The Lighthouse- Book Review

The Lighthouse by Christopher Parker

Publication Date: 26th Oct 2021
Genre: YA, Mystery, Magic Realism, Romance 

3.5 Stars

One Liner: Mixed feelings, oh, well!  

Amy is struggling to deal with the death of her mother. Her father, a police detective, is clueless about finding a way to connect with his daughter. The distance between them is growing farther, and there’s no one to fill it. 

Then comes a chance to go to Seabrook, a small town with a historical lighthouse. Amy’s father has to close a cold case and hopes he gets to spend time with Amy, even if it is only for a day in the town.

However, unexpected incidents result in Amy meeting Ryan and spending her weekend with him. Ryan is a young man caring for his father and working on their family ranch. 

The pair hits off and feels comfortable talking to each other. The lighthouse, though, has other plans. The lamp flashes a strong beam after decades and results in a rush of speculations and assumptions. 

Amy’s right in the middle of a mystery, and she somehow finds herself entering the forsaken and crumbling lighthouse. What does Amy find inside? How does it change her life and Ryan’s? What does this mean to the Seabrook and its people who are already obsessed with the lighthouse? 

• The first half of the book is pretty much what you’d expect from a sweet YA romance with a touch of mystery. 

• The midsection of the book is devoted to fantasy/magic realism of sorts with a new theory thrown in. 

• The final section is a family YA story that ends with an epilogue decades later. 

Now, I do like new ways to create a fantasy in a real-world setting. This one was a bit vague at first, but I understood the concept. It was interesting too. 

However, the story pretty much went back to the non-fantasy track, and there wasn’t any reference to it. Not even in the epilogue (except for a distant connection). I personally love epilogues, but this one disappointed me. Guess my expectations were different than what was delivered in the book. 

As much as I liked the book until about 75-80%, the rest of it didn’t work much for me. The only saving grace is that the writing is easy to read. I could finish 360+ pages in two days. Some of the dialogues are surface-level and way too generic. But since the characters were YA, I didn’t mind that much. 

To sum up, The Lighthouse had a promising start only to end up flat towards the end. Also, I felt the lighthouse wasn’t used to its full potential. It was more of a convenient prop when it could have been a lot, lot more. 

Thank you, NetGalley and Beacon Press Limited, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

#JourneyToSeabrook #NetGalley

*****

P.S: No idea why this one is categorized as an adult book. It is typical YA and has no cuss words or explicit romance. 

P.P.S: I have no experience with audiobooks. But considering the dialogues and the fantasy concept, I’m not too sure it’ll be easy listening to this one. One’s more likely to finish it faster by reading than listening.