My Library in the Making

Actual rating: 4.5(This review was originally posted at My Library in the Making.)Within my first few pages of reading, Heart of the Ocean already had me. I was anxious to know more about Eliza's life and the place where her parents had planned to hide her until the controversy she'd left in New York died down.The setting was one of the strong points of this novel; Maybrook was definitely a breath of fresh air through the pages. I found it very easy to picture the cold, biting wind, the constant lull of the waves crashing against the cliffs, and even the astonishingly conservative and simple-minded Puritans who lived in it. The place lent more eerie factor to the already-creepy voice that began to haunt Eliza on just her first day there.If I were Eliza, I would've left Maybrook the second I was sure that voice wasn't just in my head, so I certainly admired how she faced it: bravely, though not quite carefully and thought-out, which delivered her to a rather perilous situation. What disappointed me more was when it happened not just once. Apart from Eliza, there were also a lot of other colorful characters, each very different on their own. They definitely added to the overall fun of reading this book and even their stories were wrapped up by the last page - well, except for this one guy. My heart goest to thee, Nathaniel... (Excuse me if I messed that up, but I never bothered to learn that era of English, lol.)Anyway, aside from doing a great job of putting to paper the atmosphere of the 1800's, the author also managed to perfectly mix mystery, suspense, paranormal, and romance, all of which were completely resolved in the ending that I seriously prayed for and had me tearing up. Just a few tears... yep... *hides*MY FAVORITE PART was, well, the ending! XD