Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
Still love this book. It had been so long since I read it that Iforgot most of it,but not the way it made me feel. So glad I reread it.
Adored this book although I can not remember anything about it right now! Read it over ten years ago. Constantly dipping in and out of it
I've been wanting to read this book ever since I first saw it on the shelves. I'm fascinated by the Victorian language of flowers and I was interested in seeing how this book would handle the subject. And while the book was good, I had to give it a low score for a few reasons.
I'm going to point out the good parts of the book first. It is a good read, and it's easy to get sucked into the main character's struggles. It's especially good at showing how a child waiting to be adopted would feel as they lived in the system. While I think the main character is an extreme case, I can't say for sure since I could never relate to what she went through.
The biggest thing that brought this book's score down for me, unfortunately, was the jumping between the past and present. It wasn't always easy for me to tell when in the timeline the chapters were covering. And the chapters that were in the past jumped around in a non-linear way. They way it was written, a few read-throughs would be needed to know the sequence of events.
I couldn't fully get drawn into the story. Maybe it was me or the book, or a little of both. Whatever it was, I couldn't be fully invested. I'm sure this is a great book but it just wasn't for me.
I'm going to point out the good parts of the book first. It is a good read, and it's easy to get sucked into the main character's struggles. It's especially good at showing how a child waiting to be adopted would feel as they lived in the system. While I think the main character is an extreme case, I can't say for sure since I could never relate to what she went through.
The biggest thing that brought this book's score down for me, unfortunately, was the jumping between the past and present. It wasn't always easy for me to tell when in the timeline the chapters were covering. And the chapters that were in the past jumped around in a non-linear way. They way it was written, a few read-throughs would be needed to know the sequence of events.
I couldn't fully get drawn into the story. Maybe it was me or the book, or a little of both. Whatever it was, I couldn't be fully invested. I'm sure this is a great book but it just wasn't for me.
3.5 stars
Not bad, but reads like a YA novel. Interesting to see the overlap between the two story lines. Info about flowers makes me want to reread classic Victorian texts.
Not bad, but reads like a YA novel. Interesting to see the overlap between the two story lines. Info about flowers makes me want to reread classic Victorian texts.
3.5 stars - really mixed feelings about this book and the broken main character - the beauty of flowers and their meanings - well written and I will read author again but several events were so unbelievable as to take away from the story
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A beautiful book about self love, motherhood, and family. This main character was so well done. Interesting and frustrating and heartbreaking. The switch between past and present provided clever cliff hangers and kept me reading. The hook and pacing are perfect. A great spring read, if you can handle the large segment in the middle about the harsh realities of single motherhood with a newborn.
Captivating is too tame a word. The beautiful weather of today faded into nothing and I was transported to the dark rich soil of the woods, the streets of San Francisco, and hot sun-baked earth of farm land. I cried but couldn't stop reading. I had to scour the back of the book reading the provided definitions and the best I could come up with for this book is Witch Hazel, it certainly cast its spell on me.
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes