Chapter Thirteen

A Novel

Fiction - Paranormal
325 Pages
Reviewed on 05/18/2021
Buy on Amazon

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    Book Review

Reviewed by Jose Cornelio for Readers' Favorite

Chapter Thirteen: A Novel by Maria A. Palace is a twisty, enthralling paranormal thriller that has the potential to keep any reader on the edge of their seat. Katy Barton is a beautiful young reporter who moves back to her hometown of Morganville, Pennsylvania after six years of college in New York. Working for a local newspaper, she must get an interview with a recluse, an elderly woman who lives in an old building about to be demolished. When she meets Evelyn, the eccentric old woman, she is troubled to discover a picture of a younger version of the old woman, a picture that looks an awful lot like Katy’s graduation picture. Her curiosity pushes her to dig deeper into the mystery about the old woman and as Katy unearths layer after layer of who the old woman is, she becomes more uncertain about herself. Falling in love provides a fleeting moment of respite but can it soothe her troubled mind and can even hypnotherapy save her from a future she dreads?

Maria A. Palace’s Chapter Thirteen is a delightful story with strong plot lines, elaborately developed characters, and a mystery that is spellbinding. The story is character-driven and I adored the way the author writes Katy; she is beautiful, smart, and driven, but she is tortured internally by a tragedy that happened in her past. Knowing Evelyn is an experience with strong emotions and the author writes mystery and suspense into the relationship between the two characters. It seems like Katy is the younger version of Evelyn, but can Katy bear to think that Evelyn is her older version? What does the future hold for her? There are unexpected twists, an emotionally engaging romance, and an internal conflict that is arresting. Maria A. Palace understands what a good story is and she delivers it to readers with style.

Butterfliesandbooks' Reviews

The story starts with a little snippet explaining about a fire.....

We then jump to the beginning of Katy’s story, after celebrating her 21st birthday with friends, she gets the devastating news that her mother passed away!!
Then the unthinkable happens, she loses the love of her life in a car accident!

The story then begins five years later.....

Finally becoming a journalist, Katy is given an assignment, to interview a reclusive old lady that lives in a mansion that’s about to be demolished!

Wow! Just wow!
That really drew me and kept me reading till the early hours of the morning.

Ever since the car accident that took her boyfriend, Katy has had terrible nightmares, she’s had therapeutic help and medication, but nothing works.
So she’s hoping that moving back home to be near her dad will finally help her resolve some of her anxieties.

Deciding on a new course of therapy, she meets up with a hypnotherapist. They go through her traumatic account of the night Mark died. Visibly shaken she thinks it’s over, but that night her nightmares return!!

Meeting Evelyn opens up so many memories for Katy.
More meetings bring strange occurrences to the forefront. And poor Katy is left feeling a little lost and confused....

Meeting an obnoxious firefighter brings about an array of forgotten feelings, but mainly annoyance at the start......
But after a rocky start, the two soon fall into a pleasant routine. I think Katy needed someone like Mike, he seems like a pretty good guy.

A Paranormal story that had romance, mystery and a few goosebumps thrown in for good measure.

You do have a to feel sorry for both Katy and Evelyn, but mainly at how much loss that both Evelyn and Katy have had to endure.
A few chuckle moments, but mainly a sad and enthralling read.

It’s a new author for me, and a new style of writing, which was rather refreshing.
We don’t get all the details, some things are left to our imagination, do we really need to sit through dates and phone calls? Well we didn’t in this one.

The ending had me in tears.

It’s beautifully written and very cleverly thought out.

I think this book will linger in my mind for a while.

Literary Titan

Chapter Thirteen by Maria A. Palace is a riveting horror novel about losing love and finding it once again. Katy Burton is a young woman who lost both her mother and boyfriend within the same time frame. The grief behind these traumatic events was so powerful that she experienced nightmares several times. Maria A. Palace with a deeply intriguing and thrilling romance story that has a main character that, I think, any reader will be able to connect with, as I have.

Katy endures great pain, but she remains courageous in the face of some mystifying twists in the story and big reveals that will keep readers constantly on edge. She does not let the nightmares stop her from being the mother her daughter needed or being the town’s amazing news reporter. Being a good mother is a trait not often explored enough in horror or romance novels, as readers are often provided with strong but single women. Katy’s character has a lot of dimensions and depth because of these dual priorities. This alluring paranormal thriller takes Katy on a profound personal journey of self healing that is revealed in slow but fascinating ways which really elevates the tension. I liked how part of the closure she needed was found through the investigation of a news story, and I think this really gave the novel a lot of its momentum.

Chapter Thirteen by Maria A. Palace gives readers a rousing paranormal romance story with a dynamic main character and an amazing ending. Reading this story was incredibly enjoyable because I was able to live Katy’s life through her eyes. This narrative style provided plenty of opportunity to see how Katy tackled her trauma. This was a fantastically unpredictable paranormal thriller that uses a unique story to explore deep emotional trauma and how that affects the life of a very compelling character.

The Faerie Review

This was an interesting read from start to finish. Love, loss, ghosts of the past, and nightmares haunting the present. Katy was an interesting character, and in the beginning reminded me of a few people I knew in college (a bit over the top). Evelyn made me curious, and I really liked Mike. I'm grateful that some things were left for the reader's imagination to fill in, which also helped move the story along more smoothly. Overall, a fascinating paranormal story that's perfect for the Halloween season!