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Title: As Love Blooms
Author: Lorna Seilstad
Series: The Gregory Sisters #3
Genre: Historical
Audience: Adult
~ MY REVIEW ~
**3 stars**
As
Love Blooms was kind of a cute, fun story; third book in the Gregory
Sisters series by Lorna Seilstad.
It follows the life of youngest sister,
Tessa Gregory, with her vivacious, slightly wild, nature; her love of gardens
and growing things; her secrets; and dangerous escapades.
Though I didn’t like it as much as the
first book in this series, As Love Blooms
was interesting enough, and I enjoyed learning more about Tessa and seeing
her story unfold. The gardening parts were fun, the sisters’ relationship
sweet, and the faith theme poignant. There was bits here and there that I quite
appreciated about this book.
But, unfortunately, I found a few
negatives as well. I think my biggest thing would be the romance. It just felt
kind of…shallow. Rushed. Superficial. They enjoyed working together and thought
the other was oh so delightful; yet they used each other secretly and rather
selfishly. They weren’t even serious about marriage in the future or even their
romance really at all, and yet they were kissing to show each other that they
weren’t “just friends”. I don’t know. It just doesn’t appeal to me.
Lorna Seilstad’s novels usually have
something about woman’s suffrage in them. And while I think it was a worthy
cause…sometimes I feel her characters just go too far and too deep. Hmm.
Sometimes I just feel that it’s all
about the women. And they just need
their rights. And life simply can’t
go on if they don’t get what they want. There’s this air of selfishness
floating around. Tessa often does foolish things just because she feels like
“disobeying” it seems. Well, maybe that’s just how I felt.
I’m not meaning to bash this book. I
suppose you can decide for yourself if the romance and women’s rights issues
are to your liking in As Love Blooms.
Those are simply my opinions and feelings.
Overall, As Love Blooms by Lorna Seilstad was a pleasant read, and kept me
interested. Also, there was an unexpected suspense twist to it, which was
intriguing. *smiles* So…this book wasn’t really my preference. But it may be yours!
I received a copy of As Love Blooms from Revell Publishers in exchange for my honest review.
I read some of Lorna's early books, but not this series (or maybe some of the first book?). Those I did read were cute, but not a favorite so I've not read more. Still, like you say, they are sweet and sometimes that's exactly what we're looking for. :)
ReplyDeleteYes, I read some of her other books that were definitely fun and sweet! :) The first in The Gregory Sisters series I quite liked . . . but As Love Blooms just wasn't so much my thing. Other people might enjoy it more! :)
DeleteFor sure, sometimes the light, kind of "fluffy" reads are just what we need at the moment!! :D