World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

 

Do you like to read any books about nature?  World of Wonders was the Diversity Book Club pick at work in 2024.  It is a beautiful book.

World of Wonders is a memoir that is a collection of essays that meld together the natural world with life experiences.  This book prompted very in depth and interesting discussions during my book club meetings.

My thoughts:

·       The author looked for parts of nature that mirrored her life experiences.  It was very interesting.

·       Nature is interesting and relatable which made it a great theme for every essay.

·       I thought it was very interesting that the book discussed otherness in how one defines oneself and how others define you.

·       I was very sad by the peacock feather story where the author drew a beautiful peacock for a school project.  Peacocks were very important to her family, but her teacher shut her down and told her she needed to draw something “American.”  This led to an interesting discussion on what the teacher could have done differently to make this a learning moment for the entire class about another culture.  How could the teacher have built up the student rather than tearing her down?

·       The author’s mother was from the Philippines and her father was from India. Despite being the first doctor in her family, her mother faces racism from patients in the hospital.

·       The author discusses finding her “pond” where she belonged.  This also prompted great discussion in our book group about finding our own ponds.

·       The essays were a good length and easy to pickup and read.  It was a great format.

Overall, I highly recommend World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil for all those looking for a great book to discuss in a book club or those that love nature and learning more about others experiences.

 

 

 

The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris

 

Title:  The Sweetness of Water

Author:  Nathan Harris

Narrated by:  William DeMeritt

Publisher: Little, Brown & Company

Length: Approximately 12 hours and 10 minutes

Source: Purchased from Amazon.com with physical book checked out from the Kewaunee Public Library.

What flowers are blooming in your area?  I was happy to return home from Michigan last week and discover daffodils blooming in my yard.

At the end of the Civil War in Georgia, two brothers, Prentis and Landry have been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, but they don’t know where to go or how to support themselves.  George Walker finds them on his land and offers them a job with a decent wage to help him clear land and to plant a peanut field.  This act sets the town against George and his family.  George and his wife Isabelle are mourning the loss of their son Caleb in the Civil War.  When Caleb returns home and is labeled a coward, the Walkers must make a stand and find a way forward.  Caleb has a forbidden love with a childhood friend and fellow soldier, August.  Will the Walker family and Prentis and Landy be able to navigate reconstruction to live in a better world?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This was the April pick for the Page-turner’s Book Club at the Kewaunee Public Library.  It provided a great discussion for book club.  I enjoyed the discussion, and it furthered my enjoyment of the book.

·       This novel was also an Oprah Book Club pick in 2021.

·       The novel was slow moving for the first half, but the action really picked up in the second half.

·       It made me really ponder what happened after the Civil War.  Society had gone through a giant upheaval.  How do you go back to “normal?”  What is the new “normal?”

·       This novel was character driven rather than plot driven.  The characters were all very interesting.  How far will you go to do what is right?

·       I felt like this was a coming-of-age story for Caleb, Landry, and George.

·       The novel had beautiful writing with rich language.

·       The Sweetness of Water was author Nathan Harris’s debut novel.  It was an excellent book and so well written, it was hard to believe it was a first novel.

·       I loved how all the main characters had to find courage to move forward.

·       I liked the ending.  It was positive, but realist.

·       Trigger warning:  The climax had brutal violence that was heartbreaking. 

·       This was an excellent audiobook.

Overall, The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris was a beautifully written, deeply moving character study set during reconstruction. 

A Great Country by Shilpi Somaya Gowda (Bibliolifestyle Book Tour)

 

Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @marinerbooks for the review copy of A Great Country by Shilpi Somaya Gowda.  Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Have you ever moved to a new area, or do you live where you grew up?  I grew up in a small town in Michigan, but I now live in a small town in Wisconsin.  There are some differences and some similarities.

Another question, have you ever had something go wrong even though you’ve done everything correctly in life?  I feel like we’ve all had that moment where life suddenly goes wrong.  That is what happens for the Shah family in A Great Country.  They have moved to the prestigious Pacific Hills area in California and things seem to be going well for the family.  Suddenly one night, the Shah parents, Ashok, and Priya, receive a call while at a dinner party.  Their 12-year-old son has been arrested.  How can this be and how can they help their son?  How can this happen to model minorities?

My thoughts on this book:

·       Wow!  This book packed a lot of important and thoughtful topics in a relatively short book.  It would make an excellent book club pick and would provide a lot of discussion points.

·       I liked the thoughts on being a model minority and what that means.  The Shah family has been in the United States for twenty years, worked hard and built a successful business.  Does that protect them from being perceived in a biased manner?

·       This novel also turned bias around the other way.  Does the Shah family hold biased views against other groups?  What is the difference between them and another family who had their young son killed?

·       Do you need a new fancy house in a new fancy neighborhood to be successful?

·       It turns out that their 12-year-old son, Ajay, is on the spectrum.  Ashok does not want his son labeled and has not had him evaluated or tried to receive any help for him. Culturally he believes that children should be perfect. He thought things were fine until Ajay did not react the way the police think he should react.  I liked the thoughtful look into realizing that it is okay if your child has problems, and it is okay to get help for those problems.

·       As a mother, I thought this entire scenario was very scary, but also very important to think about.  Do you think, well, that will not happen to my children because they are of a certain ethnicity or a certain religion?  Is that okay?

·       I also liked the thoughtful look at the police.  Just like people, there are good and bad police.  And even the so called “bad police” may have had experiences that make them have certain bias or perceptions that they use to protect themselves. In this case, one of the police was a veteran that had seen young children used as weapons for terrorism in Afghanistan.

·       It had an interesting look at the caste system in modern day India and how that may trickle over into immigrants in America and how they treat others.

·       The ending was satisfactory to me, but I’m sure some will think it ends too tidy.

·       I have read and enjoyed Secret Daughter by this author in the past.  This reminds me that I should read her other novels.  She is an excellent author.

·       If you enjoyed reading Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, I highly recommend this novel.

Favorite Quotes:

“He’s at a tender age, your brother.  Losing his innocence.  Seeing the ugliness of the world.  But he’ll get through it. You all will.”

“An immigrant-rich country like ours makes for a complex fabric.  These are tricky things to navigate in our society, which is something Vikram’s learning as well.  We are all here too help you.”

Overall, A Great County by Shilpi Somaya Gowda is a book that I will think about for a long time.  It’s an important and timely read.

A Christmas to Remember by Beverly Jenkins (Bibliolifestyle Book Tour)

Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @avonbooks for the review copy of A Christmas to Remember by Beverly Jenkins.

Does your community do anything special for the Christmas season?  We have our Christmas lights parade this upcoming Friday night and a Christkindlmart that takes place downtown on Friday and Saturday.  It’s the start of the Christmas season for me.

Henry Adams, Kansas is the setting for A Christmas to Remember.  Bernadine Brown and Mal July are preparing for their Christmas wedding, but it’s not the only thing that is going on in this busy small town.  As the town prepares to celebrate Christmas, many townspeople explore the relationships in their lives.

This is the eleventh book of the “Blessings” series and the first one that I have read.  This was a hard book to read as a standalone novel.  There were a lot of characters, and I had a hard time keeping track of who they were.  I think if I had started this series at the beginning and really knew the characters, I would have enjoyed the novel even more.  I liked the characters and their stories.  I especially loved Reverand Paula Grant and her sage wisdom, and Thornton Webb, the new chef in town.

This was my first Beverly Jenkins novel, but it won’t be my last.  I was also pleased to see she is a Michigan native.  I am originally from Michigan.  I enjoyed that her characters are African American and that the setting, Henry Adams, is a historic black community in Kansas.  I think my next stop will be reading the first book in this series, Bring on the Blessings.

The Do Over by Suzanne Park

 

If you had to go back to your college or high school to complete courses, would you, do it?  It would definitely be different now going back so long afterwards.  I’m sure I would love taking classes and meeting new people, but it wouldn’t be the same with the friends from my original college run not there.  With a job, husband, and kids, I wouldn’t be able to go back right now realistically!

Lily Lee has written a book and is making a success of her career.  She is about to start her dream job when she discovers she can’t be hired because she never actually graduated from college due to a technicality.  She returns to her alma mater determined to finish her degree with as little fuss as possible.  When she gets there, she discovers that her TA for her computer science class is her ex-boyfriend from college, Jake Cho.  How can this be?  Luckily her best friend Mia does not abandon her and visits a lot.  Will she be able to finish her degree, figure out her love life, and write her next book?  Lily has a lot on her plate.

I really enjoyed Lily’s journey in this book.  I really liked the honest look the book took at mental health and the expectations that our families place on us.  In Lily’s case, her parents’ expectations caused worsening anxiety to develop over time.  It also had an interesting discussion of how mental health is not often discussed in South Korean families. 

This novel had an overall theme of female empowerment that I enjoyed.  Lily has an arch enemy couple of rich siblings who seem to be ripping off her book series idea and are writing their own self help book in the same vein as hers.  It is hilarious as the brother that is part of the team mansplains at events what it is like in the working world for women and seems to not see the problem with doing this. 

I liked the second chance romance storyline with Jake.  The book flashed back to show what ended their relationship ten years previously.  The romance didn’t seem to be as well developed as it seemed to be a secondary storyline in this novel, and I was okay with it. 

Overall, I really enjoyed The Do-Over.  I loved Lily and her journey.

Book Source: Review Copy from NetGalley and Avon Books.   Thank-you! Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The East Indian by Brinda Charry

 

Title:  The East Indian

Author:  Brinda Charry

Narrated by:  Vikas Adam

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 10 hours and 44 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio.  Thank you @simonandschuster #BookClubFavorites for the free books!

What is your favorite adventure or travel novel, movie or show?  I really enjoyed The Eat Indian by Brinda Charry and another book I loved in the past was The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert.

The East Indian is an intriguing adventure historical fiction novel.   Tony is a young man growing up in India.  His life is thrown into turmoil after his mother’s death.  He soon finds himself on the way to England in a new position as a servant.  While in England, he soon finds himself kidnapped off the streets of London and sent to the new world of America.  Working as an indentured servant in America, Tony dreams of becoming a physician’s assistant.  He faces many dangers and hardships, but also finds love and hope.

 Vikas Adam was a good audiobook narrator.  It was an interesting audiobook to listen to.  I am ready for more!  Strangely the audiobook didn’t have the great author’s note that is at the end of the physical book.   I am always intrigued to learn that the past was a lot more diverse than many people realize.  “Tony” is the earliest known mention of an East Indian in America.  He was brought over in 1635 by Gorge Menefe to work as an indentured servant in Virginia.  There were many other East Indians living and working in colonial America and involved in the Revolutionary War.

It was eye opening looking into how indentured servants made it to America and how they were treated.  Tony has a young friend named Sammy who was also kidnapped with him.  He really wants to hear from his family back in England.  He is not treated kindly by his overseer which leads to devastating consequences.  

It was also eye opening to see how Tony was treated.  Most people did not know what ethnicity he was and made various assumptions about him.  Tony just wanted to have the same opportunities as all settlers.

I loved the adventure of this book as Tony continually discovers new places.  One of my favorite bits is when he goes west to explore with his master.  It’s also a coming-of-age story as Tony grows into a man and identifies what kind of life he wants.

Overall, The East Indian is a great coming-of-age historical fiction adventure story set in the 1600’s. I would love to read more of Tony’s story or of his family through time.  I’ll be looking for what author Brinda Charry writes next.

Favorite Quote:

“I will go home now – the western sky is flush with light and my wife and child are waiting.”

Black Girls Must Have it All by Jayne Allen (Bibliolifestyle Book Tour)

 

Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @harperperennial for the review copy of Black Girls Must Have it All by Jayne Allen.

Do you ever start a series in the middle or end or do you always start with the first book?

Black Girls Must Have it All is the third in a series of books.  I enjoyed this book, but I definitely want to go back and read the entire series.

SYNOPSIS:

In this final installment in the acclaimed Black Girls Must Die Exhausted trilogy, Tabitha is juggling work, relationships, and a newborn baby—but will she find the happy ending she’s always wanted?

After a whirlwind year, Tabitha Walker’s carefully organized plan to achieve the life she wanted—perfect job, dream husband, and stylish home—has gone off the rails. Her checklist now consists of diapers changed (infinite), showers taken (zero), tears cried (buckets), and hours of sleep (what’s that?).

Don't get her wrong, Tabby loves her new bundle of joy and motherhood is perhaps the only thing that's consistent for her these days. When the news station announces that they will be hiring outside competitors for the new anchor position, Tabby throws herself into her work. But it’s not just maintaining her position as the station’s weekend anchor that has her worried. All of her relationships seem to be shifting out of their regular orbits. Best friend Alexis can’t manage to strike the right balance in her “refurbished” marriage with Rob, and Laila’s gone from being a consistent ride-or-die to a newly minted entrepreneur trying to raise capital for her growing business. And when Marc presents her with an ultimatum about their relationship, coupled with an extended “visit” from his mother, Tabby is forced to take stock of her life and make a new plan for the future.

Consumed by work, motherhood, and love, Tabby finds herself isolated from her friends and family just when she needs them most. But help is always there when you ask for it, and Tabby’s village will once again rally around her as she comes to terms with her new life and faces her biggest challenge yet—choosing herself.

Publication Date:  April 11, 2023.  

My thoughts:  While I am not a black woman, this book was so relatable for working women who are trying to get ahead both at work and struggle with having taking care of a newborn child.  My youngest is 12, but the descriptions of the all-consuming task of keeping your newborn alive and fed brought back a lot of memories.  Add to this the extra layer of being a black woman and this gave me a new perspective.  This is a character driven novel.  I loved getting to know Tabby, Marc and her friends Alexis and Laila.

The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson

 

Title:  The House of Eve

Author:  Sadeqa Johnson

Narrated by:  Ariel Blake and Nicole Lewis

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 10 hours and 27 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio.  Thank you @simonandschuster #BookClubFavorites for the free books!

Do you like book covers that show faces?  I love this book cover, but it goes with the trend of having a headless person.  The other trend I notice is the back of someone walking away.  I think it's so you can imagine yourself as the character.  I like covers that show faces and also those that don’t.  I love the color of the dress on this cover.

The House of Eve is a riveting new historical fiction novel that I couldn’t put down.  I was listening to it on audiobook and I had a hard time stopping the story to do things like work, eat, or talk to my family.  The House of Eve is set in 1948 and is the story of two very women. Ruby is a fifteen year old in Philadelphia.  She is working on getting good grades and a scholarship to be the first person in her family to go to college.  It’s hard work as her single mother doesn’t care to raise her and cares more about her boyfriend of the month.  When Ruby meets Shimmy, sparks fly and she will make a decision that could potentially impact her life forever.

Eleanor is attending Howard University in Washington DC and is the pride her family from Ohio.  She has the dream of becoming an archivist at a library.  When she meets the handsome William Pride, she is instantly smitten.  William is from an elite and rich family in Washington DC.  Eleanor feels that William’s mother Rose will never accept her. Will having a baby bring her into the family more?

I really enjoyed the two different alternating narratives.  Ruby grew up in poverty with a single mother, while Eleanor had a more middle class upbringing with two parents.  They both have ambitions, and they both have to work hard for what they want.  I don’t want to ruin the story for others, but I loved the realistic challenges that the two women faced including pregnancy, racism, social pressures, body image issues, etc.

I also loved learning about the social scene of elite African Americans in Washington DC in the late 1940s.  It was new to me and so interesting.  There was also a section of the book that was disturbing showing what happened to unwed mothers who were sent to religious homes for unwed mothers.  I can’t stop thinking about this and how these mothers were treated.

Author Sadeqa Johnson previously wrote another historical fiction novel that I thought was excellent, Yellow Wife.  I LOVED that there was a connection to Yellow Wife at the end of The House of Eve.  It made me want to clap.  It was perfect.  I also read that this was a personal story for Johnson as her grandmother found herself a 14-year old unwed mother.

Ariel Blake and Nicole Lewis were great and engaging narrators.  The story was told through both Ruby and Eleanor’s point of view.  Each narrator told the story of each character and it made it so it seemed like their own personal story.  I enjoyed it.

 

Carolina Built by Kianna Alexander

 Title:  Carolina Built

Author:  Kianna Alexander

Narrated by:  Shayna Small and Leon Nixon

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 10 hours and 07 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster.  Thank-you!

 Josephine N. Leary was a real estate magnet in North Carolina after the Civil War.  Author Kianna Alexander brings her story to life in the novel Carolina Built.

 Josephine was owned by her own father.  She was emancipated after the Civil War and buys her first property after her marriage in 1873. She studies other real estate magnates and keeps working on building her portfolio.  She is a trained barber and runs the barbershop with her husband, Sweety.  They have two beautiful daughters and life seems to be going well for them until her business ambitions challenge Sweety’s manhood.  Will they be able to resolve their differences?

 The audiobook was narrated by Shayna Small and Leon Nixon as Josephine and Sweety telling their point of view in alternating chapters.  I was intrigued to learn about a new (to me) person in history.  I was a bit disappointed by the story though.  I was hoping for more on Josephine’s accomplishments and less on her domestic strife.  I was sad that Josephine and Sweety’s very happy marriage had such a break down. It seemed strange to me as Sweety knew she was an independent woman when they married.

Harlem Shuffle by Colten Whitehead

 

I keep hearing about how wonderful a writer Colten Whitehead is, and I jumped at the opportunity to review his latest novel, Harlem Shuffle.  I loved his writing style and I’m ready to read more of his books.

 Harlem Shuffle takes us back to the 1960s in Harlem.  There are three separate, but related, sections of the book.  Ray Carney owns a furniture store in Brooklyn and is happily married to Elizabeth.  Elizabeth grew up in a wealthier family and her father does not approve of Ray. Ray grew up the son of Big Mike, a criminal in Harlem.  Ray is only slightly crooked.  He may fence stolen items for his cousin Freddy, but he is mostly on the up and up.  When Freddy gets Ray inadvertently involved in a jewel heist, Ray’s life changes forever.  It becomes harder and harder to keep the two sides of his life separate.  Is Ray the striver or Ray the crook his true nature?

 This book was excellent.  I loved the noir aspect of it and vivid descriptions of Harlem in the 1960s.  I felt like I was immersed in this world. I loved the characters and Ray’s internal struggle.  I loved his loyalty to his cousin Freddy.  I had a hard time with the format after the first one third of the book until I realized they were basically three separate stories.  In the first and last story, Ray gets involved in bad business to help out Freddy, and in the middle Ray gets vengeance against someone who crossed him.  I thought it was interesting that there wasn’t much difference between crooks and “high class” people.

 Favorite Quotes:

“’I may be broke sometimes, but I ain’t crooked, ‘ he said to himself.  Although, he had to admit, perhaps he was.”

 “A few blocks was the difference between the strivers and the crooks, between opportunity and the hard scrabble.”

 “How long do you keep trying to save something that was lost?”

 “You could never know what was going on with other people, but their private selves were never far away.”

 Overall, Harlem Shuffle was a great novel set in the world of Harlem in the 1960s.  It was a family drama, crime caper, and the American dream all rolled up into one.

A Review Copy from NetGalley and Doubleday.  Thank-you! I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

 

All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris

2

Do you have something from your childhood that you wouldn’t want your coworkers to know?   Ellice Littlejohn has an Ivy League law degree and is a lawyer at a large corporation in Atlanta.  She doesn’t want her co-workers to know about her troubled childhood or her brother who has spent time in prison.  She also doesn’t want them to know that she is having an affair with her boss, Michael.

 Ellice’s world comes tumbling down when she comes to work one morning early to meet her boss and finds him dead in his office.  Who killed Michael?  Why is her workplace pushing her into his executive position so quickly? Why does most of the executive team seem to be hiding something and taking an active dislike to her?

 I enjoyed All Her Little Secrets.  It’s a good legal thriller.  It was slow burn at first, but once I got past a point in the middle, I literally couldn’t put this book down until I finished it. I really wanted to know what happened.  I also really liked the details of Ellice’s life and her experiences as the only person of color on the executive team.  She was also one of the only women in a powerful position was interesting as well.   Keeping secrets comes back to haunt Ellice as it makes her look very suspicious to the police.  I love how she wanted to protect her family and I also really liked her brother’s friend Juice.  It made me laugh that she made assumptions about him that were totally off base. 

 Favorite Quotes:

 “Just because he made a mistake doesn’t mean he can’t right himself up.  Mistakes don’t make nobody bad.  It makes ‘em human.”

 “Every lie you tell, every secret you keep, is a fragile little thing that must be protected and accounted for.  One misstep, one miscalculation, and your safe little treasures can topple the perfect life you’ve built around them.”

 “I had to believe that I was more than my worst mistake.  Every one of my secrets had been a painful lesson that I should have been learning from instead of running from.”

 Overall, All her Little Secrets is a riveting legal thriller while also being a great discussion about being a black woman in corporate America.  It’s also a great look at the side effects of telling lies, even what you believe to be harmless ones.

 Book Source:  A Review Copy from William Morrow.  Thank-you! I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

 

What is your favorite book or movie about twin sisters?  I’ve always been intrigued by twins, which must be why I loved the Sweet Valley Twins so much. 

 The Vanishing Half was the February Pick for the Rogue (aka FLICKS) Book Club, and it was an intriguing book to discuss.  The Vanishing Half spans the era from the 1950s to around 1990.  Desiree and Stella Vignes are twin sisters that grow up in the small town of Mallard, Louisiana.  The town prides itself as being populated with very light skinned African Americans.  When Desiree and Stella disappear one day, the town is shocked, but even more so when Desiree reappears fourteen years later without her sister.  Where was Desiree at?  What happened to Stella?  Where is the father of Desiree’s child, Jude?

 I thought the book was fascinating and it gave me a lot to think about.  I loved the nonlinear storytelling, and the beautiful writing.  There was enough mystery that I just kept wanting to read and see what happened.  I cared for the characters and wanted to see how their stories played out.  There were a lot of secrets and trying to figure out what is the best life for you. Desiree decides to return home and take care of her mother, but she also finds true love in an unexpected place.  Stella decides to leave her family forever and to pass as a white person.  She lives her life always hoping that no one will guess her secret.  Jude grows up and attends college on a track scholarship.  She meets and falls in love with Reese, who has secrets of his own.  Jude also meets her cousin, Kennedy, who does not know her Mother Stella’s secret.  The way that everyone’s lives intertwine was captivating.

 As a mother, I was sad at the numerous characters that had to cut off ties with their families to live their best lives.  I can’t imagine never seeing my children again.  I could empathize with the characters though and know why they did it.  The book does have you wonder though, was it better to live a life as someone else or to live a life true to yourself?  I think Desiree was happier as her true self, but Stella had a more luxurious and safe life.

 I’m still thinking about this book over a week later.  I need to check out more books by author Brit Bennett.

 Also, as I’m always looking for engineers in books – I was happy to see that a line about a character’s ex-girlfriends included, “Hannah, the engineer, studying how to improve sanitation in poor countries.  Kennedy had imagined a frumpy girl wading through sewage, not this perky blonde on the subway, perfectly balanced in her five-inch boots.”  This is my line of engineering and I love that the author made the engineer sexy!

 Favorite Quotes:

 “She’d always known that it was possible to be two different people in one lifetime, or maybe it was only possible from some.  Maybe others were just stuck with who they were.”

 “This big ol’ world and we only get to go through it once.  The saddest thing there is, you ask me.”

 “At first, passing seemed so simple, she couldn’t understand why her parents hadn’t done it.  But she was young then.  She hadn’t realized how long it takes to become somebody else, or how lonely it can be living in a world not meant for you.”

 “This river, like all rivers, remembered its course.  They floated under the leafy canopy of trees, begging to forget.”

 Overall, The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett is an intriguing look into racial and gender identity and a fascinating story of a family.  It was a beautifully written novel.

 Book Source:  Purchased from Amazon.com during a buy two get one free deal!

Tahira in Bloom by Farah Heron (TLC Book Tour)

 

What is your favorite young adult novel?

Tahira Janmohammad is seventeen and very goal oriented to become a fashion designer.  She works on using her social media to give her a presence, but she knows she needs a good internship.  When her planned internship falls apart, she instead decides to work in her aunt’s boutique in the small town of Bakewell, in Ontario.  Moving from Toronto to Bakewell, the flower capital of the world, is a culture shock.  Tahira is allergic to flowers, but she’s also very annoyed by Rowan Johnston.  Rowan is an attractive recent high school graduate that is obsessed with gardening and is very irritated about Tahira and her seeming social media obsession.  When a major contest can help both Tahira and Rowan’s future careers they decide to work together with their group of friends to try to win.  Will they learn to see eye to eye?  Will they win this contest?

 I enjoyed this young adult novel.  I’ll admit, my favorite part of the novel was that Tahira and Rowan’s enemies to lovers narrative was very Austenesque.  They seemed a lot like a modern-day Lizzie and Darcy.  I LOVED it.  I really loved Tahira’s pluck.  She definitely has setbacks, but she has real goals, and she works towards them.  She was a great character.  I liked how Tahira, and Rowan talk about racism at times through the book and how it has impacted them.  I will admit that I felt personally affronted when Rowan’s sister Juniper is made fun of by his ex-girlfriend for her Bookstagram and YouTube channel talking about books.  Juniper sounds like she would have been my high school friend.    I love the chapter titles.  They were both witty and fun.  The cover is very beautiful as well.

 Overall, Tahira in Bloom is an enjoyable young adult novel with very strong Austenesque vibes.  I loved it!

 Book Source: Review Copy from Amazon Publishing and Skyscape for being a part of the TLC Book Tour.  Thank-you!  I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.  

From the Publisher:

Life is full of surprises in a winning novel about a girl dreaming big during one unexpected small-town summer.

When seventeen-year-old aspiring designer Tahira Janmohammad’s coveted fashion internship falls through, her parents have a Plan B. Tahira will work in her aunt’s boutique in the small town of Bakewell, the flower capital of Ontario. It’s only for the summer, and she’ll get the experience she needs for her college application. Plus her best friend is coming along. It won’t be that bad.

But she just can’t deal with Rowan Johnston, the rude, totally obsessive garden-nerd next door with frayed cutoffs and terrible shoes. Not to mention his sharp jawline, smoldering eyes, and soft lips. So irritating. Rowan is also just the plant-boy Tahira needs to help win the Bakewell flower-arranging contest–an event that carries clout in New York City, of all places. And with designers, of all people. Connections that she needs!

No one is more surprised than Tahira to learn that floral design is almost as great as fashion design. And Rowan? Turns out he’s more than ironic shirts and soil under the fingernails. Tahira’s about to find out what she’s really made of–and made for. Because here in the middle of nowhere, Tahira is just beginning to bloom.

About Farah Heron

After a childhood filled with Bollywood, Monty Python, and Jane Austen, Farah Heron constantly wove uplifting happily ever afters in her head while pursuing careers in human resources and psychology. She started writing her stories down a few years ago and is thrilled to see her daydreams become books. The author of Accidentally Engaged and The Chai Factor, Farah writes romantic comedies for adults and teens full of huge South Asian families, delectable food, and most importantly, brown people falling stupidly in love. Farah lives in Toronto with her husband and two teens, a rabbit named Strawberry, and two cats who rule the house. She has way too many hobbies, but her thumb is more brown than green. For more information visit www.farahheron.com.