A Light on the Veranda by Ciji Ware

I received a galley of this novel from NetGalley for review. This in no way affected my opinions.


A Light on the Veranda is a sequel to Midnight on Julia Street.

I just didn't connect with this book: the characters, the setting, even the historical story. The character Daphne has these flashbacks of sorts to her ancestor and namesake who lived two hundred years before. I guess these flashbacks were triggered by music, but sometimes she had them when there wasn't any music around, so I don't know.

The historic flashbacks were so random and oddly spaced out, and there weren't many of them. I could barely get a grip on any of the characters. And by the end of the book, I wondered what the point was of them. In Midnight on Julia Street the historic story was more affecting on the present day story. That wasn't the case here.

The present day story, well, dragged. A lot. The romance between Daphne and Simon... I just didn't feel the sparks.

Needless to say, about halfway through, I was wondering where the heck the story was going. I started skimming and speed reading from then on and I didn't really miss much. There were pages and pages of useless dialogue that really didn't serve any purpose to the story.

I like Ciji Ware's books, but this one was a miss with me. Actually, I really love her straight historical novels like A Race to Splendor and Wicked Company. So far, the time-slips novels are hit and miss.

If you read Midnight on Julia Street and want to find out what happens to Daphne, (which was my reason) then, I don't know, give this a shot.