Perfectly Executed. This was an interesting take on the dual timeline approach, where the connection between the two timelines is both standard and... not. Standard in that the older characters in the more current timeline are much younger in the older timeline, not in ... exactly how the older timeline is revealed. This is a drastic departure from the feel-good story of McQuestion's 2019 work Good Man, Dalton, but is perhaps even more interesting because of it. Here we get much darker themes of possession, abuse, and regret, but we also get a seemingly accurate portrayal of life in rural 1916 and 1983 and the hope that could exist in both eras. Truly excellent work, and solid evidence of McQuestion's adaptability as a storyteller. Very much recommended. ( )

A sweet story ---- sort of slow to really take off but built over time. You could sort of see where things were going but the details were missing but were provided, piece by piece with the jump backwards in time and then back into the present. ( )

Wow! This book has a little bit of everything. Family drama, mystery, love and betrayal. This was the first book I’ve read by Ms. McQuestion, and I need to go back and read her earlier books. Her characters were realistic, flaws and all, not expecting our love or forgiveness. The past (1916) and present (1983) timelines go back and forth seamlessly and tie things together honestly. The touch of magical dreams thrown in was perfect touch.

Set in a small town in Wisconsin, Pearl is a feisty, opinionated grandmother. She springs her never met grandson, Joe, out of a mental hospital where he is staying because of his vivid dreams. She takes him to her childhood home and offers him a job for the summer. He becomes friends with Kathleen, who inherited her antique/second hand store from her GreatAunt. There is a instant connection that they can’t explain. But, Kathleen is hiding something.

Now go back to the past. Pearl is a self-centered, head in the clouds, pretty teenager. She wants the finer things for herself and especially her future. Second in line of six girls. Her mother deceased, a loving father and an older sister, Alice, who was born to run a home. When a handsome man comes to work for their father, he has secrets of his own, but much to Pearl’s dismay, he only has eyes for Alice.

Both Kathleen and Alice have unwanted suitors who won’t take no for an answer. These two timelines collide with totally different outcomes. You will cheer for both these couples...one just a little too perfect for me.

I loved the family dynamics... the sibling dynamics, parental interactions and family mystery. I especially loved how Pearl never changed, only aged and softened. Thanks to Ms. McQuestion, Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone. ( )

Finding out you had a grandmother you never knew you had and to have her release you from a treatment center was the best thing that could ever have happened for Joe and his entire family.

Joe wanted to know why his father never told him about his mother. What could have happened?

Joe was in treatment for nightmares, and his father wouldn’t let him come home until the treatments resolved his problems.

Another question is how did his grandmother find him, and why did she want to find him? Answers are she had a private detective look for him mainly because she wanted him to clean out her house and inventory everything that was in it. That would be a great way to learn about Grandmother Pearl wouldn't it?

We go back and forth from 1916 to 1983 and see the family Joe never knew about as we meet Alice and Pearl as young women and Pearl present day. The story from 1916 gave details about the family’s life without their mother, and present day gave details about what Pearl told Joe about her past and his place in her life now.

We have another story line that involved a young woman, Kathleen, hiding from her abusive ex-husband in her aunt’s home. Whose home could it be? None other than Aunt Edna.

Who is Aunt Edna? She knew Pearl's family, and her sister, Alice, was Aunt Edna's best friend. The odd thing is that when Kathleen and Joe met each other, they did a double take because they seemed familiar to each other, but they couldn't figure out how they knew each other.

DOVETAIL pulled me in because the characters and story line were warm and inviting. I would have loved to be acquainted with the characters.

If you need an uplifting read set in a small, mid-western town, you won't be disappointed in DOVETAIL.

This book has intrigue, tenderness, suspense, and an all-around cozy, sweet story line. 5/5

This book was given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. ( )

What a wonderful tale! For about the first half of the book, Dovetail is a very interesting story about Joe and Kathleen and what has brought each of them to Pullman, a small town in Nowheresville, Wisconsin. It’s 1983. Joe has been having disturbing lifelike dreams and is in a mental health facility when the grandmother he has been told is dead shows up and wants him to come to Pullman with her. Sounds better than where he’s at, so he agrees, with reserve and with a lot of questions. Kathleen ended an abusive marriage, but her ex-husband Rickey is determined not to remain an “ex” so the secondhand store and house left to her in her great aunt’s will seems like perfect timing, the opportunity to get away, even though Kathleen has only been to Pullman a few times, knows nothing about running a store and wasn’t that close to her aunt. Joe and Kathleen meet under ordinary circumstances, but there’s nothing ordinary about their reactions to each other. Neither of them is looking for a relationship, but they have an instant, unexplainable attraction: “It was like her entire being said yes at the sight of him.” Chapters alternate between 1983 and 1916, revealing something about Joe’s grandmother Pearl and Kathleen’s great-aunt Edna and their friends and family in Pullman when they were young women.

But then about mid-way through Dovetail goes from being a very interesting story about Pullman and the people in it, both past and present to being a story that is almost magical. All the loose threads start to weave together and everyday events and facts that didn’t seem to mean much suddenly become significant. At this point I was so intrigued I could hardly put the book down. I wanted to read faster and faster – what’s the connection between Joe and Kathleen, what’s Pearl’s secret, what really happened in Pullman in 1916, and how much danger does Ricky present in 1983?

To say any more would give away too much. You need to read it for yourself. Dovetail is a sweet, sweet love story, full of mystery and surprises and intrigue and danger. It’s bittersweet at times Lives are ruined or lost or wasted, friendships ended, and some things can’t be fixed or changed. But there is also love and hope and that sweetness.

Thanks to author Karen McQuestion for providing an advance copy of Dovetail via NetGalley. All opinions are my own. I thoroughly enjoyed Dovetail and highly recommend it. ( )