Bittersweet (Whittemore) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
A fairy tale aspect—of the Grimm, not the Disney variety—pervades the novel, which artfully builds an increasing sense of menace.... Like a Downton-in-Vermont, Bittersweet takes swift, implausible plot turns, and its family secrets flow like a bottomless magnum of champagne, but Beverly-­Whittemore succeeds in shining a light into the dark, brutal flaws of the human heart.
Margo Raab - New York Times Book Review


Mesmerizing gothic thriller…Bittersweet is worth savoring—it unfolds like a long summer day, leisurely revealing the dark.
Lisa Kay Greissinger - People


What begins a little like Curtis Sittenfeld’s Prep quickly warps into a sickly addictive thriller…think ABC’s Revenge when it was good, only more scandalous…. With books like Bittersweet to stuff in beach bags, it’s beginning to feel a lot more like summer.
Stephan Lee - Entertainment Weekly


The theme of paradise lost courses through this coming-of-age tale tinged with mystery—Beverly-Whittemore’s solid, if not particularly inspired, third novel.... As the increasingly tragic story unfolds, the taste left in the reader’s mouth is more likely to be sour than bittersweet.
Publishers Weekly


Beverly-Whittemore captures both the idyllic beauty of a Vermont summer and its dark shadows …gothic tangles wind the plot more and more tightly.… A suspenseful tale of corruption and bad behavior among wealthy New Englanders. Readers who enjoy coming-of-age stories featuring dark secrets that affect generations will find much that appeals here.
Library Journal


Takes the reader inside the glamorous world of the super-wealthy, where everything is not as it seems, and dark, long-buried family secrets gradually make their way to the surface....its strength lies in its elements of mystery. The result is a page-turner that will keep readers guessing until the end.
BookPage


Suspenseful and intriguing, filled with characters who both fit the blue-blood mold and break the stereotypes we all associate with the upper class. Her short chapters, with their cliff-hanger endings, will keep readers turning pages late into the night.
Booklist


(Starred review.) As a young woman struggles to read Paradise Lost, she faces her own temptation. Is she brave enough to choose good over evil? ... As she uncovers evidence of dastardly deeds—some deliciously improbable—Mabel comes face to face with her own secrets. Beverly-Whittemore has crafted a page-turner riddled with stubborn clues, a twisty plot and beguiling characters.
Kirkus Reviews