Hey friends! You may remember at the beginning of the month when I mentioned that I joined a small blogger book club with Cassie and Kirby. The three of us are basically trying to keep each other accountable for reading at least one whole book a month. I love to read (and I even dedicated a little corner of my bedroom for a reading nook), but I find that trying to fit it in to my hectic schedule with mom duties and diy projects can be a little difficult at times. Having a monthly book report due keeps me on my reading game though. 😉 For those that aren’t really visiting Our Fifth House for the book talks, no worries – they will only happen once a month on Sunday evenings, so feel free to skip them if you want to. But, if you enjoy reading, we’d love to have you join us and share your thoughts! No pressure though – obviously.
Okay, so grab a glass of wine or coffee (depending on the time of day) and let’s get started. We kicked off our book club with a book chosen by Kirby – The Forgotten Garden: A Novel
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As soon as I had read the first couple of chapters I was hooked and read the rest of the book in just a few days. I love a good mystery, and this one was fantastically good. I also love it when every question you have isn’t answered directly. I like being forced to draw my own conclusions about things. You get the answer to the main mystery at the end (of which I totally called it – I figured it out fairly early on, but enjoyed reading to the end to eventually see that I was right), but there are other little mysteries that are never truly solved. I love it when an author forces you to think about the book and the characters long after you’ve finished reading because you’re left wondering about certain things. Morton did a great job of character development. You really fall in love with some……….and can at least empathize with those you don’t really care for much at all. I loved that it was mainly set in England during the early 1900’s; the setting really just makes the story – at least it did for me. Imagining the clothes, the decor of the rooms and of course the garden was just delicious. Kate Morton does a great job of painting the scenes in your imagination.
I loved this book and while it does jump around quite a bit as it spans four generations I didn’t find it too hard to keep up, in fact for me it kept me glued to the pages. It’s a long book but a fast read; if that makes any sense at all? There’s not a lot of fluff in this book, each chapter is important to the story and gives you a clue. If a British historical mystery about a woman who finds out on her 21st birthday that she was abandoned as a child and sets out to find her true identity sounds interesting, you will love this book as I did.
I really loved Morton’s writing style, so I will definitely be reading The Secret Keeper
. But first I’ll be diving into the next book of the month – The American Heiress
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. But first I’ll be diving into the next book of the month – The American Heiress.
Hope you’ll join us! Have you read The Forgotten Garden? Or any other Morton novels? What are your thoughts? When I’m reading a book I often try to cast the characters as if it were going to be a movie, and I think Emma Stone would make a great Eliza! What do you think? Do you cast a novel while you read too?
I've been reading. Kate Morton novels for years ever since I grabbed one while traveling through Heathrow airport. Her historical and mysterious style plays in all her books which I really enjoy. I just started American Heiress so I'm curious to stop back and see what you think next month.