I want to live in a town like Alligator Bayou

I almost gave up on this book half way through. It starts with a girl (living on Alcatraz because her dad is a guard) going missing. (like one chapter) Then moves onto a boy named Shan living in Ireland. Shan's story continues and continues. As it kept continuing, my thoughts were "are we ever getting to why that first chapter was there?". So I stuck with it and was pleasantly surprised how it came together. But then it also just seemed to end too abruptly for my liking.

Such a good read! My heart was in my throat for most of the book. So sad hearing about slaves and the kind of things they went through. Miss Martha was quite different and it was sad when she was on the opium, but I liked her.

*I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway*
I enjoyed this book. At first it seems like it would be kind of creepy (as there is a supposed curse that turns out to be what we now know of a post-partum depression ) but it was more just mysterious. I enjoyed Alice, but it took a bit for me to warm up to Mrs. Jelphs. Turns out, Mrs. Jelphs just held the secrets of Elizabeth and didn't want to relive the past.
Tom was a nice character that was never cruel to Alice, but does trust her with his secrets and it's great to see them married at the end of the book.
A great overall read