The Lost Hours
Written by Karen White
Narrated by Beth DeVries
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
Karen White
Karen White is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of twenty-five novels, including Dreams of Falling and The House on Prytania, as well as the Tradd Street mystery series. She currently writes what she refers to as “grit lit”—Southern women’s fiction. She is a graduate of the American School in London and has a BS in management from Tulane University. When not writing, she spends her time reading, singing, and avoiding cooking. She has two grown children and currently lives near Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband and two spoiled Havanese dogs.
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Reviews for The Lost Hours
102 ratings19 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5It took quite some time to get interested in this book. After about 100 pages, nothing really important had happened and I was beginning to wonder if anything was going to happen at all. The biggest problem I had was with the constant delay the characters had in just spitting out whatever it was they needed to say. Then, when they are finally getting somewhere, they are tired or angry and just stop for the time being. Just get it out already!The book jumps back and forth from first person, by the main character Piper, to third person, for everyone else. I don't know why this drove me crazy, but it did. I think the flow of the book would have been much better if it was all the same, everyone in third person. The writing style was also something to get used to. There was so much detail for even the smallest things that one sentence of no importance could run on for an entire paragraph. I found myself skipping some sentences just because it was too much, and that is something I never do.We hear a lot about Tucker and Susan's relationship and how he just couldn't save her, but that is all. None of the problems they had, just that they had some. Yes she was mentally ill, but what about how they interacted? And why was Tucker so upset when he learned who Piper really was? It's not like she told him some horrible lie. She just didn't mention her background.That being said, I still enjoyed this book overall. The story was interesting, once you finally get into it. It was a little predictable, but that was ok. Once it finally picked up and started moving fast paced, I couldn't put it down and stayed up all night to finish it.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The story begins when Piper's grandfather dies, and is visited by the family lawyer, who gives Piper an envelope that was to be given to her when her grandfather died. In the envelope is a key, that she has no idea which door it belongs to. She then remembers burying something of her grandmothers outside with her grandpa a long time ago, and when she goes and digs it up, thus begins the mystery of Annabel O'Hare. The mystery revolves around three good friends growing up in the early 1900's, Annabel, Lillian, and Josie.The story is done with three points of view, Lillian's, who is the only one of the three friends alive, Helen, Lillian's blind granddaughter, and Piper. The story is Piper's though, and how she comes to grow as the mystery unravels. One of the things I really can't stand in a book is a lot of filler, and this book had alittle to much. There was a bunch of little bits of writing about the flowers they grew, and the scents, etc. Some readers like stuff like that, I'm one that just wants the story to move along.About a 75 pages in I completely disliked Piper. She was cold, and lacked any kind emotion. I'm so glad the mystery kept me reading because I would have quite reading it. As you read the story though, you realize this was done to show her growth as the story moves along. Piper lost her parents at a early age, and felt because of that she wouldn't be dealt another blow, so when she fell off her horse at a competion and was seriously hurt, she was bitter about it. She realizes that she never made the time to really get to know her grandmother, and what kind of person she was. Lillian was also hard to like, though I never grew to even like her, I still felt her character was written well. Part of the story also included Helen, and her brother Tucker. Half way through the book you can see a attraction between Piper and Tucker, but this is not a romance, and I'm glad the author kept it as such.Final words, I was sure that I wasn't going to like this book, solely because of the dislike I had for some of the characters, but the writing was good, and the mystery definitely keeps you reading.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Although someone may mistake this one as chick-Lit, it has a lot more drama than most books in that genre. It is part mystery, part family saga, and part historical fiction. Karen White introduces us to Piper Mills, a equestrian that has long lost her want to ride, after a brutal fall during a competition. As she loses the family closest to her, she is confronted with a mystery, one that will help her understand her grandmother better, and one that will help her find that she is similar to her as well. A key to the mystery is Lillian, who wants this mystery to stay buried. The last time the past was delved into, she lost her granddaughter in law, and the family was still trying to pick up the pieces. Piper needs to know about her grandmother's past and in doing so finds that Lillian also has a granddaughter that is curious too. Together they will face the truth and form new relationships. IT is a wonderful novel set in Savannah and outlying areas. Whites descriptions of flowers and gardens, made me want to go outside with a trowel. Overall, the story reminded me of the books I read by Joshilyn Jackson, so I think if you like to mix your southern charm with a little mystery, this one may be something to pick up.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lost Hours. Karen White. 2009. Every time I pick up a Karen White book, I tell myself I am going to read this book like a normal person; and then I end up staying up almost all night reading it. I did it again. When a serious riding accident destroys Piper’s dream of Olympic Gold, she returns to the Savannah home of her grandparents. She is depressed and lost. When her grandmother’s friend, Lillian rebuffs her efforts to find out about her grandmother’s past, Piper conceals her identity and heads to the plantation. There she finds contemporary mysteries to match the ones of her grandmother. Well written as usual and gently suspenseful.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was my first Karen White read, and I definitely enjoyed this enough to keep her on my radar. As with most novels that fluctuate between present and past and that allude to a secret of some sort, this sucked me in. I don't have anything against horses or horseback riding, but I did think those references in the book took away from the story somewhat for me. They just didn't seem to mesh with the main storyline. I also didn't particularly like Piper's character all that well, but I don't hold that against the author in this case, as main characters can't always be loveable. Overall, I enjoyed the majority of the plot the most, so I'll continue to look for other novels by Karen White.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Really enjoyed this audio book. Looking forward to her others.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I have listened and read all of this author's books. This one by far held captivated me until the end.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I did enjoy reading this novel by Karen White, although I found it hard to get into at the beginning. It was not similar in style to many of the other books I have read by Karen, maybe that was why. There are several secrets throughout the story, but the main one is not revealed until the last chapter. There are suspense, romance and a little heartbreak throughout the book. What more could you ask for?
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A little silly and not the most well-written, but had me enthralled nonetheless.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5One of my favorite authors! When Piper Mills was twelve, she helped her grandfather bury a box that belonged to her grandmother in the backyard. For twelve years, it remained untouched.
Now a near fatal riding accident has shattered Piper’s dreams of Olympic glory. After her grandfather’s death, she inherits the house and all its secrets, including a key to a room that doesn’t exist—or does it? And after her grandmother is sent away to a nursing home, she remembers the box buried in the backyard. In it are torn pages from a scrapbook, a charm necklace—and a newspaper article from 1939 about the body of an infant found floating in the Savannah River. The necklace’s charms tell the story of three friends during the 1930s— each charm added during the three months each friend had the necklace and recorded her life in the scrapbook. Piper always dismissed her grandmother as not having had a story to tell. And now, too late, Piper finds she might have been wrong. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5White’s The Lost Hours had me engaged right from the beginning. The life and setting she created within The Lost Hours made you feel like you were there and among the others. I doubt there was really a character I did not enjoy reading about.After reading The Lost Hours I even wanted to start digging more into my own family’s past. It makes one wonder if discovering the family’s skeleton’s in the closet is worth bringing back the pain just to understand. How hard it is to look back into a past one wants to forget but how free one could feel once the release from the burden of keeping it locked up might be. So the next time you wonder why a person acts the way they do remember that there probably is something much more to them and their past.I find it interesting that this book came across my path at this time. It was not too long ago that my own mother said that now that I’m in my 30s it was time she told me “her story” no matter how painful just so that I could understand her.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great story, wonderful characters, and the narrator was perfect for this story.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It was a bit slow at first, but well written. I liked the narration. Her voice was so soothing. The story has a happy ending of resolution for the next generation.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Lost Hours by Karen White
Challenges read for: Goodreads, Historical Fiction, EBook, Southern Literature
I really, really enjoyed this book. Karen White took a handful of damaged people, put them together and wove an incredible tale of love and loss, fear and rejection. Three friends share a terrible secret that binds them together, blows them apart and follows them through to the next few generations. The secret finally reveals itself when Piper, the granddaughter of Annabelle, has decided to try to get to know her grandmother after her passing. Her curiosity leads to the home of her grandmother's best friend, Lillian, where she discovers people there more damaged than she. Piper was a champion equestrian, bound for the Olympics, when the unspeakable happens, but here at Lillian's home, she finds the girl her grandmother had been, and in so doing discovers herself as well as a new family. A story rife with great sadness, racial prejudice, so much loss, it ends on a very promising note--a wonderful story!! - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Keeps your attention to the ending. Great book to listen to
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was very well written. It's not the genre I prefer (which is normally action & murder) - and is somewhat too sentimental for earning a 5 out of 5. But there is an excellent mystery woven into it - which kept me guessing right up to the end. Also, some history woven in, and local character.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Piper Mills used to be a world class equestrian, headed for the Olympics until she had a bad fall from her horse, from which she never recovered emotionally. When her grandfather dies, her grandmother with Alzheimers quickly follows, leaving Piper all alone in the world with nothing but her bitterness. When Piper’s grandparent’s lawyer brings her a small charm left to her by her grandmother, Piper begins to wonder for the first time what sort of life her grandmother led, leading her down a mysterious path, trying to determine the cause of a falling out between her grandmother and her best friend when they were just young women.This was a really enjoyable book. All of the characters were fantastically written and the plot itself was very interesting. The mystery was perfect. There was enough of it that I could deduce on my own, which I always enjoy. It wasn’t one of those crazy, convoluted mysteries that doesn’t make any sense, but something that could have actually happened in the place and time that Piper’s grandmother and her friends lived. Even though I got a lot of it on my own, the way that White filled in the details was fantastic. I also really liked that this novel dealt with things like depression, death, mourning, fear, racial tensions, and privilege.This was a great, engaging read. It dealt with a lot of difficult topics without getting overly heavy and it was well-written and smart. Definitely a winner.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is my first experience with Karen White, and I was quite pleased. I thought this was a touching story about regret, healing, and forgiveness, and a message about it never being too late for any of it. I liked Piper despite her malaise and stubbornness, because you could see the spark that was still hidden beneath it all. I think I felt a connection to her because I was quite close to my own grandmother. The family mystery here is one that keeps you guessing… I wasn’t convinced I had it figured out correctly until it was nearly time to reveal it in the story.There were a few niggling things about this that would keep me from giving it 5 stars. One, I felt the Susan portion of the storyline was somewhat clumsy. I understand she was mentally ill, but I still couldn’t make the connection between what she did and what she found. Also, the timeline is a little funky in the beginning as it jumps forward in indeterminate amounts, and the point of view switches back and forth from “I” to “Piper”. But overall, I really enjoyed this story!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5this book was fantastic...it made me mad made me laugh and even cry....I totally would recommend!!!