Characters just never come alive and are hard to care about or believe in. Their speech is clumsy and unrealistic. The other issue that I had was everything that happened with Julia's personal life. I don't want to give anything away so excuse me for being vague. First, it just seemed a crazy that it would happen in the first place. I almost wished that it would have been left out of the book because aside from making Julia really sad, I don't think it added anything to the book. As Daisy struggles to make sense of this new world and her freedom, she pushes the limits and fearlessly rides the edge. Ryke knows there’s deep hurt beneath every impulsive action. He must keep up with Daisy, and if he lets her go, her favorite motto—“live as if you’ll die today”—may just come true. I love these lines from the book: We are sharing a moment in time. Like the universe, there is no beginning or end. We just are. Wharton Park holds a special place in the heart of Julia Forrester, a world-renowned concert pianist. As a child, Julia spent time there since her grandparents were long-time employees of the Crawfords and lived in a cottage on the grounds of the manor. Her grandfather grew exotic orchids and made Wharton Park famous for the rare flowers; her grandmother, Elsie, was a lady's maid. Their devotion to the manor parallels that of the servants of Downton Abbey for the Granthams. Julia's summers at the estate were dreamlike: "The tranquility and warmth of the hothouses—sitting snugly in the corner of the kitchen garden, sheltered against the cruel winds that blew in from the North Sea during the winter—stayed in her memory all year."

Hothouse Flower by Lucinda Riley | Waterstones Hothouse Flower by Lucinda Riley | Waterstones

I mean the prologue was kinda great and I thought, OMG, this book has to fantastic. I was SO wrong. After the prologue the whole story goes down the drain and only consists of stupid and blunt characters that are all so very annoying and not likeable at all. Plus, they don't show how they feel nor is the author able to make the reader care at all for them. They are all like puppets on a string. Same with the setting. You have no pictures in mind when Harry is in Bangkok or Julie in France. They are there. The end. WTF? This is what Kit told Julia when they were at Wharton Park looking at the stars and everything seemed to be perfect for them. Of course, Julia was still grieving for her son and husband, but Kit was helping her. But when an old diary is found during renovation work, the pair turn to Julia's grandmother to hear the truth about the love affair that changed Wharton Park's fortunes all those years ago . . . In this case, I regret wasting my time. I feel like a fool because I kept slogging on until the end, despite early and plentiful signs that it wasn't going to be what I hoped; I admit I was interested enough in the plot to just read a little further... a little further... But it just could have been so much better.

Success!

And then he receives a distressed call from a girl in Paris—a girl that he has never been allowed to have. Dar viena Lucinda Riley knyga perskaityta. Kaip ir kitose mano skaitytose jos knygose istorija pasakojama dviem laiko linijomis: praeitimi ir dabartimi. An assignment leads Reba to a German bakery where she wants to interview an elderly woman on Christmas traditions around the world. The old woman, Elsie Meriwether, the owner of Elsie's German Bakery, is uncooperative. With a deadline fast approaching, Reba spends more and more time with Elsie and her daughter, Jane. Soon, though, Reba finds she likes visiting the women. She opens up to them. The feeling is mutual. Elsie opens up to Reba not about German Christmas traditions but about a Christmas in 1944, one that changed everything.

Hothouse Flower: The romantic and moving novel from the Hothouse Flower: The romantic and moving novel from the

Don't miss this alluring story with its captivating characters who have secrets that span 70 years and a family that makes a full circle with Wharton Park being the beginning and the end. There is truth about the old adage, "less is more". I was happily reading along when one extra twist in the story punted it firmly into the realm of melodrama. Unfortunately, there were a couple more twists to come. Lucinda Riley, you were doing just fine until you started to embellish too much. Julia, the protagonist has just had her world thrown upside down. Devastated and mostly catatonic, she stumbles upon a mystery of the noble house she grew up by. So at this point, the story takes off. We're introduced to a bevy of characters, including Harry, Lord Crawford. Oh man, was this guy unlikeable or what? He marries this largely affable girl, Olivia, whom he hurts repeatedly. One second, he's possibly gay and is found kissing one of her male friends. No harm, no foul. It turns out he was confused and professes to Olivia that he loves her and wants to do right by her. She gives him a second chance and the reader is treated to a few paragraphs where the couple are basking in their new love. Then he goes off to war and falls in love with a 17 year old in Thailand, then makes plans to be with her and leave his wife because apparently, he never loved her. I'm sorry. He was an selfish asshole. Anyway, it turns out that Julia, remember our modern-day protagonist, is his granddaughter. Turns out, he unknowingly left the 17 year old pregnant. I think this book would have been better had Harry been more likable. But what bugged me the most are those stupid dialogues. I haven't read so much bullshit in a very long time. Seriously, people don't talk like that. Especially not, if they know each other. And what made me laugh out loud are sentences like "I hope I am worth enough for you", from a person living in 2010. Oooooookay.Language is trite (I literally threw the book down when one character decided "she could not allow herself to love again"); and as though the author doesn't trust that the dialogue between characters conveys the proper ideas, each exchange is followed by a few lines redundantly summarizing what everyone meant and felt.