A Memory of Violets

Author: Hazel Gaynor
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins Publisher, 2015
Pages: 432
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: From the author of the USA Today bestseller The Girl Who Came Home comes an unforgettable historical novel that tells the story of two long-lost sisters—orphaned flower sellers—and a young woman who is transformed by their experiences.

"For little sister. . . . I will never stop looking for you."

1876. Among the filth and depravity of Covent Garden's flower markets, orphaned Irish sisters Flora and Rosie Flynn sell posies of violets and watercress to survive. It is a pitiful existence, made bearable only by each other's presence. When they become separated, the decision of a desperate woman sets their lives on very different paths.

1912. Twenty-one-year-old Tilly Harper leaves the peace and beauty of her native Lake District for London to become assistant housemother at one of Mr. Shaw's Training Homes for Watercress and Flower Girls. For years, the homes have cared for London's orphaned and crippled flower girls, getting them off the streets. For Tilly, the appointment is a fresh start, a chance to leave her troubled past behind.

Soon after she arrives at the home, Tilly finds a notebook belonging to Flora Flynn. Hidden between the pages she finds dried flowers and a heartbreaking tale of loss and separation as Flora's entries reveal how she never stopped looking for her lost sister. Tilly sets out to discover what happened to Rosie—but the search will not be easy. Full of twists and surprises, it leads the caring and determined young woman into unexpected places, including the depths of her own heart.

Review: There aren't words to describe how much I loved this book. This author brilliantly wove the characters lives together, and made them come alive in a way few authors do. If you love historical fiction, you will love this book.

Sorry for the short review, but I'm anxious to log into the online catalog and request more books by this author.

Letter to My Daughter

Author: George Bishop
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group, 2011
Pages: 176
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: A fight, ended by a slap, sends Elizabeth out the door of her Baton Rouge home on the eve of her fifteenth birthday. Her mother, Laura, is left to fret and worry—and remember. Wracked with guilt as she awaits Liz’s return, Laura begins a letter to her daughter, hoping to convey “everything I’ve always meant to tell you but never have.” In her painfully candid confession, Laura shares memories of her own troubled adolescence in rural Louisiana, her bittersweet relationship with a boy she loved despite her parents’ disapproval, and a personal tragedy that she can never forget. An absorbing and affirming debut, Letter to My Daughter is a heartwrenching novel of mothers, daughters, and the lessons we all learn when we come of age.

Review: I saw this sitting out on a shelf at the library and the title grabbed me; I guess having two daughters of my own and all. I also found it intriguing that the author is a guy and was writing from a mother's perspective. I thought, "no way is this going to work." I was wrong, and it was so very very good. 

It only took me a couple hours to read this 176 page book, and it proves that a lot can be said in a few short pages. It's a small book that packs a big punch. Highly Recommend.

As a perk, I can check off the category, "a book you can finish in a day" from my 2016 Reading Challenge.

Me Before You

Author: Jojo Moyes
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2013
Pages: 416
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose . . .

Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has barely been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.

Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

Review: I fell in love with this book from page one, and that was completely unexpected. It's not the type of cover (I know, I know) that I typically read. It's also very popular right now, and I typically shy away from books that everyone is reading. The only reason I gave it a chance is because I needed a book that is being turned into a movie in 2016.

I was also unsure about reading a British book. I actually loved that aspect of it, and even found some of it quite humorous.

This was one of those books that makes you want to read faster and faster because you need to know what happens next, but you want to savor each page as well because when it's over, it's over. I forced myself to put it down so that I could enjoy more of it later otherwise this would have been a one-sitting read.

There was definitely an opportunity for the author to develop the interpersonal relationships and characters, but in thinking about it that may have detracted from the intent of the story. I didn't get the ending I wanted, but what a read. Loved it.

Also by JoJo Moyes:
The Peacock Emporium

King's Oak

Author: Anne Rivers Siddons
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishing, 2001
Pages: 608
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: Leaving behind a disastrous marriage, Andy Calhoun moves to the small town of Pemberton, Georgia, "in search of banality." What she discovers, though, is not serenity, but Tom Dabney, a passionate and magical man.

An exuberant poet who worships the wilderness surrounding Pemberton, Tom is everything Andy doesn't need in her life right now. But despite warnings from friends, Andy is soon deeply immersed in Tom's life and his world . . . a world he will do anything to protect. When Tom declares war on the enemy poisoning his woods, it becomes clear that Andy must choose between her life with Tom and the one she left behind . . . if Pemberton society will take her back.

Review: After scouring the library for books over 600 pages, I settled on this one despite Siddons not being one of my favorite authors. The books I've read by Siddons in the past were light, fluffy reads so I figured how bad could it be. The answer is. . .pretty bad. It was good for a couple hundred pages in the middle, but the beginning was slow and the end was slower. I also had no idea this was a mystery of sorts until the last chapter. Dumb.

The characters annoyed me, more and more as the story plodded along. Eventually, I found myself in too deep to stop, but it's not one I recommend. There are too many good books out there to trouble yourself with this one.

This wasn't the first time I've read Siddons. I didn't love The Girls of August, but it was better than this one.