Tabatha G. (TabbieG) reviewed Susannah's Garden (Blossom Street, Bk 3) (Audio CD) (Abridged) on + 377 more book reviews
IT WAS THE YEAR THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING....
WHEN SUSANNAH NELSON TURNED EIGHTEEN, HER PARENTS SENT HER TO SCHOOL ABROAD. SHE SAID GOODBYE TO HER BOYFRIEND, JAKE--AND NEVER SAW HIM AGAIN. SHE NEVER SAW HER BROTHER AGAIN, EITHER; DOUGH DIED IN A CAR ACCIDENT WHILE SHE WAS AWAY.
NOW, AT FIFTY, SHE FINDS HERSELF REGRETTING THE PATHS NOT TAKEN. ESPECIALLY THE CHANCE TO BE WITH JAKE...LONG MARRIED, A MOTHER AND A TEACHER, SHE SHOULD BE HAPPY. BUT SHE FEELS THERE'S SOMETHING MISSING, ALTHOUGH SHE DOESN'T KNOW EXACTLY WHAT. NOT ONLY THAT, SHE'S BALANCING THE DEMANDS OF AN AGING MOTHER AND A TEMPERAMENTAL TWENTY-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER.
BECAUSE HER MOTHER, VIVIAN, A RECENT WIDOW, IS HAVING DIFFICULTY COPING AND LIVING ALONE, SUSANNAH PREPARES TO MAKE SOME HARD DECISIONS. IN RETURNING TO HER HOMETOWN OF COLVILLE, WASHINGTON, TO HER PARENTS' HOUSE HER GIRLHOOD FRIENDS AND THE GARDEN SHE'S ALWAYS LOVED, SHE ALSO RETURNS TO THE PAST--AND THE CHOICES SHE MADE BACK THEN.
WHAT SHE DISCOVERS IS THAT THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS AS THEY ONCE SEEMED. SOME PATHS ARE DEAD ENDS. BUT SOME GARDENS REMAIN BEAUTIFUL.....
WHEN SUSANNAH NELSON TURNED EIGHTEEN, HER PARENTS SENT HER TO SCHOOL ABROAD. SHE SAID GOODBYE TO HER BOYFRIEND, JAKE--AND NEVER SAW HIM AGAIN. SHE NEVER SAW HER BROTHER AGAIN, EITHER; DOUGH DIED IN A CAR ACCIDENT WHILE SHE WAS AWAY.
NOW, AT FIFTY, SHE FINDS HERSELF REGRETTING THE PATHS NOT TAKEN. ESPECIALLY THE CHANCE TO BE WITH JAKE...LONG MARRIED, A MOTHER AND A TEACHER, SHE SHOULD BE HAPPY. BUT SHE FEELS THERE'S SOMETHING MISSING, ALTHOUGH SHE DOESN'T KNOW EXACTLY WHAT. NOT ONLY THAT, SHE'S BALANCING THE DEMANDS OF AN AGING MOTHER AND A TEMPERAMENTAL TWENTY-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER.
BECAUSE HER MOTHER, VIVIAN, A RECENT WIDOW, IS HAVING DIFFICULTY COPING AND LIVING ALONE, SUSANNAH PREPARES TO MAKE SOME HARD DECISIONS. IN RETURNING TO HER HOMETOWN OF COLVILLE, WASHINGTON, TO HER PARENTS' HOUSE HER GIRLHOOD FRIENDS AND THE GARDEN SHE'S ALWAYS LOVED, SHE ALSO RETURNS TO THE PAST--AND THE CHOICES SHE MADE BACK THEN.
WHAT SHE DISCOVERS IS THAT THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS AS THEY ONCE SEEMED. SOME PATHS ARE DEAD ENDS. BUT SOME GARDENS REMAIN BEAUTIFUL.....
Jessica C. (jesskc) reviewed Susannah's Garden (Blossom Street, Bk 3) (Audio CD) (Abridged) on + 56 more book reviews
This audio CD was great.. actually one of my favorites to date, and not just b/c it was a wonderful story. The Narrator did an excellent job w/ the voices & reflection of emotion for each character. I especially loved how she read the parts of Vivienne (Susannah's elderly mother) & George (An elderly man that befriends Vivienne when she moves into Altamura assisted living)
In this story Macomber expertly tells a tale of 1 family's (as well as a few friends of the family) experience and journey through many highly relateable issues that mostly everyone has to face in life (Marraige, Love, Loss, Healing & Relationships between friends, foes, family, Lost loves of the past, and the stages of life and growing up (at all ages/stages of life), and raising children.
In this book Susannah visits her childhood home b/c she is concerned that her mothers (vivienne)mental health is deteriorating and that she should move to assisted living. While she is visiting her mothers home and in the process of moving her she is determined to figure out and come to terms with two very painful events of lost love from her youth (loss of a boyfriend that dissapeared without explanation and the death of her brother and the effect his death had on her family) While she is in process of digging this info up her daughter Chrissy comes to stay with her.
Chrissy is at the age where she still has the innocence that a teenager should have but she is also becoming an independant experienced adult, so she is faced with some very adult decisions that of course a teenager doesnt have the prior experience to know how to make wisely. So when she runs off with an older boy (one that has been raised with a whole different set of values.... or lack there of... than Chrissy has.) So naturally Susuannah is scared that Chrissy will make some regrettable decisions with this boy so she tries to stop Chrissy from seeing him (with little luck) but as the story progresses Susannah suddenly changes her views and opinion on her daughters relationship with this boy after she discovers some shocking information from her past that was unearthed while in the process of investigating the two painful events from her teenage years. Needless to say the information she uncovers is not at all what she had wanted to find nor what she expected and she has a very hard time coming to terms with this.
So, she is now faced with yet another decision... Should she stop digging and leave the past in the past or continue searching so she can uncover the truth even if the truth may not be what she wants to hear and may just leave her more confused and heartbroken than before. In the end Macomber delivers an explosion of even more unexpected events and twists that leave you satisfied and teary eyed at the end of the book... I loved this and i think anyone would love this even if you are not into Macomber or Romance-y type novels.
This is part of the "blossom st" series and although it is part of the series (i have been reading the series out of order) i dont think it matters whether you read it in order or not b/c although the books tie together through characters and geographical locations featured in each book, the tie ins pretty much end there and i didnt feel confused by reading some of the books later in the series prior to the earlier ones nor did i feel like reading the later-in-series books first gave away any important info that would spoil the endings of any of the earlier books.
In this story Macomber expertly tells a tale of 1 family's (as well as a few friends of the family) experience and journey through many highly relateable issues that mostly everyone has to face in life (Marraige, Love, Loss, Healing & Relationships between friends, foes, family, Lost loves of the past, and the stages of life and growing up (at all ages/stages of life), and raising children.
In this book Susannah visits her childhood home b/c she is concerned that her mothers (vivienne)mental health is deteriorating and that she should move to assisted living. While she is visiting her mothers home and in the process of moving her she is determined to figure out and come to terms with two very painful events of lost love from her youth (loss of a boyfriend that dissapeared without explanation and the death of her brother and the effect his death had on her family) While she is in process of digging this info up her daughter Chrissy comes to stay with her.
Chrissy is at the age where she still has the innocence that a teenager should have but she is also becoming an independant experienced adult, so she is faced with some very adult decisions that of course a teenager doesnt have the prior experience to know how to make wisely. So when she runs off with an older boy (one that has been raised with a whole different set of values.... or lack there of... than Chrissy has.) So naturally Susuannah is scared that Chrissy will make some regrettable decisions with this boy so she tries to stop Chrissy from seeing him (with little luck) but as the story progresses Susannah suddenly changes her views and opinion on her daughters relationship with this boy after she discovers some shocking information from her past that was unearthed while in the process of investigating the two painful events from her teenage years. Needless to say the information she uncovers is not at all what she had wanted to find nor what she expected and she has a very hard time coming to terms with this.
So, she is now faced with yet another decision... Should she stop digging and leave the past in the past or continue searching so she can uncover the truth even if the truth may not be what she wants to hear and may just leave her more confused and heartbroken than before. In the end Macomber delivers an explosion of even more unexpected events and twists that leave you satisfied and teary eyed at the end of the book... I loved this and i think anyone would love this even if you are not into Macomber or Romance-y type novels.
This is part of the "blossom st" series and although it is part of the series (i have been reading the series out of order) i dont think it matters whether you read it in order or not b/c although the books tie together through characters and geographical locations featured in each book, the tie ins pretty much end there and i didnt feel confused by reading some of the books later in the series prior to the earlier ones nor did i feel like reading the later-in-series books first gave away any important info that would spoil the endings of any of the earlier books.
