The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

Family secrets come to light in this gripping drama of a story. A little girl is left on a wharf in 1913 and takes the ship to Australia. The little girl grows up and on her 21st birthday, Nell is told the truth, her parents are not her real parents. It sets her world into a tizzy. But never really finds out the truth and so passes it onto her granddaughter Cassandra. It may just be the adventure she needs to take her mind off her grandmother's death.

Ms. Morton does it yet again! Weaving all the different view points was done very well. The time periods really didn't effect a whole lot for the most part but I enjoyed reliving it all. Made all the easier thanks to the little notations at the beginning of most if not all chapters. I was impressed with the range of characters presented and how you truly got to know the ins and outs of each one. Whether it was through the characters' own words or in letters/ journals etc.. Ms. Morton has a way with stories that completely captivate and envelop inside that world. The situations pretain and all is revealed. At times, I found it a little predictable but the twists that came about were still surprises for the reason behind it all.

I loved Cassandra. She truly wanted to help her deceased grandmother. There was a whole world and a side to the story that Nell never got to discover. Cassandra decided to finish it up as she knew it was what was needed to be done. Even her past is shown in the book which I thought was so great. There was a lot of healing that needed to happen. The journey that Cassandra took was the best thing for her.

The stories presented in the story written by the Authoress were fantastic. I could see how they could grab your attention and keep it. I loved the garden aspect and I loved how it was linked to The Secret Garden. This is one book that I didn't want to see the end of though I had figured out some of it. The story swept me away to times I have little knowledge about but couldn't get enough of. I eagerly await Ms. Morton's next novel!

Kate Morton/ Adult Fiction/ Families/ Secrets/Fairy Tales/Garden/552 pages/ 5 out of 5

I wish it hadn't taken me so long to review but I wanted to make sure I didn't reveal anything important. The friendships in here are fantastic between people of the same age, different ages, and different sexes. Now onto my first book of the everything Austen challange II.

FTC: This book is part of my personal collection.

Earthly Joys by Phillipa Gregory

John Tradescat is a gardener for Sir Robert Cecil who is the advisor for King James I. He is given free rein on what he can put in his garden. He travels around and brings back rareities for England. He ends up marrying the woman he is betrothed to Elizabeth. Their relationship is a complex one because he feels so duty bound to his master. With all that is going on around them, they need to figure out their life together to make things grow and blossom.

Phillipa Gregory is an amazing author. This is the second book that I have read by her. This one seemed to drag a little more because there was so much more going on during the time of 1603-1625 in England. It was well described and sometimes too well with a lot of words I found unnecessary. The characters stuck to their beliefs but I think that they took some things too far. The picture was interesting and the relationship John had with someone in the book completely shocked me! I knew it was part of that time but didn’t expect it to involve the main character.

As I said before the characters were very belief oriented. With King Charles marrying Henrietta Marie from France and the battle between the Catholics and the Protestants was very interesting. John really became a man of some one else and not so much for his family until he was faced with some tough decisions. I disliked him through out the book and was furious with how he treated his family. But by the end of the book, he finally saw what was important but bowed to the nobility when it was needed.

Liberties were taken with history but the main things that were going on had to be true. I had a tough time getting through a lot of it because so much was happening in my life. I look forward to reading the sequel Virgin Earth to see what happens to John’s son John in Virginia and to find out the outcome when he returns to England. I give it a 5/5 because it really did captivate me but at times was slow.
440 pages/Fiction

Now off to reading Hide by Lisa Gardner and then two romance stories. :)