The story does focus on two books, but the author apparently throws in a woo-woo factor in all of her books, so there's that. Since this story was partially told through the two books that Ashlyn acquired, there is a book-within-a-book theme going on here, with two sets of readers. Driven by her determination to unravel the truth behind their ill-fated love story, Ashlyn delves deeper into their words, following a trail of shattered promises and seemingly unforgivable betrayals.

We also start out Belle and Hemi’s story knowing it’s going to be tragic, so it’s not exactly a spoiler that their 1941 idyll gets, well, spoiled. My review of The Echo Of Old Books will give you a short synopsis of what the book is about, along with my honest opinion of it.I like epistolary novels, and this novel has big chunks devoted to the mystery lovers relating events in the past from their own perspectives. It was an intriguing read and it kept me interested to find out what had happened between the two authors. Built in 1855, the Parker House had once been home to the Saturday Club, hosting the likes of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Oliver Wendell Holmes. The author’s ability to present two different, but related, heartbreaking stories inside her own novel and keep all the voices distinct is so impressive. Belle (for belle of the ball) and Hemi (for Hemingway) And it seemed like a decades old mystery, with two lovers who were betrayed.

To read a book is to take a journey, to travel into a vast unknown, to hear the voices of angels both living and dead. Along the way, they learn more than either of them wanted to know about a past that STILL isn’t quite dead. Not only was the story told through the two old books, but the two sides of the story were interlocked by these two books. This is my first taste of Barbara Davis's writing, and I'm here to tell you- I am SOLD on her talent!She knows, with her gift of psychometry, that the emotions held within the pages are real – but can’t be certain whether the story told within is the true story of the seemingly star-crossed lovers or merely a fiction intended to conceal a deeper emotional truth. I took my time reading this story, savoring all the beautiful sentences, because I didn't want it to end.

Books are the quietest and most constant friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient teachers.

As it continues, you become immersed in the love story unfolding between Belle and Hemi, the historical period characters, which is told within the pages of the books Ashlyn acquired and really reads like an argument on paper between the two of them. The echoes of these old books guide her toward a profound understanding of her own path toward the future.