Salting Roses
Release date: 2010 / 313 pages
Synopsis (from the back cover): Gracie Lynne Calloway — once left on a coal bucket on a front porch in a small southern Alabama town — discovers on her twenty-fifth birthday that she is the kidnapped daughter of a late New England financier and heiress to a fortune….
First Sentence: Gracie Lynne Calloway began her small life in Shady Grove, Alabama, fast asleep in a coal bucket on the front porch of 1854 Peacetree Lane.
Review: I usually try to avoid reading plot summaries before I begin a novel, but I happened to glance at the premise of Salting Roses when TLC contacted me and was intrigued… The brief plot synopsis seemed like a fairy-tale screenplay and I wondered if this scenario would result in a believeable, engaging novel.
Upon finishing Roses, I still think this could easily become a great screenplay — and couldn’t help but “cast” the characters – but as a novel I was not as engaged as I had hoped. I am more drawn to character-driven novels that are firmly rooted in realism — and while the characters were well-developed, the fanciful storyline dominated the characterization. However, reading Roses was a pleasant experience and would be a great diversion on a vacation.
Here is a sample of Marinello’s writing style:
Artie might not think Alice needed soothing, but Gracie’s female instincts knew better. If she didn’t fix things with Alice soon, her aunt would be telling stories in her head, which pretty much amounted to her putting words into Gracie’s mouth that never saw the up side of her tongue. The last thing Gracie wanted was to be swimming in Alice’s ocean where Marjorie Finks could take a bite out of her.
Interested? Leave me a comment below and I’ll choose a lucky winner this week!
For other reviews, check out the following sites:
Tuesday, November 30th: Rundpinne
Wednesday, December 1st: Thoughts From an Evil Overlord
Thursday, December 2nd: Raging Bibliomania
Tuesday, December 7th: Life in the Thumb
Wednesday, December 8th: Calico Critic
Thursday, December 9th: The Lost Entwife
Monday, December 13th: Café of Dreams
Thursday, December 16th: Book Club Classics!
Monday, December 20th: In the Next Room
Tuesday, December 21st: Tales of a Capricious Reader
Wednesday, December 22nd: Books Like Breathing
Tuesday, December 28th: BookNAround
Wednesday, December 29th: Peetswea
This is so up my alley! Love these kind of books…please pick me!
Happy Holidays!
As you said, it sounds like a good diversion, so I’d love to read it as such. Thanks for the opportunity!
The description really intrigued me! I have a 2 week vacation coming up over the holidays so it would be a great read!
This does sound like a light read for the holiday vacation. Thanks for the giveaway!
Sounds interesting! Count me in!
great review!
the pillars of the earth was a book i thought would make a better movie (which i understand was on showtime…will have to look for it)
Please add me to your giveaway…I’ve been wanting to read this book, ever since I saw it posted. Thanks for the post about it, and thank you for the entry.
Merry Christmas,
Sandy G.
Muzzley56[at]aol[dot]com
Hi all! I’m sorry I only have one copy to give away, but starting Monday I will give away one book a day until January 1st!!
Be sure to check back!
It sounds like this is a fun read that requires just a bit of suspension of belief – perfect for a day at the beach.
Thanks for being a part of this tour. I’m sorry the book didn’t turn out to but what you expected but I’m glad you found some things to enjoy about it.