Willow Pond [Kindle Edition]

Carol Tibaldi (Author)

Book Description

As the Roaring Twenties crumble into the Great Depression, Virginia Kingsley, owner of New York's swankiest and most popular speakeasy, Bacchanal, learns her baby nephew has been kidnapped. Is she somehow involved? His movie star father and her niece must set aside their differences to work with Virginia and her shady contacts to find the stolen child. A Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who befriends the mother may hold a key to the mystery.

Editorial Reviews

Review

 "Willow Pond is a treasure to read. Tibaldi is a first-time author who has made an indelible mark with her debut novel." eNovel Reviews

"This is Tibaldi's debut novel, and it's strong; she does well at creating strong characters early on who have a real sense of personality and individuality." Kindle Book Review

"Willow Pond delivers much more than you would expect from a first novel. Ms. Tibaldi took a story line and added her own flavor. It was a tricky one that she weaved together perfectly." Jacqueline Druga, Author of Sleepers and Torn

"This story keeps getting better as you turn the pages." Mimi Barbour, Author of His Devious Angel

"Willow Pond" is a wonderful book told with a great hand by Carol Tibaldi. She doesn't disappoint!" The Bookish Dame

Product Details

• File Size: 456 KB
• Print Length: 325 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1468111728
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B006NQHE36
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #187,125 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

120 of 131 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Irritating and inaccurate April 9, 2012

By lola

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Although I applaud anyone able to complete a novel, from start, middle to end, I was very disappointed in this work. Given all the fantastic reviews, one would expect to be transported to the time period, but a few well-placed mentions of vintage product or period celebrities does not a historic novel make. The bones are there, but the execution is not.

First, there is the question of contemporary dialog...such as "in my space," or "hot," when describing a certain item of clothing a la Paris Hilton as well as other colloquialisms not appropriate to the era. Minor as those may seem they are jarring.

The other annoyance are characters who appear, but whose purpose are never properly explained nor fleshed out, such as Peter, who appears unintroduced in the first few chapters, only to have a real life later in the novel.

Or Laura, who has lost a child, but shows little real grief, and is only too willing to get on with her life after only a few weeks of the child having gone missing. No Mother would be going out on dates with reporters weeks after losing her child. The suffering would be unbearable.

Making reference to a few historical items within the body of the work is not sufficient to make a novel a historical tale, such as the young man who dies fighting abroad during WW1. America did not enter the war in 1915 as stated in the novel, although some young Americans did join the French early on, or signed with the Canadians, but there is no background to explain what this particular young man was doing there. And, the comment that follows that Laura wanted to write about her experiences, but Remarque did it better, is only a weak reference to include a historic item without any basis. What experiences did Laura have?...

When she encounters some children begging on a street corner, there is no reference to why they are there....the stock market crash, which decimated the country, is never mentioned, and a reference to President Hoover is a lame aside in conversation, while the effects of his policy not to offer aide to the thousands of unemployed was the basis for these children begging in the streets. One is suppose to just know that?

And, treating the ransom sum of $250,000 as a paltry sum in an era when the average worker earned, if lucky, $1500.00 per year is really ridiculous. Compare that amount to 2012 dollars and it equals over $3 million. There are calculators on-line that convert currency for you.

I could go on, but, hopefully what I have already presented will be taken constructively. The author has the potential to be a great writer, but much more work is needed to write the type of book she is attempting to execute. I know how difficult it can be to write a novel and I want her to know I think she could write an outstanding one, if she takes more time and backs up her writing with research and takes more care with her characters, their place in history and their motivation.

I recommend Gore Vidal's "Hollywood," or "A Good Woman," by Danielle Steel, or "The Given Day," by Dennis Lehane, for examples of books that have used that same era to create entertaining historic novels. There are also any number of reference books that would help the author to develop the era as another character, which is what most good historic novelists do.

As I said, before, the author has the potential to be great and so I do look forward to seeing her work in the future. Read more ›

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A strong debut novel January 29, 2012

By The Kindle Book Review

Format:Kindle Edition

This book by Carol Tibaldi is set in 1930s America and follows a mother's desperate plight to find her kidnapped son. The plot twists and turns along the way and has the reader guessing just who is involved until the end.

This is Tibaldi's debut novel, and it's strong; she does well at creating strong characters early on who have a real sense of personality and individuality and her two female character, Laura and Virginia are stunning - Tibaldi has created two strong female who could lead their own books easily and I think (and hope) Tibaldi has much more she can explore with these two women.

I found Tibaldi's writing style to be nice and easy to read; the plot moves along at a good pace and draws the reader in right from the beginning. You feel the love between Laura and her son and the animosity between Laura and her husband - a great achievement by Tibaldi in a short period of time.

One disappointing element for me was that this book was set in the 1930s, I had expected to get a real feel for the period, but I was left wanting. The character of Virginia, who owns the Speakeasy, is a strong female character, and you get a sense of her feistiness and a little of the world she inhabits but references to the 1930s are fleeting, But, when they're there it's done beautifully. For instance when Laura meets her Aunt for lunch the description of her `flapper' clothes is superb, allowing the reader to visualise the era for that moment.

If you're a fan of mystery books with a romantic theme then you won't go far wrong with Willow Pond. There are some slight formatting issues with how the book appears on the Kindle, but Tibaldi is looking into fixing this and it doesn't detract from the read itself....

I really do look forward to future books in the Willow Pond saga - perhaps exploring Laura and her sister's life and upbringing by the formidable Virginia Kingsley and what exactly did happen with Erich and Jenny's child?

Sarah Burns ~ On behalf of the Kindle Book Review Read more ›

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Willow Pond will captivate you January 16, 2012

By Book Lover VINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition

Willow Pond is one of those books that draws you in from the first few lines and makes it so you do not want to put the book down. Carol Tibaldi creates a world that captures the reader and transports them back to an earlier time. There were many times in the book where I wanted to shout, to laugh and to cry and my breath was held several times.

If you enjoy historic books that are mysterious and suspenseful then you will love Willow Pond. Willow Pond is one of those books that you will not be able to put down because you will want to know what happened to a certain character and exactly who was involved. Read this book if you enjoy a good page-turner with lots of twists and suspense.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Felt contrived and unrealistic October 7, 2012

By Robin

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I admit I did not finish this one, gave up about half way through. I know some people feel that a book not finished shouldn't be rated/reviewed but if I felt strongly enough about it to stop reading it, I feel I'm entitled to express why I felt so strongly about it.

This had the potential for a good story but it was let down by poor writing quality. Descriptions were simplistic and immature - for example, when the male protagonist describes the female protagonist, Laura, as "absolutely the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen", it felt more like what a teenager girl fantasizes a guy would think of her. I did not get a strong sense of the time period or setting, I felt like the dialogue was contrived and the characters were flat and one dimensional, I had no emotional connection to them whatsoever.

I also had an issue with part of the premise. Laura decides to grant a reporter an interview because she feels the police aren't doing enough and a reporter will be more motivated to dig into the case. But why was a private investigator not even mentioned or considered first? Laura's ex husband Phillip certainly has the money and it would be more private. The author obviously needed or wanted the male protagonist to be a reporter instead. So the whole thing felt contrived and not very well thought through.

Many of the points other reviewers have made I also found to be true as well, such as Laura's lack of grieving, but since they've already been pointed out by many, I wanted to address other issues I found.

More About the Author

Carol Tibaldi was born and raised in Bayside, New York and attended Queens College of the City University of New York. She loves to travel and has lived in London and Los Angeles. For twenty five years she worked as a newspaper reporter and covered the crime beat. She is a history buff and loves to research different time periods having a special affinity of the prohibition era and the Civil War. Willow Pond is her first novel and she is hard at work on the sequel.