First of all, I love all Karen White stories. I was intrigued to see how three authors would coordinate the collaborative process of writing a book together. I loved the suspense created trying to weave three stories together and yet had difficulty keeping all three separate. I am accustomed to having to intertwine two stories together – a past and present – but to weave 3 was a bit like trying to French braid with only two fingers -- awkward and mind boggling at times.

There are three distinct stories told in 3 different time eras. I think for me the confusing part was that there wasn’t much time dividing the 3 time partitions, therefore I kept trying to put the same person behind both door number and door number 2:

1892: Enter Olive who has come to work as a servant in the Pratt Mansion. Her father had been the original architect on the building of the Pratt Mansion, but was never paid in full for his efforts and was eventually slandered via the Pratt family to the point he eventually committed suicide. Olive is working under an assumed last name to find out the truth about her father’s dealing with the Pratt family. Whether right or wrong, in the midst of her madness she begins an affair with one of the Pratts nearly-grown sons, Harry.

1920: Enter Lucy, the daughter of Olive, and recently been employed by a law firm that now manages the Pratt family trust. Lucy has long believed she is the daughter of Harry Pratt. She has taken this job to help in her quest for answers and resolution. She ends up with feelings for both her boss and one of his clients, a John Ravenal from Charleston.

1944: Enter Kate, the daughter of Lucy, who is a female doctor working at a hospital during WWII and has been assigned a soldier with a severely injured leg, Capt. Cooper Ravenal. The soldier tells her she is the exact image of a family heirloom miniature portrait passed down from his grandfather, to his father and now to him.

The three stories are beautifully written, in and of themselves, but the tie (or necklace) that ties them all together had a bit of a too long chain for me and it kept getting tangled up with the story preceding and proceeding it. I found myself having to read slower and slower at the end just so that I could keep the pieces of the puzzle straight. All in all, it was a beautiful story of living with regrets, living out a life without passion and the repercussions of not following your heart.

I commend the authors for seamlessly writing three stories without there being a noticeable change between writing styles and character formation. The premise of the story and heartfelt emotion of the loves and lives of Olive, Lucy and Kate deserves 5 stars. The sometimes confused and convoluted facts and locations discussed in the story line, however, definitely caused the 4 star rating.