Mark of the Loon [Kindle Edition]

Molly Greene (Author)

Book Description

What happens when a workaholic serial remodeler falls in love with an old stone cottage built by an ornithologist and his eccentric Irish wife? If you’re Madison Boone, you kick your budding romance with handsome Psych Professor Coleman Welles to the curb and lose yourself in a new project.

Madison is a skilled property “flipper” who renovates distressed homes in addition to her busy real estate sales career. She struggles with the inability to put down roots years after the sudden death of her beloved parents. Madison and her three wise, hilarious friends all wonder if she uses her busy, work-centric lifestyle as an excuse to avoid connection with anyone but them.

When Madison checks out a probate sale outside Healdsburg, California, she falls in love with the European-style house on a private tract of land overlooking Lake Sonoma. In fact, she likes the place so much she climbs in the window for a private tour. With help from lawyer and friend Genevieve Delacourt, Madison soon learns that the estate’s corrupt attorney has manipulated the sale and is attempting to steer the purchase to an anonymous client in a deceitful plan for personal gain.

Good fortune enables her to purchase the Blackburne’s property, but far more than a new home and lush gardens await discovery during this renovation. As Madison works on the remodel, she’s drawn into an old love story with dangerous consequences. In the process, she discovers herself as she unearths buried secrets. The series of events both endanger Madison and lead her to love – and a permanent home. Mark of the Loon is the skillful combination of history, mystery, and romance in a novel that explores deep friendship, choices, and how individuals cope with loss.

Product Details

• File Size: 445 KB
• Print Length: 294 pages
• Publisher: Molly R. Greene (May 12, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00838H1OY
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #532,662 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Mark of the Loon May 25, 2012

By Cindy Harrison

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

At first, I did not know what to expect when I picked up this indie novel on Kindle. I knew the writing would be good because I read author Molly Greene's blog. But I wasn't sure if it was mystery, fantasy, women's fiction, literary fiction, or what. After spending yesterday glued to my Kindle, and finishing the final chapter at 10 pm, I gotta say, it's all of that. And it works beautifully on every level.

The story starts with an intriguing snippet from the past, then moves into the present day life of California Realtor Madison and her friends Genny, Gabi, and Anna. Madison's story structures the novel, but I love the way Greene devotes lots of time to Maddie's relationships with her friends. They support each other through marriage and cheating and divorce and moving house. They share meals and drinks and secret dreams. I love writers who give their characters strong friendships, and this group is deeply, emotionally, resonant.

Madison's home base is Sonoma County, where the real estate market is still ticking along quite well. Not as crazy busy as she was before the financial meltdown, Madison fills her free time with buying rundown properties and burnishing them to beautiful jewels. Then she flips them for a tidy profit. She's never stayed in one place very long, never felt the need to put down roots in one space, until she sees a cozy English cottage on Sonoma Lake and buys it for a song, incurring the wrath of another would-be buyer.

Once Madison moves into her charming bungalow, she starts finding keys. Actual beautiful old keys that don't seem to open anything. Then, as her remodeling progresses, she unearths secret cubbys and even rooms.... She bought the place "as is" with all the furnishings and artifacts of another life and as she begins to uncover the story of the previous owners, her heart starts telling her she needs to find new dreams. And professor of "happiness psychology" Cole is just one of them. Or is he?

Because the more clues she finds, the murkier, and more dangerous, things get. Madison can only be sure of her best friends. Everyone else around her is suspect at best and maybe dangerous as well. It will take all Madison's faith and trust, plus an angel from the other side, to solve the mystery of the former owners and in the process discover new parts of herself.

Molly Greene's debut novel is a stunning gem of a book, both beautifully written and compellingly told. The psychological insights are bright lights in a book about grief and healing and so much more. Greene handles a complex plot with deft skill and fully immerses the reader into the mystical world she creates. Madison and her friends will stick with me for a long time. Read more ›

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars More to This Book Than Meets the Eye June 28, 2012

By Brooke Frederick

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

The backdrop for this thriller is the California real estate market, a drama in itself! When heroine Madison Boone outfoxes an unscrupulous buyer, and herself snags the old house that's been lying dormant ever since its owners died a few years ago, she stirs up a real hornet's nest.

I enjoyed hearing the lingo of real estate brokers and house renovators. Madison is herself a broker, and her best friends are a lawyer and a television actress. These women spend a lot of time together and we become privy to their banter and their innermost secrets in this book. The dialogue moves along crisply, and the writing in this book overall is clean and elegant.

You know from the reaction of the jilted buyer that there's something special about that house. While Madison and her friends start the renovation work, and at the same time search for clues that would reveal the hidden value of the house, Madison has a series of troubling and dangerous encounters on the property. I found myself trying to sort out whether each new character was going to turn out to be friend or foe in the end. And still everything was a surprise, which shows how lousy I am at following clues.

I also greatly enjoyed the bird motif in Mark of the Loon. I do not want to spoil anything for anyone, so maybe I should just mention that there is much more to this book than meets the eye.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "Loon" Hits the Mark June 4, 2012

By Steve

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Molly Greene's debut novel reveals not only that she's a talented writer and gifted storyteller (possession of one trait doesn't necessarily imply possession of the other), but also that she takes the professional approach when it comes to presenting her work. The formatting and editing are meticulous: about the most glaring error I discovered was the misspelling "dovecoat" (a structure for housing pigeons; "dovecote" is correct). I was able to read "Mark of the Loon" without distraction. That's a huge plus.

"Loon" is set against a real-estate backdrop that crackles with authenticity--natural enough, since that's what Ms. Greene does when she's not busy writing. The details help to keep the reader comfortable in a real world where unreal things are happening. This too makes the story easy to read. The mystery's a good one, and there were enough twists at the end to catch me out more than once.

My quibbles are few, and your mileage may well vary. Though [protagonist/heroine] Madison Boone's three friends all helped out to one extent or another, I think the book would have been improved by having only one friend in the picture (the irrepressible Genevieve, about whom the author says we'll hear more in due course). The others added little to the tale; their "jobs" could have been delegated. Also, there were a LOT of mysterious things going on, but nothing came clear until the last few chapters, which led to a rushed conclusion as all the plates came clattering down at once. I would have preferred to see some of the side issues cleared up in advance.

[We originally gave MARK OF THE LOON 4 stars. Under the scoring system we now have in place, we're giving 5 out of 5 for technical merit, and 4 out of 5 for artistic impression.... That rounds up to a 5, and we are happy to revise the score accordingly.]

All in all, Molly's done a great job with "Mark of the Loon." Give it a look, and I think you'll agree! Read more ›

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great dialogue, great plot, characters that come alive! June 13, 2012

By Ginger

Format:Kindle Edition

I don't pick up much fiction because of the reading demands of my job, so imagine my surprise when I couldn't put this book down. The well-thought-out plot had lots of depth and layers that made it a page-turner. I just couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next! Madison, Gen and Anna are wonderful characters with great dialogue and a friendship I'd love to be part of. Mark of the Loon is well written and filled with beautiful description. The plot drew me in and kept my attention straight through to the ending, which I loved. It left me wanting more. There better be a sequel!

More About the Author

Molly Greene is a writer, blogger, and author of contemporary fiction with a bit of suspense. Her debut novel, Mark of the Loon, is available on Amazon, and she is currently working on a sequel, Rapunzel. Molly has an extensive real estate background and has renovated six homes over the years. She is currently completing number seven, all the while plotting her next book and her next life adventure.