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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
emotional
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Young Alice Hart lives in a cottage by the sea where her mother plants flowers and they both have to navigate the unpredictable moods of Alice’s father. When a tragedy occurs during her ninth year, Alice’s life is changed completely and she learns to heal and speak through flowers.
Wow! What an emotional rollercoaster. I haven’t cried that much in a book for quite a while. Beautiful writing, complex characters. If you hate it when misfortune occurs because characters keep secrets instead of just talking to each other, then don’t read this book.
I loved all of the references to fairy tale and floriography. I also loved the inclusion of indigenous Australian culture.
A really great book
Wow! What an emotional rollercoaster. I haven’t cried that much in a book for quite a while. Beautiful writing, complex characters. If you hate it when misfortune occurs because characters keep secrets instead of just talking to each other, then don’t read this book.
I loved all of the references to fairy tale and floriography. I also loved the inclusion of indigenous Australian culture.
A really great book
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
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
Animal cruelty
Content Warnings
dogs get kicked - happens twice in the book. The first dog, Toby, dies in a fire, but it’s not described, said, or mentioned explicitly, only remembered in passing.
I watched the show last year and enjoyed it so thought I would read this however it fell flat.
The flower farm needed to be shut down in my opinion, so much traumatic things happened there but everyone says its their sanctuary? More like a prison.
June obviously was very traumatised and had a lot of issues to deal with, with her need for control over all the flowers lives and alice. She needed to gain some control back in her life after everything that occurred with her son and the guilt she felt. Her getting Oggi deported and lying to Alice about her brother was rooted in her very deep need for coercive control.
Alice, was flawed, but she was so very much relatable. I don't understand how people are shocked she got into an abusive relationship, thats all the love she saw from birth so she was bound to re-live the cycle. She was clearly running from herself and everything she knew had been a lie.
The language of flowers were very beautiful, albeit used as a way to not speak the truth and talk about their feelings etc because they could only really communicate through the flowers. Though it was very repetitive.
I think the show did it more justice than the book. The writing was very tedious and the long descriptions over meaningless things and inconsistencies.
I would give this one star but credit where credit is due because it did lead to a tv show which I enjoyed.
The flower farm needed to be shut down in my opinion, so much traumatic things happened there but everyone says its their sanctuary? More like a prison.
June obviously was very traumatised and had a lot of issues to deal with, with her need for control over all the flowers lives and alice. She needed to gain some control back in her life after everything that occurred with her son and the guilt she felt. Her getting Oggi deported and lying to Alice about her brother was rooted in her very deep need for coercive control.
Alice, was flawed, but she was so very much relatable. I don't understand how people are shocked she got into an abusive relationship, thats all the love she saw from birth so she was bound to re-live the cycle. She was clearly running from herself and everything she knew had been a lie.
The language of flowers were very beautiful, albeit used as a way to not speak the truth and talk about their feelings etc because they could only really communicate through the flowers. Though it was very repetitive.
I think the show did it more justice than the book. The writing was very tedious and the long descriptions over meaningless things and inconsistencies.
I would give this one star but credit where credit is due because it did lead to a tv show which I enjoyed.
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
I hated this book. I should have DNFed since I spent most of it listening to the audio angry that the story was so disjointed. The descriptions of flowers and scenery are pretty, and the emotions described are well written, which kept me going. But, I hate how repetitively dumb and hurtful these women are in each other's lives as nobody can just speak up. I hate how it focused on how "love" makes you blinded, or how cruel men can be, but never do the women learn (Dillon left Alice, not the other way around). Just not my type of book.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated