you in, I couldn’t stop reading it. I had to find out the ending. Kept me guessing right up to the end.
Read this book, you won’t be sorry!

Five Star Review
Evening In The Yellow Wood was phenomenal!! Laura Kemp has definitely written a haunting, suspenseful, mysterious romance that tells the story of Justine Cook, a young woman’s journey of finding out the truth about why her father left her at the age of ten. There are a series of intriguing, unusual and some very eerie characters that are creepy and frightfully exciting that kept me awake at night wanting to read more. This book is full of paranormal visions, folklore, shamans, totems, burning fires and hidden secrets spanning generations that make for a very thrilling read. I was reeled in and captivated throughout the entire book. I highly recommend it!! I’m really looking forward to its sequel! Thank you Laura for this wonderful debut novel!