Hi, all! Today I'm a stop on the TLC book tour for Lori Roy's latest, Let Me Die in His Footsteps.It's Annie Holleran's day of ascension, the halfway mark between her fifteenth and sixteenth birthdays. Tradition says that a girl who looks into a well at exactly midnight will see the face of her intended. But Annie sees nothing but a dead body.
The body is that of Cora Baine, the only Baine left in their little town after Annie's Aunt Juna led the eldest Baine boy straight to the hangman's noose. Aunt Juna and the six other Baine boys left town soon after, a relief to pretty much everyone including Juna's family. But the death of the Baine matriarch brings the return of Ellis Baine and, some fear, the wicked Juna as well.
Ooh, this made for great late night reading! Roy's latest is infused with the scent of lavender, but underneath it all is an ominous tone.
Annie has grown up knowing that Juna isn't her aunt at all. She shares the same golden hair and black eyes, after all. And at some point she overheard or simply came to understand that Juna was in fact her mother. It's a kernel of knowledge that's plagued the girl ever since, that and the fear that she'll end up just as bad as Juna was supposed to have been.
Of course as the reader I did have to wonder if Juna was really as bad as they said she was. Mary Holleran, Annie's grandmother, has foresight (know-how) that both Juna and Annie share, and Mary herself predicted Juna would be a bad seed. Annie's own story begins in the shadow of Juna's and Roy alternates chapters between the two (Juna's story is laid out from her sister's perspective).
The story Roy tells is incredibly gripping - definitely one I should have started well before bedtime. But I don't regret reading late! It held me in its clutches from the very beginning and all the way through to the Author's Note at the end. Interestingly, it is inspired by the very last "lawful public hanging" though the tale itself isn't really based on those crimes at all.
Rating: 4/5
Let Me Die in His Footsteps officially hits shelves June 2. If you're a fan of atmospheric suspense, you'll want to add this one to your must have list for sure!
As part of the tour, I'm pleased as punch to be able to offer up one copy to one of you lucky readers! To throw your name in the hat, simply fill out the Rafflecopter below before Monday, June 1. Open US/Canada only and no PO boxes please.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
To see more stops on the tour be sure to check out the official TLC tour page here.
For more on Lori Roy and her work, you can visit her website here. You can also like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.
