The Tea Rose Trilogy Book 3

The Wild Rose by Jennifer Donnelly
If there ever was a book where I wished I could read faster because I had to know how things would end up this was it. I been waiting to read this book since I finished the book about 2 years ago. And the last one was actually published back in 2006, so as long as I feel like I've waited there are others who've been waiting quite a bit longer.

This book fallows the same basic formula as the first two, in that it tells the love story of one of the Finnegan children. Being the third book, it's the story of Seamus the third sibling in the family. The story picks up a few years after The Winter Rose, which means not only do we find out what Seamus is doing we get to check in with the rest of the family. I loved being able to check in with Fiona and see how her children turned out and how her life continues, as well as the rest of the family. Since the books as a whole take place over so many years, we really see the entire extended family grow up throughout all 3 books.

But some of the similarities to the first books are also its weakness. While it is in essence a new story so much of it feels to be the same basic plot line. Each one has a big mystery throughout. Each one is full of missed connections and misunderstands between characters that make you want to throw up your hands in frustrations. Each one manages to have all the seemingly unrelated plots coincidentally wind up wrapped up in each other by the end. And each one, by the end, is impossible to be put down. So it could be a feeling of "if it's not broke, don't fix it," but at times it felt a little too much like reading the same basic formula of a group.

One thing I loved was learning about the Middle East and Lawrence of Arabia in the WWI-era. Honestly while I knew who Lawrence of Arabia was, I really had no idea what he did or even when he lived. The scenes with him definitely brought me back to my time in Israel, and made me want to learn more about the Middle East in this time period.

Basically in case you couldn't tell, even with it's lows, I loved the book. I loved the series as a whole, and while the 2nd was previously my favorite, now I'm not so sure. I think part of it is that The Wild Rose is fresher in my mind, but I would love to reread the whole series now back to back so I can relive it all, and official choose my favorite. Basically, what I'm saying if that if you haven't picked up these books, you need to, and I think you'll be in for a treat!

5/5