Book Review: The Sunday House by Elizabeth Bromke

Solid Coming Of Age Story In Different Eras And Promising New Series. This is one of the more interesting books I've read in quite some time mostly because of how Bromke uses so many different elements in atypical mashups to create such a compelling tale. There's elements of everything from Stephen King's Carrie to William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, with a bit of Alexandre Dumas' Three Musketeers and even S.E. Hinton's Outsiders to boot... or this could be my hyper-connective Autistic brain making connections that *no one* else will see. Read the book, write your own damn review, and let me know what you think there. I'm genuinely curious to see if anyone else picks up on these things... and yes, I'm going to ask Bromke directly if even *she* knew these things were there. :D

Even without the connections to the Masters though, this is a solid and compelling tale in its own right, set 18+ years apart (one particular event, but at least some time leading to it, along with its immediate fallout in one timeline, 18 ish years after that event in the more current timeline). Both feature strong coming of age stories, the more current one features a strong mystery component as our lead in that timeline seeks answers that we as the reader are getting from the earlier timeline's tale - and Bromke manages the pacing, foreshadowing, cliffhangers, and reveals all quite well within this tight, barely 200 page tale (as is her style, at least in my own reading of many of her books).

This is absolutely one of those books that will suck you right in as the kids are playing at the pool or on the beach in this late summer release window at the end of July when the book releases, or perhaps while waiting on practices and games as the school year and its associated sports and activities begin in early fall - and again, with its fairly short length, will be a fairly quick read while so waiting.

And yes, you're going to want Book 2 in your hands when this one ends... which is always a great thing, but also one that makes being an Advance Review Copy reader in particular that much more... fun. Let's go with fun.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Sunday House by Elizabeth Bromke was originally written on July 26, 2026.