The Language of Flowers A Novel by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

cr image:amazon.com
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 (Goodreads.com)





When I start reading a book, I have no way of knowing whether I would end up liking it or not.   When I started reading The Language of Flowers I had no expectations that I would end up in love with it.  But from the first word until the last, the story held and kept me enthralled even until I've reached the last page.  This is a character driven story about a young woman who for her entire 18 years of living was a child of the state, a foster kid who never knew permanence, never knew family.  The plot revolves around Victoria, the main character, and her ability to be able to convey emotions, words with the use of flowers (and the occasional tree and herb).  I am not really a good critic, in the sense of how common or banal or boring or slow the pace is, how the plot is good or non-existent.  I judge a story by how well it pulls me into the world of the protagonist, how it makes me want to cheer for them or cry for them.  This book is one of those stories.

Title: The Language Of Flowers
Author: Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Genre: Contemporary New Adult Fiction
Published: 2011
Publisher: Ballantine Books (Paperback Ed)
Rating: ♨♨♨♨♨ (Readers who enjoy flawed characters, no near perfect endings, a slice of reality type of story that can drive you to tears then this book is for you.  I had to have a box of tissues on hand)

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