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The Language of Flowers

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About this listen

The Victorian language of flowers was used to express emotions: honeysuckle for devotion, azaleas for passion, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it has been more useful in communicating feelings like grief, mistrust and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings.

Now eighteen, Victoria has nowhere to go, and sleeps in a public park, where she plants a small garden of her own. When her talent is discovered by a local florist, she discovers her gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But it takes meeting a mysterious vendor at the flower market for her to realise what's been missing in her own life, and as she starts to fall for him, she's forced to confront a painful secret from her past, and decide whether it’s worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness.

The Language of Flowers is a heartbreaking and redemptive novel about the meaning of flowers, the meaning of family, and the meaning of love.

 Contemporary Fiction Friendship Genre Fiction Parenting & Families Psychological Relationships Women's Fiction Heartfelt Fostering
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Spoilers ahead, don't read this before finishing the book (which I reccomend btw):

This book is amazingly written and I love how things are woven together in a way that's satisfying to discover. Sadly, towards the end I got so frustrated I hardly wanted to finish it. Some chapters were so interesting and kept me hooked, wishing they were longer. And then you have some chapters that are dragged out wayyy too long and were so monotonous that I had to force myself to get through them.

This book does not have a likeable main character, and I'm not saying that's the problem. She's a product of her awful childhood, but even with all the empathy of someone who has been in her shoes (even the same job) I genuinely found her very hard to root for at times. At least the payoff feels better when things aren't going smoothly, and her behaviour isn't unrealistic for someone in her shoes. But sometimes I just want a good story, not one that stays so true to realism you begin losing hope that people who have had hard lives can also have good things. So yeah, it kind of took away from all the great, wonderful things in this book and left me with a bad taste. I wanted the "win" to come sooner and feel better, not as an afterthought just to keep up suspense for as long as possible when I think we all knew how it would end anyways.

In conclusion, I think the author fumbled the ball towards the end, but otherwise I loved everything about it. The voice acting was great and really elevated everything too, I'd give 10 stars if I could.

Very beautiful, but also very frustrating

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This book was recommended to me as I asked for a change of genre. I really enjoyed the story and the ideas within the book. The protagonist is likeable and the story moves at a good pace. There is a very tense act within the story too which all adds up to a great listen.

A break from the norm.

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A very affecting story difficult to listen to at times. I constantly worried that something awful was going to happen

An interesting and moving read

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I loved listening to this audio book that had me crying through the tough times with the main character. There were a few elements missing to a story like Victoria's that the book didn't touch upon but overall a great book.

Emotional

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Is there anything you would change about this book?

part 3 of the book. the author needed a means to make Victoria give up her baby. the way it was done didn't ring true. it wasn't very pleasant listening to it.

Would you recommend The Language of Flowers to your friends? Why or why not?

no on the grounds of part 3. it was as if someone else had written that part.

What does Tara Sands bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

the book is told in the first person, Victoria, and tara sands brings her to life as well as all the characters in the book.

Do you think The Language of Flowers needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

no.there is nowhere for it to go. the ending was the finish of the story.

Any additional comments?

the Victorian language of flowers played only a very small part of the book and gave the impression that the flowers held some sort of magical power through Victoria to change people's lives. the rest is a two time period book where Victoria's past is intermingled with her present.

part 3 of the story spoiled the book.

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