Sea Swept (Chesapeake Bay, Book 1) Review

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(More customer reviews)Cameron Quinn is at the top of his game! He is a champion at his first love racing boats, famous, and a different woman every night. His world comes crashing down around him when he is notified his adopted father, Ray, is dying from injuries received in an accident. Cameron arrives in time to say goodbye along with his brothers Phillip and Ethan. It is then they find out that they have another brother named Seth. Since they were all adopted, they all come together to make sure Seth is taken care of.
Anna Spinelli is responsible for Seth as his caseworker. She is a no nonsense take no prisoners type of woman. Anna is straightforward and doesn't play any games. She knew that mixing business with pleasure was a no-no but she couldn't deny her attraction to Cameron.
Cameron decides to move home to provide the stable environment Seth needs. Phillip, Ethan, and Cameron have never raised children before, and they have no idea what to do in many circumstances. Anna is sympathetic to them, and helps them as much as possible. As Cameron and Anna grow closer, they must find a way to balance all the needs of this family.
This is a wonderful start to the new series. Each of the brothers is very different, and it is a struggle for them to learn to be a family unit. There are some very funny antics, and some very touching heartwarming moments. Cameron and Anna are good together, and have great chemistry.


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The Language of Flowers: A Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)The Language of Flowers is a moving story of a young girl kicked around by life and the foster care system. It kept me glued to the page this holiday weekend, as I couldn't seem to let go of Victoria and her unique means of communication. We first meet Victoria on her eighteenth birthday, when she ages out of the system and is thrust into society. Her social worker asks for her plan, but the problem is Victoria doesn't have one. She doesn't know what she wants and is carrying around enough anger, misery and self loathing that I had a hard time imagining her ever being able to cope with anything.
The story is told in chapters alternating between the present and events that occurred when she was 10 years old. This is when she had her last chance at a family and a normal life. We get a surprisingly vivid picture of both the 10 year old Victoria and the 18 year old Victoria. Her story is heartbreakingly real and will keep any reader riveted to the page as you cheer for this young woman to open up and learn to accept love and hope. Her anger is blistering and her narrative voice is strong and unfaltering as the reader gets a disturbing look at what can happen to kids in foster care. The scars Victoria carries are deep and lasting and the author creates a surprising amount of suspense as you are left to wonder just how she might overcome them.
All of the information about the actual language of flowers is fascinating and adds a magical element to the story that served to both temper some of the harsh emotional realities and give Victoria a port in her stormy life. One of my favorite parts of the book is when she meets Grant and attempts to communicate with him using flowers. She is not used to anyone else speaking her private language, and is absolutely floored when he responds in kind. Flowers link everything in this book, and although I am not a gardener, or especially knoledgeable about flowers, I found them to be a charming, almost mystical part of the story.
The only thing that keeps this from a five star rating for me is the ending, and I'm not quite sure why. Perhaps because it seemed to become predictable at the end, and Victoria seemed to turn her back on the flowers that had given her solace throughout the entire story. It lost a bit of it's magic in an ending that was just a bit too pedestrian for me given the novel's unique characters. While the ending was a bit anticlimactic, it was still an entertaining, compelling story that didn't pull any punches in it's heartfelt portrayal of human emotion. Recommended.

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