Camp Lake by John A Heldt

Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

Regular followers of my blog may have caught some of my reviews of book titles from The Carson Chronicles series by John Heldt. This is probably my all-time favourite book series and this is a bittersweet moment, as it is now time for me to share my review with you of the final title in the series, Camp Lake.

But firstly, if you wish to catch up on my reviews of the earlier titles, you may see those here.
River Rising
The Memory Tree
Indian Paintbrush
Caitlin’s Song

And to find out more about the author you may visit his website.

Here is the book blurb.

Phoenix, Spring 1983. For the Carsons, five siblings from the present day, it has come down to this. Find the parents they have chased through time for more than two years or go home and resume their lives without them.

While Adam and Greg remain in Arizona and Natalie searches the country for leads, Cody and Caitlin travel to a summer camp in Maine, where their mother and father met as counselors. The twins, now 19, hope to intercept the older versions of their parents even as they work beside the younger ones.

All of the Carsons prepare for a reunion that seems inevitable. Then tragedy strikes one family member and seductive strangers pull two others in unhelpful directions as a summer of promise turns into one of uncertainty and sacrifice.

Filled with humor, romance, and heartbreak, CAMP LAKE, the poignant conclusion of the Carson Chronicles series, follows the lives of several spirited adults as they confront choices and change the era of big hair, space shuttles, and video arcades.

In earlier books, the modern day time-travelling Carson family had been unsuccessfully trying to reunite with their parents Tim and Caroline in 1889, 1918, 1943 and 1962. And they also gained a few significant others en-route from different eras, who have coped remarkably well.

In this story they now reach 1983, the year their parents originally met at summer camp. They are now getting rather strapped for cash which could impede the search, until Nick discovers his multi million inheritance from his aunt. Wise investments had been made following tips from the Carson clan.

The twins Caitlin and Cody secure posts at summer camp, not only working alongside the “younger” versions of their parents, but sharing cabins with them too. Is the timeline safe, as younger Caroline seems more interested in Aussie Tom Sullivan than in Tim Carson? What will happen if Tim and Caroline don’t fall in love? And Cody falls for Karen, but she has a major secret of her own.

Meanwhile Tim and Caroline are looking up relatives whilst trying to avoid difficult encounters with their younger selves. On visiting Tim’s grandmother Elsie, they discover that she actually attended Natalie’s wedding back in 1962. But a few weeks later when Natalie tries to visit Elsie, she sadly finds her great grandmother has died a week ago. It is a timeline wobble, as history foretells that Elsie originally did not die until September. How are the Carsons causing these the distortions? Will they still manage to reunite and return to the present day together?

Another brilliant story in this fantastic series, which I just couldn’t put down. There are so many twists and turns. I have great respect for this author who puts so much research into his stories and really brings the characters alive.

However there was one bit of the book I didn’t like and unfortunately it was chapter 1. So for anyone reading this as a stand-alone, keep reading past the first chapter and the rest is great.

Camp Lake is available on Amazon, currently priced at £3.28 in Kindle format is also available in paperback. I highly recommend this book and am rather sad that the series has now drawn to a conclusion.

And you may be interested to see my reviews of some of John Heldt’s other titles.
The Mine
Indiana Belle
Hannah’s Moon

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