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Bittersweet: A Novel
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Bittersweet: A Novel
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Bittersweet: A Novel
Audiobook13 hours

Bittersweet: A Novel

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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Suspenseful and cinematic, Bittersweet exposes the gothic underbelly of an idyllic world of privilege and an outsider's hunger to belong.

On scholarship at a prestigious East Coast college, ordinary Mabel Dagmar is surprised to befriend her roommate, the beautiful, wild, blue-blooded Genevra Winslow. Ev invites Mabel to spend the summer at Bittersweet, her cottage on the Vermont estate where her family has been holding court for more than a century. Mabel falls in love with midnight skinny-dipping, the wet dog smell that lingers near the yachts, and the moneyed laughter that carries across the still lake while fireworks burst overhead. Before she knows it, she has everything she's ever wanted: friendship, a boyfriend, access to wealth, and, most of all, for the first time in her life, the sense that she belongs.

But as Mabel becomes an insider, a terrible discovery leads to shocking violence and reveals what the Winslows may have done to keep their power intact--and what they might do to anyone who threatens them. Mabel must choose: either expose the ugliness surrounding her and face expulsion from paradise, or keep the family's dark secrets and make Ev's world her own.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMay 13, 2014
ISBN9780804191999
Unavailable
Bittersweet: A Novel
Author

Miranda Beverly-Whittemore

Miranda Beverly-Whittemore is the author of three novels, including The Effects of Light and Set Me Free, which won the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize, for the best book of fiction by an American woman published in 2007. A recipient of the Crazyhorse Fiction Prize, she lives and writes in Brooklyn and Vermont.

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Reviews for Bittersweet

Rating: 3.5457318292682922 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

164 ratings32 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I chose this book because of it's setting on Lake Champlain, a place my family spent summers when I was young. The premise is not terribly original - socially awkward, poor roommate gets invited to her wealthy roommate's family summer compound. There she finds this golden family is hiding many secrets. The setting and characters are well described, the "secrets" are a bit too much. The final chapters felt rushed.

    I liked that the heroine is far from perfect, and that she makes many questionable choices - this is no upstanding moral compass of a character! The reading guide and interviews at the end of the book were very interesting as well!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Although Miranda Beverly-Whittemore's novel "Bittersweet" had some rough spots along the way, I really didn't mind them because I enjoyed the book ever so much. It was one of those books that I couldn't wait to get back to reading.... and that doesn't happen terribly often for me these days.The novel focuses on the Winslow family, who own some sort of summer retreat and invite a girl named Mabel to come along. (They really don't seem the sort of people who would spend the summer in cabins though.) Mabel, who has secrets herself, tries to unravel the secrets of the family, all the while longing to become a member of the family. At times, this reminded me of a (light!) version of Brideshead Revisited. I found the plot was a bit on the predictable side (and our narrator Mabel seemed a little slow on the uptake... mainly because Beverly-Whittemore's foreshadowing was a bit heavy-handed.) Yet, I still give this book a high rating because the characters were, on the whole, interesting people that I enjoyed learning more about. This isn't great literature, surely, but it was overall fun, quick read and I wouldn't hesitate to pick up another book by this author.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I really tried to like this book, but the majority of the characters were just not likeable and some were really stupid. The setting just seemed to be the same old run of the mill "family summer retreat" with nothing to make it interesting.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Didn’t care for the characters except for Mabel
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I thought this book was very interesting. It is somewhat boring in the beginning but it gets better later on.
    I still cannot decide if I like the main character Mabel or not. She seems a little too skiddish or easily impressed. I was hoping for a strong willed character but I'm not sure about Mabel.
    Overall, the book was written wonderfully. I liked the suspense it had with the families secret. The author definitely knows what she is doing when it comes to writing.
    I would recommend this book to others because of the meaning of it. To me it shows a girl trying to find herself which is what most girls and women do. I would read other books from this author no matter the genre. Definitely worth the 4 stars.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore The two woman meet when they are rooming together in college. Abby takes it upon herself to help out Maybelle and invites her to her home.When you become a certain age the family allows you to pick a cottage and it's up to you to prove you can make it liveable. With all the servants May can't understand why because of how she grew up.We are able to meet Jennifer's sisters and brothers and rest of the family. May feels so privileged to be given this opportunity to bump elbows with royalty.Loved hearing how the other side lives and how May is able to unearth all kinds of information about the family compound and how it all came about, to preserve itself for the family to yet be born.Blood money and how it plays a part in this book, interesting.I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    3.5 stars. When Bittersweet opens we find Mabel Dagmar, a college student who is average in appearance and social standing, rooming with Genevra "Ev" Winslow, a beautiful, self-absorbed, rich snob who cares about little more than herself. Mabel is enamored with Ev's affluent lifestyle, so when she is invited to spend the Summer with her at Bittersweet, her cottage in Vermont on her family's lavish estate, she is elated and eager to accompany her there. Instead of fun, carefree days spent with her new friend, Mabel encounters sordid family secrets that shatter her fantasies of what it means to live amongst the wealthy. Bittersweet is one of those books that I had to ponder before rating. There were parts I liked about the book, as well as parts I disliked. There was a mysterious undertone that pervaded the book that I found intriguing. From nearly the very beginning I felt as though something was not quite right with some of the main characters, and I think the author did a good job of keeping me in suspense. There were a few elements of surprise that caught me off guard and kept me interested enough to keep turning the pages to see what was going to happen next. I loved the names that were chosen to represent the characters, and overall I think the writer is a good storyteller. Those are some of the things that I appreciated about he book. What I didn't appreciate was the explicit content and, in my opinion, the unnecessary use of foul language. While I didn't feel that it was excessive in the beginning, it progressed to an uncomfortable level, along with content that I found disturbing and out of my comfort zone. I also felt that the book was a bit too lengthy. I almost lost interest a couple of times, like the book was dragging, but fortunately the story would gain momentum and I was again drawn in. I found that by the time the book neared its end I was glad to be done with it. The plot twists, while satisfying, were not always believable. I remember feeling as though many books these days are somewhat predictable in nature. Overall I believe that many people would enjoy this book. As for me, due to some undesirable elements, as well as less than believable plot twists, it was not one of my favorites. I was shocked and amazed by some of it, and would think twice before reading another book by Miranda Whittemore. I received this book free from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review which I have given.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This books sets such a distinctive mood: a large WASP-Y privileged clan of hundreds of Winslows meets for idyllic summers in the Vermont woods. The setting and surroundings are well realized, but then the humans intrude. There's something not-quite-real about poor little poor girl Mabel, fat and frumpy, riddled with insecurity and secrets. She meets Ev, one of the blonde greyhound aristocratic Winslows, at college, and is invited to summer camp. All the family and relatives are strange - rapists, mean moms, crazy aunts. Mabel is charged with finding out the deepest darkness of a family whose fortune was made on the heels of the Great Depression, and whose wealth is continually increasing for no apparent reason. Mabel and Ev's relationship changes from day to day, with no sense to be made of the whys. The ending is actually more satisfying than the beginning or the middle. This reminded me of such gothic tales as "The Lake of Lost Languages", but not as good. The blurbs on the back are mostly from some of my favorite writers, but unfortunately, no one suggested a better editor. I am, however, willing to check out her back catalogue, as the author does have some style.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I was taken by the summary for this book and looked forward to reading it and now having finished it, I feel it was just an okay read. I liked it but didn't love it. I figured out fairly early on what one of the main Winslow secrets was and I didn't mind that at all. I think what held me back from really loving this book was Mabel as the narrator. I don't need to like a character but I do need to find them compelling and I found little in Mabel that was compelling. She was cloying and something of a manipulator so that even when those around her were revealed to be severely in lack of redeeming qualities, it really did nothing to make me take on care of her plight or point of view. She very much reminded me of the narrators of Alys, Always and & Sons the only difference I found was that she seemed less unreliable a narrator than they. I freely admit that I'm not much a fan of ingratiating climber types so it really takes a lot for such a character to win me over. In the end, the other nasty Winslow secret is resolved in a way that I found a little unsatisfying though tidy and Mabel does grasp and hold her brass ring and is granted becoming a Winslow. It made me hold her in no higher regard. I'm glad I read this and I do think it was a good poolside or day at the beach book. I'd recommend it for fans of the the other books I mentioned here and also those who like twisted family tales with the outsider looking in and longing to be a part. It won't change your life but it's not a bad choice to pass a weekend and chat about on Monday morning.I was given a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    After winning a scholarship to a prestigious college, Mabel finds herself rooming with Genevra Winslow. Initially Genevra completely ignores Mabel, but after her cousin commits suicide, the two draw close. That summer, Genevra invites Mabel to her families summer estate in Vermont. Dazzled by the wealth of the Winslow's, Mabel finds herself quickly drawn into their intrigue.This book was incredibly slow moving. Mabel came across as a greedy, money grabbing person who would do anything to belong. Very few of the Winslow family secrets were shocking or all that earth shattering. I was frustrated by the end and wish I hadn't spent my time reading it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Ever wonder what it would be like to spend the summer with the rich. Well that's what happened to plain jane Mabel Dagmar when her college roommate, Ev Winslow, invites her to spend the summer at Winloch the familys summer retreat. Knowing that she doesn't want to go home to her parents she accepts and soon finds herself pulled into the history of what is so wrong inside this family. There is nothing bad that I can say about this book. The characters are well written and the more Mabel discovers the more you want to know. The last few chapters have enough twist and turns with an ending that was satisfying. I love this book.I received this from Goodreads for an honest review.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book was completely riveting from start to finish. It was twisty, dark, suspenseful, beautifully written, and characters were so well developed. I found it incredibly hard to put down, and when I had to, I thought about what would happen until I could pick it back up. I finished it a day ago and am on to another adventure, but I am still feeling so satisfied after such a good read and still mulling over how he story ended. I am looking forward to adding this one to my bookshelf to enjoy over and over again. I can not wait to see what the author comes up with next.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I thought this one was way overrated. I guess it aspires to be a modern day Gothic melodrama - but I thought the characters were cliched and the plot was cheesy. I can often overlook these flaws if the story pulls me in, but this one just didn't.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    When I started this one I could not put it down, I read for hours, enthralled by the lyrical prose. It was such great language and a well crafted story.

    Awkward Mabel's roommate invites her to stay at their family cottage, make that cottages. They have a lot of them and each family member has one of their own when they are old enough. Mabel comes out of her shell, but at the same time is that truly a good thing? Are the Winslows good people? I liked her mind, but the world is grey, and that is shown.

    Her friend Ev is all over the place with her own secrets. The book is about Mabel realizing she is quite alone there. Making her own friends, digging into family archives. Something sinister lies at the bottom of this place. As the story progresses the tone changes in a way, makes the prose haunted and hunted for that matter. And the secrets that unfold, they are quite the secrets indeed. The title fits well too, the end is truly bittersweet.

    It's a book you will not be able to put down, and one book that I do recommend you to try.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This reader found this book had an interesting, dark undertone. The characters were 98% believable and unique. Yes, the author used a few assumptions when it came to how characters reacted to situations, but the characters were still believable. The twists and turns never ended in this book. I did enjoy the ending. I will try this author again in the future.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Before we continue we must all give a round of applause for "Bittersweet" to celebrate how much I loved this book! (claps vigorously while wiping a tear away from face)

    To be quite frank with all of you, there isn't a ton of action throughout the novel. However, I was able to fly through this book. It would feel like I had been reading for maybe 15 minutes, and then I would look at the clock to realize I had been reading for three or four hours. One aspect I absolutely loved about the format of the book is how the chapters are not that long. I think the longest chapter was about three and a half pages. Whenever a book has short chapters like that, I feel like I am able to finish the book faster. Is that just me?

    Throughout the whole novel I was rooting for Galway Winslow. I think I was drawn to him the most, because he seemed to be the most grounded out of his whole family. The Winslows had millions upon millions. They all knew that fact, and used their wealth to their advantage. However, Galway was...different. Mabel was drawn to the fact that Galway didn't seem as interested in those millions. I have to admit I was pretty jealous that Mabel got to hang out with this guy, because let me tell you he is my dream guy.

    My biggest pet peeve out of the whole novel was Mabel's insecurity with her friendship with Ev Winslow and her relationship with Galway. I'm not being condescending towards her having insecurities, because I am certainly not insecurity free. It got to the point that she was practically whining, and insecurities that turn into whining gets under my skin sometimes. We can figure out why she is insecure as we learn more about the characters and her back-story. It's just the fact that there were a lot of times where I wanted to shake her by the shoulders and tell her that everything will work out if it's meant to be!

    I'm glad this novel brought attention to the reality of how many people suffered during the Holocaust, and how many people were able to flourish due to obtaining the property of the suffering. I had a slight notion that it did happen, but it was never taught to me. It was something that I came across at some point in researching or reading another novel. The Winslows represent many families that became wealthy from the victims, and another offense added to the list of actions against the Holocaust victims that people today want to ignore.

    Overall, I loved this book! I am giving "Bittersweet" a 4.5 out of 5. If you are looking for a novel that is filled to the brim with action, then this novel is not for you. However, if you are a love of suspense then DING DING DING you have found a winner! I was guessing the outcome of the story only to be completely stunned when the truth came out.

    DISCLAIMER: I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Bittersweet, the word, is a taste, an emotion, a plant, and in the case of this novel, a cottage on a family estate, near the shores of a Vermont lake. Bittersweet, the novel, is also many different things wrapped up together.

    I received a free copy of this novel via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

    Mabel, the narrator, is a pudgy, asthmatic scholarship student with a troubled past, who finds a loathing-to-loving (think "Wicked," the stage play) college friendship with her roommate: slender, wealthy, privileged, Ev (Genevra) Winslow, of THE Winslows. New bestie Mabel is invited to spend the summer with Ev at Winloch, a huge private family estate where cellphones and e-devices are banned, but dogs are welcome (and abundant).

    Because of the absence of computers and the like, the Winloch scenes are almost dreamlike, with a this-could-be-any-era feeling, with cleaning the cottage, family dinners, swimming, and socializing the main activities. In the beginning, what Mabel wants (does she want Ev as a friend, or lover? Or does she want to BECOME Ev?) feels muddy, and the pacing feels slow, despite some hints that's all's-not-well-in-Paradise with the installation of multiple deadbolts on the Bittersweet cottage doors. Mabel is soon drawn into various family mysteries, and discovers some ugly family secrets, that someone - perhaps the entire clan - is willing to kill to protect.

    There are sex scenes, explicit but not particularly erotic, IMO, and discussion of rape, incest, suicide... These all fit the story, and didn't bother me, but readers who find these issues triggering might want to avoid. The feel is summerlike and sleepy, AND Gothic and brooding, and whether Mabel will escape or be sucked into becoming one of THEM is not revealed until the very end.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    If you are looking for a mystery and secrets, you have come to the right place for you get a lots of that and history about the place. Though this book It start out in college and it really get more and to where you want to find out more. The family clan Winslows. There a all kind to find out.
    Things you will find out about Mabel Dagmar. Mabel want to be friends with her roommate and be a part of her. She find so family secrets that snows about and some Murders to go along with. You will not want to put this book down for you will find that their two boys that are part of the clan and when they do. you either be surprise or shocked or even just wanted to know more, There is just so many things and if you like to head summers or history in cottages and for you may want to read it. I though the author had me guessing wanting to read more and I was stuck with this book in hand for a whole day reading it and I really did not want to put it down.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An intriguing coming of age story. The plot did actually manage to surprise and left me thinking.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Bittersweet is a very intriguing novel from beginning to end. Mabel, a poor and plain looking college student, is invited by her wealthy and beautiful roommate to spend the summer at Bittersweet, a cottage in Vermont. This beautiful estate has been in the family for decades. It is place to relax, play, eat and enjoy all the advantages of the wealthy Winslow family. However nothing is as perfect as it seems and as Mabel becomes more involved in the family secrets are revealed and terrible discoveries are made. Poor Mabel. She is enjoying the good life but if she reveals what she knows she may lose everything. This is a story of good versus evil and the price one pays to live your dream life. This story is very engaging and suspenseful. Very much a page turner especially the last 100 pages!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Bittersweet took me by surprise; not your common story of a scholarship student who rooms with a golden girl from a wealthy family. The scholarship student, Mabel, comes from a questionable background which is not fully defined until almost the end of the novel but that is part of the mystery.Ev, the wealthy roommate, invites Mabel to spend the summer at her family's summer camp in Vermont. The entire family who comes and goes during the course of the summer is about 100 in number. The family has something to hide but what?The novel so intrigued me that I read it in a day and half; what a page turner. The author in aroundabout way comes Paradise Lost to the Winston Family legacy which makes the reader stop and contemplate. With the correct marketing this book can be a best seller; it is such a page turner.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I won this arc from library thing. This book would make a great movie! Takes place at a summer Vermont estate. Lots of suspense, drama, romance and surprises. A little slow starting out but is later hard to put down. You wait to find out the family dirty secrets! Mabel wants to be part of this rich family so bad but to what length will she go??
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I received a copy of this book and it did sound good, unfortunately, no matter how well written Coming of age stories and gothic stories just do not interest me. I did notice Bittersweet has received excellent reviews, so please do read those.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I loved it. An ugly duckling, wrong side of the tracks, college coed is out of her element when she is invited by her well-to-do, beautiful, society roommate to spend summer vacation at the family property in Vermont. She discovers first love, odd-ball behavior of the relatives and a terrible family secret. She wants to belong so badly or at least leave her old life behind, that for a good bit of the book, she looks the other way or convinces herself that all is well. Her self esteem is non-existent and she tolerates being used and abused. Does she come out well in the end? It's a great summer read that I could not put down. My thanks to the author and Goodreads for a complimentary copy.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Wittemore is 2014 Crown publishing release. I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher, Edelweiss, and Blogging for Books- in exchange for an honest review. I could envision this idealistic estate set in Vermont during the summer months, could see the cottages, and could understand Mabel's attraction to the Winslow family. The roommate of Ev, a girl that seems to only need Mabel when it suits her, gives Mabel the opportunity of a lifetime when she is invited to spend the summer with her. Bittersweet is the name of the cottage Ev will inherit and she enlist Mabel to help her get the place in shape. Told in first person narrative, the Winslow family has Mabel enthralled and she will do anything in order to remain on the estate. But, when one of the relatives living on the estate ask Mabel to look into the family history, hinting at something that might prove the family came by it's wealth by being involved in something shady or criminal, Mabel is intrigued. Of course she must keep her research a secret from the rest of the family. As Mabel learns the lay of the land, so to speak, she encounters the adopted daughter, Lu, and Ev's brother, Galway and assorted other rather eccentric relatives, all with their own cottage. But, the Winslow family are not the only ones with a deep dark secret. Mabel herself has a few things she would prefer the Winslow family not to know about her and her family.This book has been categorized as literary fiction, mystery, and even a few labeling it “Gothic”. I think this book would indeed fit into all these genres. The first person telling, which in my opinion is the hardest to pull off, was done very well, the suspense is an excruciatingly slow build, which left me with a constant sense of foreboding, and the mystery is compelling, and Gothic? Well, not the Jane Eyre type of Gothic and this book does not have any supernatural elements which many think is what Gothic is all about, but more of a V.C. Andrews style of Gothic. It's a strange combination, but overall it worked. Now, if you are one of those people that absolutely must have your characters likeable, you might want to move on, because while I could identify with Mabel on many occasions, she has her own flaws. Is she really any better than the Winslow's? If you love old family secrets with lots of twist and turns, then you will like this one. This book most likely hit close to the mark with families like the Winslow's who may have a rather sordid history but know how to put a positive spin on it with the public. It happens all the time I am sure. I found this book very absorbing and atmospheric. The weather patterns even added to the drama with wind and storms during the summer months hinting at a type of turbulence that mirrored what was happening with the Winslow family and with Mabel. This would make a good book club read and I recommend to those that enjoy all genre's I listed above and those that like to read something a bit off the beaten path. This one is 4 stars.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Mabel’s new prep school roommate Ev is everything she’s not. She’s wealthy, beautiful and somehow the two become friends. When she’s invited to spend the entire summer with Ev at her WASPish family’s Vermont estate she is ecstatic. Tucked away in the Winslow family’s cottages Mabel gets a taste for the life of the upper crust, but things take a turn as she begins to realize there might be a darker world bubbling beneath the glossy surface. Bittersweet is a twisty soap opera of a novel. Some of the shadowy twists are predictable, but it’s the tone of the book that made it a compelling read for me. Our unreliable narrator, Mabel, is both smitten and horrified by aspects of the world she discovers and it’s her loss of innocence that’s fascinating to watch. As she starts to uncover the horrifying family secrets it’s impossible not to wonder which side she’ll end up on in the end. BOTTOM LINE: It was entertaining and I didn’t want to put it down, that’s exactly what I want from a big, juicy summer read. The dark plot didn’t disappoint and though it’s nothing earth-shattering, it’s a great one to throw in your suitcase to keep you entertained on your next flight. “Water was a strange substance, like memory - much to push against, but nothing solid to hang on to.” 
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This tale of belonging with heavy doses of moral turpitudes and gothic undertones mesmerizes, entices, and keeps the reader guessing on the secrets and bonds of the Winslow family. Plain and ordinary scholarship student Mabel Dagmar has put as much distance between herself and her Oregon-based dysfunctional family as she can by attending a prestigious East Coast college. Seeming to be invisible to her beautiful blue-blooded roommate Genevra (Ev) Winslow until needed. Mable is unexpectedly surprised to be invited to spend the summer with Ev at Bittersweet, a cottage on the massive Winslow Vermont estate. And what a bittersweet summer it will be! The Winslows are an eclectic bunch to say the least and there is an undercurrent from the beginning that danger lurks behind the masks of superiority and care freeness that lures Mable to be one of them forever. As Ev’s moods towards Mable run from coddling Mable one minute to throwing her to the wolves the next, Mable is attracted to request from eccentric Aunt Indo to figure out a secret and Indo’s cottage will be hers besides tedious research it right up her alley. Clues and red herrings abound as it begins to look more and more like Winslow’s clannish behavior looks cultish, and just who is telling the “real” truth? I read this book when the weather was sultry in my area and so appreciated the evocative descriptions of a different type of summertime in Vermont. I really enjoyed how the author kept the tension simmering like an undercurrent in the beginning and middle parts of the book but will admit as the vileness of some actions were not necessary to my taste. Except for that this is a wonderful beach read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is an engrossing story of a young girl, Mabel, who longs to belong to a world she believes is a better one. She wants to fit into this world and become a part of a privileged family but of course all is not as it seems. Cracks in the “perfect” family begin to show as Mabel searches for their dark hidden secrets.That description may seem to fit hundreds of other books written over the years. However, I think this book goes a little above the standard family secrets gothic tale. It’s very well written and really pulled me into the story. The chapters are fairly short with a lot of cliff hangers that will keep you turning those pages. There’s a slow buildup of suspense that leads to an interesting ending. I’ve seen quite a bit of criticism in other reviews about a hasty ending but I didn’t feel that way at all and felt the author pulled it all together quite well. While there’s a very intriguing mystery at the heart of the book, it’s also a careful character study of class distinctions, ambition, desire and life choices.I’m glad I had a chance to read this book and found it to be an enjoyable one.I was given this book by Blogging for Books in return for an honest review.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    BittersweetBy Miranda Beverly-WhittemoreCrown Publishing978-0-8041-3856-7Submitted by the publisher$25.00, 385 pgs“The truth is a noble grail to seek. But if you’re after it, you must imagine, first, what it will mean to get it. The truth is neither good nor bad. It is above evil. Above morality. It doesn’t offer anything besides itself.” – Gammy PippaBittersweet is an astonishing genre-busting masterpiece of psychological disorders. In other words, Bittersweet is a fairy tale.What’s in a name? Quite a bit, actually. Mabel Dagmar is mousy and overweight, physically timid (she’s afraid of heights, water, storms – you name it), from a poor family plagued by an abusive father. She is an ambitious, prudish “stock-piling peasant” from Oregon with intellectual pretensions. Genevra Katherine Winslow (known as Ev) is a rich, willowy risk-taker whose family owns a summer estate on Lake Champlain in Vermont called Winloch. Ev knows no boundaries; all Mabel has ever known are boundaries. They have two things in common: they are both damaged and each has a secret.The young women are freshman roommates at an elite private college in New York. As Mabel says in the opening paragraph of the book, “Before she loathed me, before she loved me, Genevra Katherine Winslow didn’t know that I existed.” That changes when one of Ev’s cousins commits suicide and Mabel is there to listen and offer comfort. She invites Mabel to spend the summer at the eponymous Bittersweet, Ev’s cottage at Winloch.“An invitation marks the beginning of something, but it’s more of a gesture than an actual beginning. It’s as if a door swings open and sits there gaping, right in front of you, but you don’t get to walk through it yet. I know this now, but back then, I thought that everything had begun…”The summer begins as a certain sort of American idyll: a New England summer peopled with a rich, brash, physically beautiful, politically powerful family; they spend their time sailing, romping with their expensive, faithful hounds and picnicking on the expansive lawns. Picture a Ralph Lauren ad campaign. Mabel is uncertain of her place. She is an invited guest but clearly not of this aristocracy; she skirts the edges of the gatherings, clutching a copy of Milton’s Paradise Lost which she never seems to make much progress with. Pity. She might’ve been better prepared.“As more Winslows arrived, I filled a china plate and nibbled at the far wall, watching them pass before me – an older woman, a little boy, the well-dressed mothers, the chiseled men – all with their alabaster skin, scrubbed clean of imperfections. They were a perfect, particular breed of animal, like racehorses or hounds, thin-ankled and groomed. It was easy to tell those of us not related by blood – we were almost all shorter and darker, but there was something else – we hung back.”Could new blood be just what the Winslows need? It’s not long before Mabel is approached by Ev’s eccentric Aunt Indo who claims that the family is out to get her and promises her cottage at Winloch to Mabel if she can find the necessary information to help her. You see, there is an archive of family papers in the attic of the main house. Indo plants the idea of a conspiracy in Mabel’s head and Mabel digs for the evidence like a dog with a bone as she begins searching for clues. And she does find clues: a squirrelly family tree, bankruptcy documents, tax returns, inventories. The numbers don’t add up. Mabel goes back to Indo and tells her that she’s found some questionable documents but nothing incriminating. Indo gifts (or curses) Mabel with her mother’s diary and tells her that the key is in the diary, particularly in the dates. As the brushstrokes merge to form a painting, for the first time in her life, Mabel begins to feel powerful. As Mabel becomes ever more obsessed with the Winslow secrets, Ev is decompensating. She’s consorting with the help, disappearing for days at a time and gobbling illegal substances. As Mabel begins a tentative relationship with Ev’s brother Galway (odd man out in this family), an immigrant’s rights advocate (I found this appropriate – Mabel being a sort of immigrant to Winloch), her relationship with Ev begins to disintegrate. As toxic family secrets ooze to the surface like polluted groundwater, the Gothic atmosphere of foreboding contaminates everything about Winloch. The frightening denouement bears down on you with the force of a freight train of cattle cars. You will think you know all the secrets but you will be wrong. The puppet master is not who you suspect. The opening paragraph of the last chapter found me audibly sucking in my breath, eyes wide. I closed the book and stared at the wall for a couple of minutes before I could continue reading.I ceased fretting about stereotypes by the end of the first chapter when it dawned on me that, as in fairy tales, these characters are archetypes. That each is also an individual is a feat of author Miranda Beverly-Whittemore's imagination and intuition. I wound up not wholly liking anyone and isn’t that reality? Like these characters, we are bundles of needs and desires that are frequently inconsistent. Mabel in particular is a collection of contradictions. She disdains the Winslows and yet covets everything they represent. “…scholarship girls aren’t meant to slumber beside the scions of America because doing so whets insatiable appetites.” Mabel is an ambitious girl with a wide streak of self-righteousness; she is naïve and seeks the approval and acceptance of those she believes to be morally inferior to her.The language of Bittersweet is almost flawless. Word choice is delicious and intelligent, the sentences beautifully and lovingly constructed. The plot is intricate without tying itself into knots. The final plot twist will leave you slack-jawed. The author is an expert at pacing; she drops clues like so many buttery breadcrumbs. The path is treacherous but the temptations are sweet. Bittersweet satisfies to the very end.Here is my clue for you: Milton also wrote Paradise Regained.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Intriguing, mystifying, heart-wrenching….these words seem inadequate when describing Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore. Mabel is so “every girl.” The relationship between Mabel and Genevra is one that most women have experienced at some point in their lives, and it is detailed with such grit and emotion that the reader experiences that heart-ache and hope over and over. Just as the characters draw you into their lives, Beverly-Whittemore throws a twist that keeps you turning pages and staying up reading way too late. I couldn’t put this one down! Bittersweet speaks to a woman’s heart. It is brimming over with love, laughter, and life lessons. A gutsy tale of mystery and discovery, with a little murder thrown in for good measure. This one is a must read!