Review: A Thousand Yesteryears by Mae Clair

Title: A Thousand Yesteryears (Point Pleasant Series)
Author: Mae Clair
Publisher: Kensington
Publication date: April 26, 2016

About the book: Behind a legend lies the truth…

As a child, Eve Parrish lost her father and her best friend, Maggie Flynn, in a tragic bridge collapse. Fifteen years later she returns to Point Pleasant to settle her deceased aunt’s estate. Though much has changed about the once thriving river community, the ghost of tragedy still weighs heavily on the town, as do rumors and sightings of the Mothman, a local legend. When Eve uncovers startling information about her aunt’s death, that legend is in danger of becoming all too real . . .

Caden Flynn is one of the few lucky survivors of the bridge collapse but blames himself for coercing his younger sister out that night. He’s carried that guilt for fifteen years, unaware of darker currents haunting the town. It isn’t long before Eve’s arrival unravels an old secret—one that places her and Caden in the crosshairs of a deadly killer . . .

“Masterful, bone-chilling fiction…one intense thriller. A Thousand Yesteryears will keep you guessing, gasping and turning the pages for more.” —New York Times bestselling author Kevin O’Brien

My thoughts: This book starts right before the collapse of Silver Bridge so you are hooked right from the start.  It then moves forward 15 years in time after Eve's Aunt Rosie dies.  She has inherited Aunt Rosie's house and the family hotel, so she has to make some decisions as to what to do with the properties.  Her mother had moved them after the tragedy as Eve lost her father in the bridge collapse and she had not been back since.  

She arrives in Point Pleasant to discover that her Aunt's house has been vandalized - but the damage is specific to her Aunt Rose's bedroom and dark room.  The rest of the house is virtually untouched.  Suspicious about the break-in, other things begin to happen to only fuel the fire.  Notes are left on Eve's car warning her to leave; she gets weird phone calls that are just static and clicks. Eve's best friend Maggie, who was killed in the bridge collapse, had lived right next door and her mother and brother, Ryan, still lived there.

Ryan just happens to work for the sheriff's department and is involved with investigating the break-in at Eve's house.  He recommends his brother Caden for the repairs to the backdoor as well as the inside of the house.  Caden was Eve's preteen crush, even though he was 6 years older - those 6 years don't seem that big of a difference anymore.  Sparks fly and Eve is beginning to wonder whether or not she should stay in Point Pleasant on a more permanent basis.

Tied up in everything from the bridge collapse to new sightings is the legendary Mothman and the general spookiness of the TNT.  Nobody knows whether the Mothman is real or just a legend, but many claim to have seen him - including Caden - though he has told no one of his encounters. A lot of people believe that the Mothman is responsible for all the bad things that have happened in Point Pleasant. 

As Eve and her friends - both old and new - start to piece together the mystery that her Aunt Rose was a part of - superstitions and mysteries from the past begin to shed light on happenings in the present - and Eve and Caden find themselves in a dangerous situation.  

I really enjoyed reading this book - it was a quick read and I had a hard time putting it down!

~I received a complimentary ecopy from Pump Up Your Book Tours in exchange for my unbiased review.~