Review of Escape From St. David's
Posted: 12 Nov 2021, 15:32
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Escape From St. David's" by Deborah Albers.]
Written by Deborah Albers, Escape From St. David’s is described as a modern-day ghost tale for young adults, but it is really a story about restless souls attempting to find a way into Heaven. When an 18-year-old girl named Wylder suddenly finds herself in a cemetery after a car crash, she must quickly come to terms with the harsh reality of her untimely demise. She sees her parents grieve her passing, and she meets other apparitions that have been floating around between the graves since 1775. As a burial ground for fallen soldiers of the Revolutionary War, this cemetery has offered a final resting place for many battle heroes and members of affluent families, but it is a 12-year-old slave girl named Nala who truly befriends Wylder and shows her another path.
As Wylder begins searching for a way to leave the corporeal confines of St. David’s Cemetery, she is shown a secret passageway that acts as a portal to a place known as The Beyond. Some wary souls refer to it as The Devil’s Playground, a place that tempts them with visions that seem too good to be true. Others see it as a place of peace, crossing over into it without fear or trepidation. Wylder and Nala go there to take horseback rides under the full moon, but for the next decade, all the spirits are drawn to the flickering blue lights and experience flashbacks to their former lives.
When a life is suddenly cut short, it is possible for a soul to find peace in the afterlife, but will Wylder be able to find the calm acceptance she so desperately seeks, or will she be doomed to roam restlessly for all of eternity? This plot does include mentions of segregation, indentured servitude, gender discrimination, cowardice, murder, suicide, racial discrimination, and cancer, so the content is mature at times, but I still feel that this book would be appropriate for most teenage audiences. It might even be suitable for younger readers with adult supervision.
There are several scattered instances of profanity, vaping, implied promiscuity, and a brief mention of Wiccan theology, but the story mainly focuses on kindness, respect, and compassionate friendship. Some of the characters follow principles of Christianity, but others are Jewish, and some are non-believers entirely, so while there are included mentions of Heaven, Hell, God, the devil, demons, several different faiths, and Purgatory, no one specific religion is ever promoted exclusively.
This book is 233 pages long, and it begins with an engaging prologue that immediately takes readers into the mindset of a typical teenage driver. Wylder’s thoughts and actions feel relatable and genuine, and I liked seeing sections of italicized font and script font used to indicate scenes of internal dialogue and snippets of school writing assignments. The included epilogue provides a cliffhanger conclusion, but the characters are all adequately developed throughout. I did encounter some grammatical and typographical errors while reading, so this publication needs another thorough round of editing, but there was nothing else I disliked about the story as a whole.
As an animal-rights defender who was raised on a Texas cattle ranch, Wylder often rebelled against the status quo. Her determination to honor her own beliefs helped her convince her family to eat plant-based meals, and she also urged them to provide more humane treatments for their livestock. Those unique character attributes mirror my own beliefs, so her ethical sense of kind obligation enticed me. I enjoyed envisioning the fireside chats Wylder shared with her Grandma Virginia, and I appreciated seeing a digital sketch of the St. David’s Cemetery itself. That illustration helped me clearly picture the various burial plots, the often-described circular drive, and the dedicated areas for quiet reflection.
I would recommend this story to lovers of ghost fiction, paranormal lore, ancient legends, and haunted cemeteries. Tombstone inscriptions invariably tell many tales, and readers can imaginatively sit alongside various gravesites while pondering the complexities of life, death, good, evil, right, and wrong. Due to the scattered errors, I award this book a rating of 3 out of 4 stars. Escape From St. David’s is book 1 of 3 in the St. David’s series, and it helps readers understand that letting go of emotional pain is the key to overcoming past traumas. This storyline explores themes of awareness, atonement, forgiveness, acceptance, and love.
******
Escape From St. David's
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Written by Deborah Albers, Escape From St. David’s is described as a modern-day ghost tale for young adults, but it is really a story about restless souls attempting to find a way into Heaven. When an 18-year-old girl named Wylder suddenly finds herself in a cemetery after a car crash, she must quickly come to terms with the harsh reality of her untimely demise. She sees her parents grieve her passing, and she meets other apparitions that have been floating around between the graves since 1775. As a burial ground for fallen soldiers of the Revolutionary War, this cemetery has offered a final resting place for many battle heroes and members of affluent families, but it is a 12-year-old slave girl named Nala who truly befriends Wylder and shows her another path.
As Wylder begins searching for a way to leave the corporeal confines of St. David’s Cemetery, she is shown a secret passageway that acts as a portal to a place known as The Beyond. Some wary souls refer to it as The Devil’s Playground, a place that tempts them with visions that seem too good to be true. Others see it as a place of peace, crossing over into it without fear or trepidation. Wylder and Nala go there to take horseback rides under the full moon, but for the next decade, all the spirits are drawn to the flickering blue lights and experience flashbacks to their former lives.
When a life is suddenly cut short, it is possible for a soul to find peace in the afterlife, but will Wylder be able to find the calm acceptance she so desperately seeks, or will she be doomed to roam restlessly for all of eternity? This plot does include mentions of segregation, indentured servitude, gender discrimination, cowardice, murder, suicide, racial discrimination, and cancer, so the content is mature at times, but I still feel that this book would be appropriate for most teenage audiences. It might even be suitable for younger readers with adult supervision.
There are several scattered instances of profanity, vaping, implied promiscuity, and a brief mention of Wiccan theology, but the story mainly focuses on kindness, respect, and compassionate friendship. Some of the characters follow principles of Christianity, but others are Jewish, and some are non-believers entirely, so while there are included mentions of Heaven, Hell, God, the devil, demons, several different faiths, and Purgatory, no one specific religion is ever promoted exclusively.
This book is 233 pages long, and it begins with an engaging prologue that immediately takes readers into the mindset of a typical teenage driver. Wylder’s thoughts and actions feel relatable and genuine, and I liked seeing sections of italicized font and script font used to indicate scenes of internal dialogue and snippets of school writing assignments. The included epilogue provides a cliffhanger conclusion, but the characters are all adequately developed throughout. I did encounter some grammatical and typographical errors while reading, so this publication needs another thorough round of editing, but there was nothing else I disliked about the story as a whole.
As an animal-rights defender who was raised on a Texas cattle ranch, Wylder often rebelled against the status quo. Her determination to honor her own beliefs helped her convince her family to eat plant-based meals, and she also urged them to provide more humane treatments for their livestock. Those unique character attributes mirror my own beliefs, so her ethical sense of kind obligation enticed me. I enjoyed envisioning the fireside chats Wylder shared with her Grandma Virginia, and I appreciated seeing a digital sketch of the St. David’s Cemetery itself. That illustration helped me clearly picture the various burial plots, the often-described circular drive, and the dedicated areas for quiet reflection.
I would recommend this story to lovers of ghost fiction, paranormal lore, ancient legends, and haunted cemeteries. Tombstone inscriptions invariably tell many tales, and readers can imaginatively sit alongside various gravesites while pondering the complexities of life, death, good, evil, right, and wrong. Due to the scattered errors, I award this book a rating of 3 out of 4 stars. Escape From St. David’s is book 1 of 3 in the St. David’s series, and it helps readers understand that letting go of emotional pain is the key to overcoming past traumas. This storyline explores themes of awareness, atonement, forgiveness, acceptance, and love.
******
Escape From St. David's
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Thank you very much for your wonderful review!
